Customer Care Challenges

With competition rapidly increasing in the market place, the “product” is no longer a sole winner for any company. Customer Support has gathered importance like never before and every organization today has an increased focus towards the support function. The movie Rocket Singh which came a couple of years back, clearly portrayed the shift in the customer’s preferences.

Thus 24 x 7 Customer Care Centres have become a norm today. Even the smallest and insignificant company today boasts of a Toll Free Number. Major companies are now also resorting to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to engage with customers. No doubt there has been a tremendous improvement in the way customers get support as compared to the situation earlier. But there still is a long way to go when it comes to the “care” aspect of it or in terms of providing real support.

Firstly, the customer care executives, who answer your phone call / chat, are trained with Standard Operating Procedures on how to handle queries. When you mail a query, they just copy and paste an answer which is already a part of the FAQ they have been equipped with. The moment your query is different from the normal and frequently asked ones, comes the real test of the support system. Most of the times, the response I have received to a query I have asked is something that I already know.

Secondly, the response time to queries is a key indicator. The time taken to answer a call, the time it takes for you to navigate through the IVRS and get to what you are actually looking at, the time it takes to talk to a Customer Support Executive from the time you have dialed the number is pretty long on an average for most of the Indian companies.

Third is the question of empowerment. Most of these executives are hardly empowered to take decisions. As a result the call keeps escalating on and on till it reaches the right person. By that time, the caller usually loses patience. Imagine a situation when you are talking to an executive, have taken a long time to explain him your problem, and he is not in a position to solve it for you and you have to go through the same thing explaining it all over again to someone else. Alternately, you have explained everything to someone and you call gets disconnected for some reason. You do not know how to get in touch with the person you have already discussed the matter with!

What is important to be remembered is that a person calls the customer care only as a last resort. He usually calls only when he has tried and explored other means and methods to solve his problems. In such an instance, the quicker he gets a solution, or a direction towards it, the better. This requires people in such positions to be competent enough to answer any kind of queries that might arise. They need to be street smart and handle each and every query that comes their way. And most importantly, it requires a lot of patience to listen to frustrated and angry customers throughout the day and still manage to smile at the end of it all.

It is simply like this. Till the time it was not there, it really did not matter. But now that it has started, and now that people have been made to taste it, the demands will only increase. What started as a luxury, is today a necessity. What started as a “good to have” quality, has today become a “must have” quality of service delivery.

Aspiring Managers..... Time to be mentally strong!!

A hot topic which brewed quite a strong storm a couple of months back, I have been wondering whether I should comment on it or not. I am referring to the first barrier for entry to B Schools – the entrance tests - and all the wrong reasons for which different tests have come under the scanner.

CAT – the single largest test taken by the highest number of people who aspire a career in the business world – went online a couple of years back. And ever since that happened, it has only been marred in controversies. This year, the controversy cake was taken by SNAP – for faulty question paper setting and also to have some questions directly picked from preparation material provided by “Coaching Centers”

Having closely been involved in work related to Admissions of a B School for two years, I have a couple of observations to make. Referring to the SNAP fiasco, there apparently were some questions where none of the options given were right. There apparently were some questions which had multiple correct answers. There might have been major mistakes in the question paper and the authorities conducting the test need to be meticulous and have due diligence when you are conducting something at such a large scale which has such a large impact. But let us park that thought here.

It is true that a lot at stake in these exams. Candidates prepare for months and go through a lot to crack these tests in order to get a call from B Schools of their choice. It’s the pinnacle of months of waiting and sacrifice and the probability of succeeding at times is lesser than 0.01%. The pressure is tremendous because it stems out of expectations – your own and your folks, and also because if you don’t succeed this time, the wait continues for another year!

Mistakes in the questions set however doesn’t give the test takers a license to take on the test conducting authority. It was hard to digest B School aspirants vent out their anger in public, on news channels, on online forums, creating videos and viral campaigns trying to fight against the so called mishaps. I think such an action is unjustified and uncalled for, for the simple reason that indulging in something of that magnitude is not going to reverse whatever has happened. Public demonstrations, showing mob mentality, displaying traits of netagiri while responding to situations under frustration, anger and disgust is not going to solve or simplify the issue in any way.

Figure this. What if those few incorrect questions were intentionally put in the question paper? Everyone who takes the test gets to answer the same question paper. So there is absolutely no point in sitting and complaining about it. Different tests assess you on different aspects. Some test your knowledge, some your speed, some your agility, and some a combination of all of these in various proportions. There are certain tests in which you are required to mark all the options that are right. And there are some, which might not have a right answer at all. This might just have been one of those that test your ability to spot potholes on your path and how you navigate through them! Why do we always need to go to a test – that too a competitive one at it - with a certain preconceived notions?

Life is full of surprises. Everything in life doesn’t come with loud announcements. Not all situations can be addressed with fixed algorithms. As a manager, not everything that you face in the business world comes with a definite solution. A lot of occasions arise, where one has to take a decision with limited resources. That time, you cannot sit and complain about it, for you will be branded as incompetent. And to handle all these, the most basic requirement is a calm mind that thinks rather than an impulsive aggression that speaks!

At the end of the day, the B Schools are looking at selecting the people who show characteristics and potential to lead businesses tomorrow. Further rounds of selections anyways make use of different tools and criteria to evaluate the candidates and filter the pool so that only the best survive. So what’s wrong if some of those is built in the first phase of filtering?

Simply put, MBA is just a journey, not the destination in itself. Entrance tests are some of those milestones you pass on the way. If one cannot handle simple hurdles, how would he gear up for bigger challenges?

The difficult part of being on the other side of "Six Feet"

Year 1997.

As a school going young kid, I was very happy. Along with toughly fought academics, I was now on records a topper in one more aspect in my class. At five and a half inches over five feet, I was the tallest!

Fast Forward to year 2012. Surely and certainly at the end of my vertical growth, I am a tad under Six feet four inches. Am I still as happy? Ummmm… Well…..

Being tall is undoubtedly cool. It gives you that towering personality which in first look can give a great inferiority complex to a lot of people. But without going into all that, let me try to draw your attention towards the other side of being tall.

The most basic disadvantage is that almost all the products that are mass produced come in standard sizes. The taller you are, the farther away you are from the standard. Be it the clothes you wear, the footwear you use, the mattresses/cots and bed sheets you use your choice gets limited. You might really like a particular design or a colour combination, but it might not be available in the size that you are looking at. Many a times, you will be forced to go for customized orders, which take their own sweet time not to mention the additional burden it’ll put on your wallets.

Next comes the comfort while you are travelling. Be it air, rail or bus travel, you are never at ease! The leg rooms available in the buses and aircrafts are so meager that you will simply be waiting for the journey to get over and run out of the place. You’ll start cursing your height when people start brushing against your feet every second minute when you are attempting to catch on long lost sleep on a long distance train journey. Travelling is one of the biggest nightmares I personally have. That’s not all. You sit on a two wheeler, and appear as if you are riding a bicycle. Your knees at times get locked with the handle bars when you try taking a deep turn. Four wheelers are no different. A height as big as that, drastically reduces the alternatives you have!

Then, as a tall person, you are easy to be spotted from a distance even in a thick crowd. It’s difficult to hide from others (read people you want to avoid). You need to take extra care about yourself when you go to new places. When I go to my hometown, where most of the houses are still of the ancestral days, I need to be very careful when moving between rooms as the doors are very short. Additionally the ceilings too are pretty low, which necessitates me to have a watch on my hand movements!

You are tall, will require you to bend a lot. If you weigh disproportionately, the whole weight falls on your ankle and that goes for a toss. Wrong postures can lead to major problems on the spinal cord! Though everyone can be prey to problems stated here, the tall ones are slightly more vulnerable!

So yeah, being tall is not easy! It comes with its own, unique, unavoidable problems. And the bigger challenge is you can’t do anything about it and you just have to live with it! :)

Co-existence and NOT the survival of the fittest!

“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...

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

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...

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....

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?

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'

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?

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!

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

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

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

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.....

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

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

“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??

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!! :-)

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…