I Am, Therefore I Think!!!

Co-existence and NOT the survival of the fittest!

2012-02-09T08:58:00.000+05:30

“The road belongs to others as much as it does to you!” shouted my uncle seated next to me. A few years back I had just got my driving license and was driving on the highway when someone tried to overtake me. Seeing this, I too accelerated denying him enough room to clear me and move on. Had it not been for the skill of the driver and of the vehicle coming from the opposite direction, I would have probably been witness to, and perhaps even the reason behind one of the most horrible road accidents! The learning still remains.

Think about it. I am sure you would be seeing it every day in and around you. People behaving as if they are the kings! Breaking traffic signals at will, entering no entry zones, riding on the wrong side of the road, parking randomly etc are things we have all seen happening. Some of us probably even do it every day! These people hardly think about the inconvenience it causes to the others around them, be it fellow motorists, be it pedestrians or the society in general. Today, it is all about I, Me, Myself! It’s true that basic human instincts might be the reason that propels one to remaining ahead. That maybe the reason why one starts honking at a signal even when it is 10 seconds to turn green. That maybe the reason why one doesn’t even consider stopping and instead accelerate further when he sees the light turning yellow from a distance. It is hard to even think about the risk everyone is being exposed to. Consider the amount of anxiety and stress it causes! Consider the poor pedestrians, who have to suffer all these, be doubly (perhaps even more) careful and always be attentive and watchful. One momentary lapse of concentration could mean disaster.

Driving is not about survival of the fittest. It is more about coexistence! You are not responsible for your safety alone, but also of the safety of everyone else who is driving around you! My driving license shouts “Driving is a privilege, not a right”

A friend of mine who used to drive eccentrically fast used to say “Driving is all about taking decisions in a split second, and I am able to do it! So there should not be a cause to worry!” But the question isn’t about your ability alone to take split second decisions. Safety on the road is also a function of the ability of everyone else to take decisions in the same split second as you do! And most of them may not have the same kind of a response time as you have!

It is true that today, vehicles have become more and more affordable. Infrastructure in terms of roads, parking facilities etc have not grown in proportion to the growth of vehicles on the road. Not everyone has good traffic sense. And that creates more problems for everyone! When I say traffic sense, I am referring to that City Bus driver who stops right in the middle of the road to pick up and drop passengers. I am referring to that SUV driver who has to take a right at the junction, but sees that there is a green to go straight and goes till the junction and blocks the traffic heading straight! I am referring to those lorry drivers who occupy the three lanes on the Mumbai Pune Expressway on the Khandala section, each travelling at 9.42 kmph, 9.81 kmph and 10.27 kmph respectively! I am referring to those fickle minded people who keep changing lanes just because the other lane ‘appears to be moving faster’!

Education is an important part to develop this traffic sense in a society. These basic things have to be imbibed in everyone right from childhood. Punishment for the guilty also needs to be severe. If educated and reasonable people like us tweak rules here and there for the sake of convenience, what do we tell others? How will the country prosper? Most of us sit and curse the traffic which is a major cause of our worries, especially in big cities. But it is we, who have to start doing something about it. Instead of jumping a signal to make sure you reach your destination early, you can very well start five minutes early. Travelling through a no entry in the pretext of reducing the distance by a few kms and reduce on fuel consumption, should in no way be acceptable when you compare the kind of misery you are going to inflict upon a lot others.

As they say, charity begins at home!

In Hindsight...

2012-02-02T14:38:00.000+05:30

Have you realized that doing something new for the first time might be difficult, but doing the same thing again will not be as difficult as it was earlier? Have you ever been in a situation when you are in doubt about which way to go, confused and baffled about the road ahead and then when you are actually through, you sit back and reflect on it to realize that it was all so simple? You are often encountered with instances where you have different alternatives to select from, you end up spending a lot of time on it to make sure that you select the right one, and then once it is done in totality, you look back and think it was so obvious on how you should have dealt with it and wonder if it was worth the time and effort!

Usually, when you face something fundamentally new about which you may not have a clue, you really don’t know how to go about it. You try to gather your thoughts from your past experience, from popular wisdom, by consulting people who might have been through something similar and try to manage it. Whatever you do, you are never sure if it’s the right way or not, but you think that it’s the best way out. You try to speculate on how things are going to unfold based on your actions and other reactions and take that stand, which you feel is the best suited for that circumstance.

However, after that moment has passed by, when you begin reflecting on it, you may realize that you could have done something else, or something you did could have been done in a different manner, something could have been avoided and so on. This usually happens because the moment has already unfolded. The time has already elapsed. You already know the outcome of your actions and what repercussions they have had. You know how people have reacted and what they opine about the same. All these parameters now become inputs for your thoughts when you begin reflecting back on it. That’s when you begin feeling certain things were so obvious and you can’t believe you actually missed out on them.

It is not necessarily about instances and situations in particular. It happens in everyday life. Lots of things keep happening in and around you on a daily basis. You do not necessarily give heed to it because you think that is how it is meant to be normally. You do not try to read too much between the lines about minor changes that you see happening around you regularly. But when you realize that something has happened which you had not expected (and more so when it might have done you more harm than good), you go back and probe in detail. When you start doing it, you will find it much easier to connect the dots. You will start remembering small incidents which you never thought were part of a big story. All loose ends get tied up and you can see a clear picture in front of your eyes.

In a way, it’s important not to worry too much about what people say about something once it has already happened. People will keep talking because whatever they have to say doesn’t have any consequence whatsoever on what has already happened. They have no liabilities whatsoever whereas you had to think about everything when you had to decide on what to do. You did something because with all your commitment, you thought what you did was the best thing to do at that point under those given circumstances. Given a choice, or a second opportunity, you too would perhaps handle things differently.

Because, in hindsight, everything can be done better!

Patriotism

2012-02-01T08:53:00.000+05:30

It was 26th January just about a week back and we Indians celebrated Republic Day.

An interesting conversation I overheard in office.

A senior colleague inching towards retirement to a freshly graduated engineer: “Hey how was Republic Day? I did not see you in office for the flag hoisting ceremony. Another holiday and you would have partied all night long and slept all day through, huh? God alone knows what where has all the patriotism gone and what will happen to this country!”

My first reaction on hearing this was, “???”. The young chap was wise enough not to drive the debate further and cleverly giggle his way out of it. But think about it.

Does patriotism only mean hoisting the national flag twice a year and saluting it? Standing in the movie halls when the national anthem is being played is patriotism? Singing out or humming Vande Mataram, Ae Mere Vatan ke logon and some Manoj Kumar starrer songs on I Day and R Day alone is patriotism? Exchanging messages and mails talking about patriotic things on R Day and I Day is patriotic? Waving plastic flags and wearing clothes with the shades of the national flag on those days is patriotism? Only those who die on the front, protecting the country against the external enemy or those who injure themselves seriously protecting the civilians against internal enemy are patriotic?

I would beg to differ. No doubt our soldiers are patriotic. But to say they alone are patriotic would be wrong. Patriotism need not necessarily be seen or heard. According to me, anyone who does anything which benefits the nation directly or indirectly is patriotic. Someone who makes sure he discharges all his duties towards the nation like voting during elections, paying taxes on time etc is also patriotic. Someone who follows the laws of the land say at the traffic signals which directly helps the society and its inhabitants is also patriotic. One who makes sure that he doesn’t litter the place and ensures that his country/state/city/village remains clean is also patriotic. One who works selflessly to educate fellow people from his society and help them stand on their feet is also patriotic.

“Patriotism is not short and frenzied outbursts of emotion, but a steady and tranquil dedication of a lifetime”, remarked Adlai Stevenson, a US politician and statesman of the 19th century. I had heard it as a kid. And I still remember it, word to word! With a change in generations, only the perspectives might have changed.

Once when in school, I didn’t attend the R Day function at school because I had never watched the Republic Day parade in Delhi and desperately wanted to watch the same. And I clearly remember how my principal had ridiculed me in front of the entire school assembly about how I was not patriotic! The conversation between my two colleagues reminded me that very incident!

Of Strong Opinions and the need to let go at times...

2012-01-23T09:08:00.003+05:30

Have you ever been a part of a heated debate or a discussion that fails to neither die nor reach a conclusion? If not, have you at least been a witness to such a discussion, either in private or public? Can you recollect how some people get so involved in the discussion, that they totally forget the surroundings? The volume goes up. Hands start moving. Temperatures rise. And sadly, no quantifiable conclusion at the end of it all.

Just trying to analyze, one of my major observations is that when someone is involved with something so passionately, you find it really hard to let things go. Then you tend to get a bit more aggressive without even realizing it. More often than not, you fall in love with your ideas and opinions. This usually blinds you to other points of view and perspectives.

Now, this can get compounded when you realize that there exists a difference of opinion and fail to acknowledge that there is one. So why does this happen? Probably it has got something to do with the way we are brought up. We grow up learning to take pride in what we have, what is ours. It can be anything, an inanimate object, an out of the blue idea, a person in your life, an abstract concept, an accidental discovery or even an award or recognition. We feel proud when we achieve something and it’s natural to become possessive about that. Now when you are overly possessive about something, it becomes difficult to let that go especially when it has taken a lot of efforts to achieve that.

But if you look at the bigger picture, it is very important to let go of certain things at times. If you expect your opinion to be accepted or considered, you should be equally open to other opinions. A difference in opinions may always be a blessing in disguise, as it allows you to get into the detail and evaluate options in a much better way. No doubt, too many opinions may get you confused about which way is right and which way to go. But it is always better than having only one opinion when you are never sure if it’s the right one. Diversity in thoughts only gives you different perspectives, which eventually might make you consider something which you might have otherwise totally ignored.

It is as simple as these two small lessons I got as a kid. First one being, all these things are like a heap of sand in your fist. The harder you try to clench your fist, the more the sand flows out. And the second one being, unless you let go of things in your hand, you cannot grab newer and perhaps better things that are coming your way.

So the next question that arises is how! How do you make changes to the way you are conditioned, to let go of anything as and when required. The older you grow, more difficult it gets to change your ways. Any thoughts?

Because, the heart still bleeds blue....

2012-01-17T17:22:00.000+05:30

Remember that towering six over long on, by MS Dhoni in the Wankhede around nine months back? Moment of the year. It’s not easy for anyone from my generation, to forget that moment and those that followed - the plain reaction on MSDs face, running back to grab the stumps, hugging Yuvraj at the other end, Gary Kirsten erupting in the Dressing Room, followed by others in tandem and then a wild rush on to the ground, the broad smile on Sachin’s face and the aggression in Bhajji’s body language. All that came after a long wait and after a lot of pain. Surrendering meekly after being close to the top in 1996, performing below average in 1999, being closer and stumbling at the final hurdle in 2003, shocking first round exit in 2007, we had seen it all.

The World Cup victory of 2011 came with a lot of efforts, from a lot of people. It was a classic case of team work, where every member of the team made significant contributions throughout the tournament to ensure we emerged as champions. Behind the screens as well, a lot went into it. From the coach to the support staff, from the families of the players to the players themselves, a lot of hard work, single minded dedication, unwavering focus and sacrifice. If you want to know the magnitude of it all, dig into the archives of Cricinfo and you’ll get loads of them. This team has shown that they have it in them, the character to win consistently, the hunger to achieve, and the passion to scale new heights.

Yes, we’ve lost 7 tests abroad, in a row. We’ve failed as a team. Our team hasn’t lived up to the expectations of this huge country, where a billion people come up with as many opinions. Yes, the batting has failed, when the bowling clicked. The bowling did not complement when the batsmen made hay. The leadership has been anything but inspiring, unlike in the past. And there is no doubt about it.

But hey! It’s alright! What’s so unforgivable about it? It’s not the end of the world. It might just be the opportunity, the missing piece, which could motivate them to come back hard. Remember 2007, when similar emotions flowed through the entire nation, following our early exit from the World Cup? Did we not win the T20 World Cup within 6 months? We did right? When we are ready to accept that positive change, we must also be ready to take defeat in our stride positively. The problem with us is that we take things to the heart and react way too spontaneously when it comes to cricket. The team wins, and they are honored like Gods. They lose and they should go to the gallows! Isn’t it a bit too extreme on the cricketers? After all, they are humans!

Yes, we may not have dominated the cricket world for as long as Australians did in the previous decade or the mighty West Indians did in the 70s and early 80s. But to me, it only means that things are not one sided. That the level of competition has improved. And in a way, it’s good for the game of cricket as a whole! A world of see-sawing and a world of ups and downs would only make the game even more exciting. Did anyone really enjoy Formula One when Michael Schumacher used to win races singlehandedly? The matter of interest only used to be who else finished on the podium. Or tennis, when say a Martina Navratilova or Pete Sampras won slam after slam after slam. Sportspeople like them glorified the sport, the game, because of which it has become so competitive and interesting these days.

Yes, a lot may be needed to be done about our cricket. A lot of mistakes might have happened and unless we learn from them and correct ourselves, things may not change soon. But, it’s just a game at the end of the day! Nothing has been lost other than the rankings. There is absolutely no need to lose respect for the team. As someone said, form is temporary, class is permanent. At this point, the team is down on morale, on motivation. And it is precisely at this time, that the team needs its fans to stand behind them even more. Give them that assurance that we will support them, come what may!

Yes, we may have fallen, and it might have been a really mighty fall. But it’s not about how hard you fall, it’s about how high you bounce back. And I firmly believe this team, to bounce back and do so strongly!

Because, this heart did not stop bleeding blue after 2^nd April 2011. It still bleeds blue….

What's ailing Indian Cricket?

2012-01-10T12:46:00.000+05:30

Six consecutive Test losses abroad for a team that was No. 1 in Tests not so long back. Obviously it is a bit difficult to chew. Sad as it may seem, however much one may wish to write each passing loss as a bad dream to start fresh, the ghosts of defeat come back to haunt again. And some of these losses have come where the team has struggled to take the match to the 5th day!

Perhaps the best batting line up in the world, where the top order has probably the greatest experience than any other team as a whole, currently playing anywhere in the world. This line up has failed consistently to post a 300 in a test match? Sounds ridiculous. The captain, who till not so long back couldn’t have done anything wrong, seems to be not doing anything right of late! The joy of conquering the world in the Limited Overs edition in April, is definitely short lived, if you cannot sustain the performance in the more challenging longer format of the game. So what exactly is ailing the World Champions?

For starters, we have become too heavily dependent on the Laxman, Dravid and Sachin trio with Sehwag to lay the foundation in the recent years. But somewhere down the line, we seem to have missed a trick. We probably have taken too long to realize that they are not going to be around forever. We do not have a second line of players who will step into their shoes when they retire, and that is bound to happen sooner or later. Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli, Gambhir, Rohit who have all been a part of the One Day team for quite some time now, have failed miserably in the longer format. But wait, who is responsible? I wouldn’t blame them entirely. Whenever they have got an opportunity, it has been because some of the big four has been injured or rested! There has never been an assurance that one would get a run for a while to play irrespective of his performance. Someone playing at that level is always under a great amount of pressure! And I think he deserves a good run at it! But then, when you are playing for your country, you need to make the best of every opportunity that comes your way!

Secondly, how often do we play for the team? Have you ever seen Sehwag play as per what the game demands ? Yes, aggression is great, but hey, everyday is not Sunday! Sehwag would have singlehandedly won us a lot of matches, but we have also lost a lot of matches, when he just throws away his wicket, when it is absolutely not required, exposing the middle order! The Indian team is so heavily dependent on Sehwag to chase targets in the 4th innings that the moment he gets out, the team is immediately on the back foot, allowing the opposition to come right on top, even if you are chasing something like a 270! Come on, a great batting line up cannot chase a modest 270 in two and a half sessions??? Sehwag is just an example. Many more can be cited.

Brings me to another point – are we putting the future of Indian cricket at stake by persisting a bit too much with Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar? Yes, their contribution to Indian cricket in the past has been unmatchable. They have been (and are still) the backbone of the side for a long time. But that doesn’t mean you live in the past! You are not going to ask Sunil Gavaskar to play for the country just because he has 10000 Test runs against his name. We are a country, where idols mean more to us than the game. Don’t be surprised if the country celebrates Sachin’s 100th Ton even if India loses that match. Conversely, many would be disappointed about Sachin not reaching to that landmark of an achievement, than about us losing a game. We have made mistakes earlier too. In order to help Kapil Dev break Richard Hadlee’s record, we kept persisting with him for matches together, where towards the end, all he used to get was one or two wickets every match, thereby reducing Kapil Dev of all the glory he had earned in his prime and also directly cut short the careers of upcoming bowlers like Srinath and Prasad.

As a long term strategy, I think we should have an exit plan for the senior players, in the process building a strong bench strength which is sorely missing today! No matter how great a player is, how much he has accomplished individually or for the team, the needs of the team are paramount at any point of time. Honestly, careers spanning more than 10-12 years sound stupid to me! Player management is very important. Talent should be identified at an early age, trained in all aspects, made fit for the big scene, and should enter the picture only when he is fully prepared to take up the challenges. What happens in our context? A couple of good domestic seasons, a great run in the IPL and you are a part of the National Team! Players should come in at the right time and leave at the right time. Identifying this timing is also very important! 20 years at the international level, simply undigestable! Have you ever seen top performing Olympians like say Ian Thorpe or Michael Phelps or Carl Lewis or Marion Jones participating in more than 2 Olympics? At the maximum it is 3!

Yes, you might not have a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid. But cricket is a team game. It doesn’t run by one or two individuals. Indian team played and won even before they arrived at the scene and will play and win even after they leave!

Next comes our over reliance on spin! Our wickets are built to suit spin and we are arguably the best players of spin in the world. Outsiders struggle when they come here against the turning ball. But wait, what happens when we go abroad? We struggle ever more with the swinging and seaming ball, don’t we? What efforts have we taken to counter that? We can atleast simulate conditions at 2-3 locations in the country, which are similar to wickets across the world, bouncy, juicy green tops and make our players get enough practice before embarking on difficult tours. Isn’t difficult at all. Just a little bit of a vision and a will is required to implement it!

Another important aspect of Player Management is to manage the fitness of the players. Consider the Indian team calendar for 2011. January – South Africa, Feb & March – World Cup, April & May – IPL, June & July – West Indies tour, July through September – England Tour, Sept & Oct – Champions League, Oct end – England comes to India, November – West Indians come home, December onwards – Tour of Austraila! With such a heavily packed schedule, injuries were bound to happen as they happened in England. The manner in which replacements were announced every day till the team left for Australia shows the sad state of affairs! There must be a cap on the number of games a player plays every year. X Tests, Y ODIs and Z T20s, with a few practice matches here and there! The pool should be rotated! Every condition requires different skills and talents, and you should only play your best bet in such conditions.

Next, specialists are meant to be specialists. Don’t make an Irfan Pathan out of R Ashwin. Just because he is doing well with the bat, please don’t start promoting him as the all rounder you always wanted! Whatever comes from his bat is an icing on the cake, an addition to the total! But don’t count him in your scheme of things! He is in the team to bowl, let him do that well! It really doesn’t make sense to have Sehwag bowl as many overs as any other front line bowler does!

Finally, the people who run cricket make a lot of difference, if things have to be changed. Certain things like what I have mentioned above, can be conceived, understood and appreciated only by someone who has been close to the game or been a part of it. Politicians at the top would guarantee commercial success no doubt, but we need to take a call on what do we really want out of the game we love the most!

I know I have written a lot of radical things in here, things which are totally different from how they are being done today. A lot of you may completely disagree with me. But think about it with an open mind. We are talking about Indian cricket as a whole, not about any particular player! If we are concerned about how we bounce back to the top, and remain there consistently, we need to do things differently. And this might just be the first step!

Lessons from the 'Top of the heART'

2012-01-09T09:21:00.000+05:30

2011 has set into the pages of history and a new dawn has arrived in 2012. Personally, 2011 was a year of great learnings. The early part of 2011 marked the culmination of an exciting chapter of my life, as a student of MBA, and everything that came with it. Intending to summarize some of the lessons I have learnt being at the top of a team, an opportunity I had, to work with some great people.

The carrot is usually more effective than the stick, in a professional set up. When you are leading a group of people, you should be a good motivator. Different things motivate different people. Some are motivated by rewards and awards; some by recognition and limelight. Some are motivated just by the time you spend with them and some by the work itself and the prospects it has in it for them. Some people motivate themselves, while for others, a little bit of pushing is required. Identify what motivates whom, and do just that. You can make a big difference just by your words and actions.

It is very important to have a proper plan for the future. The performance of the successor he leaves behind is an important parameter on which a leader’s tenure will be assessed. Whatever be the means, towards your end, you need to ensure that the one who succeeds you is groomed well enough to take on the responsibility and prepared for it. You should want him to be better than you and take your legacy to newer heights. As a leader, you also should wish that your people and team succeed. Waiting for them to make mistakes and pounce on them is a very bad idea. You can never be a winner, as long as each and every member of your team doesn’t win!

You may be used to doing things a certain way, but you have to be open to different ways of doing it. There may be better ways of doing things, and you need to realize that. When you entrust someone to do something, trust that person fully. Encourage making and learning from mistakes. The moment, the fear of failure and its consequences is out of the mind, one can work wonders!

As a leader or a manager, your job is not to do things, but to get things done. You might be capable and competent to work single handedly, but that is not what a team is there for. By taking things on yourself, you are making two big mistakes. You are forcing your way of working and thinking on others and curtailing creativity. Secondly, you are keeping people ill prepared for the bigger picture, when you will no longer be there.

A thing is done, only when it is completely done and you see it! Lots of equations keep changing every now and then. Dark horses come out of places least expected. It’s like those magic birthday candles that keep lighting up themselves when you blow them off. Your job is over only when you see all the candles are blown off and none of them is lighting up again!

Talking to the other person is the best mode of communication. Face to face or otherwise, it helps you to gauge how the person is reacting to whatever you say and enables you to change if need be. Emails and SMSs may leave a long trail of messages and a proof of your communication, but if you need proof of something like this, it only means that you do not trust your people. If your intention is to make a safe passage out for yourself first, you will never be a good ‘leader’

The most important however, is to be prepared to take the blame of failure on oneself and not passing anything on. When someone from your team is in the line of fire, in front of the larger community you will have to protect him/her. You are also significantly responsible for the failure, because somewhere, you have not led well. It is important to admonish your team / members in private, but it is more important that you appreciate them in public. It is after all, your team! You need to be very sensitive about what people have to say about your people! You can be a good leader only when you are possessive about your team!

London Olympics 2012 - Should we take flight or not?

2011-12-26T16:54:00.000+05:30

The demands for boycott of the 2012 Olympics seem to be gathering steam with less than a year going for the big event. The reason being the presence of Dow Chemical Company as one of the major sponsors for the Games. Dow Chemical Company had taken over Union Carbide which was responsible for the devastating Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984.

Boycotting the Olympics is perhaps not the best idea for us under the current circumstances, the reasons being manifold. Firstly, by boycotting the Games, the Games is not going to lose anything. The Games will still happen. Plus India doesn’t boast of any athletes or players who the World would miss at the Games were we to remain out of it. It is we who are going to be the losers (literally as well as branded!). Secondly, we have just about started to win medals in Olympics. What started with a Leander Paes’ Bronze in Atlanta(1996) has continued in every successive edition with atleast one medal being won by Indians. The last one at Beijing was special because we won our first Individual gold in the form of Abhinav Bindra and was the most productive outing at the Games with 3 medals overall. The consistency in winning has just about begun. By not participating, that momentum might be lost. Third, the Olympics happen once in 4 years, and is the biggest stage for an Olympic sportsperson. Lots of dreams are associated with the Games and it comes with tremendous preparation and practice for the years before the Games and also great amount of sacrifices. Qualifying for the Games is a very difficult proposition in itself. Someone might just have come within striking distance of a medal earlier and this might just be his/her last opportunity at it. With that kind of an attachment to the Games, it will be very unfair to ask the athletes to stay out of the Games. Fourth, the Games provide an opportunity for many athletes to prove themselves. Most of the athletes get noticed only after a significant performance at the Games. Life improves for a lot of them after the Games. Why deprive them of it?

But do we forget the victims of Bhopal 1984 and just move on? No. A protest is mandated. Dow has to pay for whatever happened. But the protest need not have to be a total boycott of the games. It can be done in many other ways. Mixing two totally different things can be a recipe for disaster.

A protest has to be just that, and not trying to enforce your opinion on others. Issues need to be sorted out by sitting across the table, discussing your points, debating on the points of others and then coming at a reasonable solution. As much as pressure tactics may be important, there should be a limit to it too. Exactly why at times I feel Anna’s protests are also not justified completely.

We need to realize that Olympics is a world forum, a place where the number of stakeholders is enormous and so are the stakes. A wrong action here or an uncalled for statement there might just worsen things for us! So let us be very thoughtful and careful about what we choose to do!

Flipping the Kart - an Amazon for India!

2011-12-19T09:02:00.000+05:30

I was not a big fan of online shopping, till not so long back. Partially, it was because I was not convinced about banking and making payments online, but partially, it was also because I had some not so good experiences with my initial attempts few years ago.

As a couple of experiences are enough to turn you off, a couple of good experiences are also enough to bring you back. On the recommendations of a friend, I happened to make some purchases on Flipkart.com around a year back. And man, what did I experience!!

Started 4 years back, by two graduates from IIT and later colleagues in US based Amazon.com, they started off with the dream of replicating Amazon in the Indian context. And to a great extent they have been successful at it too. Let me go about highlighting a few reasons why I feel so and why I think they have a bright future.

First of all, they have a vast range of products under offer. Books, Electronics, Gift Items, Mobiles, Computers and accessories and what not! So it makes a one stop shop for people wishing to shop. To add on, prices of most of the products on offer are usually much lower than what you would pay elsewhere. Secondly, the web user interface is simply amazing. Very user friendly and simple, it gives you options to search and filter search options as you would like to. Small things like storing your previously shipped addresses, etc makes your experience something worth yearning for. The interface is also ‘smart’ in terms of keeping a track of what you have searched earlier and also recommending products to you based on your searching and shopping history. Even the payment gateway that’s integrated to make online payments is very reliable. Thirdly, the delivery is lightning fast. Most of the products are delivered on the second day in major cities in India, which I think is simply brilliant. Before you even realize your order is delivered at your doorstep. In addition, they also deliver to smaller cities and towns also, that too reliably. Fourthly, it is complemented with great service support. Right from the time you book your order till the time your shipment is delivered, you have consistent notifications coming your way that keep updating you about the status of your order via Emails and SMSs. Plus there is a 24 X 7 helpline that is always available should you have anything at all. The best part is how they go out of the way to make sure that no customer is left dissatisfied for whatever the reason. They are always active and your queries/complaints/grievances are addressed within 2 hours at any point of the day (or night). And to top it up, when they get the slightest hint of a customer being unhappy, in comes a phone call from a senior executive in the company trying to understand what went wrong and how can that be rectified. Fifth, they also have a very good exchange policy where they assure to take back a product within 30 days, should there be any problems with the product. Now this guarantees the customer of the quality of the product. Amazing. No?

No! That’s not all. One of the most important strengths I guess is that they are continuously innovating. Keeping on adding features that either benefit the customers directly, or help them in the way they do business. I have seen/experienced improvements in the IT systems, improvements in the Supply Chain in terms sourcing the products, warehousing them and then ensuring delivery to the customers at the earliest possible time.

As was recommended by someone else, I too have recommended Flipkart to a lot of my friends. And the reaction has almost always been, “Wow! I am in love with Flipkart” after the first shopping experience.

To what extent have they been able to achieve their goal, nobody other than the founders can perhaps answer. But one thing is sure, Flipkart.com is definitely one of the pioneers in e-commerce and has changed the way people shop. Why would you go elsewhere to shop when you are getting products faster, cheaper and in a much more convenient manner?

Lessons from Card Games

2011-12-14T20:08:00.000+05:30

During your MBA Education, learning happens not only in the class, but also from other quarters. It happens from interactions with professors, interactions with peers, seniors & juniors, co-curricular and extracurricular activities that you choose to take as well as things you do during your free time. You can draw parallels from what you are doing and what you are learning.

I was fortunate enough to influence my learning’s from most of these sources. Of all the activities I used to do, towards the end of my course, I fell in love with card games. I had a great set of friends who used to play cards every day. The more we started playing it, the more I found its applicability in Businesses as well. We started playing games like Poker and Teen Patti which actually helped me draw parallels with the business world. Even today, when I sit and ponder over certain decisions that I have to make, lessons from these games come in handy. Here are some of them

• Do not underestimate your resources. You never know when they might come in handy

However insignificant are the cards you have, you do not know what others are having. They might be having equally insignificant or even worse cards. Alternately, even the others do not know what cards you have. Even cards of small value, can sometimes win you games.

• Fortune favors the brave

You need to take risks in order to get returns. Higher the risks, higher usually are the returns. Only when you go out of your comfort zones, can you reap rewards. Taking risks sometimes also plays the added role of destabilizing the opponents and induce him into doing something wrong, which can again help you in your pursuit.

• Play with the mind

There is an old saying which goes somewhat like you should never think with your heart but with your mind. You may be losing and your strategies may not be showing the desired effect. But the moment you take things to heart and influence your decisions, you are sure to make more mistakes.

• At times, it’s better to keep quiet

In terms of action as well as words, at times, it is better to remain silent. Usually when you are under stress, you tend to panic. Under such situations, you tend to do something or say something that will clearly indicate the same to other opponents. Sometimes, this might just be the opening they might be looking forward to

• Be unpredictable

The more unpredictable you are, the more difficult it is for the opponents to play against you. You should be unpredictable in terms of the type of moves you’ll play for different situations. A good player usually forms an opinion about fellow players a few rounds into the game based on observations of play. You should not let the player form an opinion about you that is correct

• Exit at the right time

All of us have bad days, all of us have bad games. When things are stacked against us and no options are working out, we need to know it’s time to move out. Staying in the game, will only further your losses and will give nothing. There is nothing wrong in retiring from the game at times. The idea is to win the battle. Losing a war here and there is okay.

• Be ready to quit when the situation is against you even if you have the best resources

Sometimes, you might have the best of the cards. On other occasions, those might just give you a resounding victory. But this might just not be the occasion. The situation might just not be with you. Someone else might be having cards better than you. You need to be smart enough to take cue out of the same

• Read hidden signals

Everything in life doesn’t come to you on a platter. You need to stretch a bit here and there in order to excel. Some signals come from the game and the opponents in indirect ways. Read those signals and make your moves accordingly.

• Be a good observer

Games need not be necessarily won by your smart moves alone. Some games are won by capitalizing on the mistakes of the opponents. And to do that, you need to be alert and always in the game.

The Art of Writing

2011-12-12T08:50:00.001+05:30

Daakiya daak laaya…. daak laaya
Khushi ka payaam kahin
Kahin dard naak laaya

Thus went an old song of the 70s. It describes how eagerly one used to wait for the postman to arrive with letters, sometimes bringing messages of joy and happiness while sometimes bringing sad news.

Try to go back in time, and recollect when was the last time you collected a personal letter from a postman. I am not talking about documents sent through modern day couriers or through speed of registered post. I am talking of letters – like the one a newly married daughter used to write to her mother to convey her status of acceptance (or the lack of it) in her new house, or the one a son used to write to his father updating about his progress in education while staying in a hostel thousands of miles away.

The last letter I wrote, perhaps, was some good 15 years back I guess. As a kid, I often used to write letters to my grandparents whenever they were not staying with us. I can still remember the enthusiasm with which I used to post the letters in post box, and await eagerly for them to reply. When the reply came, I used to be so excited that I used to sleep with the letter under my pillows. I still have some of those letters with me. A letter from an uncle preaching why something that I was doing was wrong and why I should change my ways. A letter from grandfather congratulating me on my achievements in school and one from grandmother about stories from Ramayana and Mahabharata, are still a part of my most prized possessions.

The telecom revolution in the 80s and the internet in the late 90s and early 2000’s have drastically changed things. Phone calls have become more and more affordable. A letter would take days to deliver, whereas a phone call is instantaneous. Internet delivers Emails almost instantaneously. Added to it, the applications for chatting (text, voice and video) have actually reduced distances drastically. Today, my mother sits and talks to my brother in the USA using Yahoo Messenger and Skype as if he is sitting right next to her.

But all said and done, nothing gives you a personal touch that comes with a personal handwritten letter. A phone call lasts for a few minutes, an Email never gives you a feeling that a letter gives. You can keep a letter for years together and go through it again and again, whenever you feel like. Can you do the same with modern means of communications? (Actually yes, you can record conversations and go through them again and again :P)

Earlier, if someone used to make physical notes, using pen and paper, or write down reminders in his or her diary, today it’s entirely electronic. Notes are typed on laptops or tablets and reminders are set on a mobile phone. When I was pursuing my MBA not so long back, people hardly used to take notes using paper and pen. Mostly it used to be jotted down on MS Word or Notepad. The advantage of this form is replication is very easy. A copy just needs to be circulated and everyone has what everyone else has taken down. In the earlier era, it used to involve a painful exercise of copying what someone else had written down (which later came to be replaced by the photocopier, which directly copied what someone had written and used to be circulated among everyone else)

Once I finished my engineering, three years of working and I had lost touch of writing so much that when I was about to appear for the first semester MBA exams, I was very apprehensive if I would be able to actually go out there and write on paper for two and a half hours! Slowly, I am sure that even examinations will happen by making use of the electronic media. Some entrance tests have already gone online and it’s only a matter of time before the rest follow suit.

Gone are the days, when handwriting used to be one of the important parameters to assess a person’s personality. It’ll be interesting, if 20 years down the line, people will even know how to write. The art of writing is surely but certainly vanishing. It will for sure become an ‘art’ in the years to come.

Runs without runners

2011-07-05T09:05:00.003+05:30

The ICC, finally seems to have dropped a bomb. Of the many new rules that have been proposed at the recently concluded meeting, one of the most debated ones is the one which prohibits batsmen to use runners to run between the wickets and score for them. Irrespective of the reactions this proposed rule has met with, I for one am very happy about it. If not anything, after a very long time, I can see a rule which is against the batsmen in an era which has always been against the poor bowlers and pro batsmen. In one of my earlier blog posts, I had written about how cricket has been increasingly becoming a batsmen’s game and how the entity called ‘bowler’ might become extinct some day. The proposal to increase the number of legitimate bouncers from one to two per over is also a welcome change.

Though people argue that there are only a few specialist batsmen in the game, and preventing one or more of them, who is genuinely injured, to take the services of a runner can indeed make a big difference on the result of the game. True. But I guess, it is indeed this very rule which will perhaps make the game more interesting.

With a gradual increase in the amount of cricket being played of late, fitness will increasingly become one of the concerns in the game. Rotating players between and within tournaments will be a key strategy of the teams and this will become an inherent and an inseparable aspect of the same. So how a team manages the fitness of its players and its bench strength could become one of the key drivers in a team’s success story. This rule also makes it imperative that no player who isn’t fully fit before the start of the game ends up in the playing eleven.

There have been vigorous oppositions to this rule from many quarters. There have been comparisons made to fielders being substituted when a player gets his minor injury nursed off the field. There have also been questions raised as to why should bowlers get breaks whereas batsmen would not. They say batting is a matter of rhythm and taking a break and coming back isn’t necessarily a solution. They say cricket is a gentleman’s game and it should stay that way. But in many occasions, it hasn’t been just that. There have been numerous occasions when a runner has been misused. A slow player on the field is usually replaced by a quick and agile youngster even without a genuine injury. The rule perhaps only attempts to minimize or even completely eliminate this misuse.

Opponents say cricket will lose its charm with such drastic alterations. I would beg to differ as I feel that such rules will actually add more fun and make the game more interesting, the same way rules of the past like powerplays, free hits et al have. I think those who oppose such changes in the game just don’t have the courage to take change in their stride and move on.

Attention Seekers?? Er... Well.....

2011-07-04T12:17:00.003+05:30

Remember Bhairavi Goswami? The starlet who recent hit the limelight thanks to her tweets which most likely were aimed at Aishwarya Rai Bachhan and her pregnancy? Or remember Poonam Pandey? The aspiring model who had openly claimed that she would bare all should the Indian Cricket Team win the recently concluded World Cup? Or that prince from some royal kingdom in Rajasthan who had openly announced that he was gay and welcomed Article 377? Or even the Admar Mutt Seer who had claimed that he would sacrifice everything and go to the Himalayas should Sonia Gandhi become the Prime Minister of the country?

It is very likely that you had forgotten them, till you read this post. I too had, till I read a newspaper slamming them for attempting to create attention by such means as false claims and posts & comments in public forums. I was surprised to see such a stark reaction from the media, who I firmly believe is the very reason why those people get the motivation to do what they are doing. They know for sure that all they have to do is to just do something that would somehow come to the notice of the media, and the rest would be taken care by them.

Though I am not supporting what they are doing, I do not blame them either. There is nothing wrong if someone wants to be noticed. In a highly competitive world, I think it’s absolutely fair. But giving them attention or not is entirely left to the audience. And more often than not, the attention is merely a matter of a few hours or at most a few days.

In such a scenario, I feel it’s completely wrong on the part of the media, to give them attention on the one hand and then criticize them sharply on the other hand. If not anything, they are contradicting themselves. In the race to TRP ratings and higher viewership, the media today doesn’t even verify facts before making inferences, thus ending up misleading millions of people in the process. It is actually a pain to watch a few news channels whose major focus is only on gossiping and scandalizing events and blowing them out of proportion.

Thoughts?

The DRS debate

2011-06-18T11:32:00.002+05:30

The buzz word for the week has been technology. Cricketers, both past and present, across the world have been debating about the implementation of the DRS (Decision Review System) in the tournaments.

The BCCI, has surprisingly been a vociferous critic of this system from time immemorial, saying that technology is not entirely reliable. Though the DRS was used in the recently concluded World Cup, Indians have never been big fans of the same. Almost every other country has got no issue with the system except for the Indian Board and some of the Indian players.

The DRS allows a team to challenge the decision of the on field umpire, twice in an innings. The challenged decision thus goes to the third umpire, who makes the use of technology (currently only Hawkeye is used), and suggests to the umpire based on his observations. The field umpire then, either stands by his decision or reverses it, based on the inputs of the third umpire.

So why is BCCI so bluntly against it when everyone else prefers it? They say technology isnt fully reliable. Hawkeye, for example, may predict the trajectory with a reasonable amount of accuracy, but doesn’t predict the bounce present in the wicket. Fine, but so are humans. And we are not entirely relying on technology, are we? The only suggestion is to refer to the third item, in case the players feel that a wrong decision has been made. I think it is absolutely fair, considering that games have become all the more competitive these days and over a period of time, even a small mistake can turn the fortunes. With technology being available, I think we should make use of it.

When we are using technology in all other aspects of our lives, to make it better, why not in sports? There may be apprehensions that over the years, technology may completely replace on field umpires. I don’t even see a problem with that. Why is it always necessary to depend on humans for everything, especially when you have better alternatives available? These days, even the on field umpires go up for run outs and stumpings, most of which are fairly clear, only to be doubly sure that they don’t make a wrong decision which makes one team pay dearly. When you have an option, why not use it?

I was reading an article somewhere a few days back, and as the author had said, cricket itself has evolved over the years. We have moved on from Test matches with a rest day in between, 60 overs ODIs to 50 overs, protective equipments have increasingly been used, technology too has been increasingly used in terms of stump cameras, microphones and so on, we are playing Day and Night matches now, cricketers wear colored clothing these days, experiments have been made on the colour of the balls used for the game. So, I think we should just look at it as if it is just another chapter in the evolution of the game. Things from the past, become obsolete and have to be discarded, and we have to move on.

Networking

2011-06-12T08:19:00.000+05:30

“Network for net worth” ran the tag line of our Intra College cultural festival Transloocent last year. The focus unmistakably was on networking.

My cousin always keeps saying, “As much as your academic qualifications, professional achievements, hard work and dedication, the recommendations you get are required for you to move higher up in an organization or elsewhere, an equally important determinant of such a growth would actually be the power of your network”. Those words actually seemed to be pretty heavy to me when he first said that to me, way back in my engineering days. I hardly understood any network other than those we used to solve using Kirchoff’s laws and Star-Delta conversions back then.

But yes, reflecting back on it today, from the threshold of entering a new company with new responsibilities, I guess it’s absolutely true. Being in the right network, or within the circle of right people, is one of the important keys to one’s rapid professional growth.

No wonder we have seen many networking sites mushroom over the years. In the era of the internet, getting back in touch with your long lost schoolmates or college mates is no big deal. In fact, the power of internet and social networking has made sure that the world has indeed shrunk. Earlier, it never used to be this simple, but thanks to social networking, not only me, but people from my dad’s generation have been able to get in touch with their long lost friends and acquaintances very easily.

Is the Jan Lokpal enough??

2011-06-11T00:07:00.004+05:30

Scene 1: A very busy traffic junction in Pune.

5 roads converge here and the traffic signal typically takes 180 seconds to turn green, once its red. He overshoots the signal by a whisker and is caught after the junction by the traffic police.

Traffic Police : “License please”

He: “Here you go”

TP: “RC, Insurance and PUC?”

He: “Sir, forgot to get it today. It’s at home”

TP: “Keep the vehicle also at home. Pay a fine of Rs.200 for breaking the signal, Rs 500 for not having the RC and Insurance, Rs 100 for no PUC.”

TP: “Oh wait, this looks like a Gujarat vehicle. And I guess you are not having the NOC either. Another Rs 500. So take this, pay Rs 1300 and then take your vehicle and license”

He: “Sir ye Rs 100 leke maamla settle kar deejiye na please”

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Scene 2: Regional Passport Office, Jaipur.

She has just applied for a passport. She needs a passport immediately as she has got an opportunity to go abroad in 15 days. Even the Tatkaal scheme takes atleast 30 days. She goes to meet the passport officer

Passport Officer: “It isn’t possible to issue a passport so fast madam. Whatever we do, there are a few procedures that need to be followed, and those take time”

She: “What is the procedure which takes the highest time?”

PO: “Police Verification”

She: “Here. Keep this Rs 500. I will take care of the police verification. Please make sure that this passport is ready in 10 days”

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Scene 3: Hazrat Nizamuddin – Jhansi Intercity Express

He has a General ticket between Delhi and Agra and has got into the AC Chair Car. The Travelling Ticket Examiner comes asking for the ticket, and he shows him the General Ticket.

TTE: “?”, with a confused look on his face.

He passes on two Hundred rupee notes to the TTE.

TTE: “But the full fare for Delhi to Agra is Rs 513. You have a ticket for Rs 73. So you will have to pay the difference amount of Rs. 440”

He: “Ye rakh leejiye aur aap handle kariye”

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Scene 4: Tirupati, in queue for darshan of Lord Balaji, almost near the sanctum sanctorum

The NCC security guards are simply pushing all those who are coming, so that nobody waits for long and the queue keeps moving.

NCC: “Jaragandi, jaragandi”

He quietly slides a Hundred rupee note into the guard’s hands.

He: “Now don’t disturb me for one full minute”

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So where should the fight against corruption actually begin? Who is actually responsible for corruption? Corruption has grown over the centuries, mainly because there are people who are willing to bribe and get things done. Such things as mentioned above, happen almost every day in every other part of the country.

So as much as the Jan Lokpal bill and other allied actions are required to curb corruption, the real fight has to begin with a mass movement at the grass root level. Mass campaigns have to be started to educate the people in the country. The biggest challenge I believe, will not be the passing of the bill, but implementing the same at the ground level.

Pune Calling . . . Again!! :-)

2011-06-10T00:14:00.001+05:30

I will be reaching Pune, in less than 72 hrs from now, this time, to start fresh, as a corporate professional. As I embark upon this new journey, after perhaps what could be termed as the biggest vacation of my life, till I retire, I have a set of mixed feelings. This is mainly because, Pune is the place where I have already spent a good two years and possibly the best two years of my life.

However, when I land in Pune this time, it won’t be the same again. I will not be going to the paradise called Lavale where watching sunrises and sunsets was a blessing and walking through the clouds was an experience to die for. I won’t be able to walk up and down the hill, at my will. The place in itself had some kind of an aura, which is sure to keep us all dragging back, attracting like a magnet.

Staying close to Lavale, however is a consolation. But then consider this, when it rains, though you are in Pune, you still cannot walk amidst the clouds. On bright sunny winters, you still cannot enjoy those sunrises and sunsets whenever you wish to.

I will also not be having the company of those wonderful people, with whom I have built memories for life, the parties and the dinners, the jokes and the fun, the long poker nights and the great debates and discussions on all the topics under the sun.

That I love the city, the weather, the culture and the people is a great positive for me, having got a second opportunity. The best thing about going back to the same city where you have already lived in is that you already know the place, the people, the important landmarks, restaurants, malls and so on. But the flip side is that you would not have much to explore. You will end up going to the same “good” places all over again, sans the “good” people.

However, I am excited about the new journey ahead, new challenges, new assignments in a new role with new responsibilities. After staying in the hostel for two years, where you literally had nothing to bother about, this transition is going to be pretty challenging, because in the new episode, you have everything to bother about!! I am sure that I will also make new friends as well, stay in touch with the old ones also. I will also visit Lavale for the occasional feasts (for the eyes only :P). Hope that my love affair with the city continues for many more years to come.

Pune, here I come again!! Second innings to start soon…

5 things I missed out on . . .

2011-06-09T00:07:00.001+05:30

The last two years have been a wonderful episode in my life. Had the best time of my life, got to know a lot of diverse people, got to be a part of a wonderful team with wonderful teammates, experienced a lot of things for the first time, dinners, parties and what not, got hands on experience on leading a team, achieved most of the goals which I had set for myself and most importantly, made friends for life. If given a chance to relive any part of my life again, I would, without any hesitation, want to relive the past two years over again.

This post however, tends to highlight a few things which I missed out in the last two years. As they say, every coin has two sides and everything comes with two aspects. You cannot get everything. Here, I try to recollect five such things, or rather five of the most important things which I think I missed out on, in the last two years

1. Television

Watching the television went down drastically. Earlier I used to watch a few channels, debates, discussions, documentaries and some music channels very regularly. Staying in a hostel, with a common TV connection, meant that you only watched big cricket matches, EPL, sometimes tennis and very very occasionally F1. I still vividly remember watching some of the big WC cricket matches, Federer winning at Roland Garros in 2009, some of the awesome Football matches, WC Football. But that was all about it. No debates, no discussions, no talk shows, no documentaries. Which meant, you did not have too many perspectives and opinions to fall back upon.

2. Reading & Blogging – Newspapers and Books

This was one habit which I was very proud of. But once into MBA, everything came to a standstill. Though we had subscribed to a couple of newspapers, it was more of a formality and nothing else. Though I used to read, it was minimal. Reading books also went for a toss, not because I couldn’t find time or motivation, but because when there was time, there wasn’t the mood, and when there was the mood, there was no time. Google, Wikipedia and Internet is another of the reason for that deterioration. With the MBA and hostel lifestyle, everything was readily available on the internet.

Blogging also took a major hit, as, when inputs stop, there won’t be too many avenues for the output either. At one point of time, I really used to feel bad when I used to see the statement “An avid blogger – since June 2007” in my resume and wonder what will happen if some recruiter actually goes through my blog and sees how avid I actually was.

3. Home food

This was something I really missed. Food prepared by mom, some specialties and delicacies that are prepared only during certain occasions, the festivals and the ambience in itself. Responsibilities and the rigour, ensured that the number of trips to home reduced drastically, and that made sure that all those luxuries remained exactly that!!

4. Health

Constantly eating outside – more of the unhygienic and junk food, minimal exercises and physical activities made sure that I lost control of my diet. Never once did I gather the motivation to visit the gym. Table tennis was intermittent in the two years and jogging down the hill and up back again was also the same. All in all, put on weight, and was termed as overweight during the pre employment medical examination at my prospective company.

5. Personal life

As I had some goals in mind on the professional front, I also had some dreams on the personal front. Dedication (or rather over dedication) to certain things during the last two years, did not give me enough time to chase those dreams and that is the only regret I have of the last two years, if I have any.

Well, as a very good friend of mine always says, “Everything in life is nothing but a tradeoff. You win some, you lose some”. I guess it is true, and nothing can be done about that. Time to move on J

Managing Change

2011-06-08T00:03:00.001+05:30

Change is the only constant. Sounds like an oxymoron, but guess it is true. Things change, people change, situations change, circumstances change, cities change, lifestyles change and what not? Everything changes and that makes life challenging.

Change is not always taken well. Mostly because it means it will affect your way of life in some way or the other. New power plant projects are opposed on the pretext of environmental changes, infrastructure developmental projects are opposed on the pretext of convenience changes, leadership changes are generally taken with a lot of apprehensions, organization changes are taken with lot of skepticism and so on.

Talking about organizational change, it usually happens because of two reasons. It can be because the organization has changed its strategy and policies or because the top leadership or management has changed. In the former case, the people end up doing different things, and in the latter case, people in the organization have to do the same things differently. Which one is difficult? I have had the opportunity to witness big and significant “changes” of both types and let me answer it from my experience.

In the first case, when the strategy and vision changes, the priority and the focus can change to something drastically different. Something totally tangential may be needed to be implemented. Though this is in itself not so bad; but considering the fact that implementing it and executing the new changes might be very difficult, is the root of the problem. And this becomes even more excruciating if the company keeps changing its strategy every two yrs, so that priorities keep changing and there isn’t time for people to drive that change and wait to see the results of it. A simple change in focus from product quality to customer satisfaction, in a large company can make the life of a lot of people at the execution level miserable.

In the second case, when the leader at the top changes, the leadership team also almost often changes. This brings in changes in the way things are done. More often than not, the strategy and vision of the organization may not change, but only the way in which it is achieved may change. This doesn’t require doing something altogether different, but only do things in a different way. There will be some changes in the priorities as well with a leadership change, but those changes will rather be minimal and inconsequential in magnitude at times.

I personally feel that coping up with the first type of change is more difficult than the second type, mainly because the first type requires a change in the mindset and exemplary execution skills. Unless you are yourself convinced about the change, you cannot implement the change.

It's all about money, honey!!

2011-06-07T00:08:00.000+05:30

“For the first time in life, I am disappointed with Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I don’t want to be vocal about it and hence am telling only a few people”, said a very close friend of mine.

“If he is disappointed with Sachin, Sachin must have definitely committed some crime”, I thought. For all I know about this friend of mine, he is the true testimony of the statement that in India, cricket is a religion and Sachin is God. He knows every statistic of Sachin by heart and can recollect any moment in history about Sachin at any time of the day, or night. He supported every team Sachin played for (read Mumbai Indians), and his wardrobe was full of Team India or Mumbai Indians merchandise. For him, Sachin truly is God.

I tried to enquire the reason behind his disappointment, and came to know that Sachin’s decision to withdraw from the Test Series against West Indies. The announcement had come towards the end of the IPL season. With the Indian team already missing out on the services of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra et al, this was a huge blow. Sachin was already rested from the ODI and T20 series, but was expected to join the team in time for the Test Series.

People started speculating the reasons behind Sachin opting out of the Windies tour. Some said that he wanted his most awaited 100^th International Century to come at Lords, the Mecca of cricket against a formidable opposition and not against a weak opposition like the West Indies. Conspiracy theorists would have come with a hundred other (il)logical replies, but Sachin chose to put a rest to speculation and said that he wanted some rest and wanted to take some time off cricket in order to spend some good quality time with his kids.

“What was he doing, when the whole IPL was going on? He could have opted out of it and stayed back with his family and kids and spent time with them then. Country should always come first and everything else should come later”, he said. It wasn’t difficult to sense his anger and frustration at that point of time.

Was it the money in the IPL which had attracted Sachin? I really doubt Sachin would be after money at this point of time in his career. Was it the relatively lesser amount of cricket that needed to be paid in IPL vis-à-vis the Test Series, that prompted his decision? Maybe, maybe not. Is Sachin experiencing any signs of ageing? Could be. Or has he achieved everything he possibly can? Not really. Time and Sachin are the only places where you can expect answers.

Succession

2011-06-06T18:35:00.002+05:30

S-U-C-C-E-S-S-I-O-N

The buzz word on everybody’s mouth these days. Infosys just about a month back completed it for the post of its Chairman after long deliberations and discussions. Tatas are in the process of choosing the successor of the great Ratan Tata and the process too is supposed to take a lot of time. A 5 member panel is looking into the intricacies.

Why is succession so important? People at the top cannot keep working for ever and hence change is mandatory. Age, health, opportunities etc can be the various reasons why this change happens. For big organizations, it is all the more important to plan the succession properly, because the market outside is highly competitive. If the organization loses focus even for a while, it can land in trouble, lose its competitive advantage, lose the momentum and fortunes could get reversed in no time.

Thus, it is important to plan the succession, in such a way that the right person is selected for the job. By right person, the person has to have a consistency with the vision of the organization and someone who can take the organization forward with minimal glitches. Other considerations include the period for which he will be in that particular role, whether he will mix with the culture of the organization, whether he has to be external or internal and so on. The incoming person also needs to be given sufficient time to be groomed so that he fits the roles and responsibilities.

Succession planning is not only that. Every organization is like a pyramid and at every level, few people get left back and only the best qualify further. It is also observed in many large organizations, that succession battles are at times fiercely fought. Once a succession happens, there is a tendency for a few others to leave the organization. Keeping that in mind, succession planning should also plan how to fill those vacancies as well, so that morale within the organization doesn’t fall.

Though it is easy to get carried away and believe that some people tend to be indispensible to the team/organization, in reality it isn’t so. No individual is greater than the team. I have seen this personally on more than one occasion. Firstly, when I quit from my first job, I used to single handedly handle a lot of things for the territory I was in charge of and also for the area [Area is a combination of two or more territories. In our case it was four]. I was convinced that even after leaving, I would still receive calls and Emails from my colleagues, the dealers and their staff. But to my surprise, not a single communication came. No call, no Email, No message, nothing at all. Secondly, when my seniors from the team graduated and we were left alone, I was very apprehensive on how the team would run. But it in the end, we did manage a good show. The work, will eventually teach you how to do it. So will people who have taken over from us run the team without any major hiccups over the next year. So I have come to strongly believe that teams and organizations, do not run because of an individual nor do they stop running because an individual leaves it.

Which brings me to another crucial point to conclude. Think about the Indian cricket team – especially in the test arena. At times, I feel that we are solely dependent on the trio of Sachin, Dravid and Laxman to win/save matches for us. But it’s high time we groom others. Eventually the trio has to retire, and most likely they all will within a matter of a year or so. They have been sticking around for quite a long time now and they aren’t getting any younger by the day.We have a fairly decent and young side for the ODIs and the T20s. But the average age of the test side is pretty high. If these people do not retire soon and make way for youngsters, we may be jeopardizing the future of Indian Test cricket, just because a deserving Suresh Raina or a Rohit Sharma or a Virat Kohli doesn’t get enough exposure at the big stage. It has happened in the past, when Javagal Srinath was sidelined, just to ensure Kapil Dev breaks Hadlee’s record, and if we do not learn from our mistakes, its sad.

The big race against time . . .

2011-06-05T23:25:00.000+05:30

He hurriedly looked at his wrist watch as he got out of the Auto at the Nizamabad railway station. 06:09 P.M. it read. Barely 6 minutes for the Nizamabad Vizag express to depart.

“I have arrived just in time”, he thought as he paid the auto driver and made his way to the ticket counter. He had nothing more than a backpack, and so it wasn’t a big problem for him to make way through the crowd. The Public Address systems at the railway station were repeatedly making announcements that the train would depart from Platform No.2 in three different languages.

He quickly reached the ticketing counter in less than a minute, but was shocked to see the queue today. “It never is this crowded at this time of day”, he said to himself. He tried to recollect if it was a weekend or a festival season, but failed to answer in the affirmative. The heat was also sweltering and there were atleast 25-30 people standing in the two different queues in front of him. He tried to stand in the shorter of the queues and reached out to his wallet for the exact change. Saving a couple of seconds would be very crucial in determining if he would be able to take the train or not.

The Nizamabad Vizag Express was newly added and ran only on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. He used to come to Nizamabad frequently on his official visits and generally used to take the daily passenger that runs between Secunderabad and Nanded. The journey used to take a painful four and a half hours for the 160 kms. He almost always used to have one day trips and hence leave from Hyderabad in the morning and reach back at night. The passenger, required him to leave from Hyderabad at 7:20 A.M. in the morning and again take the train at Nizamabad at 5:10 P.M. in the evening. This effectively used to give him only around 5 hours at Nizamabad and used to be pretty hectic on his schedule. The Express, on the other hand was a super fast train and used to cover the 160 kms in just about 3 hrs. So the introduction of this train, was a great benefit to people like him, as it gave them an additional one hour at Nizamabad and also ensured that they reach Hyderabad before the other train.

The platform No. 2 was on the other side of the station and he had to take the foot over bridge to reach the other side. On a normal day, he would have had the choice of crossing over to the other side over the tracks. But today, the train was already on the platform, and from where he was currently standing, he could vaguely see a train arriving on Platform No. 1 as well. He looked around for the digital indicators and saw the Devagiri Express between Secunderabad and Mumbai arriving on that platform. PA systems also started making announcements.

“Ah, now I know the reason behind the sudden rush today”, he said to himself. The heat was killing and he was getting frustrated. The other queue seemed to be moving faster, and in his queue, only 10 people appeared to have got the tickets in the last two minutes. He looked at the watch again.

6:13 P.M

He was thinking about the station, its architecture and all other obstacles that he will have to go through, once he got the tickets, in order to be able to catch the train. He mentally picturised the book vendor on his cart, the bunch of children drinking fruit juice at the nearby stall, the TTE of the train just arrived in an animated discussion with the Station Master and so on. He was also wondering which side of the overbridge to get down from. Whether to go right or to go left. He decided to leave it on his instincts at that point of time, depending on the conditions that exist then.

As he was still thinking, the PA system made the final announcement for the departure of his train. He was still two people away from the counter. He had almost lost his cool now. If he missed this train, the alternative would be to go by road on Govt. buses, and a painful five and a half hours, once he got the bus. He felt tremors at the thoughts of travelling by road. By then, his turn at the counter had arrived.

“Secunderabad”, he said.

“Rs 73”, said the voice on the other side.

He had only Rs.56, in exact change. Suddenly it flashed to him that he would be travelling in a Superfast train and not a passenger. He took out his wallet and gave the remaining change. By then, the crowd behind him had already got restless and had starting shouting at him.

He collected the ticket and ran as if there was no tomorrow. In a distance, he could hear the loud whistle of the train. As soon as he reached the overbridge, he took three steps at a time, sometimes even more. He had only one objective, to reach the train before it took off the platform. By now, he could see the train, and it was already chugging slowly out of the platform. The way he dashed, from the ticket counter to the platform, would perhaps even put Usain Bolt to shame. He cellphone rang a couple of times, he ignored.

Now came the crucial decision to be made. Right or left?

In a split second, he decided to go right. Not because it was less crowded (it was more crowded rather), but because the train too was moving to the right. Moving in the direction of the train would give him a higher probability of catching the train. By now, the train too had caught sufficient momentum.

As, he reached the platform, the sight he saw, made his heart skip a beat. The doors to all the compartments were closed! He wondered, “How do I get in?”

He waited for a couple of more bogies to pass on. He also was steadily moving forward as he did not want to experience a jerk when he would eventually climb into the running train. However, every compartment that passed had its doors closed. He later realized that the train runs from Nizamabad to Secunderabad, literally empty, and most of its passengers had reservations from Secunderabad to Vizag.

He was disappointed. However, he did not lose hope. By then a sizeable crowd had already gathered on the platform and on the over bridge and were watching the scene. He looked backward towards the remaining part of the train. By now, he had already reached almost the beginning of the Platform. There were four or five bogies remaining. In the first bogie that was to follow, he saw a couple of people standing at the door. He signaled at them and shouted in the local language, but they did not understand, nor did they move in.

There was one bogie, which had a door open, but that too wasn’t in his fortune. Two more bogies passed and there were two more after the current one. At this moment a thought crossed his mind. He wondered, if the doors are indeed locked from inside or they are just closed. He decided to take a chance. On the rear door of the current bogie. As the train was moving fast, he had to push the door with quite a bit of force.

“Thud”, the first door was locked.

He had very little time before the next door. “Thud”, the second one was locked too. Or was it not? He felt a slight opening in the door.

“THUD”, this time he tried harder. The door opened, miraculously, and he woke up with a jerk!!

Go Baba!!!

2011-06-04T23:37:00.001+05:30

Two major fasts in two months and it’s all in the news. First it was Anna Hazare for the formation of Jan Lokpal and now its Baba Ramdev’s turn. I was initially not too keen in following this one. At times, I used to get a feeling that such activists will be born in exponential numbers in the days to come, and the effectiveness of such an action will go down. But the actions taken by the Govt. or the lack of it rather, has prompted me to keenly follow it.

I was reading the Editorial in the Indian Express today where the editor had cautioned the activists viz. Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev against two things. Firstly, the Govt is trying to seek more time, by asking opinion of State Chief Ministers and political parties on the Lok Pal draft. By doing so, it has bought itself more time, and in this time, it expects or rather hopes that the unity of the Civil Activists collapses. Secondly, the kind of attention that Baba Ramdev has received, the kind of VIP welcome at the airport, the meeting in a 5 Star hotel, they have made Baba a celebrity today and the same people will question him tomorrow.

Hardly had I finished reading the piece of article and I saw it happening live on TV. The Govt has also appointed the best possible person for the negotiations. Kapil Sibal, a noted advocate, knows very well how to turn things on its head. That’s exactly what we saw today. On the basis of one written note from one of Baba’s assistants, he has managed to gain an upper hand in this duel. Shrewd that he is, he has got an avenue to divert the focus from the main issue under consideration. Added to that, the question from various leaders from the Ruling political party, as to where is Baba funding his fast and how is he doing so? And added allegations that the fast is sponsored by the Opposition Party and its sister organizations and that Baba is their agent.

I fail to understand, how does that even matter. What has Baba’s funding got to do with his demands and the kind of mass support that he has generated? How does it even matter, who is supporting Baba and who is Baba representing? What is the Govt. planning to do to get the black money stashed in foreign banks? What is the Govt. doing to meet the demands set forward by the activists? Instead of answering these important questions, the Govt. has cleverly managed to divert the attention elsewhere. And rightly as the editor had expressed concerns over the Govt. attempting to break the unity of the Civil activists, the first signs are already visible. Anna Hazare, who till yesterday was openly supporting Baba, and had also warned Baba about the shrewd goons in the Govt, has today chosen to remain silent. By adding the VHP and RSS angle to Baba’s supporters, they have practically made sure that Anna doesn’t openly support Baba as he doesn’t want to be associated with the RSS or VHP. Other Civil representatives have given conflicting statements on the matter.

If not for anything, I would want to see how the events unfold in the coming days. If not for anything, support Baba Ramdev and teach those goons in the Govt. a lesson for their life. Let us be united in our fights. Go Baba!! These politicians are way too clever. Do not let them succeed in foiling your attempts. The country is with you J

What has changed??

2011-06-03T23:32:00.000+05:30

They say time is a healer and can change a lot of things. With time, politicians change parties and ideologies, companies change strategies and policies & individuals change opinions and perceptions about people and surroundings.

I have observed one such change in myself over the years. A few yrs back, as I had graduated from the engineering college, I was strictly against going abroad for working. I used to feel that those who do that, are not paying back for their country, which has done so much for them, their education by subsidizing it and to the society which has seen them become what they currently are. I have taken potshots at them, in this very blog of mine a few yrs back. Back then, I was totally shut to the idea of going abroad. Then I had an opportunity to visit Malaysia for a conference, which changed my perceptions about foreign nations and I started becoming open to the idea of going abroad for studies alone. I strongly used to believe that there existed equal number of opportunities within India and that Indians alone can come to uplift their fellows.

Today, if not totally opposite to what I believed a few yrs back, I am atleast not averse to the idea of people going abroad to work. I am not averse to myself going abroad for a few yrs either. Earlier, I always used to feel that becoming an entrepreneur was never my cup of tea. Today, I am not averse to that idea, if not pursuing that dream in a fully fledged manner.

So what has changed?

The Govt. and its policies? – Not really

The economy? – Not too sure [Honestly, I did not have much knowledge about the economy back then]

The conditions at home? – Not much either

The prospects abroad vis-à-vis what they are here? – Not that either

What has perhaps changed, is my awareness of a lot of things over the past few yrs. I had an opportunity to work for a great company for a few yrs, interact with some real interesting people, understand their outlook about things. I went for an MBA and as a part of that, met some great people – in peers and in professors – and those interactions made me much more mature. I started reading much more and that has opened up a lot more perspectives in front of me. I started involving myself in debates and discussions, just to get fresher perspectives on things. My own reasoning and analytical abilities have perhaps improved over the years and that takes me towards making opinions such as these. So, more than any major changes happening in the external environment, it is the conditioning within which has changed over time and this has brought about a change in the opinions and perceptions that I have today. I am also aware that they may change again, a few yrs down the line. To conclude, it is a process of continuous evolution. What is right today, need not necessarily be right tomorrow.

The Power of Empowerment

2011-06-02T13:33:00.000+05:30

One of my major learning’s from the past one year of my MBA life, where I had the privilege to lead a team in the Students’ Council, is undoubtedly the wonders empowering teammates does. During the initial period, we were very skeptical about giving freedom and liberty to do things as per their thoughts and considerations. We used to insist that a particular thing has to be done in a particular way and nothing else will do. We were hardly open to new thoughts and ideas. But slowly when we started realizing their potential, and started empowering them to take decisions on daily activities, it came as a real surprise. All of them indeed exceeded our expectations and conducted events after events in a manner much better than before. And now that we have moved out of those responsibilities, the people who had worked with us and have taken over from us, are doing wonders out there. I am sure they will make us all proud in whatever they do.

This has taught me an important lesson. Trusting your teammates is one of the most important aspects in a team. Trust them on their capabilities, willingness to learn and perform, to do well. As a team leader, you should want your team to succeed and keep encouraging them to do better and better every time. Small milestones have to be appreciated and large victories have to be celebrated. Giving them freedom in what they do, will make them more responsible towards the team and encourage them to give their best. Research also has shown that empowered employees perform much better than normal ones who just do mechanical labor at the instructions of higher ups. I have no reasons to disagree, primarily because, when you empower someone, you are asking him to think, challenge and decide on certain things. When you give that kind of a freedom to someone, he knows that he is accountable to certain things and is being watched, and at the same time, he is also aware that his actions are important to the outcomes of the team.

I also had a contrasting experience to this recently at Hyderabad. We had been to the Go Karting Zone in the Parking Lot of the International Airport, where the parking rates were supposed to be Rs 50 for Go Karting customers (it was the same parking used by airport customers as well). When we were exiting the parking, we were asked to pay on a per hourly basis, as normal airport customers would do. The reason given was that we had come in a Cab and cabs weren’t eligible for the same (because of some prior experiences of Cab drivers misusing the facility). We, being relatively free, were hell bent on getting to the depth of the matter. The person at the gate had to call his superior, who listened to the entire story, but still couldn’t do anything about it. We insisted on going to the higher ups, but he said they are not on duty and we can contact them only next day. We persisted and eventually he made a dozen odd phone calls and let us go. But the point is, if he, or even the person at the gate is empowered to take decisions on knowing that we are genuine customers, and not misusing the facility, we would have drove away happily. In these days of customers being very demanding, it is imperative that executives who are the touch points with customers make decisions at the moment, because in most cases, the customer doesn’t wait. And once lost, the customer is gone forever. Empowering such executives to take some decisions which can help the customer and/or company will go a long way in enhancing customer satisfaction.

Power Problems !

2011-06-01T17:05:00.000+05:30

Last night was agonizing. On the one hand, we have been yearning for the rains so that we can get respite from the sweltering heat. But when it finally rained, cats and dogs, accompanied by lightning and thunderstorms for hours together, it still was uncomfortable. The reason? No power. Though there was a temporary relief from the heat, no power throughout the night made sure that the relief was only short lived.

I had thought that our power problems were over. I can vividly remember my school days, when I and my brother used to sit around a candle, to do our homework or study. Those days, power cuts and load shedding was a regular practice. Every day, the number of hours with power almost always equaled the number of hours without. Slowly with the advent of technology, the candle was replaced by an Emergency Lamp, and then eventually by a Battery Invertor, But all of these have their inherent limitations. I am sure this has been the story with every middle class family in semi urban and rural India.

20 years hence, if today, we do not have the technology to safeguard our power generation and transmission systems against heavy rains, lightning and thunder, what have we achieved? We are living in the 21^st century. We talk about this being an Asian century.

I was reading somewhere, that out of every hundred units of power that is generated, 10 units are lost during transmission (apparently due to poor technology), 20 more units are supplied to farmers either free of cost or at a heavily subsidized rate (thanks to our politicians’ pre election promises) and 30 units gets stolen by illegal means. That leaves only 40 units for normal consumption. If this doesn’t lead us to shortage of power, where does it lead us to?

What is the solution? Well, there is nothing which can be done to stop the politicians from making promises and standing by them. But we certainly can tackle the other two problems. Transmission losses can be minimized by adopting better technology and thefts can be stopped by having strict regulations and enforcing them effectively. If capital is a matter of worry, privatization is the way out. Some cities in India have private companies handling the distribution of power, and people in some of such cities have never ever heard of a power cut in the last two decades or so. Even if there is, it’s just a matter of a few minutes. Open up the sector and there will definitely be a good number of takers for the same.

Do all the good you can, and be remembered

2011-04-17T22:14:00.001+05:30

“Do all the good you can, and you will be remembered for not only what you achieved, but also for what you left behind”

Our sportsmen (read cricketers) earn in millions, through endorsements, sponsorships, advertisements and finally a meager amount by playing. Recently, rewards were heaped in countless numbers on the members of the Indian cricket team in cash and kind for having won the World Cup. Those who have been around for a fairly decent time period, having tasted success in small quantum are rich and would have surely amassed a fortune by now.

An interesting fact to be observed over the next few years, is where do these people venture? Saurav Ganguly has retired from International Cricket (has he??) and is now into commentary along with a lot of others. Some former cricketers (Kumara Dharmasena, Paul Riefel) etc have ventured into umpiring. A few of them like Anil Kumble get into cricket administration. What do the remaining people do?

I am curious to know what successful stars, living legends, God for many, idolized by millions in this country do post retirement. More importantly, I am keen in knowing how will such a person patronize sports. Pullela Gopichand has done it. After hanging his boots, he opened a badminton academy, started identifying young and raw talent, groomed them with rigorous training schedules and as a result, today you find a Saina Nehwal, consistently in the top 3 in the International Circuit. We can find petty examples like these in other sports too.

In a country, where cricket is a religion and Sachin is God, other sports are conveniently neglected. In a country of 1.2 billion, all we can boast of, is a single individual Olympic Gold till date. It is not that there is not talent in the country. There is ample amount of talent. Otherwise, Sania Mirza would not have risen to the heights she did. Pankaj Advani would not have become the World Champion. Abhinav Bindra would not have won the Olympic Gold and our shooters, boxers, wrestlers and weightlifters would not have given the consistently good performance that they have given of late. It is only that the talent is not identified at an early stage and groomed properly. And even when it is identified, there is a lack of facilities or infrastructure or financial support to sustain the talent and bring in consistency in the performance. Saina Nehwal, to this day finds it difficult to meet the expenses of her training and other needs. If a World No 2, has to face such days, what will motivate people to play for India? We have world beaters, but we do not have a consistent world beater. We cannot boast of a Michael Phelps or a Lance Armstrong or a Michael Schumacher or a Roger Federer. We cannot boast of a Usain Bolt or a Carl Lewis, for similar reasons. All we can boast of, is a Sachin Tendulkar.

To encourage other sports, the Board of Control for Cricket in India, once announced a yearly grant of funds from its kitty. I don’t know how effective that scheme has been, or was it only on paper. But hey, this is an opportunity for successful cricketers to do something about it. This is an opportunity for them to set standards, as people worship cricket and cricketers. When people like a Tendulkar or a Dravid, a Yuvraj or a Harbhajan do some kind of a gesture, which can benefit others in whatever way, it is bound to go down well and in a very positive way with millions of people.

Just take it a step further. Imagine a scenario, where these people, who have been successful and have amassed fortunes enough for a generation to survive, can do something for the betterment of sports as a whole. Help talented sportsmen from other disciplines, to achieve their goal, their dream of playing for India, of winning for India and of making a place for India in the World Map in that sport. If that can happen, it will be a great chapter in the history of sports. If by their patronage, India is able to win more medals at the Olympics, if by their support, India is able to make a mark for itself in Hockey and in Football, in Formula 1 and in Athletics, in Tennis and in Badminton, it will be a great example of solidarity and compassion towards fellow sportsmen.

Go Anna!!

2011-04-11T23:22:00.001+05:30

Anna Hazare has become a household name now. Based on whatever he has done in the last one week, the number of people who know who is Anna has increased exponentially. Anna is not a new name in the field of social service. The septuagenarian, who has served as a driver in the Indian Army, has many accomplishments to his credit. He has built a self sustaining, one of its kind village in Ralegaon Sidhi, in the Ahmednager district of Maharashtra. Earlier, this district used to be one of the poorest in India and today has become one of the richest it seems. His contributions to the civil society have been recognized duly and he has also been honored with the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Govt. of India.

Recently, he has taken it upon himself to fight against corruption and corrupt people in the country and is fighting for the Lok Pal bill, which will form an authority, who will be autonomous and will make civil servants accountable for their deeds. Anna had started this movement in late February and has garnered the support of a lot of famous personalities from varied walks of life. Last week, he went on a fast unto death because the Govt. had failed to come out with a notification on the Lok Pal Bill. The fast which lasted for close to 4 days, finally ended up in the Govt. relenting and promising to form a committee which will draft the bill and also assuring that the Bill will be passed by August 15^th.

In the midst of all this, there have been some people who have ridiculed whatever Anna is doing for the country. In the ripe old age, he is doing all this selflessly for us, the youth of the country. Some people argue saying that his actions and threats of fasting unto death amount to blackmailing and influencing the functioning of a democratically elected Govt. These people say that there are enough laws and legislations in the country which can already be used to fight against corruption and merely having another law will not do any good.

True. People can file Public Interest Litigations (PILs) and also under the Right to Information (RTI) ask for certain details. But how effective are all these in today’s world? Forget a PIL, filing a First Information Report (FIR) at a police station is a big head ache for the common man. I had to run after the CI and SI of a local police station for 3 full days to file an FIR when my bike was stolen. All said and done, if there are so many laws and legislations, why is corruption still rampant? Why has someone not been able to make use of these laws to bring the guilty to the guillotine?

Coming to the question of blackmailing and influencing the functioning of a democratically elected Govt., we all know how elections are held and how votes are cast in the elections. We all know the type of people who get elected as our representatives. Now people may further argue that it is we who elect these people and we should make sure that such people don’t reach the Parliament. Agree. But what option do I have? I make sure that I cast my vote in every election that happens. Unless everyone around me does the same, I don’t have much of a choice. Now people may also argue that non corrupt people stand for elections and bring out a change. Again, I agree. But change is not something that can happen overnight. It takes time. And especially when we have people like HD Kumaraswamy, who can go on the record to say that it is hard for politics and corruption to not co-exist, and even say that Gandhiji also would have either become corrupt or quit from politics were he alive today, shows the magnitude of the kind of change we are looking at. That’s precisely the reason why this change is difficult if not impossible.

Fortunately, we are living in a democracy. As a democratic nation, all of us as citizens are entitled to run the Govt. the way we want through our elected representatives. As such, I believe, we have every right to protest, if we think that something is going wrong. For Anna, he is doing it after giving proper notice. One citizen of a country has chosen to raise his voice and ask questions, whereas all you and I have chosen to do, is sit back, watch the tamasha and comment on his actions. Again, I agree that all of his demands may not be fully justified. There may be a lot of flaws in his draft also. But the fact is, instead of sitting back and commenting on the same through the media, I think we should make an attempt to communicate it to him, who has taken the mantle upon himself. If we ask questions such as “Who is Anna Hazare to decide what should and what should not form a part of the draft”, we should first ask ourselves about our credibility to sit back and question on his work and efforts.

Go Anna!! We know that your intentions are good and the whole country will rally behind you on your efforts, except for a few goons who will always want to hog limelight. If not anything, teach these goons a lesson!

A Tale of Two Leaders

2011-04-11T10:42:00.000+05:30

The last one week has been the most eventful to say the least. India re-conquering the most coveted crown in International Cricket by winning the ICC World Cup 2011 was what it all started with. Hardly was the cricket team being felicitated all over, praises showered on them from all quarters and every member of the team had become a celebrity and rich overnight. The players themselves perhaps have lost track of how much awards and rewards they won after the night of 2^nd April 2011. In the background, another movement was slowly gathering steam. India was slowly advancing for war. The war, however was special. The enemy, was internal, to the system and to the country. The war was against corruption. Standing by their words, following the failure of the Govt. to issue with a notification for introducing the Jan Lokpal bill, number of people thronged Jantar Mantar in a silent protest.

The entire week, however saw the arrival of two leaders on the big scene. MS Dhoni, who made India proud by bringing together a bunch of 11 young men, and conquering the title of the World Champions. MSD later went on, in the inaugural match of the IPL 4 to win the match for his team the Chennai Super Kings with his strategic decisions in the field. A calm and composed person, always keeping his emotions under control, I have never seen him getting worked up under any situation. A very important quality for a leader, because your entire team looks up to you for inspiration, for solutions and if you are weak, your team can only be as strong as you are!! MSD, irrespective of what team he is leading, has managed to do just that. In addition, he has been able to groom people well. Picking people from nowhere, he has made them noticeable. Manpreet Gony, Shadab Jakati and even R Ashwin, who was even a part of the Indian WC campaign were all identified and their talent nurtured under his captaincy. Having trust and faith in the young players and giving them confidence, can work wonders and here is a live example.

Anna Hazare, the septuagenarian from Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, who is fighting a battle against corruption and corrupt people in the country. Fighting for the youth, he has set an example for all of us. By taking a fast unto death, he has made the Govt. act. As per his latest statement, he says that even if this is considered as blackmail, he will continue to do it, as it is in the public interest. People from all walks of life from politicians to film stars to industrialists to public servants and even common people came in to support him, either physically or otherwise. Support on social media was tremendous and the movement percolated to other cities as well. A whole new wave had started, one which threatened to eclipse the World Cup victory. An important aspect to be noted here is that Anna did not give up or yield to the Govt. at any point of time. He had told the nation in the last week of February earlier this year that if the notification isn’t issued by the 4^th of April, he would go on a fast, and he did that! When his demands were not met and his drafts were modified and re modified, he was firm and stern with his demands. He ensured that he got whatever he wanted. Though I am not in agreement with all his demands have been in totality, I can’t help but salute this man for his humility and his perseverance. He stood against all odds, and he again iterates that he will not let the movement die till it reaches its conclusion. An important lesson to be learnt from here is that one, as a leader should never give up, however difficult the situation may be. You just have to have the perseverance and the energy to go to the last mile.

MSD and Anna, you will be watched closely. All the very best J

It's all in the mind...

2011-04-06T10:50:00.001+05:30

“Battles are won twice, first in the mind and then out there in the battlefield” – Anonymus

The victory of the Indian cricket team in the recently concluded Cricket World Cup is a classic demonstration of the same. As Virender Sehwag said, the team had set their eyes on the WC final exactly a year ago in Dambulla in Sri Lanka. From then on, it was a focused effort towards just one goal.

The victory is important, more so because the pressure on the players was tremendous. Playing in front of the home crowd, the pressure of expectations, a cricket crazy nation which can idolize you and take you to the top in no time and the same nation which can bring you down faster than that all these were simply too much to handle. So as coach Gary Kirsten said, though physical fitness was one thing, being mentally tough and strong to handle all these was equally important. And this is what, the Indians did right.

I was reading an article on cricinfo a couple of days back and someone rightly said, that between 2007 and 2011, India has transformed from being a good team with great players to a great team with good players. A big part of this credit has to be given to coach Gary Kirsten, who has maintained a very low profile in the midst of all this hullaballoo. Taking over, when the team was in shackles, having clearly defined goals of becoming the No 1 Test Nation and winning the 2011 World Cup, and ending your tenure on a successful note, having attained both your goals, definitely has to be one of the greatest achievements for someone. A classic case of having a clearly defined goal and then channelizing all your efforts towards attaining that.

After a very long time, I cannot think of any one match in the entire tournament, which we won because of one single player. Every match was won by a combined effort, with the bat, with the ball and in the field. If one player failed to deliver, two others stood up to the task. The number of Indians in the top ten run getters and the top ten wicket takes just goes on to show what a coordinated effort it has been. The final was just another example of what has been happening throughout the tournament. Take the match against Australia, where the run chase was studded with three half centuries, take the match against Pakistan where the 10 wickets were equally divided among the only 5 bowlers. The fielding, particularly in the knockout games was simply exceptional. Gone are the days when people used to stop watching the match when a Sachin Tendulkar or a Virender Sehwag got out.

The amount of hard work, efforts and sacrifice that have gone into the achievement was clearly visible in the emotions that were flowing on the big day. Statements of maturity coming from people like young Virat Kohli are just indicative of that fact. When captain Dhoni kept talking about peaking at the right time, I always used to think that he is using a clichéd phrase. However, it eventually turned out to be exactly what he meant. The best of the performances seemed as if they were reserved for the most important of the matches.

Whatever written about the WC victory is incomplete without giving one man his share. MS Dhoni. What a man, what a leader. You can never understand what is going on in that calm mind till it actually happens. He has demonstrated it time and again. Some of his moves, though questionable ( he would have been taken to the guillotine had his moves to pick Sreesanth ahead of Ashwin OR promoting himself ahead of the in form Yuvi had failed), eventually turned out to be masterclass of an act. Remember the IPL 3 finals, and the way he had Hayden at the mid off, while having a long off as well, just to get rid of Pollard? All you need to now do is to trust this man with whatever he does, because he would have thought about it a hundred times and is doing it only because he thinks that it is the right thing to do. This man is surely going to be a role model for many and there is a lot to learn from him with regards to leadership lessons, management and strategy.

More than anything, it was the commitment towards one single and united objective, the desire to succeed and actions directed towards that desire that separated the good from the great. I have always got a feeling that, when time demands, there have always been players in other teams who have stood up to the demands and delivered. Take the case of Ricky Ponting in the quarters, Mahela Jayawardena in the finals, Andrew Strauss in the league match and so on. I used to feel why do we not have such players, who can make a match out of nothing, who can bounce back from the ground and go on to create history. This team has demonstrated that. Be it a Yuvraj or a Raina, be it a Zaheer or a Munaf, be it a Nehra or a Ashwin, be it a Gambhir or a Kohli, everyone has contributed and at times, when the match threatened to go out of control, these men have come up with inspirational performances to win it for India.

ONE LAST TIME

2011-03-26T16:30:00.003+05:30

I will climb the hills of Lavale

And do what I used to do so regularly

One last time

I will wake up for that chai at 7 AM

And refresh myself with the freshness

One last time

I will bathe in the hot water

In the shower in my room

One last time

I will eat in the mess

Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

One last time

I will write that semester exam

In one of those X-Series rooms

One last time

I will wait without complaining at PMC

For someone who has always kept me waiting

One last time

I will walk through the corridors of the Acad Block

And bid adieu to all the wonderful people there

One last time

I will remember the great debates and the discussions

And the long deliberations we had as an EC

One last time

I will laugh and giggle with Addy as if there is no tomorrow

While reliving Preeti's HRisms and innocence

One last time

I will watch the lights twinkle at a distance

From the serenities of the amphitheatre

One last time

I will walk down the road to the Annexe

As a tribute to the Jugaad that is life here

One last time

I will bathe in the fountain

Near the globe or in the waterfall

One last time

I will walk all the way to the canteen

To eat Maggi and VadaPav

One last time

I will dance like crazy at Silver Spoon

For the music of the 80s or the 90s or anything

One last time

I will try to evaluate

The number of SKU's at our own FMCG shop

One last time

I will stand in the hostel corridors discussing

The most important issues with the CR

One last time

I will get my documents photocopied

And laminated from Babu Bhaiyya's shop

One last time

I will go to Hangoverr, to relish

Cheese Chilli Toast and Dal Makhni all over again

One last time

I will spend an hour in my team room

Which gave me the most in the last two years

One last time

I will remember and recollect all the great moments

Which I have had with the most amazing ARTists

One last time

I will brainstorm with Heman & Mundi

Upsie, Vadla & Pakoda, On issues and non issues

One last time

I will go to Mezza9, eat those Nachos with cheese

With the best of my friends on the campus

One last time

I will sing Aadat with Nakul & Buddy

With Hailey joining for the chorus

One last time

I will multicast on IP, shout on Infodrome

And download more and more from DC++

One last time

I will go to the swimming pool

And try to swim like Hanchu & Peezay

One last time

I will remember all those moments with Snehal and Sujit

Dash, Nayyar and Reva, Pranav and Joey

One last time

I will go to play TT

And attempt to beat Ankit at it

One last time

I will go to the Rec Center

And see if somebody's arse is on fire

One last time

I will play Poker and Teen patti in my room

With the family of 348, extended to a dozen

One last time

I will watch the sun set behind the hills

From the heights of the hostel terraces

One last time

As the first of my batchmates pack their bags today

I will be there to bid them adieu

To wish them luck and pray for their success

A Tribute to the Operations Maestros of the Batch of 2011, SIBM Pune

2011-03-26T16:26:00.001+05:30

I, am Operations.

I have seen 3 batches of students pursuing their MBAs in studying various aspects about me from SIBM Pune and this is the 4th (pun intended). It would definitely not be wrong on my part to say that this is the best bunch of people to have ever adorned the tag of Opscians

I can vividly remember 3rd August 2009 when 25 people from different educational and professional backgrounds gathered in X101 to join hands for the next two years. With a good mix of freshers as well as people with good work experience (across diverse sectors), engineers and non-engineers, this batch was all set to embark on a rocking journey.

There were Guri, Shreyas, Zoozoo, Antoz, Kedar and Tudu who handled the mantle of responsibilities of the class CR with utmost sincerity and dedication. Budhwar was the Lone Wolf, the undisputed topper of the batch. Sunainaand Rakhee ensured that the population of the fairer sex was the best ever in the history of Ops, growing by a good 100% over the previous year. Jain Saab was undoubtedly the most knowledgeable person in the class. Hailey was an expert faffer and Nitin was the one who always finished first (in the exams). Grover was the first to get a PPO in the class and Gaurav Jain was the man for Jugaad & Gossip. Then there were the Chor Brothers (Kunal & Vivek), both of whom had made us proud in sporting activities. Our very own Rajat, who was known for his love for ABN Amro Bank. There was Anirbond, who along with Cheti and Kunal filled in for the Senior Citizen post of the class. Chawla, our very own friend from Purdue gave an international flavor to the class. Milind, Kaushal and Ankur were eternal meditators in class. Chandran & Anubhav were the visiting students.

Known for their solidarity and compassion, camaraderie and bonhomie THIS batch is, without any ambiguity, the batch with the closest bonding on the campus. They are the only people who have had the privilege to go on Educational Tours to industries fully sponsored by the Institute.

After two years, as this fun filled yet focused, enjoyable yet disciplined journey comes to an end, I hope everyone leaves this place with all their wishes, personal and professional, fulfilled. I am glad and consider myself fortunate, that each of these 25 most amazing people will adorn MY tag for the rest of their life. I am sure they will miss each other as I am sure to. I also hope that they stay connected and as closely bonded as they are all today and end up being successful in their chosen paths of life.

Over the Decade

2011-01-04T19:19:00.002+05:30

A new decade has started. An old decade ended. Someone was right when he said “Every beginning has an end, and every end is a new beginning”. This New Year’s eve, I sat back and pondered over the major happenings of the decade. As I was at home, I couldn’t stop looking at things from the perspective of how they have changed in Udupi. I am sure the story would be similar for most other towns of India. I would not be looking at one time events, but try to list out gradual changes that have taken place over the decade.

1. Cellphone revolution

200X has marked the decade when the pagers have become obsolescent. People, who used to boast of having pagers for communication, have had to quickly switch over to mobile phones. The Doctor community was the most affected. The tower of the Motorola pager and the office still exists where it did, but I am not sure whether at all it is used for anything.

Everyone today has atleast one mobile. The upper cut off varies. Prominent among multiple mobile users are the school and college going students who make extensive use of the free messaging and free incoming calls facilities offered in the Students’ Plan by most telecom operators.

2. The entry of Big Bazaar

Big Bazaar made its entry into a town as small as Udupi as well. And believe me, when that happened, it was a sight to watch. In the initial months, it would not be wrong if I say, more people visited BB than the Sri Krishna Temple, which is a tourist destination. People from all nearby villages flooded to see and feel the escalators, the automatic doors, the bar code scanners and automatic billings and so on. Till then, the maximum that people of Udupi had perhaps seen was an Airody or a Little Pai superstore. But BB was a totally new thing for them. Whether this rush has turned into good sales and whether BB is profitable, I do not know for sure.

3. Improvements in roads and traffic infrastructure

Metallic roads have replaced the tar roads in almost all the major roads in and around Udupi. With this, the usual troubles during rains, accumulation of dust and water, eventually leading to diseases have reduced. Metallic concrete roads also mean lower maintenance. Overall, perhaps the best thing to have happened.

Roads have also widened in most parts of the town. Most of the bottlenecks have now cleared leading to free flowing traffic in the town and savings in time for the citizens.

Traffic signals have come up, though they blink amber most of the times. Traffic density is perhaps not all that strong to warrant traffic signals at this point of time. There was an attempt made in the 90s also to enforce them. But when the city isn’t ready for it, really doesn’t make sense. Maybe the administration is being way too proactive in this case.

4. Up gradations in Public Transport

Unlike most other places, the city buses in the city are not state run. Private operators run the city buses and increasing number of players in the market has led to a healthy competition. New buses have been added in a lot of routes that were hardly known earlier. Buses plying within city limits now bear numbers based on the routes and the destinations. This has made identification easily. Crowded places have different platforms also.

Auto rickshaws have also moved almost entirely from I don’t know what make they were earlier, to the much more comfortable Rear Engine Bajaj make and now more recently to TVS makes. Fare meters have been made mandatory on all the auto rickshaws and this has drastically reduced cheating by a large extent. However, the Govt. has perhaps done its part. Now it’s the citizens’ responsibility to ensure implementation of the same by insisting that they pay only by the meter.

5. Advent of the Satellite TV

Doordarshan has literally been replaced by Satellite Television by Private Cable operators and now by the likes of Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV et al. Life has indeed come a full circle for the cable operators, who once had a monopoly in a market saturated with Doordarshan.

6. Functioning of Business Establishments

Sundays always used to be a very dull day in the city. Except for restaurants and health care establishments, no other commercial unit used to operate on Sundays. I remember seeing people play games like cricket and badminton on the roads without any fear. Not anymore. Though not all shops open on Sundays, the fraction of the shops that remain open on Sundays has drastically gone up. These days you can find a lot of other shops also being open for business on Sundays.

7. Awareness towards higher education

More and more people have realized the importance of professional education and are moving outside Udupi for their graduation. The number of Post Graduates from the place has also grown up drastically and the number of people going abroad for studies / job prospects has also grown up. This can been seen by the long queues outside the Post Offices for getting the Passport applications reviewed, as post offices also do not have much to do with the advent of the Internet.

8. Ownership of vehicles

A humble farmer or a trader who used to travel miles together on his old and rusty, trustworthy mate, a bicycle has now graduated to a Moped or even an ungeared scooterette/scooter. And what more, the frequency of replacing it has also gone down greatly. Earlier, he would not have replaced his bicycle for atleast 10 years. Today in the same 10 year gap, he would have owned atleast 2-3 new two wheelers.

Four wheelers also have gone on the up. 3 out of 5 houses (statistically I may be wrong), perhaps have a 4 wheeler now. This can be seen by the sheer number of vehicles on the road or the number of vehicles getting registered monthly. Another proof for this is the number of 4 wheeler Dealerships that have come up in Udupi. Maruti and Tata have set up Main dealerships, Hyundai is in the process of one. All other major 4 wheeler manufacturers have atleast a sub dealership in the place now.

9. Buildings & more buildings

Another major change that can be seen in the city is the number of buildings that have come up. In the initial days, buildings were solely restricted for commercial units and business establishments. Shopping centers and arcades were the first ones to make way. Residences were almost always independent houses or villas with maximum one floor. However, now things are slowly changing with lots of apartments coming up in the town. People have also changed their living styles accordingly.

10. THE Internet

This has without doubt been a revolution of the decade. It has made information and communication more accessible to almost everyone for their various day to day uses. Initial part of the decade was characterized by the mushrooming of Cyber Cafes and Browsing Centers at every intersection in the town. There used to be long queues and often the waiting times ran into hours. The charges used to be as high as Rs 80 per hr for an AC parlour with separate cabins for privacy to as low as Rs 40 per hr for an ordinary set up. And people were willing to pay that much

Today, with the advent of Broadband, and again the intense competition in the market, the common man has benefitted. Internet is available in almost all the households, again used for various purposes like education, games, chatting with a son or a daughter staying abroad, business, share markets et al. Cyber cafes have almost disappeared, and those that do exist, do not work solely on that business for survival.

So effectively over the years, the place has seen a great shift from being well known only for Sri Krishna, the annual Janmashtami festival and the bi annual Paryaya festival.

Never Give Up!!

2010-12-29T23:42:00.001+05:30

It was very heartening to see the World No.1 Indian test side bouncing back from the bottom and squaring the ongoing series against hosts South Africa. After the humiliating innings loss at Centurion in the first test, where the only positive was perhaps Sachin Tendulkar’s 50^th Test century (Yes, I really doubt if people are aware that Rahul Dravid becoming only the third player in Test History to cross the milestone of 12000 runs in the same match); after India lost the toss in Kingsmead Durban; with injuries grappling the team at the critical moments, it was very easy to write the Indians off.

But that was not to be the case. In what I had suspected and what could have very well been the shortest test match played ever, Indians emerged victorious by 87 runs. Being bowled out for a little above 200 in the first innings, and bowling to a strong South African batting line up which had amassed 600 plus runs in the first match losing only 4 wickets, it was easy to give up. But that was not to be. Hardly did anyone believe that the same batting line up will crumple for 131 runs in the first innings. Disciplined bowling aided by apt support from the fielders helped Indians restrict the mighty South Africans.

The second innings was studded with one and only one diamond and that was VVS Laxman. What a man, what an innings. I am just curious to know how many matches this man has won for India and how many matches he has saved for India. It would be really great if someone can compile and compare what percentage of his total Test runs have come in innings which have been of some consequence to the Indian team (either winning the match or helping salvage a draw from the jaws of defeat) vis-à-vis that for other “great” batsmen India has seen.

The bowlers delivered the final punch and it was heartening to see the quickies make good use of the conditions. The best dismissal of the day according to me was of Kallis unable to read a quicker short ball, something which has traditionally been our weakness. Zaheer setting up Steyn’s dismissal was also heartening to see. Of course, there were some umpiring errors too which fortunately favored us, but let us not take the credit away from the bowlers and their disciplined effort. Whatever it is, a test match is always won by bowlers. You need to get 20 wickets in order to emerge victorious.

Over the years, it has been great to see this Indian team evolve as a thinking unit. A great part of this transformation should go to captain Dhoni and coach Kirsten. I can vividly remember Dhoni demonstrating similar tactics during the finals of IPL 3 last May to get rid of Kieron Pollard which had locked the doors for Mumbai Indians.

In another venue Melbourne, on the same Boxing Day however, the much hyped Australian team took on the in-form England. Again, on a test match battled over just three and a half days, it was England written all over the match right from the word go. What was missing, from the once invincible Australian team perhaps, was the commitment and the will power. After being bowled out for 98 in the first innings and after failing to take any English wicket on the first day, it seemed as if they just gave up. This is in stark contrast to the reaction that the Indian team gave in much a similar situation.

It is indeed great for the Indians to finish the year with a bang. Let us hope that they take the momentum forward into the World Cup and into the coming year where as a friend pointed out, much stronger challenges like the tours of England and Australia lie ahead.

Commonwealth Games - All the best

2010-10-04T00:37:00.001+05:30

As I write this, the inauguration ceremony of the XIX Commonwealth Games starts off in Delhi. I can only hope that everything goes on well for the next 12 days. Looking at the controversies that have marred the Games over the last few months, the entire episode is expected to be a rocky affair. The entire world has its eyes on Delhi, thanks to the publicity given to the happenings by the media. What remains to be seen is how things will be executed over the next two weeks.

The Games, being held in India for the first time in history, has given us an opportunity to showcase our strengths as an upcoming superpower of the world. As a developing nation, with an economy growing sustainably over the last few days, the success of the games will lead to a lot of significant decisions being made in the international circles over the next few months. If we are able to pull off the games successfully, we can expect a rise in foreign investments in the country over the next few years, a rise in employment levels which can in turn lead to a rise in the standard of living of the people of the country.

So much of hue and cry has been raised about the misappropriation of funds by the Organizing Committee. Media started putting it up on the world scene and what was known about the Indian system about corruption only to us, was made known to the entire world. What would have otherwise simply passed on as just another event, has now caught the attention of the whole world. I am in no way trying to appreciate the actions of the OC. I agree that the media had to play a role in making getting these things to the attention of the people. But in doing so, and in the competitive world that everyone is playing today, they perhaps failed to realize that their actions could make more harm to the reputation of the country.

What happened? As and when participants started arriving, the Games Village and infrastructure provided became the central point of attraction. The media still had not learnt the lessons. They again started broadcasting the poor conditions at the village and perhaps made things look much worse than they actually were. Again, I am in no way supporting the poor construction done and the collapse of an overbridge outside one of the venues. The result? A lot of athletes and well known participants pulled out of the event, which obviously doesn’t augur well for the country.

What was shown was probably the bottom 5% of the whole work in terms of quality. How many newspapers have shown photographs of the fantastic infrastructure that has been laid in place in different parts of Delhi for the Games? How many news channels have telecasted the good thing about the Games? How many media houses have actually brought the positive comments of athletes about the Games Village, especially in comparison with the Beijing Olympics to the public’s notice? Why do we always attack the negative side of things and fail to appreciate the positives? Till I received a mail, which had photographs of the other side of the story, even I was ignorant.

There was another group of people who were totally opposing the conducting of games in the country. They say that the same amount if spent on people and the poor, would have led to different results. What these people fail to realize is that these games have actually done a lot more to the infrastructure of Delhi, which otherwise would not have been possible. Flyovers, underpasses, grade separators, multilevel parking lots, drainage systems and lot more. This would help in decongestion of traffic on the roads of Delhi for the years to come. This would have led to the displacement of a lot of people from the centre of the city. But this was bound to happen sooner than later. So it’s rather good that it happened today.

Opposing the games on the ground of poverty in the country is actually stupid considering the fact that the very games would in turn bring in investments which would perhaps help us get rid of the same poverty. In fact, not many would have forgotten the intense lobbying done by Tony Blair and Jaques Chiraq for successfully bidding to conduct the Olympics in 2012, which London successfully won. When developed countries can go to such an extent, one can understand what exactly is at stake.

Another issue is the mountain made of a mole hill of the comment by the OC Secretary about the difference in standards of hygiene between foreign countries and in India. But hey, wait!! Isn’t that true? What is the condition of toilets in our Govt. offices, airports, railway stations and bus terminals? Again, that is not any excuse to any shoddy work done in any case. But who are these people to raise fingers against that when the pride of the nation is held at ransom?

For all that we know, the Games may just end without any major hurdles. It might just be one of the most successful sporting events India has ever hosted. Pray that nothing serious happens in the next 12 days and we all stand up in pride, as citizens of a proud nation. But let us not forget what happened in the background. The guilty need to be punished. And proper steps need to be taken to ensure that such things are not repeated in the future. But on the other end, the media also needs to know where to draw a line. There is a fine line of difference between being the first to report and holding national pride at stake.

Signing off with the hope and prayers that the games would be a grand success.

Gandhi

2010-10-02T23:16:00.001+05:30

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. This was the same man who I hated from the bottom of my heart when I was in school. Every year, every subject all we had to do was to study about him. Every language had lessons on him, history classes always used to praise him and to add to the misery, we had to watch movies made on him by each and every producer on every Gandhi Jayanti – which meant a national holiday sacrificed to learn more about a person, we already knew enough about!

But wait. Did we really know enough about him? Do we still? Honestly, as a kid, I always used to wonder why Gandhi was given so much of credit for the freedom of India. I was of the opinion that, he in fact delayed the freedom for India and it was he who was responsible for the partition of India. I strongly used to believe that either Subhash Chandra Bose or maybe the revolutionaries in Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Chandrashekar Azad, if they had their way, would have given us freedom much earlier.

But as I have grown up, perspectives have changed. If not for anything, today I salute Gandhiji for his ability to organize people. His sheer capacity to gather people in a matter of no time was perhaps his greatest strength. People were willing to do whatever he asked them to, without questioning him. And he led by example. He had no two faces like most of the politicians of today do. He was a man of simple living and high thinking. That he was hated by many and made a few enemies in the process is immaterial. What needs to be remembered is that he was strong enough to mobilize an entire nation with his thoughts and vision for the country. Even though the freedom might have come a bit late than it could have, what great have we achieved in the last 60 odd years of freedom? Everyone comes with a set of positives and negatives. It’s best when we can leverage the positives and make the negatives redundant to as much an extent as possible.

Salute to the great man on his 141^st birth anniversary.

Delhi - 2010

2010-09-29T23:15:00.000+05:30

No. This isn’t going to be about the XIX Commonwealth Games to be conducted at Delhi. Twenty six and a half odd years since I was born was what it took for me to visit the Indian capital for the first time. A trip that lasted 2 nights and 3 days was indeed a very memorable one. I had the opportunity to attend the first ever India Today Youth Summit with the people who I have been closest to in the past year and a half. This post is going to be about all these.

Intentionally preferring the Rajdhani Express from Mumbai over flights to Delhi, so that we as a team could get enough time to discuss things among ourselves, we set out one fine morning from Pune. Ever since I was a child, long train journeys have always fascinated me, and given a choice, I would any day prefer a train journey over a flight journey.

Murphy’s Law always works!! Some wiring faults led to the power connection in only our bogie to be tripped for close to 40 minutes and that meant staying inside the coach without the AC. Other than this, there was no major hiccup anywhere and the train was infact ahead of schedule at all its scheduled stops including the destination New Delhi.

I had an opportunity to travel by the Delhi Metro as soon as reached Delhi. Impressed was I to say the least. Metro in fact has to be the best thing to have happened to Delhi in the recent past. Kudos to E Sreedharan and his team for executing such a complicated project in record time, which has benefitted people in a huge way. Metro perhaps has helped decongest the roads of Delhi to a large extent. It is connected to literally every part of the city now and even places like Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad which is an icing on the cake. So much is the convenience of the Metro that I hardly travelled by road in Delhi during my 3 days in the city.

An impressive thing to be noted here is the way Metro is being maintained. I was surprised to note the cleanliness in every Metro station that I visited and every Metro coach that I travelled. No stains of paan were to be seen anywhere, nor were any waste papers, bottles or anything for that matter. All the infrastructure, seat cushions, gliders, advertising hoardings were really clean. At a minimum fare of Rs. 8, the services are quite expensive compared to the other modes of transport. But that doesn’t hinder people from using it. I have seen people from all classes of the society travel in the Metro.

That brings me to the crucial point here. It’s not the implementation of discipline that’s a problem. Rather it’s the willingness that needs to be there. It’s more or less the same demography of people who are present in every other major city in India. But can we think of a clean local train in Mumbai? Can we think of everyone travelling in Mumbai locals by paying the right fare always? I have nothing against Mumbai, in fact I love Mumbai, but this question struck me when I was travelling to and fro in the Metro lot of times.

The Youth Summit went on very well. It was very professionally organized. I had the opportunity to listen to my idol Nandan Nilekani among a lot of other speakers. Believe me, I was thrilled to listen to him and he was indeed very inspiring. Viswanathan Anand, Pranav Mistry, Saurav Ganguly, Katrina Kaif, Sachin Pilot, Chhavi Rajawat, Sanjeev Sanyal, Mukul Deora, Jaideep Sahni were among the prominent speakers of the day. One thing that was common between all the speakers was the simplicity that they appeared with and the modesty that they portrayed. In spite of being so successful in their life, each of them was down to earth and interacted with the 600 strong audience.

At the end of the day, I was one proud person having been fortunate enough to have got an opportunity to attend the summit. I would personally like to attend Youth Summits in the future, atleast for the next 5 years or so. Who knows, after that I might just be one of the speakers :P

Murphy’s Law struck once again during the return journey, this time with the engine of the Rajdhani Express. The train started half an hour late and arrived at Bombay Central an hour behind schedule. All said and done, it was a really memorable trip. Gobbling food all through the onward the return journeys, card games till late at nights – which actually can be good teachers of business strategy, teasing each other on loads of issues, some serious discussions on important issues and all this marked my first trip to Delhi. Would love to be there again soon, in a relaxed mode, with ample time at hand and enjoy watching the actual reasons why Delhi is famous for!!

Capital Punishment for Terrorists – Is it sufficient??

2010-05-06T22:24:00.001+05:30

The special court set up to hear the Mumbai attacks of 26/11 has finally come out with the verdict. Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive, has been convicted on various counts and has been sentenced to death. This is a commendable achievement by the Indian Judiciary, to announce its verdict in around 18 months considering that loads of other cases have been pending in the Indian courts since decades.

But the point to be debated is whether capital punishment or death penalty is a solution to prevent terrorism? A simple point to be understood is that a terrorist or a suicide bomber who is fully armed and on a mission, is definitely not bothered about being killed. Death doesn’t deter him at all. He is fully prepared to die the moment he takes up the mission and once done, it’s only a bonus if he returns back alive.

With that background in mind, how does a capital punishment help?? These people are supposedly very strong willed, and that in itself is a big challenge. But how many of such terrorists can be sentenced to death?? And just sentencing them to death doesn’t solve the matter at all. The decision has to be mandatorily ratified by the High Court. The convict also has the option of going to the Supreme Court and even to the President with a petition for clemency. And to add to the facts, there are 300 odd people waiting to be hanged to death in India, the wait being attributed to various reasons some political, some social etc..

In fact, Kasab will become a hero back home. He will be taken as an example for selflessness and commitment in future terrorist training camps. More people will be brainwashed and coerced into the act.

A terrorist should not be killed, nor should he be left to live peacefully. He should be tortured endlessly. He must feel the pain, which the families of the victims are going to live with for the rest of their lives. He must not be allowed to sleep when he wants. The treatment should make him crave for death and death should not come to him easily. The punishment has to be such that it should make someone planning a terrorist attack, think a hundred times before doing it.

Of course there will be hypocrites all over the country who will oppose this in the name of human rights violations. But it’s high time to act tough. We cannot just let these things happen again and again, and react to it later on. Hundreds of innocent lives will be lost (which would be forgotten eventually) and the damage will already be done. The terrorists will have succeeded in accomplishing their objectives. It’s time to be proactive and do something that uproots the evils of terrorism.

Death of 'The Bowler'

2010-04-08T18:44:00.000+05:30

“International Cricket will not have bowlers anymore”. This was announced by International Cricket Council (ICC) chief Mr Michael Bevan at Lords today after the historic Ashes showdown. He said that over the years, there has been nobody who wants to master the art of bowling and it’s very unfortunate that we will no longer get to see the likes of the great Shane Warne, Mutaiah Muralidaran, Curtley Ambrose, Michael Holding and so on. When asked about how cricket is going to be played in such a case, he said that they will be using Bowling Machines which can throw balls at high and variable speeds. They would be highly programmable in real time and can be controlled from the Dressing Room. It will be mainly based on Random Logic and the predictability of every successive ball will be very difficult. “With this, we expect to see the beginning of a new era in the way the game is played”, he said.

- The Wisden, January 2029

I am sure this is going to be the fate of cricket in not too distant future. The reason – cricket has over the decades become a game that increasingly favors batsmen. The entity called Bowler has literally been killed over the years. Murder would be an apt word, and it has been done very skillfully and artistically. Ask any kid who is interested in cricket, who he wants to be like and you are more likely to get a Sachin Tendulkar or a Virender Sehwag as an answer rather than a Harbhajan Singh or a Zaheer Khan. The reasons are obvious!

Gone are the days when bowlers were a feared lot. Those days, cricket was played over 5 days and more often than not ended without any result. That longer format of the game required the teams to get the opposition out twice, in order to forge a result. And to get the opposition out, you needed good bowlers, who could take 20 wickets in the stipulated time.

Then came the Limited Overs match which was played over a day. Initially it was a 60 overs-a-side affair, which was later revised to 50 overs-a-side. With the advent of this version of the game, the onus was on scoring runs to win the match and not on picking wickets. There was also a limit on the maximum number of overs that a bowler could bowl, thereby putting restrictions on the bowlers. But there were no restrictions on the maximum number of runs that a batsman could score in a match. 50 overs was still long enough and there have been enough instances in history when teams have bowled out the oppositions well before the stipulated number of overs.

Over the years, emphasis has always been laid on the batsmen. I do not remember any bowler getting the accolades or the praise that he deserves. For a simple example, take the case of India itself. How many batsmen have won the Arjuna award and how many bowlers have? It is not that we have not had bowlers of international repute. Kapil Dev held the record for the maximum number of wickets in Test Cricket for a long time. Anil Kumble, till he retired last year, was one of the most feared spinners on the International Arena. Harbhajan Singh also, can be very dangerous on his given day.

What is lacking though is the support from the game itself. This is partly because, it is more entertaining to watch the batsmen hit fours and sixes rather than watching bowlers pick wickets. The rules are very harsh on the bowlers. Earlier, the fielding restrictions were for 15 overs in the beginning. Then came the concept of power plays which made it 10 plus 5 plus 5, thereby giving the batsmen 5 more overs to go after the bowling. Later these rules were modified as to include a bowling power play and a batting power play where the batting team would choose which stretch of 5 overs they would like to go after the bowling. In short, there is no relief for the bowlers. The new concept of ‘free hit’ offered for a line no ball is another punishment for the bowlers. They are not allowed to bowl more than 2 bouncers in an over and bouncers over the head are immediately declared as wide. In short, bowling has become a thankless job. The boundaries have become smaller and smaller. Compare this to the restrictions on the batsmen – practically nothing. There have been a lot of innovations made in the bat in terms of the grips, size and shape, location of the sweet spots and so on but compare this to the ones made on the ball. Can we boast of a ball which could be swung the way one wanted? Is there a ball designed so that the bounce can be unpredictable for the batsman? Can there be a ball which could spin either way?

With the advent of an even shorter version of the game, the T20, it has virtually given a license to the batsmen to bludgeon the bowlers. There were days when 240s and 250s were considered a good score in Tests. Today, there have been instances where 200s have been comfortably chased down in a 20 over game. The pitches for the ODIs or the T20s have been so designed so that it helps only bowlers. And whenever there have been instances of pitches playing unpredictable, and suiting the bowlers, the match has been abandoned with ‘unfavorable playing conditions’ being cited as the reasons. That shows how helpless, bowlers have been.

Of course there have been instances where bowlers have shone in a batsmen’s game. What is important is to ensure that such performances are encouraged. It is important to make sure that the morale of bowlers as a community is down let down. A very recent example is the performance of Doug Bollinger of CSK in the recent T20 match against RR. He managed to return with figures of 17 for 1 off his stipulated 4 overs in a match where the opposition scored 223 in 20 overs. Such a performance should have won the MoM award. What’s the point of felicitating a batsman who has done well because all the factors are heavily loaded in his favor? It would rather make a lot of sense to honor a bowler who does exceptionally well when conditions are adverse.

Perhaps it is high time that suitable actions are taken now to ensure that the game is a level playing field for all the entities involved in the game. This may necessarily mean reviewing the way the game is played; change some rules with an attempt to facilitate equal opportunities for all. Or else, the hypothetical news excerpt may very well come true.

Ignore English at your own peril

2010-01-04T19:54:00.000+05:30

English is increasingly becoming the most preferred language of communication in the corporate world today. Over the last couple of days, I have been trying to evaluate the consequences of such a development.

English as a language has been learnt and taught in India ever since the British ruled us. So there is roughly a history of 400 years to this, though more formally, education in English would have started only in the last century. But the rate at which English education has grown in India is very poor. Today, only 11% of the population in India are English literate (know to read and write in English). With the world becoming flatter and opportunities opening up everywhere in the world, it becomes very important for us Indians to know English and be competent enough to converse well in the language in order to cash in on the opportunities. One advantage we Indians have today over the Chinese is that we can better communicate in English than the Chinese (Remember that China and India are the fastest growing economies in the world today). We need to ensure that we leverage this to the maximum.

If the trends of people getting admissions into the elite management or engineering institutes across the country are followed, a clear pattern of a majority of people hailing from the metros can be derived. Barring the four metros and some state capitals, there is hardly anybody from the Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities. This is not because there is dearth of talent in the rural pockets in India. Dhirubhai Ambani, one of the finest entrepreneurs of our times never went to a B School. Any Ramappa from an interior village in Karnataka may be brilliant in his management skills, yet loses out only because he cannot communicate properly in English.

It is wrong to blame the people for the poor English literacy rate in India. In the current scenario, it is very difficult for people to think in English. Also the thoughts are most effectively communicated when they are expressed in the language one thinks. And more often than not, this happens to be the mother tongue of the person. Moreover, there are examples from history like Atal Behari Vajpayee’s speech in Hindi in the UN General Assembly, where he would never have been as effective, had he spoken the same in English.

But the point that remains is that we should not lose out on emerging opportunities to others just because we are not conversant with English. English has become the order of the day. The times are changing and we need to change with time. Today, we depend a lot on the whole world and we have markets for our products and services across the seven continents. So in order to use these effectively, we need to be able to communicate effectively in that language which is most frequently used in the corporate world.

So, the necessity in the current context is to equip the youth of the country, with English as an important tool to success. I strongly feel that the primary and secondary education system in the country should be designed such that thousands of such deserving Ramappa’s do not miss out getting the best opportunities, just because they did not have access to the language in which the world speaks today.

I do agree that at a micro level, English may not be a priority for a country that’s struggling to achieve a good literacy record. But we should not wait for literacy to shoot up and then focus on English. The attempt has to start parallely, so that we do not lose out on these wonderful years where we are going to be the drivers of the world economy. Let us hope that Kapil Sibal and Ministry of HRD comes up with some policy to this effect.

CWS Hyderabad - A success against all odds!

2009-12-31T23:59:00.001+05:30

I landed at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad in the wee hours of 13^th December 2009. I was in Hyderabad after 8 long months, this time to conduct Coffee with SIBM. Ever since I had quit working and packed from Hyderabad, I had this soft corner for Hyderabad in my heart. I closely used to follow the happenings in Hyderabad every day. So when Hyderabad was selected as a venue for CWS, I literally ensured that I got the whole pie and nobody even dared come close to it.

As I took the all familiar and most convenient mode of transport into the city, the Volvo, I observed that lots of things have changed in the last 8 months. The city looked a lot cleaner and roads looked a lot wider. I observed a lot of changes in the intersections, the traffic and the buildings. Change was staring straight into my eyes in whatever I chose to see.

Ever since I had selected Hyderabad as one of the venues for conducting CWS, I had taken loads of initiatives to ensure that CWS Hyderabad was a huge success. I ensured that we rented the best auditorium in the best place within our budgetary limits. Within our team, I wanted Hyderabad to come out with the best outcome in CWS. Having worked in Hyderabad for 3 years, I had struck a chord with the city which made me all the more focused towards the goal. Overall, I had left no stone unturned for this event. I made sure that the publicity was done properly for the event. I had even asked my friend Shreyas to be in Hyderabad, a day before the event to sense the pulse at the venue.

Hyderabad, had just then, been released from the tight vices of what had threatened to be a dangerous agitation for Telangana. At times, we at Pune who were closely monitoring the situation had thought to cancel the event at the last minute. Different people from different sources in Hyderabad gave me starkly conflicting opinions. The situation was oscillating from good to bad to worse and to good again like a pendulum. And this was not helping at all. There have been times when my mood has also swung like the same pendulum!

And finally when we had decided that the event would happen, I made sure to travel that extra mile to ensure that all the efforts put in so far, will not go waste from now on. We sent mails and SMSs to the participants to ensure that awareness is created about the event in the city.

And when the day arrived, we reached the venue well in advance. I had asked a couple of my friends there to accompany me so that they could be of some help. I was in for a big shock of my life when I saw people turning at the venue a good one hour before the scheduled time. We made some basic checks in the auditorium, fixed all the connections and started letting the people in. The auditorium was full even before the scheduled time. We arranged for some additional chairs to be placed in the auditorium and these were filled in no time. And to rub salt on our wounds, the length of the queue outside was only increasing.

We were suddenly into fire fighting mode. With the turnout only on the rise, we were left with no option but to have two sessions now. I asked my friends to control the crowd. We got some classrooms nearby opened and asked the people to sit in those classrooms. We explained them the situation, and luckily they all understood. I was expecting brickbat showers when I went down to take them into confidence, but it all happened the other way. There were people who were willing to stand and watch the entire proceedings. In the meanwhile, Shreyas had already started the proceedings inside. I was shuttling between the auditorium and the classrooms to make sure that things were under control. Arrangements for coffee had to be made for the incremental number. The merchandise that we had carried from here was definitely going to run out of stock soon. We had to judiciously use them. Some people started to walk out in between. We did not do any attempt to stop them as we would have done in a normal situation. We avoided unnecessary questions and unwanted interactions were simply snipped off. We ran through the session fast, so that the people waiting outside did not get too restless. One session got over and we started with the second. The auditorium was as filled in the second sitting as it was in the first. At the end of the whole event which ran for more than four and a half hours, when I gave the last CD in my hand to the last person in the auditorium, I was one relieved person.

CWS Hyderabad was definitely one big effort. The intricacies involved and the complications that we ran through the process are enough proof for me to be personally satisfied with the outcome of the event. I would not hesitate to call CWS Hyderabad as one of the best phases of CWS 2009. Even in the wildest of my imaginations I had not expected such a huge turnover. That, a similar event supposed to be held the previous week was cancelled, also helped our cause to some extent. It also looks like the tension in Hyderabad had stopped only for the couple of days preceding and succeeding the event. It was like everything in and around us helping us make the event possible.

“When a man pursues his destiny, everything in the world conspires to make it possible” – The Alchemist

Watching the sun set……. Drowning into memories………

2009-12-31T19:25:00.000+05:30

“A thing of beauty is a joy forever” - John Keats.

With nothing significant to do at the end of the day, I was just watching outside my window as the sun set into history, behind the Sahyadri ranges for the last time in 2009. I hurriedly rushed to get my camera so that I can treasure these moments forever. What makes these moments special is the fact that there never has been a similar sunset in the past nor there ever will be a similar sunset in the future. The mountain ranges, the cloud formation, the birds flying back to their nests all at a time in different permutations and combinations almost always ensure that you never get to see the same view again. The sun draped in golden charm, lighting the surrounding mountains in a light orangish red view was indeed a feast to watch

Right on the opposite side, the full moon was rising. And for some reason, it was looking different today. The colour was light yellowish and it even seemed a bit larger than always. As I saw it rise over the highest part on our campus, I was never so excited, alternating my camera between the two giants of the universe. How I wish I had an SLR!!!

As I sat in my room whiling away my time for the last few hours of the year, I quickly plunged into the oceans of memories of how 2009 had been for me. The very first day had good news for me with my name being shortlisted for consideration for promotion to the next level at work. The next couple of months were hectic and testing in terms of my ability to make some quick and consistent decisions. There have been quite a few occasions where I had to choose between two alternatives, both of them which I would have equally loved to have selected. Summer of 09 was fully in vacation mood and went totally in de-stressing physically and mentally. Come rains, and it was time to go back to school. The only difference was that this was a B school! The days in this B School also have been enlightening. They have given me a newer and broader perspective of life. The activities I have been a part of in this second innings with the books have been a big learning experience and I for sure can vouch that this would never have happened otherwise. Temporary bouts of panic and confusion, apprehensions and distress also were also seen throughout the year. It was like those necessary spices and additives without which a meal becomes meaningless. What made the year more exciting was the increased amount of time it kept me hooked on to the cyber space. Got re connected to a lot of old friends and also made some new friends online. Also enjoyed loads of evenings sometimes over work and sometime over dinner with new found friends. I am pretty sure that 2009 was one of the most memorable years in my entire life so far and it may very well be a milestone for me.

Wishing that 2010 bring happiness, peace, satisfaction, success and over and above everything, good health to one and all. J

Coffee with SIBM 2009 - Memories for Life!!!

2009-12-19T22:56:00.000+05:30

2 weekends of action...

More than 2 months of intense back end planning...

18 Cities...

5500 plus aspirants...

Memories for life...

There was discussion, there was ambition and there was.... Coffee with SIBM....

The event was the biggest event I have ever handled in my entire life. Big in terms of the objective of the event, big in terms of the magnitude of expected turnout. Big in terms of the budget involved and big in terms of the details in planning.

I would rather call CWS as a project rather than just an event, because it in essence had all the ingredients of a project. It involved conceiving the ideas, planning various aspects, designing the entire process, working out to the minutest details and over all, the actual execution and implementation of the project.

It all started in mid October when 6 members of the Junior Aspirant Relations Team met one evening to chalk out the strategies for the same. Planning needed to be solid and strong in each and every aspect to ensure that we did not falter anywhere. 6 people with diverse backgrounds, varied talents, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, each a genius in his or her own way, joined hands together for this and made it possible.

It is impossible to forget the numerous late nights spent in the team room for discussing strategies, evaluating alternatives and options, freezing on one or two final options and sometimes going half the distance only to realize that we are walking in the wrong direction. There have loads of moments of fun and equally good number of tense moments. There have been as many moments of madness as those of seriousness. There have been moments when the decibel levels due to celebrations of each minor milestone in the project reached the sky. On the other extreme, there have also been moments when the silence has paralleled that of a graveyard.

Planning and designing the process was the most important aspect that decided the success of the entire CWS. Drilling down to the minutest details was the necessity and all of us managed to do that quite efficiently. Our team dynamics were especially tested rigorously, when each of us handling different aspects of the event had to sit and work with the others to ensure that there was enough smoothness in the process. Most of the aspects in CWS required a lot of co-ordination between the different people. The one handling logistics needed to work closely with the one handling publicity. The one responsible for finances was required to be in great sync with the one who was actually spending. In order to ensure that there was no clash of anything, we met every day and discussed the progress. Above all, we had a wonderful Senior team, which at each and every step, critically evaluated our plans and gave us the necessary feedback. This was an icing on the cake, because getting inputs from the people who have already been there and done that, actually gave us a readymade platform to work on.

There were instances where we have had to change or drastically modify our plans for some reasons beyond our control. There were instances where we saw some danger on the actual occurrence of the event. But what was important was that we were quick to realize the impending trouble and flexible enough to change our plans. Changing one aspect of the plan automatically meant that a lot of other aspects that were related to the same also needed to be changed. But then, we managed to pull it all off.

The small ego clashes, the big fights. The great arguments and the humble confessions. The moments of lending a helping hand to others, the pranks in and outside the team room. The memories of these two months will remain etched in my hearts for the rest of my life.

There have been glitches in the event in spite of the meticulous planning. Most of these have been because of our over reliance on people and parties outside the team. But this taught us the importance of follow ups and continuously monitoring the situations. There have been hiccups in the event, but that taught us the importance of having an equally solid Plan B in place. There have been times when things were going exactly the opposite way we had expected them to, but perseverance and patience showed us the way out.

Having done all the ground work, it was important to execute the entire plan effectively. What was important here was to have the right people at the right place doing the right things. With the amount of constraints we had on the time, the resources & the manpower and keeping the objective of CWS in mind, it was imperative that we leave no stone unturned. We gave our best shots at publicity using multiple channels for publicizing the event. We tried our best to have the right people accompanying us. We all travelled that extra distance and took that extra effort, because we all realized that after taking the responsibility of an event of this magnitude, we could not afford to fail. Having taken all the pains so far, it was all the more important to make sure that the event did not fail just because we did not bother putting that additional bit of an effort.

The real action, which took place over two weekends, actually was a test of the entire planning and execution process. I am glad to say that we did a great job. I personally felt that we exceeded our own expectations. We did a wonderful job with whatever we had at our disposal. With the support of loads of friends and wishes of batch mates, CWS 2009 was a phenomenal success. We managed to visit 18 cities, a never before achievement. We managed to contact 5500 odd aspirants, a first timer again. CWS had never got this big!

On a closing note as I said earlier, all these would never have been possible without the continuous support given to us. The main players behind this are the Senior team members and also the faculty and admin. We were entrusted with responsibility and were given total freedom in making decisions. And with this type of an exposure, we all enjoyed working together.

At the end of it all, when graffiti sheets carry your names, when lots of unknown people add you on Facebook and Orkut, when you exceed your own benchmarks and when people look up to you as someone really great, there is reason to cheer. The sense of gratification is simply so fulfilling.

False Alarm

2009-11-10T18:35:00.000+05:30

This post is written as an epilogue to the post I had written exactly a month back. It was about my exams and my apprehensions on whether I will be able to handle the exams well.

Fortunately or unfortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm. The examinations were such a damper, that after writing a couple of papers, most of the students actually lost interest in the exams. There were two particular reasons for it, maybe three.

Firstly, the question paper was printed in the answer booklet itself and after each question, there was a limited space to answer that question. And with that kind of space limitations, you cannot simply beat around the bush. Your answer needs to be specific, precise and to the point. This was actually appreciated by the faculty and majority of the students as well.

Secondly, some of the papers were so simple that it was nothing more than elementary fill in the blanks. One paper was even so straight forward that some people were actually wondering if there was any hidden catch in the paper. Few other papers tested the concepts and that did not obviously require lengthy descriptive essays to be written. So the exams were a case of ‘either you know it or you don’t ‘type of questions.

Third comes the grading system. Though it’s said that relative grading is followed, it’s not truly relative or normally distributed. In a normally distributed grading system, someone ought to get the highest grade and someone ought to fail. Our system gives more weightage to the class average. Based on the class average, if you are in certain bands above or below the average, you get a certain grade. Now, what happens in a very easy paper is that everyone scores well. The average is very high. And to pass, one needs to score atleast 70% of the class average. Which usually happens quite easily. And to get the highest grade of 4.0, one needs to score atleast 125% of the class average, which becomes difficult in the case of a high scoring paper.

The paper itself is so easy that it ensures nobody fails and also ensures that nobody gets the top grade!! When the college public realized this, nobody even bothered to study properly. Cricket was the most famous pastimes during the exams. Something which I had not seen even once during the last 5 odd months, had become so common in the last couple of weeks. Some other people kept themselves busy by watching movies and some more slept their way to glory.

I remember only a couple of papers where I sat in the exam hall for the entire duration of the exam. With a major part of the evaluations already done internally, there was no real motivation to study. Plus when you have a question paper where you need to answer 3 questions for 20 marks each and each question has a maximum of two blank pages to be answered, how long can you actually sit in the exam hall? Time was never a constraint anymore, only the space was!!

And for people who have seen work pressures earlier, the last 10 days were probably the most chilled out in the first semester.

An experience called Airavat

2009-11-09T22:41:00.000+05:30

‘Airavat’, in ancient Hindu philosophy is the name of the six headed elephant which used to be the vehicle of Rain God Indra, the ruler of Swarga. The description itself is sufficient to denote the type of luxury associated with the name Airavat.

The Airavat I wish to talk about here, is the Volvo service run by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). Started in the early years of this decade, this Volvo service is truly one worth its weight in gold. KSRTC has over the years improvised on its existing fleet and is today one of the biggest customers for Volvo India Pvt Ltd.

The B7R and the lately introduced B9R buses from Volvo itself are a revelation in the Public Transportation Sector. With the infrastructure in the terms of good roads complimenting, Volvos have certainly taken off in the right direction. Of course the more recently introduced luxury buses from competitors of Volvo have been successful, but Volvo has clearly got the early bird or the first mover advantage.

Over a decade back, the journey to Mumbai from my place Udupi used to take atleast 24 hours. Starting at 9 in the morning, it used to drop us in Mumbai at not before 9 the next day. But today, given good roads and weather conditions, an Airavat covers the same distance in hardly 15 hours .

Of course, all these doesn’t come cheap. Airavat is definitely a bit expensive than some of its competitor state run Volvo services or even the private operators who run the same. But with the benefits that an Airavat offers, that extra bit of an amount seems like peanuts. Without a doubt, I can say that the Airavat Volvos are the best maintained Volvos today. An Airavat Volvo which has been running for the last 2 odd years will still be as good as a new one which has just rolled out of an Assembly Line (For that matter, any vehicle owned by KSRTC is better maintained than its respective counterparts from other competing State Transports). Be it the suspension or the AC, be it the steering or the power, be it the seating comfort or the cleanliness in the maintenance of the interiors, be it the accessories provided or the quality of the AV system, an Airavat beats everything heads down.

Part of this goes to the wise decision by KSRTC to forge an Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) with Volvo India Pvt Ltd. KSRTC also ensures that the vehicles are driven by only those handpicked drivers who are trained properly by Volvo itself.

The popularity of Volvo was risen when Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the younger brother of KSRTC became the first to introduce Volvos for City Transport also. Yes, Bangalore is the first and probably the only city in the country to have Volvos running on all major routes. And this became a feast for frequent flyers, when the Bangalore Airport was shifted outside the city and BMTC introduced special Volvo services from various points in the city to the Airport at a very very nominal cost. And the beauty of this service is that these buses are specially built by Volvo for BMTC and have enough space for the luggage as well. Other than most of the top businessmen and executives, majority of the flyers actually take this service.

The greatest feature of these Airavat’s is their punctuality. They start on dot and more often than not, they reach the destination on dot. Hardly have I seen an Airavat reaching the destination more than half an hour late than the scheduled time under normal circumstances.

I became a fan of Airavat when I was put up in Hyderabad and needed to go to Bangalore very frequently. With train tickets availability at short notice being a big question mark, Airavat was a viable alternative. And with every passing trip, and with improvements on the NH 7, my love for Airavat always grew. Whenever I now look for travel options, if there is an Airavat available, it wins straightaway. Nothing else will even be considered. Every bit of the experience is enjoyable. You can relish every moment of the journey. And the best part is, even after travelling whole night, you can remain fresh enough to go to duty the next morning, completely normal.

If you have not experienced Airavat so far, I bet you have definitely missed one of the best experiences you can ask for in life.

Exam Fever

2009-10-07T20:42:00.001+05:30

After an eventful fortnight, which comprised of a hectic week of Summer Placements followed by final days of classes, where we had on an average 2 internal assessments per day, the time is coming closer. The temperatures are rising. Not in the literal sense, but the exam fever is on.

After having spent a good four months on campus, now is the time for the real test. Though the course lays a heavy weight age on the internal assessment unlike the engineering days, the externals carry significant weight age too. The internals carry 60% of the course credits to facilitate continuous learning (Err!! What’s that?? ) and 40% of the course credits are dedicated to the externals. The main problem here is that one needs to clear both external as well as internal separately. This makes things slightly tougher, though not impossible. For people who have cleared 8 semesters of engineering, nothing is actually difficult.

These exams are going to be a tough test for many of us. It is not going to be a test of what we have learnt. It is more of a physical test as to how we are going to write continuously for as less as a hundred and twenty minutes to as much as a hundred and fifty minutes. For most of us, who have worked prior to coming here, it’s really going to be a race against time. We have literally lost the touch and the last I personally had written continuously for three hours was the last paper in my final semester of engineering. That’s over three years now and I am really struggling to hold a pen in my hands and write continuously. I observed the trailer of the same a few days back when I was writing a subjective internal assessment paper for 45 minutes. At the end of it all, I could barely manage to read what I had actually written.

Over the years after leaving college, I have hardly written consistently. I have never had the habit of maintaining a diary or a record. Whatever writing I used to do, was either one page handwritten reports or totally electronically written reports. Such was my inclination to the computer that, when last week I had to submit an assignment in a time crunched situation, I actually opened the laptop and started typing it to the surprise of many of my classmates. I was convinced that my typing was definitely faster than my writing, and also more legible too!

With this background and almost 55% of the batch in a similar situation as mine, the 10 days period from 22nd to 31st October is going to be challenging indeed. Though I am not explicitly worried about the subjects and the paper as such, I am definitely worried about what I am going to write in those hundred and twenty minutes.

Touring Troubles!!

2009-09-27T10:23:00.001+05:30

I had joined TVS Motor Company as Graduate Engineer Trainee (GET) in July 2006. After a few months of general orientation, I was placed in the Sales and Service Department. Then I was trained on specific aspects pertaining to the Sales and Service portfolio. On completion of the training, I was deployed to Hyderabad, where I was re-designated as Territory Manager – Service. My job was primarily to handle after sales service in the territory, which for the time being was limited only to the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. This was the place where I was first exposed to all the intricacies of the job and what was demanded out of me.

Once I had fit into the groove, and I had started showing sufficient progress in my career and significant results, my territory was expanded. It now covered the northern part of Andhra Pradesh which is better known as Telangana. This contained 6 more districts and 8 more dealers. So on paper, my responsibilities had been doubled. And covering the dealers in the districts meant that I had to start touring. This also meant waking up early in the mornings and reaching my destinations late at nights. I was prepared for that and eager for new experiences.

Fortunately for me, most of the places I travelled were connected well by train. Except for two places, which were not, the remaining places had good rail connectivity. With experience, I started planning my tours such that I covered all these places in one shot. I would generally leave on a Monday morning and return back on a Friday or a Saturday evening as required.

Telangana is well known to be a Naxal infested area. Though the troubles now were minimal or literally zero, it was one of the strongholds for them early on. On one such tours in this territory, I had to travel from a place called Karimnagar to Warangal. Though Warangal is a major railway junction between the south and the north, Karimnagar is not connected by train to any of these places. Fortunately, the road connectivity between Hyderabad and Karimnagar is excellent and even the road transport is good in entire AP.

When travelling from Karimnagar to Warangal, I was late. The two places are approximately 70 kms apart and it takes roughly 90 minutes to cover the distance by road. So I started from Karimnagar around 10 PM in the night, expecting to reach Warangal by 11:30 PM. The buses between Karimnagar and Warangal are not too great. One has to travel in simple luxury buses as they are known, but to this day I have not understood what is so luxurious about those buses.

There was hardly anyone in the bus at that hour. I could hardly remember 12-15 people in the bus. By the time the bus had crossed the town limits and started moving on the highway, it had around 20 people. Half way through, I was trying to catch some sleep. The bus was travelling through a dense forest, with literally no human inhabitants for miles together. Suddenly, the bus stops and a mob get into the bus. I start cribbing to myself about the driver, public transport and God knows what else. I was too sleepy to realize what was happening. Slowly the noise started becoming louder and people starting yelling at each other, something which I could not realize.

After a good three minutes, I was fully awake. It was then that I realized that we were being held hostage! People around were shouting, crying, pleading, yelling at each other, blaming the driver and there was chaos all around. The mob which had got into the bus, were also shouting at each other and only panic was ruling the situation. They all had some crude weapons in their hands which they were pointing at people in the bus and trying to recover something. I was not sure if they were drunk, but they were definitely behaving as if they were. I was sitting somewhere in the last few seats, waiting for the drama to unfold in front of me. And was indeed sleepy to think properly and react.

One of them finally came to me and shouted something to me in Telugu. I did not understand that and I did not react. And from his reaction, I was sure that he did not know anything other than Telugu. But from his gestures and body language I understood that he wanted to rob me. Within no time, two more joined him. I was probably the richest and well to do person they could find in the bus at that hour. I was still in my company uniform and wearing the company badge. The weapons in their hands were indeed frightening. I was not sure what to do.

Luckily for me, I was not having any ornaments or valuables. And fortunately, I had forgotten to even wear my watch that morning. My MP3 player, which usually accompanied me on most of my tours, had also been betrayed this time around by my absent mindedness. I was just carrying a few clothes and a few office papers in my bag. The only valuable that I had was probably my mobile, a Nokia 1200. So I fancied my chances.

I told in Hindi that I don’t have anything with me. One of them started speaking to me in crude Hindi. He asked me to show him whatever I had. With the limited options that I had, I opened my bag. No sooner that I had opened it, the three men pounced on it. They emptied it outside on the nearby seat, only to find nothing of their use in it. Another person started frisking me in anticipation of finding some valuables, only to be unsuccessful again. One of them laid hands on my wallet, which had a few notes of tens and twenties, a few coins, my driving license and a Debit card. They probably did not know what it was. Angrily, they threw it back at me. He then laid his hands on my mobile, but my 1200, was too old fashioned or cheap for him. So the mobile too met the same fate as my wallet did. Everyone in the bus was eagerly anticipating for something to happen.

Suddenly someone shouted from outside, and they all emptied the bus in a hurry and vanished behind the trees. Within moments, the driver started the bus and we were back on our way. I was sitting and wondering whether it was a dream or it had really happened. Within a few minutes, I got a call from the manager from my Warangal dealership, who had booked a hotel room for me. He was worried why I had not reached yet, as I had informed him when I had boarded the bus. I spoke to him in broken Telugu, and told him that the bus had got punctured. I told him I’ll reach in another half an hour or so and asked him to inform the hotel and not wait for me. The gentleman sitting in the seat ahead of me was watching me in awe.

To this day, I did not know who they were. At times, I felt they might have been the Naxals, but then Naxals would have been much more professional. They would have carried much more standardized weapons. I thought they might have been some local villagers who were most probably drunk. I even at times thought that the entire episode might have been masterminded by the Driver and the Conductor. But I did not put much thought behind this possibility, because I have always believed that it’s wrong to point fingers at someone without having concrete evidence. The most surprising part was that nobody was actually harmed physically or assaulted in the whole process.

Whatever it is, I would say I was fortunate enough that I was not wearing something valuable. Fortunately or unfortunately, I was not having much money in my wallet. Luckily, I had forgotten my watch and MP3 player at home, and the mobile that I was using was simply too old and outdated. And most importantly, better sense prevailed on me to not converse in Telugu with them and act dumb, which probably was one of the reasons for me to have escaped safely. God knows how many times I had cursed myself that morning for having forgotten to get the MP3 player and the watch. But then, it was just another example for “Whatever happens, happens for a reason!”

I reached Warangal just after midnight and checked into the hotel. Next day, I went to the dealership, completed my duties, took the train in the evening and returned back to Hyderabad. On Monday when I met my boss, I explained to him whatever had happened. Till then, I had not told it to anybody. By the time I was done, my boss and a couple of my colleagues who were listening to me were simply dumbfounded. Their reactions could be very well judged watching their wide open mouths.

After this incident, we at the Area Office took a resolution that whenever we are on tour, we will not travel after 8 PM. Wherever we are at 8PM, we will halt there itself and travel early next morning to our destinations. Though this was taken seriously for the next few months, all of us including me forgot it and found exceptions to the rule when the work at hand was more important. Even after that, there have been lots of instances when I have reached Hyderabad late after midnight, or even some other places. But I made a point to at least not travel the Karimnagar Warangal route so late.

Google..... Wikipedia...... and MBA.......

2009-09-25T19:10:00.001+05:30

Imagine. You wake up one day, switch on your laptop and try to find something on the internet. Only to realize that the Google server is down, Wikipedia is not working. Just imagine what your reaction would be in such a scenario.

We are all so much addicted to the internet in general and Google, Wiki in particular that we simply cannot live without them. Who other than an MBA student can understand the importance of these? Google is the starting point of anything we do. Without google, our assignments can never start. What Sergey Brin and Larry Page started a little over a couple of decades ago, has become the life line for millions of people around the world today. Hardly would they have imagined anytime that it would be so successful. When they first came with the search engine and went to sell it, they were rejected. In a way, it came as a blessing in disguise. Even today, if they make google a paid site, even a nominal fee of say Rs 100 a year, I am sure that people would still be willing to enroll for it. Simply because, google has become like air and water. Just imagine the revenue potential that the founders of Google are sitting upon.

As I have said in one of my earlier posts, technology has made life so simple for people that it has become unimaginable to live without technology. This is a classic example for the same. What used to take probably weeks for an MBA student a decade ago, can be done in a matter of hours now. Just contrast the MBAs of the 1990s and the MBAs today. A presentation on any topic, would require them to slog for weeks, toiling for days and nights together, looking for information on the topic. Compare this with the amount of effort that’s required today. Type in a few key words and technology itself would direct you to hoards of information sites across the world. Thus being in your hostel room, you could get all the information that you needed and probably even much more in a matter of a few clicks.

Consider the case of an assignment I had to submit last Monday. Last Sunday, when I got to know the topic, I just clicked on Google and typed the key words which appeared in the topic of the assignment. Its highly unlike of me, because I usually complete my assignments and other submissions whatever it is, well in advance and do not keep anything till the last moment. But this was a one off occasion because probably I had something more important, that I had to keep this aside. But since I was so sure that I would get the required material even at the last moment, I trusted the internet and kept it pending till the eleventh hour.

Within seconds came a list of search results and in a matter of a few minutes, I found exactly what I wanted. What was more fulfilling is that I got everything I wanted from s single source. So it was only a matter of time before I restructured it along the required lines and published it as a part of my assignment. Sometimes, even presentations on common topics are readily available on the internet.

So coming to the point that I was making a couple of posts back, has technology really helped us? In this context, it definitely has. There is no denying that Google and Wikipedia have changed the life of millions of students across the world. But consider the flip side of it. The art of reading books and gaining knowledge and information is slowly vanishing. The general knowledge level of students is slowly falling down. They hardly read newspapers these days, even if they do it’s most likely to be an e-paper. Arrival of PDFs and e-books have definitely contributed to the environment, but look at the other side. People don’t even read books these days. Everything is on the computer and people spend hours on the computer now. The skill of reading and information searching has slowly moved from books to the internet. And with Google coming in, the information is available in a matter of seconds.

With presentations and materials readily available, you don’t apply anything to analyse it. More often than not, it is simply ‘Ctrl C’ed and ‘Ctrl V’ed. Those who are a little aware and careful, take slight efforts to change the fonts, layouts, graphics and animations. But does it serve the real purpose? Even when it comes to assignments, they are literally copied word to word, and submitted only by changing the formatting, the layout, the text and text size and importantly, the name and other details on the first page. So are you actually adding value to your work? Are you really learning something from the assignment or exercise which was given to you with some intention? I am not sure.

All I can say is that Google, Wikipedia and Internet have become inseparable parts of our lives and it’s indeed difficult to imagine even a single day pass without logging on to the internet even once. Google and Wikipedia have indeed revolutionized the way an MBA is done.

My laptop... my new friend???

2009-09-17T21:02:00.001+05:30

Life has never been the same since the 13th of July 2009. I found a new friend for myself on that day, and since then it’s almost like I have literally forgotten all my other friends. I bought myself a laptop on that day, and ever since things have changed drastically. In this case, I am not really sure, if my Dell Vostro has been a friend or otherwise.

As I have mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, technology simply keeps people away from others. The human touch and the personal attachments that we have go missing. I have experienced similar feelings. Ever since I have got this piece, I am always online. God alone knows what I do online for so long. Our classes on a normal day end at 6 pm and I usually retire a couple of hours after midnight. It seems as if I am doing a lot of work and I don’t find time for myself. But at the end of the day, once I reflect back on the day’s events, I realize that I have wasted 8 good hours doing nothing productive. Before I got my laptop, I at least used to read the newspaper properly. It would be astonishing for you to know that I came to know about YSRs death, a good 36 hrs after it actually happened! I started reading a book a couple of months back. The book was seemingly interesting and I expected to complete it in at most a week’s time. But till date, I have hardly covered a fourth of the book. Once I was in my room, I hardly even ventured out. My social life had also gone for a toss. Unlike others, I hardly watch movies on the lappie nor do I waste time browsing unnecessary things. I attend all classes regularly and I think I do a fair job in doing all my other responsibilities on time. It’s not that the additional responsibilities that I have taken have actually burdened me. In fact, I feel relieved at the end of the day, when I am actually able to look back and say to myself that I have done something really quantifiable that day.

I lived with that guilt for a long time. I even used to isolate myself from others and at times, felt like crying at my condition. I have never been in such a bad condition earlier in my life. I was not able to understand what I was doing wrongly and what is it that I need to work upon. Because, as I said, everything simply seemed fine as long as I was doing it, but once it was time to reflect back on it, it was really depressing. That’s when I met Roshan. Now it’s a strange coincidence that we both are in the same city, and for the past 3 odd months, both were too busy to not meet each other. Having understood my plight, he insisted we meet. And once we meet, he helped me realize that the root of all my problems lied at my laptop itself. Yes, it was so obvious. The problem was right in front of me, and I could hardly realize it. And all it took him to tell me that was 15 minutes over a pizza. That’s what best friends do to you. They are indeed not different from you, but a part of you. They can feel every breath of yours and that’s the best part of it. When I came back that night and shut down my lappie at 10 pm, my roommate was in for a rude shock.

I hope that I don’t get too addicted to my laptop that I get obsessed with it. I really love my lappie, but let it be under control. I have lots of other friends in my life, and don’t want to miss out on those just because I have found one new friend!

Customer Surveys and its nuances...

2009-09-13T10:48:00.002+05:30

Last night, I was reading a post by my friend Himanshu. He has written about his experiences in conducting a customer survey on the streets outside a busy mall in Pune. When I was reading it, I remembered my initial days with my previous company. As we had just joined the Sales and Service department, among the top of our assignment list was a requirement for us to study and analyze customer satisfaction. Me and my best friend Roshan, who incidentally happened to work with me in the same company in the same function, had one hell of a time in Bangalore. We went to Cubbon Park, where couples come to spend some ‘quality’ time together. We went to Majestic Bus Stand and City Railway Station parking lots, where most people are ‘almost going to miss a bus or a train’. We went to the busy MG Road, only to realize that MG Road was way too posh for the customers that we were looking for. Three full days of toiling, sweating, hard work yielded us not more than 38 filled questionnaires.

A couple of months back, when I had met Roshan over lunch at Inorbit mall in Mumbai, we saw a couple of people in the food court handing over survey forms to people having their food. When we saw that, we relived the days that we had spent in the dusk of 2006.

Taking a customer feedback is indeed difficult. Especially when you do it in an unstructured manner. The hit rate is not more than 10%. If you ask 10 customers for their time, hardly 1 or 2 will oblige. It really sounds so trivial to them, that sometimes you need to listen to their abuses, foul language and what not. Of course some of them politely refuse, but that number is a limited few.

Yes. It actually feels bad to go and ask someone to spend time for you on your survey, especially when someone is out on a weekend to spend some good quality time with someone very close to them. You actually feel that you are invading into their privacy and feel guilty about it. When these surveys are conducted professionally (that involves a lot of cost), it may give better results, but when it’s done in an unstructured manner, its way too far from giving you the desired results.

Having learnt all these, and having personally experienced these things over the last couple of years, whenever someone, be it a college student or a salesman, comes across me asking for a survey, I make it a point to answer it honestly if I am not too busy. If 5 minutes of my time, can help someone with his work, I would rather do it. I know how frustrating it is, when you are frequently turned down by people. And I ensure that at least in my case, the person doesn’t feel the same. It’s always a nice feeling to help people!!

So next time someone comes to you for a feedback or a survey, unless you are really too busy, please spend some time to fill in that questionnaire. The poor chap will thank you for his life. And if you are really busy, refuse politely. He is most likely to have heard abuses from lots of other people. So a few calm and composed will do a world of good to him.

At the end of a satisfactory day....

2009-09-12T23:28:00.002+05:30

Today is one of those days, where I can be proud of myself. I have been a part of the Aspirant Relations Team for over two months now. All this time, we all have done loads of work. But nothing has really been noticed. All this was related to the seemingly ‘back office’ type of work, which is as necessary as water and air, but often tends to get forgotten or neglected. Unless someone sees what you are doing, it is definitely not going to be appreciated. As some quality guru has said, “What cannot be seen, cannot be measured; and what cannot be measured, cannot be improved upon.”

We had been to Mumbai today. The entire team. One of the coaching centres at Mumbai was conducting an awareness programme for their students and we were invited to speak about our institute. I had personally put in a lot of efforts behind this, and all my junior teammates too had given valuable inputs and participated fully in this. When I was working for this, I felt that we have really started working as a team. Not too long back, I was a bit perplexed and worried about our chemistry and team dynamics. Personally we were all great friends and great people, each coming with diverse backgrounds and as bunches of talent. But as a team, perhaps we were not delivering to our potential. But this event has kicked it all. And I am sure; we as a team will go a long way.

When we reached there and finished our presentation, the amount of self satisfaction I personally had, was simply overwhelming. When we are doing something with all our heart and soul into it, we generally set a standard for ourselves. And when we are able to live upto our own expectations or perhaps even exceed it, it feels really great. When the organizers come and tell you that you did exactly what they wanted, that you have really lived up to their expectations, when people appreciate you for whatever small things you have done, when nice things happen when you least expect them to, you indeed have reasons to be happy. Believe me, the satisfaction of a job well done, is really at its best, when you break your own records. As some great person has said, “Winning doesn’t always mean finishing first. Sometimes, it means bettering your own performance.”

I also had the opportunity to go and spend a couple of hours with my grandmother. And yes, that satisfaction is again out of the world. When someone who loves you as dearly as them, and when you appear in front of them unannounced, the pleasure at both the ends cannot be described. Luckily, I got to spend time with my uncle as well and it was a trip worth remembering.

I love you all ARTists. Our entire team is simply great. Eagerly looking forward for more of such sunny days in life, I sign off!

Keep smiling. Life is beautiful

100 days...

2009-08-31T16:25:00.003+05:30

Today is yet another 31st. The last day of August 2009. Exactly 4 months back, that is the last day of April 2009, was an important day. Yes, it was on 30th of April 2009, that I along with crores of other Indians had soiled our fingers, as our duty towards the nation. As I was cutting my nail today, I realised that the faint and remaining part of that ink which I proudly carried on my nails so long, had to disappear. As I cut the nail, I began wondering how have the last four months been for India as a whole. As the Manmohan Singh Government completes hundred days in office, lots of significant measures have taken place in this period. The only requirement at this stage is sustenance of these measures. Though this should not be taken as a shot at imporvement, the signs are definitely positive. Hoping for a great term governance from Sardar Manmohan Singh and his team!

Group Discussions... Is something actually ‘discussed’?

2009-08-29T22:04:00.003+05:30

Group Discussions (GDs) are being increasingly used as a tool to evaluate a candidate’s ability to communicate in a group. GDs are used by corporate looking to recruit candidates from campuses. GDs are also used to check the candidate’s ability by B Schools during their admissions process also. There are still lots of various instances where GDs are conducted. In a GD, members are supposed to discuss on a topic. Sometimes, the panel expects a conclusion from the group, whereas sometimes it’s the discussion that is more important.

But having watched and having been a part of a substantial number of GDs of late, I have an important observation. In most of the GDs, the focus is on talking as much as possible. More than anything, the members want to hog limelight and make sure they have spoken something. Rather than actually discussing anything, people go on adding points, irrespective of that fact whether it is adding any value to the discussion at all. Nobody actually even cares to bother if the discussion is heading somewhere.

Ideally, whenever a point is raised, the group is expected to discuss on that point from various perspectives before going to some other point. But what generally happens is one member raises a point and another member raises a totally different point. Though both may be relevant to the topic being discussed, the discussion as such is not at all happening. And many a times, when the discussion has to be concluded, rather than getting into the gist of the discussion and concluding on it, what happens is every member starts contributing his own ideas to the group.

A big reason for this is most of the GDs are not elimination rounds. In the sense that, immediately after the GD, candidates are not eliminated before the next process. As a result, the expected aggression is not seen to be on top. Also, this gives the candidates a breathing space as to nothing is going to happen even if your performance is not exceptional in the GD. You can always showcase your talent and demonstrate your case in the succeeding rounds of evaluation. An elimination round would require you to be in the top, or rather not be in the bottom. But in a GD which is non-eliminating, you can walk out free even by underperforming. As a result, the required quality in the discussions doesn’t generally exist.

What I fail to understand is the actual motive behind a GD. The GDs are in fact no way close to the discussions that happen in organizations over issues and anything for that matter. These discussions are generally structured and in a way the focus is on adding value to a point raised by others in the team and concluding it logically before moving on to another point. But the GDs, (at least those that I have watched and have been a part of) of late, fail to actually do that. They actually fail to test the group dynamics and how people actually discuss. Partly to be blamed is the time constraint on the discussion, which makes it impossible to discuss as happens in the industry. GDs generally are 30-40 minutes long to the maximum. But discussions in the industry actually go far longer than these and sometimes, run up to late in the nights, when the matter is critical.

So I personally feel that GDs don’t add any value in terms of analyzing how good a candidate is in communicating and team work, because the team work simply doesn’t exist. The discussion doesn’t happen at all.

Back to the battlefield....

2009-08-27T19:05:00.000+05:30

I am back to my ‘Karma Bhoomi’. After a good two weeks (almost) at home, I was not in a mood to come back. But the opportunity cost of not coming here, actually pulled me here. And what a welcome it has been! Two tests and a presentation on the next day of arrival! Man, am I really prepared for this?

But there is another reason to put this post up. As all good reasons are celebrated, I wanna celebrate this by dedicating a post for it. This is probably the first time I am coming back from home without forgetting anything at home! Everytime I leave home, I have always forgotten something or the other. Sometimes it has been things of necessity and sometimes, not so important things. Wallet, ID card, Cellphones, bus/train tickets, ATM cards, Chargers, Camera, MP3 Player, Clothes, shaving kit, Important office documents when it was most needed, CD’s and pen drives, laptop charger etc. The list will only get longer if I devote more time. The point I want to convey here is that I have always forgotten something or the other over the past several years whenever I have travelled away from home. Call it absent mindedness or whatever, it just used to happen no matter how much care I take. Something or other will happen in the last moment, and I end up forgetting important things.

Now, after two days of being back in Pune, I can confirm and tell confidently that I have not left anything back at home. Two days because, I wanted to be doubly sure. So I am really hoping that this is an indication of things changing for better in and around me. Hoping for brighter days ahead. Till my next post, keep rocking!

Walking down the memory lane..... roughly after 3 years!!!

2009-08-25T22:04:00.005+05:30

I had been to my earlier college today. And man, I could not believe it was indeed the same college I had graduated from barely three years earlier. Loads of changes in the infrastructure have happened. Large buildings have cropped up here and there and at the least expected locations. Certain structures have been demolished and some new ones have mushroomed out. Overall, a trip I had made for some certificates that I required, turned out more of a revelation trip!

As I got down on the highway from the bus, I was greeted with the 4 lane road. And as a special gift to the NITKians, the 4 laning just starts before the college. The road looks a lot wider with 4 lanes and service lanes on either side also. This means that a lot of trees have been cut on either side of the road and also the greenery on the highway is lost. The main sufferers are those who wait for buses in the scorching sun. And yeah, whatever rusted bus shelter was there is also missing.

On the other side of the highway, opposite to the main campus are buildings dedicated to IT and EEE departments coming up (they have rather come up and only the painting work is probably pending). Not this makes 4 departments on the other side of the highway, along with CSE and ECE. The location of the entrance gate to that side of the campus has also changed.
With so many classes on supposed to be held on the other side of the dangerous highway, and this in turn requiring a significant proportion of the students walk over to the other side more than a couple of times a day, there is a flyover constructed for vehicles on the highway. The students now walk under the flyover to reach their respective classrooms on the other side of the road.

‘Krishna’ who used to be the savior of faggers on campus, has moved his location to opposite the main door. So has Reddi moved inside the campus. Not much seems to have happened with the Guesthouse and International Hostel though.

As I walked in through the ‘Main Entrance Dwara’ towards the ‘Main Lobby’ I was greeted by huge flex banners welcoming visitors for the Golden Jubilee Year. Incidentally NITK is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of her existence from 6th August 2009 to 6th August 2010. This made me wonder how many ‘quality’ engineers had she given birth to in these 50 years and how many of them had indeed made her proud.

The main lobby also has been totally revamped. The first floor has been converted into ‘Directorate’, work for which had actually started way back when I was still a student. The main lobby looks a lot brighter and more spacious, unwanted hindrances having been removed. Proper demarcation has been made outside for the vehicles to be parked and the signages too look far more professional. They are planning to have a lift in the main lobby, the reasons I was not able to understand. The classrooms also look a lot cleaner. The ‘Co-operative Society’ which was known as SCOOPS, and was famous for the bastard who existed there (and eventually got kicked by agonized students of our batch on our last day in college), which used to be located at the end of the corridor, seemed to have disappeared (probably for good!). I dint even bother to check out.

I went to the examination section to complete my work and to my surprise found out that the ‘Exam Section’ had been clubbed with the ‘Academic Section’. Overall, there have been a real lot of changes that have happened. I was hoping to meet some students who I knew, but unfortunately no one really came across.

Having done all the formalities, I started walking towards the Mechanical Engineering Department which had been my home for 4 years. The most primitive in size, yet the biggest in impact, this department building was still the same. But for some minor changes, I did not find much of a change there. Only a few professors had switched their cabins. Major work on the department had already happened when I was still studying there. So as it was, there wasn’t much scope of improvement on the existing building. The new building, about which talks were so much in the air during our final year, simply seemed to have disappeared in thin air.

The workshops also have got a major uplift. The CAD lab has become bigger and more computers are now working in there. The AC also seems to be working nicely. Individual cabins are made of aluminum fabrications for individual foremen in the workshops which has given them the most required motivation. The Machine Shop is now gleaming with a few more CNC machines and the required infrastructure for them. The ‘Fitting Shop’ has now become ‘Power Tools Shop’ with Bosch sponsoring the capital expenditure on the tools as well as their maintenance. The Mechanical Laboratories, IC Engine Laboratories also dazzle with new equipments, most of which failed to enter my thoughts.

I had the opportunity to meet quite a lot of the lecturers and professors who had made me the proud ‘Engineer’ that I am! And I was more than happy that most of the actually recalled either my first name or last name or both! Though they were not able to recollect the exact batch I graduated, they were able to associate me with my batch mates and the major events that had happened during our time.

Lots of events had unfolded in the Department ever since the current Director had taken over. A few of the great professors had left the institute and some new faces had joined at various levels in the hierarchy. Also the batch strength has been steadily increasing with the progressive implementation of the OBC quota. So the entire batch which used to comprise of around 440 students, now comprises nearly 900. The mechanical engineering class which used to have 90 students now has 140. Other departments with are handling batches with strengths of more than 100 in single classes. I really do not know where all these is headed, because with the increase in the strength of students, the infrastructure and faculty strength has not increased correspondingly. So quality on a whole is bound to suffer. So is the big question of what is going to happen to the placements at the end of 4 years. The addition of more courses like management makes things even difficult.

A great moment for me came when a Professor asked me to address the final year students. I was definitely not prepared for this one. I politely told him that it would not make sense for me to speak to the students at this point of time when I myself am a student. I also promised to come back when I become something and achieve something substantial.

I walked around the campus for a while. The hockey ground had made way for a grand hostel. So has the empty space between fifth and eighth block. I also heard that first year students in 1st and 2nd hostel blocks are made to stay 4 in a room, which is meant for three. There cannot be a bigger atrocity for someone who has probably come to stay away from home for the first time in his life. The Nescafe parlour which had refreshed thousands over the years with hot coffee and ‘half maggi’ over the years still existed physically as a structure. But I am not sure if it still operates the same way. The STD booth outside the parlour which used to host long queues in the evenings, also existed in structure, but I am not sure if it functioned. With mobile phones becoming an essential commodity rather than a luxury, STD booth operators have gone for a six. Though there was news of certain facilities for sports being constructed behind the boys’ hostel blocks, I am not sure if that has actually happened. A1 prints behind the college, is still making huge business there. Probably he is still a monopoly. The SBI ATM in campus is still probably the nearest source of students for instant cash. The ‘SNP Canteen’ as it used to be known back then, is taken over by a different management. It is now called ‘Food Court’. But insiders say they still find cockroaches and flies in the food as used to be before. So other than the name, nothing significant has changed there either.

On the other direction, towards the girls block, more barricades and higher fences are found. Seems like someone actually tried to break into. The ‘Coffee Dabba’ outside the GB is also there, and I heard that it’s still active. The Applied Mechanics and Hydraulics department and all its associated labs have got a brilliant facelift. The ‘Down Corps’ or ‘DC’ still hosts the co-operative store, but the bakery in the basement, which was a popular hangout and a temporary solution for hunger, has closed down. Sad news for the students though. I assume that nothing much would have happened in the staff quarters on that side of the campus. The swimming pool still seems the same. Don’t know if it attracts people. The SAC and the football ground brought back some pleasant memories.

Of the hangouts for students outside the campus, there has been one significant restaurant Suraj International on the way to Surathkal, a few meters before the Surathkal bus stand. Other than this, there isn’t any significant change that I have seen. The small roadside dhabas keep cropping up and down as mushrooms during rainy seasons.

The beach is probably the only place which I did not visit. My favorite hangout for the 4 years of my life where I used to stroll with my friends many a times in the evenings, the early morning jogs along the shore in final year, the temple on the beach, the loads of things technical and non technical I have discussed with my friends sitting on the beach are all things which I miss even today. To this day, when I discuss about my UG college with anybody, I derive pride in saying that ours was the only college in the country which had a private beach.

As I was walking back, memories of the four years I had spent there started coming back. I started remembering the fun we had had, the pranks we had played, the mischief we had been involved in, the hard work we had put in, the long hours we had spent in the library, the PJ’s we used to pass outside the classes, the visit to the ‘SD’ canteen every 5 minute break, the classes we mass bunked, the blunders we had made. I told one of my professors that I feel like coming back to the college at least once a year and spending one full day there reliving those four years again. I wished that I had my friends and my partners in crime so that connecting back to those days and relishing those memories becomes more fun and an enjoyable experience.

I was totally thrilled and walked out with Goosebumps. At one point of time, I had tears in my eyes also. Thank you NITK for being largely responsible in grooming me to what I am today. I owe a deep sense of gratitude to you!!

Hurdles!!!

2009-08-20T17:53:00.004+05:30

“Life is like a 110m hurdles dash at the Olympics. You need to be fast, you need to be accurate and you do not have the time to sit and celebrate every hurdle that you have crossed. By the time you have crossed one hurdle, another one is already in front of you”. That’s the example I constantly keep giving my young cousin to motivate him continuously and remind him not to stop after tasting success but to keep moving ahead. The days of the hare and the tortoise are long gone.

A few days back, we in college were discussing among various other issues, whether people at my college, deserved to be in the IIMs. A very vast majority agreed that they in fact were as good as any other person who has actually entered the IIMs and it was one factor called LUCK which was not with them on the 16th of November 2008. And it is because of this that they could not really make it into the esteemed institutes in the country. But a few of them had actually not yet come to terms with the fact. One of our professors at that time told us this, “CAT was the deciding parameter a few months back. But now CAT is over and the deciding parameter has moved to something else. The decision will be made based on how you perform from now on based on some different parameter and not CAT. The parameter may be how you perform in your summer project, how you utilize your time here to gain the maximum, how you innovate and come up with new ideas or how well you are able to prove that you are indeed better than your peers elsewhere. There are people already in the IIMs and they will now have lots of advantages and facilities at their disposal, which you people may not have. And your competition is not the people who are in your class, but those in the IIMs, the people who were as good as you all were only till a couple of months back. So don’t dwell upon the past now. CAT is over, forget it. Think about how you are going to tackle them in the future. Evaluate the deciding parameters for the future and devise strategies on how to prove yourself in those”

What struck me bluntly in my face was the naked truth in the statement. A classic demonstration of the case ‘Do not worry about the past, its already gone’. Even if things in the past have been to your benefit or otherwise, you just have to move on. Though I have been telling this to my cousin for the past so many years, I found a bigger meaning in the discussion that day.

Another beautiful concept given by one other professor goes something like this. It is called ‘handicapped race’. In this, cars of all types (from the vintage era to the latest sports demons) are raced. But the slowest car is given a head start and the fastest cars start last. Thus everybody is on a level playing field. We also need to ensure that we take a head start in case we know that we are not the best or that someone else is better than us. Here better and best are all relative terms. However capable we are, we need to realize that at the given moment, people in the IIMs are definitely in a better position than us, be it due to the brand name or be it due to the exposure that they get. And we do not have an option but to race against them. We only have a choice of starting the race earlier, so as to ensure that we are on par with them. And this requires us to sacrifice something else. So it is all a tradeoff between what we have and what we want to achieve over a period of time.

I am really enjoying some classes and some professors we have are too good. It is these minute points which we need to pick up and build further. Hats off to those professors who actually help us unleash the potential in us and show us the path, and are yet not spoon feeding us. The age old saying, “When the disciple is ready, the master appears” is indeed true.

H1N1 & precautionary vacations and life thereafter....

2009-08-19T19:20:00.001+05:30

I am having the time of my life. Am I really?

Vacations as all educational institutions are one of the lots of places shut down as a measure to prevent the spread of H1N1 virus or Influenza A, better known as Swine Flu. Pune where I am currently studying, is the worst hit by the pandemic in the country and having no better choice, I felt it best to come down to Udupi, my hometown. The past one odd month has been really great for me. I had the opportunity to attend the ‘Bhajana Saptaha’, a weeklong extravaganza at Udupi, late last month. This was something I had missed for the last 3 years. And no sooner had I reached Pune and was just settling into academic mode, came this bigger news.

In the back of our minds, most of us were actually making pretexts and finding reasons to convince the college administration to give us a break from the hectic (?? Read on...) routine. Swine Flu was the most preferred excuse. As luck would have had it, even before any of our attempts, the Govt. of Maharashtra came as our Genie and granted us exactly what we wanted. A week long holiday, and we were in fact encouraged by the college to go to our respective hometowns. 95% of the people actually vacated the place in awesome speed. What was more appreciable was the efforts by the university to provide more frequent transportation to the city from the campus to enable people take flights / trains / buses to their respective places. Everyone actually went home and was actually having a great time. I too came home and this time, I got to be a part of the Sri Krishna Janmashtami celebrations after 3 years.

But some of us were greedy. We again started finding excuses that Pune was not safe and the holidays be extended. We even made ‘logical’ reasoning and came to conclusions that classes would “anyway not commence” till the coming Monday and that visiting faculty will also “not want to come” to the campus and so on. We also started calculating probabilities that the Govt. itself “may extend the holidays” beyond Ganesh Chaturthi which is a very big festival in Pune and draws huge crowds. We started praying for the holidays to be extended beyond the festival, and yes our prayers were answered once again. Again, I will be celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi with my family after 3 years.

But somewhere in some parts of India, some intelligent people silently saw this as the silence before a storm to come. When I too started thinking of it, I realized what type of a hurricane we are heading into. We will not have holidays for Deepavali; we may not have holidays after our semester is over. What’s more worrying is that there won’t be any holidays for studying before the exams. As if to rub more salt on the wounds, we may have classes from 9 to 9 everyday, Saturdays and Sundays included. Daily assignments, submissions, presentations, evaluations and tests will anyway continue.(If that was hectic, what will you call this??) We may have to forget our social and personal life for the next few months and adapt to a fully ‘Gurukul’ style of learning where we are totally isolated from the outside world. Few friends have already started making analogies of what we will be going through come 24th August 2009. One of them said, we will be the ball, college admin will be Sehwag on a juicy wicket with a fast outfield and the outcome will be ‘zabardast dhulai’! Another said that we will all be put in a pressure cooker for the next 3 months and the lid will be opened only after it is totally ensured that we are all ‘fully cooked’. The crux of the matter is that we better be prepared for the tough days ahead.

So, my dear reader friends, I am pretty sure that I will not have time to write these posts as often in the near future and that is the reason I am writing it now!

ALTOPHOBIC?? HOPEFULLY NOT ANYMORE...

2009-08-18T19:17:00.000+05:30

I am altophobic! Yes, I have a fear of heights. It has to be ironical that a tall person like me has a fear of heights.

Though I do not remember distinctly, how long I have been carrying this fear with me, I can vividly recollect memories from my childhood where there have been instances where I have had terror wreaked in my mind only because of heights. I can still remember instances where I have simply closed my eyes and let things around me happen by itself. There have been instances where I have run for shelter in the safest place – my mother’s lap. There also have been instances where I have prayed religiously for it to get over as soon as possible.

Whenever I see down directly from the terrace of a normal building, I feel odd. Giddiness takes over my senses and I feel that something is going to happen. By normal building, I mean a double or a triple storey apartment building. Giant wheels in those yearly fairs (which have literally become history now) were another thing I hated and avoided sitting in. When I see straight from the top of the building, even if it’s taller than a normal building, there isn’t a problem. When it comes to seeing vertically down, comes the trouble. And to add to the misery is the fact that I am tall and I always feel that the containing railings are too short for my height and may not contain me in case I lose control and something happens. Dying doesn’t bother me as much as the feeling of living handicapped for the rest of my life does.

I have tried to get over it at times. I had the privilege of studying my engineering from probably the only college in India which had a private beach and a lighthouse. We had the opportunity to go to the top of the lighthouse which was something like a 12 storey building. I have climbed to the top a couple of times. But whenever I have done that, I have closely held the railings while climbing up as well as down and also always ensured that my back is always in contact with the wall of the lighthouse. Even on reaching the top, I made sure that I did not look down at the base of the lighthouse directly; my hands were firmly on the railings and my back comfortably against the wall. I recently tried the same on another lighthouse nearby, but the fear still existed.

But then came my day. It was just the first week of our induction module at college. The entire batch was out on an ‘Outbound Training’ program on the foothills of Sinhgad fort (one of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s numerous forts across Maharashtra). The program was handled by ex service men and was a great experience of learning and team building. One of the exercises involved was what is known as wrappling or abseiling. Each and every one of us was supposed to come down from the terrace of a three storey building, along the walls with the help of ropes. People who had done it earlier did it with ease. Some of them who were doing it for the first time did a really good job and some others faltered badly. And the sight of this group of people made me look for reasons to abscond!

Escape routes were hard to find. Even girls were not spared. Eventually I thought this might as well be my opportunity to fame (at least in my own eyes). I thought this is the time when I should actually get over my fears and weaknesses under the supervision of trained and qualified people. I somehow made up my mind and reached the top of the building. As one of them was tying the ropes on my waist, I tried to remain cool and composed. I tried not to look at the base of the building as much as possible. And when the big moment arrived and I stood on the wall, I was surprisingly calm. This was really commendable considering the fact that there were people who have literally shivered while on the wall. For a brief moment, as I was standing backwards on the wall (me facing the building), I badly felt like asking for a bottle and get myself photographed in the ‘Lose Control’ style from RDB. Then an inner voice told me, “Zyaada herogiri dikhaane ki koshish mat kar beta, tu ab tak neeche nahi pahuncha”. The instructor casually repeated the set of instructions, dos and don’ts for the umpteenth time in the day. I listened to him and started my journey downwards.

I was at the base in roughly under 5 seconds. I simply could not believe that I had done it so comfortably. And people who actually saw me coming down and were cheering me said that it was a very ‘professional’ attempt for a beginner. By ‘professional’, they meant it was closest to the one as demonstrated by the instructors. I was indeed proud of myself. Unable to contain my happiness, I called up mom immediately. As expected she too wasn’t able to believe it.

But yes, it had indeed happened. I was not daydreaming. I had actually got over one of my worst fears. Someone had actually clicked everyone doing the heroic feat, and I am still looking for the snap.

So the big question is whether I have really got over it? Well, I don’t know and can’t say anything as of now. I haven’t tried anything like that ever since, nor have I even tried looking down directly from a high rise building. So it may be too early to claim something now, but I’ll definitely have it at the back of the mind that I have done it once in my life. This feeling is definitely very gratifying and I am sure that it will give me a lot of confidence the next time I decide to look down from the balcony of my hostel room which is equivalently on the fourth floor!

Technology and its ........

2009-08-15T19:09:00.002+05:30

I wanted to write about this topic for a long time now. I have thought about it very often but somehow or the other it has not succeeded in completing the journey till here. This time though, I am very optimistic about that.

A lot has been said about the positive effects that technology has had. It’s actually hard to imagine life without technology today. And rightly so, it has made life so simple, so comfortable and so very convenient for people today. So much so that off shoots of technological advancements has become more of a necessity than a facility. I will not dwell too much into the positive aspects of technology here. There is no doubt that technology has indeed been a boon. Let me try to explore the other side of the coin.

I was travelling by train a couple of months back from Hyderabad to Mumbai. The journey takes around 16 hours and I was travelling on train for such a distance after a long time. I was looking forward to meeting new people and getting to interact with them. But my expectations turned out to be damp, not because the compartment was empty. But because of technology. 10 years ago, something like this could not have been imagined. One chap in my coupe was busy watching movies on his laptop. Another was busy talking to someone on his mobile. I really don’t know what was he doing throughout the journey. And there was another girl who had a book in her hand and a pair of earphones continuously plugged into her ears. She was continuously banging her head in the air, proving that she was actually listening to some sort of music. Few travelers have always been eternal sleepers, and their proportion has always remained the same. So considering this fact, I can only say that technology has separated people. If I had taken a similar journey 10 years back, all these people could have been seen interacting with each other as if they were long lost friends who just met by chance. But with technology improving every day, it has even increased the distance between people.

Technology has also reduced the personal touch which used to exist between people. Consider a formal communication which used to happen a couple of decades ago by the way of handwritten letters. People used to preserve these letters and read them leisurely. They used to get emotionally attached to them. It is debatable whether such emotions are good or not. But the point I am trying to make is that the personal touch is missing. Now a day when it is the case of e mails and letters through e mails, it has become instant, but with this it has also brought a whole lot of questions. Similar is the case will telephones. A couple of decades back it was hard to talk to people who are abroad and for that matter even those in different cities. Now it has become some cheap and affordable that it has no value. Cheating has become so easy, and again the personal touch is missing. Imagine what we all are missing. The anxiety with which people a generation ago used to wait for the postman to come, the host of reactions which used to come when some loved sprang as a surprise, the great deal of euphoria surrounding a family get together, are all nowhere to be seen these days. Credit cards have made purchases easier, but what has happened after that? People have started spending excessively and a part of the subprime crisis which has led to global recession is also because of this!!

Technology has no doubt given lots of benefits for us. But if we see that in the real sense, it has only given alternate solutions to needs for which solutions already existed. It has not come up with things out of the box and it has not come up with any new solutions. It has merely made existing things simpler, comfortable and convenient and nothing else. People may call me a traitor or a fanatic or I dont know what, but this is really a debatable point. As much as I acknowledge the merits of technology, I also at times start thinking too much about the other side of it which is also factually true!!

I am confused!!!????##^&%*%^

2009-08-15T19:06:00.000+05:30

“I am back after a long time”. I am actually fed up writing that statement again and again. Every time there is some discontinuity in my blogging, my first statement after comeback will be that!! I really want to do away with that and hope I will be successful with it in the future. After a brief surge in my blogging frequency just after I started the second innings of my student life, it was almost a month of silence. Now owing to the precautionary holidays declared by the college in the wake of the spreading havoc of the H1N1 in Pune, I have again found time to write something. I will not write on any topic specifically, but will try to dwell on whatever crosses my mind at this point of time.

The period of silence for my blog in between has been really a topsy turvy journey for me personally. There have been lots of ups and downs for me. Especially a week in between which went real bad. And I am forced to believe that it was all the result of a well planned divine intervention. I cannot but help the Almighty for having pulled me up from this mess that I was in. I feel that it has made me emerge stronger mentally and emotionally. I really do not want to go into the details of it all and relive the agony. So don’t bother asking me either. If you already know it, you know it. And if you don’t know it as of now, don’t really bother to think about it either.

The last couple of months have been a real different experience. Having come to studies after a brief stint working, it feels like heaven to be back among the books. Having seen the way corporate work for a great part of the 33 months I have worked, I realize what it takes to be back in the student’s shoes. The exposure I have got in my working career has helped me in clearly defining what I want from the two years of this MBA course. I know how exactly I should approach the education and what exactly to take out of this. A very close friend of mine said to me just before I commenced this course of mine, “Don’t take your grades seriously. But make sure that you take your learning’s seriously”. The statement is very true considering the fact that having good grades all through my academic programme so far has not helped me a great deal. I was a topper in my UG days, but that put me in place with lots of other common grade holders in my job. Not offending any of them, I realized that grades are not of any importance. So it won’t really hurt concentrating on things other than academics alone.

Now this change has been more evident from outside. Friends and relatives close to me, who know everything about me, have acknowledged a clear change in my attitude. I have become more carefree and do not worry unnecessarily. I am much more relaxed and easy going now. However much you try to not be so evident about it, you cannot really be so. It eventually shows out. And for people who are so close to you, it’s not so difficult to realize that change either.

A couple of years back when I was working; I was a part of a management workshop. There was this consultant trying to stressing on the importance of not worrying and thinking of the worst which can happen if something we were worried about did not happen. And he was asking us to compare it with the troubles and complications created by worrying and reflect on whether worrying on it was really worth it. I initially took it as just another gyaan but slowly when I started practicing it and found it to be really helpful. I do it even today. I believe that at the end of the day, life is not permanent. So there is no point living it worrying over small and petty issues. After all, issues are temporary. Things will change in due course of time and things will be forgotten eventually. Nothing in life may be serious enough to waste time worrying on it.

I know this sounds very weird and without knowing the facts, it’s actually difficult to make sense of what I am trying to write. But I desperately wanted to come back. So what if its not with a bang?? Every comeback in cricket does not mean a century; every movie by Amitabh Bachhan was not a hit. So I do not expect this post to be great either. Hope to come back soon with a more sensible post soon.

The week that went that way!!

2009-07-01T22:16:00.002+05:30

This post would particularly try to reflect my thoughts on two major events which happened in the last week. Though I am a bit late in jotting them down, I still feel it is not too late. No I am not going to write about the death of MJ nor about my selection to the Aspirant Relations Team (ART) of our Student Council.

Firstly, I would like to comment on the steps being taken by HRD Minister Mr Kapil Sibal on reforming the education sector in India. He has tried to set out agenda for the first 100 days, half of which is already over. He has ambitious plans to bring in improvements in the primary education, secondary education and higher education sectors. He has also been talking about making foreign education easily accessible. If the data from the past few decades were to be analysed, we realise that major drop outs happen from primary to secondary and secondary to higher secondary. This is where the focus needs to come from.

There has been talk of a voucher system being introduced for education at primary levels. The implications of this are that, Govt will stop giving subsidies to the schools but will instead give vouchers to the students directly. By doing so, misuse of funds can be prevented to an extent. Also the voucher can be redeemed in a Govt or a Private school by the student. Now, as a result of this, an average poor student can get an admission into a good quality school. Also, Govt schools which are of poor quality will be forced to improve or shut down. Though the implications are huge, and Mr Sibal has faced opposition within his own party, it is definitely a decision well taken.

The major problem in education according to me is the peer pressure the small children get subjected to. Our education system is such that it puts more emphasis on the exams rather than the learning. And thats where the entire education system collapses. There are hints of doing away with the board exam systems for 10th and 12th. The talks of having a single board over all India and even making all the schools is definitely good in this aspect. It will put everyone on the same platform. But unless we make education more of a learning oriented rather than exam oriented, its difficult to succeed. And illiteracy is linked to a whole lot of problems which I wont mention here. So all the best Mr Sibal. I would really be happy if we can do something significant in this.

The second major happening event of last week was the setting up of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The objective of the institution is to provide all the citizens of the country with a unique 16 digit number on the lines of the Social Security Number in the US of A. The SSN is a sign of a developed country. This number is a basis on all transactions in the USA. Any individual purchasing or selling anything will be through this number. It has vast and extensive usage throughout our everyday life and its actually good on the part of our Govt to have had the insight to think so far. Consider this, when someone in USA meets with a car accident, the vehicle will be repaired only on providing the SSN. Once the details are filled against the SSN, if he goes to buy a car after a few years, the premium that he will have to pay on the insurance will be much higher on the grounds that he is not a safe driver. For the information of readers, the Indian insurance industry works such that if there is no accidents in the year, when he goes to renew his insurance, he gets a No Claim Bonus which is reduced from his premium amount. The UID can also be used to have details of various families and their requirements and resource allocation, especially to the BPL families becomes a lot easier and simpler.

But the challenge is huge. In a country where there is a sizable number of people who still do not have a Voters ID card, it is definitely going to be difficult to provide a card to each and every of the 120 odd crore citizens. The difficult thing is about enrollment and authentication. Convincing the people about the project and getting authentic details is going to be a tough ask. As we have seen, there are many cases of people with two PAN cards or two people with same Election ID card numbers. Use of biometry may be able to prevent this misuse.

The appointment of Mr Nandan Nilekani as the Chairman of the project is a welcome sign. Mr Nilekani has proved his mettle by contributing a lot to what Infosys is what it is today. Also we have seen a very rare case of a promoter, resigning from his company to serve a bigger cause. He has got a position of respect and command which has the rank of a Cabinet Minister. With him at the helm of the affairs, I am sure things will be stewarded easily. The first set of cards are expected by April next year. Technology is going to play a major role in the integration. I am sure Mr Nilekani will be successful in this new role of his also. Wishing you all the very best Mr Nilekani!!

On a concluding note, the UPA has begun its second term on a promising note. Lot is expected from the Union Budget due next week. But as they say, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I am glad that the first step has been taken.

7 months down and still waiting.......

2009-06-26T23:20:00.002+05:30

As I was casually walking along the empty roads after dinner today, my friend exclaimed "Today is 26th June. Exactly 7 months back, 26/11 happened. Do you think anything has changed in the last seven months?? Are we safer than before??"

I soon got lost in thoughts. Looking back at what happened 7 months back and all the events that have taken place in succession, I still am not confident about where we have headed. The roots of our financial capital were shaken, many lives were lost, a few important heads were rolled, a big inquiry was initiated, the lone terrorist caught alive was tried in the court. But still nothing major has really happened. Some laws were passed in the Parliament against terrorism.

But lets analyse the situation today. Life in Mumbai, which people claim, has this indomitable fighting spirit, where trains will still be running on parallel tracks even if a bomb blast occurs on one, has just moved on. Some gallantry medals have been bestowed on the dead warriors and they too have been forgotten. Diplomatic pressure was mounted on the Pakistan Govt for a few days and then God alone knows the status. We still do not know whats happening with the Kasab trial. The Chief Minister who lost his job, is now a minister at the centre. So nothing major has really happened.

The other day, I was shocked to read an article in the newspaper which said out of 44 X Ray scanners in the Mumbai International airport, 34 failed to detect arms. Isnt that shocking? Thats not all. All the security checks wherever they happen, are only for the sake of formality. The metal detectors generally beep for every passing person and nobody really bothers about the intensity of the beep. There was a case in a mall in Hyderabad, where an armed civilian, crossed 11 metal detectors before being caught. In a posh 5 star hotel in Delhi, one person carried ammunition inside his car, just to check how prepared are we for any such emergencies. If you really want to check, then do a thorough check. What use is all these tamashas for?

Having said that, do we as responsible citizens, co-operate while a check is being done? We crib if we are asked to pass through a metal detector. We get angry if someone asks us to open our car. We get freaked up when someone wants to frisk us. "How can someone doubt a well educated and a civilised person like that?" is the general reaction. But we fail to realise that anyone intending to do any crime, will of course not portray himself like a terrorist with masks and guns. When he wants to plant a bomb or an explosive, he will come in the outfit which makes him as close to the "civilised and educated" person. As citizens, we should realise this and co-operate whenever some security check is going on. We need to understand that it is for our benefit only.

All said and done, two wrongs do not make a right. The Govt. cannot blame the civilians and have to do something about national security. Unless something is done about that, we will continue to see the 9/11's and the 7/7's and the 26/11's.

People living in glass houses should not throw stones at others!!!

2009-06-25T09:14:00.002+05:30

There seems to be no end to the attacks happening on the Indian students in Australia. But the bigger point to be wondered is whether the way Indians are protesting against these attacks are justified.

You simply cannot go and block the traffic or shout slogans and protest as it happens in India. No country would tolerate any outsider coming there and protesting against it. The Australian Government has time and again said that they are in the process of providing security and protection to the Indian students, but most of it is still going in vain. Every morning, we get to read of "just another one off attack" on an Indian student. Yes, we get angry. We get frustrated. But going and protesting like this is not a solution to the problem.

We find racism everywhere. Even in our own country, look at the way foreigners are treated. Molestation, rape and even murder in some cases are not new in India. You can hardly forget a Scarlett Keeling who was raped and murdered on the beaches of Goa not so long ago. Nor can you forget a couple of German tourists molested in Mumbai. So its not that we are all gentlemen. Why talk about foreigners? Have we really been able to get over what Raj Thackeray and his MNS has been doing to Biharis and UPites in Mumbai? Isn't that a sort of a racial discrimination?

Having said that, I do not say that we should keep mum. The best way to solve the Australian issue is to build diplomatic pressure on Australia to do something "effective". We all agree that Australian Government is doing something. But we want results. The attacks should stop. They should realise that if that does not happen, people would stop considering Australia as a destination for higher education. Currently, Australia is the second largest country after the US of A which attracts 36000 Indians every year for higher educations. If things do not change, it won't be long before UK or Germany may take over that coveted position. One more thing that can be done is boycotting Australian products. Do not buy their products. Protest in this way. In fact I was glad to note a couple of days back, a wine shop in Mumbai openly protesting against the attacks by not selling the Australian Fosters beer.

Though much more needs to be done and the onus solely lies on the Governments, both Indian and Australian, I can surely say that violent protests are definitely not the way! As they say, people living in glass houses should not throw stones at others!

Never give up!!

2009-06-24T09:27:00.004+05:30

"Failure is only when you give up trying; till then its only that you have not succeeded".

These words may seem very heavy and philosophical at the top of the page. But lets just ponder over it. I came across it in one the book of success stories of IIM A graduates - Stay Hungry Stay Foolish. I had put this up as my tag line in gtalk and one of my friends asked me if i really believed in this words. I spent no time in shouting "Yes, Of course!!" Somehow we could not debate much over it. But then, I started pondering over it.

I recently came across the address by Apple CEO Steve Jobs' Commencement Address to the MBA graduates at Stanford a few years back. I have recently finished reading autobiographies of Lee Iacocca and Lance Armstrong. Why go so far? Take the case of our very own NR Narayanamurthy. All of these have not become so successful just by chance. And its not only hard work. Its much more than that. More than anything, these people had a strong will to succeed
.

Steve Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he had founded. But he came back strongly, founded a new company, and forced Apple to take it over and now he is again a part of Apple. Lee Iacocca, was the CEO of Ford. He was fired from that coveted position by Henry Ford because of some differences. He went on to become the CEO of Chrysler and lifted it out of bankruptcy. Lance Armstrong, battled testicular cancer which had spread up to his chest, recovered from it and went on to win 8 Tour de France titles from then on. NRN needs no introduction to us Indians. The hardships faced by him and his team in the early days were simply innumerable. Compare it to what Infosys is today!

All the people have only one thing in common. They never gave up when situations were tough. They never quit trying. They led by setting examples and that is why they are all role models and icons for millions of people all over the world today.

This quality is all the more important for leaders. Because they have a huge number of people following them. Here I can give a classic example of what I have closely seen. When I was working, we had launched a new vehicle which failed to meet our expectations. Moreover, we were entangled in a legal battle with a competitor over some IPR infringement, which we lost in the interim injunction. As a result a lot of us were disappointed and demotivated. But our MD, never gave up. He asked the R&D team to change the design and come up with an alternative till such time that the final order of the court came. Because of this perseverance, the R&D team came up with a modified design in record time. If the MD had given up, the top management too would not have taken much interest. The field team was anyway demotivated. And if this continued, the dealers and vendors would have totally lost confidence in us. And the competitor would have achieved his objective.

So I still stand by whatever I have written. Because I am a strong believer in the words, "If everything is going fine in life, enjoy. It is not going to last long. If things are not going fine, even then enjoy, they aren't going to last long either"

Test of patience!!!

2009-06-23T22:25:00.002+05:30

Student to faculty advisor.

S: Sir, I wish to apply for finance specialisation. Will there be any test for it?

F: If the number of applicants exceeds the number of seats available, then a test will be conducted for screening the people.

S: Sir, was the test conducted last year?

F: Yes, it was.

S: Sir, will it be onjective type or subjective?

F: Last year it was objective, so it may be objective this year also.

S: Sir, will it be computer based or on paper?

F: Last year it was on paper, it will be on paper this year also.(Whats this guy up to ????????)

S: Sir, do we have to use pen or pencil?

F: You can use anything (He is definitely gonna kill me!!!)

Now this is getting on the nerves of the professor

S: Sir, do we have to tick the right answer or shade the circle?

Professor gets mad and escapes!

Incidentally, in our college the maximum number of seats offered for finance is 45. So if there are more number of people opting to take finance specialisation, there will be a test conducted followed by an interview to filter and select the 45.

Tip of the ice berg!!!

2009-06-20T23:25:00.005+05:30

I just saw the tip of the ice berg today!! Yes, little did I think when I woke up this morning that the day was going to be so hectic. In fact, as it was a weekend, I thought the classes may get over soon and we may get some time to relax. I was even expecting a couple of free hours here and there. But in what turned out to be an anti climax of all sorts, we had classes till 8:30PM.

The biggest test of the day, was a run against time. A Case was handed to us at 9:00 AM in the morning supposed to be analysed and solved in a particular format and submitted before 4:30 PM in the evening. And all this in the midst of classes that were going on except for a couple of hours which we could dedicate for the case. The biggest irony here was the non availability of enough number of PC's to sit and work on. Somehow we managed to do it all, but in the end, the satisfaction of a job well done was lacking. This was more so because of the periodic disturbances in the form of other classes we had because of which we were neither able to fully concentrate on the case nor the classes. I frankly believe that such short deadlines do not serve any real purpose, because with the pressure of submission hovering over the head consistently, its actually more difficult to do a fair justice to the case. The quality of the analysis is most likely to suffer. I really am not experienced in this matter, so this may just be the initial fears!!

Most of us missed the lunch for the first time today. And as time passed on, hunger caught up with us. That's when we learnt a precious lesson. Always carry some food item in your bag which you can simply gobble up in a small break here or there. You never know when you'll have to skip lunch or dinner or both.

We are all still waiting for our laptops. We were told initially that the university will strike a great deal with the vendors. When that was not seen happening, the IT team volunteered with a deal. As the details of the deal are still yet to come, most of us are waiting with our fingers crossed. As the IT lab doesn't have enough systems to cater to the entire batch strength and moreover the timings are not too suitable, I wonder how we are going to cope up with the further pressure. As I said, this is just the tip of the ice berg. 90% of the drama is yet to be unfolded. But there is a definite ray of optimism. We at least have a fully functional IT Lab, which our seniors did not have. In spite of all this, if they have managed so well, there is no reason why we should not be!!

Monsoon has finally arrived at Lavale. The breeze is very strong and I am sure we will get to see a lot of umbrellas turning into buckets in the coming days. Moreover the climate is very cool and serene. The evenings are even more awesome. Moreover, the great part is that the clouds are almost passing through our windows. As a result, the outside view is more beautiful than ever before. The sunsets are awesome with the faint tinge of orange over the horizon clearly visible. How I wish I had an SLR!!

Till my next post, cheers!!! Have a great weekend!!!

Qoutable Quotes!!!

2009-06-18T23:40:00.005+05:30

Following are few of the quotable quotes that I have come across in the first few days of my rejuvenated college life. No offence meant against anyone. And special thanks to all my friends who have helped me compile this.

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"My volume is very high, both in loudness and my size". Professor trying to explain that he has a loud voice as well as his build.

“One degree makes the difference.” Trying to explain the importance of the one step that makes the difference. Water at 212˚F is just water, but one more degree of temperature rise makes it steam and steam has the power to run a locomotive. I agree with this statement, but there is another controversial version I have heard. If I am trying to break a log, and it breaks on the 100^th blow, it’s not the 100^th one which did it, but the previous 99 blows which did it in. Anyways, not bad for a start.

“Duniya ka sab se bada rog, kya kahenge log!!” referring to the inferiority complex people have.

“Paalicy is paalicy”, referring in a typical Tamil accent what was told to him by his manager about the necessity of having an MBA degree in order to be due for the next promotion.

“Apna Punja…..ab!!” speaking in a typical Punjabi accent. On his way, he went on to draw comparisons between how a typical Punjabi and a typical Mallu differ in their behavior while buying a bike.

Pun jabi: “Vaddi gaddi honi chaiye!!”

Dlr: But a big vehicle will mean more cost.

P: “Koi gall nahin!!! But everything has to be big. Shock absorbers, tyres, headlamp everything. Everything should look enormous!!!”

Dlr: But a bigger wheel would mean more friction, and more fuel consumption. Which means more running costs.

P: “Arre, koi gall nahi!! Par gaddi vaddi honi chaiye!!”

A typical Mallu will react entirely differently to the same vehicle selection situation. He would have done a lot of research on the same before going to the dealership. A Mallu is as it is wearing πr²h. When he has to sit on the bike it become πr²h/2 People actually wonder why he has to ride a two .wheeler.

A Mallu typically goes to a ‘koalage’ to zimbly gain ‘kNowlage’.!!!

Mallu in typical mallu accent: “With this 18” radius, how is this vehicle able to get so much of torque?? Please call your technical manager.”

Dlr: Sir please look at the vehicle first.

M: “No No!! Its oll mass produced!! I have seen on the road.”

He goes on to enquire all other details like EMI of finance option, and all other things and asks loads of questions, which atleast would frustrate the dealer and make him feel agonised!!

When the prof visited USA long back, he came across a person in the local transport who asked him, where he belonged to. When replied, “India”, he was asked “Do you speak Indian”

Prof: ” That was my first experience with American foolishness.”

In the early 70’s Americans had the image of Indians that they are all undernourished and hunger is prevalent all over the country. So when our prof first went there and was at the immigration counter, the lady at the counter asked him, “Are you hungry??”. Prof happily said, “No. I ate in the flight!!” He was greeted by a weird look. In retrospect, the prof realised that he had infact confirmed the suspicion of the Americans!!

Talking about Arabs, as the richest people in the world but having no real knowledge and skills. “The Sheikhs will donn Rolex watches worth lakhs of rupees. He will even have his hand movements in such a way as to show off. But if you ask him the time, he will still take out a digital clock from his pocket and tell you the time!! He does not know to read analog clock!!”

“Kerala survives only on tourism and gulf income. If you remove the gulf income, the GDP of Kerala is lesser than that of Manipur”, taking the Left Front to task for making scant development over the last few decades.

“West Bengal is Waste Bengal. People don’t know what they want and rulers don’t know how to rule. And because of the Communist Rule, there will be strike every second day, and the agenda for the strike will be decided later!!”

“Mujhe pain deejiye”, someone asking for a pen in a Marathi accent.

“You cannot show me your molars!!” to a student caught yawning in the class.

“I appreciate your compliments, but for God’s sake, I am not a machine!!”. Prof explaining his days in France where he had to undertake frequent tours to Portugal. Those days, Portuguese were totally against contraception and condoms were banned due to religious sentiments. As a result people used to smuggle these things from outside and Prof once incidentally happened to carry 800 pieces on one of his tour. His wife suspiciously asked him, “Honestly tell me, what your business is??”

“Exceptions are not examples!!”