People leaving the company..!!

Every company faces the problem of people leaving the company for better pay or profile.

Early this year, Mohan, a senior software designer, got an offer from a prestigious international firm to work in its India operations developing specialized software. He was thrilled by the offer.

He had heard a lot about the CEO. The salary was great. The company had all the right systems in place employee-friendly human resources (HR) policies, a spanking new office, and the very best technology, even a canteen that served superb food.

Twice Mohan was sent abroad for training. "My learning curve is the sharpest it's ever been," he said soon after he joined.

Last week, less than eight months after he joined, Mohan walked out of the job.


Why did this talented employee leave?

Mohan quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate boss. Immediate boss is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge, experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

"People leave managers not companies" 

Mostly manager drives people away?


HR experts say that of all the abuses, employees find humiliation the most intolerable. The first time, an employee may not leave, but a thought has been planted. The second time, that thought, gets strengthened. The third time, he looks for another job.

When people cannot retort openly in anger, they do so by passive aggression. By digging their heels in and slowing down. By doing only what they are told to do and no more. By omitting to give the boss crucial information."If you work for a jerk, you basically want to get him into trouble. You don't have your heart and soul in the job."

Different managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling, too suspicious, too pushy, too critical, but they forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

If you're not getting rejected, you're not really trying..!!

Some people like to gloat about their successes. Me, I like to brag about how often I've been rejected. And with the number of times people have shut me down, I have a lot to talk about.


Unfortunately many people don't share my brazen approach to utter failure. They look at their own failure and rejection as a Scarlet Letter to be worn shamefully which is a bunch of bull!


As far as I'm concerned, if you’re not getting turned down, you're not really trying. And the only thing you should ever be ashamed of is not trying.


Rejection Represents Potential


Let me start by explaining what's so great about rejection and why you should take advantage of every opportunity to seek it out. Rejection delineates the limits of your potential. Said differently, until you get rejected, you don't really know how much potential you have.


I learned this lesson not in the office, but in places like gym. For the longest time I thought the limit of my bench press topped out around few pounds. To me that seemed like a lot of weight to keep off my chest, and so I assumed that my potential stopped there.


One day, a friend of mine challenged me to push more weight. We slapped more pounds on the bar he told me to give that a shot. In this case, lifting the bar wasn’t my only concern, I was afraid of crushing my whole body in the process!


Two things happened when I took that leap. First, I pulled and strained just about every muscle north of my waist (I was sore for weeks). And second, I benched those extra pounds.


So I did what any ambitious person would do– I put on more weight. I was ashamed that I hadn't tried it sooner. Until I pushed myself to utter failure and rejection, I never really knew just how much was possible.


My Goal – Utter Rejection




Since that moment in the weight room, my goal has been to get rejected as often as possible. I've come to embrace rejection as the only goal that is worth fighting for. Anything less than utter rejection means I've left something behind or gave less of myself to my goals. Nowadays I want to get rejected in everything that I do.


I want to get rejected when I get any new assignment, any new goal to be achieved. I want to present targets that are far higher than anyone can expect. My fear is not the word “no” when it comes to the targets, it’s the word “yes” while wondering if I tried enough to stretch at the targets.


I want to get rejected when I present to my bosses. I want them to think that my plan is overly optimistic, and that my financial projections are far too aggressive. I fear only two words from my boss – “reasonable” and “conservative”. If I’m ever called either of these things I'm going to storm out of the room ashamed.


I don't fear the failures that others would fear. I fear the implications of what acceptance leaves on the table.


Rejection Builds Great Companies


If you want to trade war stories with me, don't sell me your success stories. Success whispers little about who you are. Utter rejection and the ability to bounce back is what really make a leader.


What makes the leader mindset so much different than that of your average worker is that a leader not only embraces risk, they embrace rejection. For every documentary that you read about the birth of a great company, there are endless stories about the failure and rejection the entrepreneurs faced to reach that destination of greatness.


Great companies are built on rejection. They are built on the resilience of the founders who took and endless barrage of punches to the chin and kept on fighting. Seeking rejection as a goal to find greatness is the only way to maximize the potential of what you really are and what you seek to achieve.

A good reading material....taken/inspired from someone's speech....

MPs flying Business Class..!!

I was watching a debate on why MPs should fly business class. To my shock Manish Tiwari, Rajib Dasgupta and Rajiv Pratap Rudi said that the directive for domestic and business travel for Govt. employees does not apply to MPs. He says MPs are not bound by thumb rules of Govt. The question is simply, why I should pay my hard earned money for the leisure of MP's business class travel, when I have to fight everyday for using public transport while commuting to and from office. Providing good roads and public transport is the responsibility of these elected MPs. Instead they are arguing why they should not travel business class. What a shame, we are electing guys who are more concerned about their pleasure, rather than trying to ease out the lives of people who elected them (do not forget the perks they enjoy as MP). Take the example of cyber city Gurgaon. The roads are pathetic, and public transport sucks.

These elected representatives should realise, why are they elected and should act accordingly instead of fighting baselessly. Or else people like me should refuse to pay taxes. We need a account of how our money is being used or misused.

Visiting the memory lane...!!

I am back to Bangalore after a gap of around two years on a very short trip. The moment I landed here, I could feel happiness inside me. I was really happy to be here. Met few old buddies, enjoyed the time spent with them and felt like I was away from my home for so long.

I am feeling nostalgic ever since I landed, although its just two years but still..what a feeling. Met one new member of our gang, she is too young to be more expressive n terms of spoken and written language but she was lovely. I played with that little angel for around an hour and couldn't realise that how time flew away. Tomorrow is a wedding of one more friend and I am looking forward to meet many more friends over there.

Wish I could visit this place and meet them all more frequently...!!

What is Independence…??

The nation is celebrating its 61st Independence Day today. India’s struggle for it is a story of hundreds and thousands of men, women and even children who laid down their lives for attaining this. Many of them never got a chance to see this Independent country. Many of them went unsung and no one knows or remembers them. But as years passed, the sentiments attached with this day are gone. Its now just a holiday which combined with weekend gives a chance to visit home and take rest. Even in schools  children are not interested in being there for flag hoisting ceremony.

What is independence for this generation, is it freedom to work anywhere in country (which again is becoming a problem), freedom to express one’s view (that again is getting restricted to news anchors only), freedom to wear whatever one likes, eat whatever one wants, study whatever he or she wants or anything like that. We get emotional when India plays a match with Pakistan, a temporary emotional when a Kargil war happens and a little feeling of pride when Kalpana Chawla goes for a space mission(who rarely visited India).

Every one grabs the first chance they get to migrate to US, UK or Australia. I will not blame them also, not everyone is ready to give away the quality of life which is being offered by these countries. See what we who opted to stay here are getting. Poor infrastructure in terms of pathetic roads, poor electric supply , non existing or very poor public transport. After so may years of Independence a bill for free primary education is accepted in parliament whereas people who migrate abroad are enjoying all these for so many years. I wonder why these politicians need so big bunglows and so may free telephone calls when they are elected to server the nation. Why can’t the government have an apartment with all the ministers staying in separate flats in it. It will save lots of efforts and money in terms of providing infrastructure and security. A common vehicle can ferry them from their residence to parliament (if they want or opt to attend the parliament sessions). Providing security will be also less stressful for security personal. Any one who has visited Delhi must have crossed the area captured for these politicians.

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

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

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

This will be a real tribute to the all the unsung heroes of freedom and for all of those we know who laid their lives so that we can live free in this free India.

Is PVR worth visiting and that too after spending this much money…..??

I went yesterday with my friends to watch a newly released movie at PVR, ambience mall, Gurgaon. This was supposed to be a fun time out for us. But turned out to be a stressful experience. The video quality was pathetic, sound also too bad to bear. One of our friend had a headache on watching this poor performance. I am not sure it was because of bad movie or bad projection of movie or both. But we couldn’t bear it. We complained to the service manager of PVR who came and after much requested tried to accept that there is some problem with the show.

But he said he can do nothing, instead offered all of us tickets for any other movie we wanted. We were already pissed off with the experience we had and were in no mood to watch any movie again. Even one of our friend walked out of the theatre.

Although the manager offered us the tickets, this is not what we expect from something like PVR. Everyone going there spends hell lot of money to watch movie in these multiplexes. And see what we get in return. The quality of movies which we get by road side illegal vendors  is lot better than what we saw yesterday at PVR.

These guys should really think that money which people are spending on purchasing the tickets is not earned so easily and should value the time and money of everyone. We went for a fun filled evening that was really screwed by those guys.

This experience forces me to think if these multiplexes are worth visiting…??

Why don’t people understand???

It was while I was travelling on Howrah-Delhi Rajdhaani yesterday, I again had an experience. I was sharing my cabin with five other people, two moms and two daughters and one of their friend. My god they never stopped their chit chatting for the whole journey, they were like talking machine. Both Aunti ji were really irritating. Their grown up daughters were also funny, playing Ludo along with Snakes and ladder, both makeup boxes. One of them created a scene while trying to reach to the upper berth, everyone were laughing watching the drama by her. I couldn’t stop laughing.She was happily sitting on my berth and never ever asked me if I wanted to sit at my place. When after dinner I wanted to sleep at around 9.00 PM they said they want to sit for some time after dinner and I have to wait. Finally I got my place at around 10.30 PM and I started my laptop for watching movie, to which also the Aunty ji had an objection, gave me good gyan and I have to shut it down. Somehow managed to sleep which was again interrupted by her at 6.45 AM saying that its too late and she won’t allow me to sleep just because she wanted to sit now. I was too sleepy to argue and I shifted to upper berth. She also told me that while travelling I should adjust to other’s requirements also. I wonder what else I should have done to please them. How shameless are these who never care for anyone while travelling and will give full time gyan to others about adjusting while travelling in public transport. If they need so much care why the hell she was travelling in AC 3 tier, she could have opted for AC 1st class and other’s would had travelled in peace.

I hate these types and believe that they should be thrown out of the train for all this dramatic behaviour. 

The Day that was....

On contrary to this week, the day was pretty excellent. Time really flied. The week-end still is expected to be a fun filled one, the day was awesome. The celebrations started bang at 00:00 Hrs bang with scraps, calls, SMSs, few bumps, kicks, cake and ended with cake all over me in next one hour. Then came few games of darts with flatmate that continued upto 4.30 Hrs and I lost all of them :)

After I got up from sleep it again started with wonderful breakfast and again lots n lots of calls, scraps and SMSs.I was flooded with wishes. The whole day at office was also full of wishes. The evening was something which I never expected. We started partying at 20.30 Hrs at a friend's office. This session was full of fun, jamming, guitar, singing and some really awesome performances. We started from there and after trying at HHI landed at Someplace Else @ Park. It was already 23:45 Hrs by then.

Then again it was a surprise waiting. It was again cake cutting ceremony followed by the cake painting competition where I was the canvas. Everyone showed their painting skills. We were joined by few people partying over there. The people who took me there were all awesome. They partied till 2.30 Hrs again and we left only when Sampy was declared closed for the night. Then we all went for dinner at one of our usual late night food joint, the famous Sharma Dhaba. We all had lovely food over there and discussions were on till 04:00 Hrs. That session also consisted of few friendly bumps, rewinding of few old memories, photo sessions, food and discussions on anything and everything. We finally left the place at 04:30 Hrs and again on reaching back there was a game of dart waiting for us.

Although this was the first time I was not with my family but my friends made this day an unforgettable one for me. This day went away to fast but I will relish this for many days and years to come.

I am already having invites for next few days to continue this celebration. Wishes in form of Calls/scraps/SMSs are still pouring in till the time I am writing this :)

The Week that was……

Why has it been such a slow week? Time usually seems to fly, more or less, for me, but something about this week has made it torturously slow. And while this promises to be a very good weekend, it's not like it's jam-packed with super extra awesome activities that I've just been dying for. So I can't even say that it's felt slow due to heightened anticipation. It's just been a long long week.
There has been, too, the fact that I was sick with strep throat, and was feeling like very out-of-sorts and exhausted. There's no resting, no real sleep.

This week also had few celebrations, with friends, away from family (so a bit happy a bit sad). Some major up and downs, some dejection, some high points…It had all…anyways it was a week that was a weak week…..!!

A police station in reality…

Everyone must have seen filmy police stations in many of the movies but I wish no one is ever required to visit any real one. I have came across these places only a few times till now at different geographical locations for different reasons and requirements.

It’s altogether a different world. No one cares for what is your problem, who you are and why you are there. You can see them working with their own sweet pace. At one instance the constable took around half an hour to write a verification report summary of just 5 lines. No one has got any right to ask them any question, they feel they are above all types of law and they are the ultimate authority. For them anything and everything that you want from them, you need to pay them in cash only. They don’t understand anything like etiquettes, politeness or manners. For them everyone else is either a criminal or a Bakra. Although many states boast of being fully computerised in their operations but I was not lucky enough to see anything close to a computer at of these places I visited. They still believe in doing everything by their own hands. They may ask you to write down your problem on a plain piece of paper as per their guidelines. I once tried giving them a printed request and got good lecture on how now a days youngster show off their computer literacy by doing all these unnecessary frills. As per them, they are helping you by taking money and listening to you and your problems. And since you are earning good amount of money they have a right to demand for their share accordingly for anything they do for you.

No doubt there are few good people also in this profession, but they are now negligible as compared to this new breed of greedy people. None of them were closer to or even trying to match their mission statement “ जन सेवा, देश भक्ति ”.

I wish no one is ever required to visit any police station.

Shift in Work Values..

Success at the next level is not always a given thing, even if you've been a star in your last role. It needs more than a change of gears

Within 18 months of starting his career with a respected MNC in the consumer goods industry as a sales representative, Ravi became an area sales manager. Handing over the promotion letter, the divisional vice president said, "Ravi, you have earned this based upon your outstanding sales track record, commitment and drive. You are the youngest ASM in the country! Congratulations!"

Six months into his new role, Ravi was summoned by the divisional vice president, who said: "Sales for your territories have been steadily dropping. Three reps under your charge have quit, citing you as the prime reason. The reps also say you lose your temper, quite often these days. Is there something I can do to help, Ravi? "  Ravi broke down and  requested "I don't enjoy this work at all and am deeply stressed. Please let me go back to being a sales rep."
What causes someone like Ravi, so successful at one level, to falter at the next level? An obvious, yet often overlooked reason is that promotion decisions are invariably based on past "track record halo", disregarding requirements at the next level.

Is there something one can do to improve chances of success at the next level or, are we doomed to learn the about "level of incompetence" hard way?
An expected answer is "added relevant skills", either by oneself or with organisational input. This is, by no
means, adequate.

A promotion, where a change in role is involved, places you at a critical career crossroad to the next level. Key to success here is to change direction at this crossroad with a change in work values.

Let me elaborate: change in work values is not about changing core values like integrity or dignity. Simply
put, work values determine what you value at work.
Ravi had spent so much time mastering the art of selling and experienced success as a crack salesman. He valued selling more than managing a team of sales reps, with its attendant operational tasks. Whenever a sales rep experienced a difficult sale, Ravi would jump in to close the sale. Soon the sales reps started resenting this "interference" and Ravi was not able to devote time to the non-sales aspects of his position.

Change in work values is necessary as we take higher level responsibilities across levels. A marketing
professional, who becomes a head of the business, may value marketing as the most important part of the job. Having achieved success in marketing, it becomes very difficult to value something else as more important. So he does not apply himself with skill and energy to the non-marketing parts of the new role like business strategy and appreciating the contribution of other functions. Inevitably, as business head, he continues to think and act like a marketing head.

As this Critical Career Crossroads approach, the shift in work values is key to success at the next level.
Management skills and capabilities are developed by activity at the workplace. If you internalise enough of those activities, you actually get good at them, and they give you a sustainable advantage for a certain period of time.

"To start doing something new, you have to stop doing something old."

The D Day…

The time is now of something known as “Appraisal Time” for employees in private sector. This is the time everyone awaits every year to see the outcome of his commitment, efforts he had put throughout the year and to see where his career path is going. I agree that this had been a tough year for most of the companies and many had taken actions like retrenchment and pay cuts but its also important for management to understand that how delicate is this whole process of appraisal is. As this can make or break an employee’s mind frame towards his/ her work.

The people responsible for appraisal should understand that appraisal should be a two way open process rather than being a one way directives that an employee is expected to accept. They should also understand that not always what is reported by the employee’s manager about the employee is perfect. They should also come down and have a chit chat with the employee. This may not get any fruitful result to them, but this is going to boost the moral and productivity of the employee for sure.

Gone are the days when employee accepts and agrees to whatever that was told to him or her. With increasing level of uncertainty and anxiety, the need for effective communication along with true and impartial feedback becomes vital which every manager should understand clearly. An employee expects appraisal process to provide a clear understanding of their manager’s and company’s expectation from them and a clear path for growth in their current assignment and beyond.

I agree that there is lot of pressure on organisations to conduct effective appraisal keeping employees motivated in even tough times like today, but they should also understand that people join organisations and leave managers.

Indian crawling in slow motion…

I was once again back on track with railways for my visit to my parent’s place. Usually I had enjoyed travelling with Indian Railways till date and this travel was also nothing new. But again as always I came across few things that I am jotting down. I booked this ticket in a hurry but was confirmed with the help of one relative sitting at Railway headquarters. Long live Babus in our democracy. It was a pleasant surprise to see people responsible for keeping train clean visiting and cleaning the coach three four times in just less than 24 hours but it was unpleasant to find food pathetic this time. It was pleasant to see that ticket checker was asking for the identity proof but it was unpleasant to see that air-condition needs conditioning.

I also came across flying squad guys who were having free snacks at pantry coach in train, after one successful capture of an elderly uncle who was travelling without ticket. The uncle was also smart, after so many attempts these squad guys were unable to extract a single rupee from him as bribe. He insisted on receipt and they insisted on off the record settlement. After one hour of trial and discussions they finally gave up and uncle ji left the place smiling. It looked as if having free food was their legal right and they had negotiated this as a part of their CTC. There was not even a single GRP personal in the train for past twenty hours, which again surprises me. Is there in any change in rule regarding serving terms and conditions for railways staff?

This corruption, negligence and arrogance among the elite babus is one of the major reasons holding back India from growing. Although India has been ranked as one of the fastest growing economies but its also considered as one of the poorly managed economy. Its like India Inc. would like to fire its all cylinders but can’t as the road ahead is bumpy. India really is crawling in slow motion towards growth and thriving to become a economic superpower. Lets hope to see that dream and vision realising soon.

Life line of the city…local trains

Yesterday I had an experience of my life. Because of some prior commitments I travelled from my residence to one of the extremes of Kolkata (I am still confused, although Kolkata is not so huge but it never ends also). My god, that entire travel was awesome. I somehow managed to reach Sealdah station to catch a local train, I said somehow because it started to rain while I was on the way and traffic came to a standstill. I purchased a ticket for my travel after so many consultations over phone with multiple navigators who were supposed to keep track on my movement. Amazingly the fares are still very cheap. For a travel of 45 minutes all I paid was just seven Rupees.

Incidentally this was my first ever attempt or first ever dare to travel in any local train. This was a mixed feeling of excitement and concern as I always prefer to avoid all this messy means of travelling. These are called as life lines of the cities they carry. Even my maid also uses this to reach at my place in morning. Although she has to start as early as 4.00 AM to reach in time. I always wondered how she was able to manage all this. So back to the journey. I entered the local and managed to get a place near the window. Each seat looked as it was meant for three people and four were occupying it.

The train started bang on time without any delay but by the time it started it was jam packed. It was a mixed bag of people, some returning from job, some returning from college, few were vendors offering various products like lassi, snacks and even ayurvedic medicine and very few like me travelling for the first time. But the situation was really pathetic as you can see in the picture below

  

On reaching the destination, I completed my pre-fixed commitment and then moved to a Govt Guest house for taking rest. It was a location situated on the banks of Hoogly river. The location was an excellent one but very poorly maintained. The view of river was awesome.

The overall feeling and experience was a good one. Although it was a pleasant one but I would always prefer to avoid travelling through locals in this city as it was not an experience I would like to have again.

I believe the guest house can earn a lot more attraction if it maintained properly and of course the situation in trains should be lot better. Also they should think of providing First class as in Mumbai locals, so that people can think of that as an viable option instead of wasting money and fuel on taxies and cars.

Yes Boss…

As per a business survey, India has got most corrupt bureaucracy. So we stood first again. Indeed a great news for my fellow countrymen. For those countrymen who get a chance to vote once in five years and who spend their full five years running around the same politicians they had voted for, the Babus who are there to ease their lives.

I myself had many encounters with these species known as “Babus”. While trying to renew my passport, they refused to accept my rented house’s lease agreement as my residence proof(which incidentally is a legal document accepted by Income Tax department) but are ready to accept address on my bank account passbook (if account is with nationalised bank). Interestingly bank also asks for a local residence proof. How am I supposed to get that if I am a employed guy working in a private organisation?. Or worse I can get my passport renewed if I can pay extra 2000 Rs. to the respected broker. I need to pay 250 Rs. to get a domicile certificate from my state, but that’s the price anyone can pay and get a domicile, even if he or she had never been to that state. I can’t get a new gas connection because the government’s own gas company is not giving new connections but I can get the same if I am ready to shell out extra 1000 Rs. I need to pay 1500 Rs to get a driving license even though I am ready to give all driving exams but that’s the price anyone can get a license even if he had never tried a bicycle, that too without any exam. I can’t get a entrance exam form which is being sold through one of the nationalised bank as they are out of stock but right outside the bank premises I can get that through a broker by paying just 100 Rs extra. Back in year 2000 one of my friend got his international driving license for 3000 Rs through one mediator gentleman when he was not even possessing a valid Indian driving license. The guy managed all the paper formalities. Even though I can’t get a confirmed train ticket by either booking online or by standing in a long queue for hours, the broker can get me a confirmed ticket by charging extra per berth.

This is what I had been watching for years and this is what you all must be witnessing too. This has became part of our life and we had already accepted this as normal process for getting any government document. Earlier at reputed ethical companies at private sector were untouched by this wave, but now they are also not untouched my this new concept. Unfortunately the same trend is creeping into private sector also. You are best performer of your team if you can say “Yes Boss” to whatever your boss says, who the hell cares for the work done. You can come to office at 11.00 am, sit around, give gyan to your teammates, hang around with your boss and can go home as and when you wish. If you don’t have a godfather you are worthless, year after year the so called appraisal process will be just a formality. If you are the boss’s blue eyed child, all the facilities will be provided to you. You don’t need to bother about your project assignment, your performance appraisal, your promotion and your growth. For everyone else they need to take initiative, they need to learn and they need to perform to prove themselves.

Any salaried person will die paying his taxes for nothing and will remain neglected living without proper road, water and electricity. But the bureaucrats will enjoy the luxury of free electricity, water, house and government paid telephones. I wonder how they manage to build their big villas in the salary and that too after paying all the taxes legally. All the salaried people I know till date never looked in a position to achieve all this in a span of 20-25 years of service which our Babu’s achieve within a short span of 5 years. How every Babu’s kid studies in top shot colleges while the meritorious struggle to pay for their fees. If you say that they are born talented, I am forced to laugh. I had seen one of such Babu kid and I understand how talented they really are. Why the policies enforcing reservation to meritorious poor students are not getting implemented and definition of creamy layer is getting redefined regularly.

I wonder why should anyone pay tax or for that reason why anyone should  believe in the system which makes him run from post to pillar to get what is his right.

Why can’t the money which is spent on providing luxury to these useless creatures be used to aid those colleges like IIMs and IITs so that the burden of fees can be reduced to a larger extent on the students who aspire to study and learn?. Why should a politician who can barely be considered educated gets more salary and perks than most of the much qualified youngsters who had spent their time and efforts for studying?. Why do we have categories like VIP and VVIP when they all are supposed to be public servant?.

Wasn’t this democracy supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people??

I really wonder…….  

Australian for Racism

Australia was considered as a heaven for outsiders, people used to go there without any fear for holidaying and studying. Most of them were Indian. It was a heaven for Indian student, study and earn side by side that too while enjoying the scenic beauties and beaches like Bondi beach.

But ever since this incident of racist attacks on a group of students from Hyderabad every one is scared to visit that place. Even families are asking students studying over there to come back because they are scared, really scared. Today there was a rally peace rally outside Victorian Parliament by Indian immigrants to Australia. That showed the anger of Indians over there. Although Australian High Commissioner in India condemned this incident of racism and assured that Government of Australia will ensure that this will not happen again, but the faith of people is already shaken and its really difficult to restore that.

Big B had done a good thing by refusing to accept the honorary doctorate degree offered by an Australian University. As he writes on his blog ”I can’t accept an honour from people who are are targeting my fellow countrymen for no reason ”

We as good hosts, welcome each and every visitor to India and give them so respect (although there are people who try to overcharge and make money, Amir khan is appearing in an advertisement to discourage all this acts) and see what are we

In fact if the things go like this, as suggested my friend KG, there can be a scene where those 10 thousand people who came for peace march will come back soon and start demanding for a separate state to ensure security for them and their people.

Its like they are saying “I’d love India, If I don’t have to live in it”

Come on guys..show some respect…!!!

The day when Kolkata stood Still

It was a regular morning on 25-05-2009. I got ready for going to office and was about to leave when I noticed that it was drizzling outside. Since I was in a hurry and was also hungry, I took a yellow trademark “Taxi” and started for office. On reaching office, I realised that the weather is not so good and I have no chance for having a breakfast. Anyways thanks to a colleague I got homemade Rotis and curry to fill my hungry stomach.

We started our work once it was 09:15 AM. It was still raining outside and the wind was blowing at such a speed that it looked like they are practising for laps at F1 circuits. It all started to go out of control at around 11:00 AM. Trees were trying to fly away in the skies and it also started raining heavily. Then most of us realised that it was “Aila”. I later came to know that although MET department had given a warning in advance but no one cared as usual because of their past track record of success in predictions.

This was first time I was witnessing something like this in my life till now. No one was allowed to leave the building. We can see metal sheets flying around, trees getting uprooted and it seems as if the building will fell down.

There was shortage of food inside office as uprooted trees had blocked all the ways and caterers were not able to deliver food. We all somehow managed our lunch.

During the time “Aila” was here at Kolkata, it halted all forms of lives. Worst hit were all the small shopkeepers on footpath. All the road side eating joints were ransacked. Cars crushed, electricity supply interrupted, water supply gone for a toss and lots of property destroyed.

No one was sure of how long the situation will remain like  this. It all lasted for few hours, with worried people about what is going to happen next. Amid all this confusion, it was declared a holiday and people were asked to reach there respective homes before the next round of storm which was predicted by MET department which luckily misses Kolkata keeping department’s tradition alive. 

One of our seniors offer me a drop till my friend’s place and what I saw on my way back home was also bad. People were running like mad everywhere to reach their home safely.

No one in my office has been witness to anything like this at Kolkata. I saw Kolkata Police working hard to clear all this mess, but “Aila” caught the administration off guard and they have to struggle hard fighting all this.

Although its more than 36 hours since “Aila” passes Kolkata, administration is still fighting to bring back everything to normal. One can still see the uprooted trees still lying on road sides.

People are protesting as in few places they are still deprived of water and electricity supply. One of the major blockage by protestors today at places near to second Hoogly bridge sent traffic for a toss and people reached office as late as 12.00 PM today. Anyways life is coming back to normal at Kolkata after few hours of disaster and shock.

Whatever happens, life always comes back on track sooner or later….That’s the beauty of journey called life.

Road – Pic - Trip

Few days back it was a lazy weekend approaching when I got an invite from Jamy for lunch at his place on Sunday afternoon which I happily accepted. Any invite from Jamy is meant to be accepted unconditionally as it is always bound to be a fun session. Every time I had been to his place, he is always ready with surprises and we had all enjoyed every time.

I was joined by Opium and KG for that lunch. We had a splendid round of Rajma-Rice-Curry along with Raita. All this was followed by a round of mango delicacy courtesy KG. We all were relaxing after that awesome treat, sting when we had an idea of going out for a road trip. Opium opted out owing sleeping disorders of his but rest of us three proceeded towards an unknown destination .

We crossed people enjoying an careless evening at Maidan and Victoria Memorial as we proceeded towards our unknown destination.

From there we headed towards second Hoogly bridge with an intention to have a drive at highway. I was especially excited as this was the first time I was going to those places in my stint at Kolkata.

Crossed toll bridge and continued to drive towards Delhi on NH06 although KG wanted to drive towards Mumbai but Jamy smilingly turned down his repeated request.

 

The view all around was very refreshingly green and lovely reminding me of one of my older trips to country sides.

By the time we reached Kona expressway it had already started raining and we were enjoying each and every moment of that.

 

By this time it was getting dark and we were also feeling hungry so we decided to give rest to our engines and cylinders to cool off.

And then it was time for Begun & Aloo Bhaja along with cups of tea served hot complimented with Parle-G.

After finishing all this we decided to take a U turn and started our journey back towards our dens. It was raining all the way back adding to the pleasure of the journey.

Enjoyed this Road-Pic-Trip to the most and looking forward to so many detoxifying and revitalising moments like this soon with you guys…!

Don't show Us The Finger, “The Bachchans”

After the day of voting at Mumbai, we saw may celebrities sporting the inked finger and flashing it to the press and media, but I was quite shocked at Amitabh, Abhishek and gracious Aishwarya Bachchan brandishing their middle fingers for the benefit of photographers after they voted during the Mumbai polls. The world knows exactly what it means, even 12-year-olds even in Asian countries like India and China. And I suspect the teen in Bangladesh and Pakistan too understand this.

It was neither needed nor expected, even for a noble cause like  voting and nor was it can be considered decent. Soon other actors followed suit and there was a sizeable stream of Bollywood's glitterati making the obscene gesture. With final round of voting due tomorrow, I won't be surprised if hordes of young Indian voters, impressed by the finger flaunting celebrities, come out of polling booths across the country showing their middle fingers.

Some actors, though, fully aware of the significance of holding up their middle fingers all their fingers, more gracefully and correctly.

While I have don’t have anything against the gesture as such, or any other thing that people do privately, but I believe people seem to have taken offence at someone like the Big B and Aishwarya getting so rude, that too publicly. Few things or acts, however trendy and rebellious or youthful and iconic, are just not cool, especially when you subject others to it. It’s like smoking or using the big F word. 

In Western cultures, says Wikipedia, In many Western countries extending only the middle finger and sometimes along with the thumb of the same hand, is an offensive and obscene gesture, colloquially known as "flipping a bird" or "Flipping someone off." In some cultures, the middle finger is used as an index, to point things out.Believed by leading experts to be originated in North America.

Can we please have a less vulgar and more modern way of showing the support to voting now? So that there's no ink on our fingers and there's no need for Big B and Abhi-Aish to flash The Finger at us first thing in the morning when the go to vote next time?

Its raining @ Kol

Thank God, Its raining here at Kolkata..after a week of draining heat its rain time…cool breezeee and Kolkata looks good for a change…just there will be traffic jams..but no issues..we will still enjoy it :)