Mahatma in My Boss..!!

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Prelude : This is a fictitious story about a conversation between a boss "Krishna" and his subordinate "Arjun" in this new corporate world, wherein the Boss guides the subordinate using knowledge of Satyug and Dwapar yug and how the management was done in those days. What is interesting is how Krishna is able to closely correlate the day to day things to the proven ways of management form history and was able to make Arjun understand the key to success.

Story:   

On a Monday morning at office, when Krishna reached office, Arjun was waiting for him and he greeted him and the story begins

Arjun: Good Morning Krishna! How are you?

Krishna: Good Morning Arjun, have a seat.

Arjun : Boss I have a question for you. In fact I have been wanting to ask this question since long but couldn’t find a suitable time.

Krishna: Oh! To progress in life you should clear your doubts at the first given opportunity.

Arjun: Thank you Krishna, I wanted to ask that why do you keep these three monkeys of Mahatma Gandhi on your table? Are you inspired by Mahatma’s life and his philosophy?

Krishna: yea you are right but first you tell me what is the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi?

Arjun: Yes of course, Mahatma Gandhi was the spearhead of Indian Independence Movement, he led many movements against British rule like Non-Cooperation movement; Quit India movement; Swadeshi Movement and above all, his autobiography “ My experiments with Truth” is a great inspiration for youths across…

Krishna : Great what have you learnt from Mahatma?

Arjun: To always speak truth, Nonviolence, to be polite yet firm in my approach, fight for justice.

Krishna: Do you practice all this?

Arjun: Well… it is difficult but I try, you still haven’t answered my question.

Krishna: Yes…these three monkeys!! You tell me, what do these monkeys symbolize?

Arjun: Do not speak, hear and see evil.

Krishna : Very good. These three monkeys are my Management Gurus.

Arjun: This is interesting and inspirational Boss. You mean to say you never speak, hear and see evil. I am impressed. If everyone in this office starts practicing this mantra, we will all be happy and this company will grow like anything. Boss, I am very happy to know this, if entire management becomes like you there will be no back biting, no favoritism, no fear in this company. I sincerely believe that tone at the top has a key role to play in any organization’s success.

Krishna: Hold your horses my dear! You didn’t get it correct. I am not saying that I do not see, speak and hear evil

Arjun: But boss you said these three monkeys are your Management Gurus

Krishna : yes you are right, These Monkeys are my management Gurus. Let me explain it to you. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Do not see, hear and speak evil.”

Arjun : yes

Krishna: I have done a little modification in this philosophy or you can say I have my own interpretation of this philosophy

Arjun: which is

Krishna: I decide time, situation, place and people to practice this philosophy.

Arjun: I didn’t understand you.

Krishna: Dude! I am saying, I decide when & where to see, hear and speak evil.

Arjun: I am confused

Krishna: Hmm... you are behaving like Arjun from Mahabharat. Let me explain it further for you. In real world, you need to be smart enough to decide how to use this philosophy to your advantage.

Arjun: Boss, please do not confuse me further.

Krishna: Ok tell me, do you like everyone in this company?

Arjun: not really.

Krishna: Good. Let me give you a situation, let’s assume there is an issue in this company and that mistake is made by an employee whom you like. what you will do?

Arjun: irrespective of my liking or dislike for that person I will speak the truth.

Krishna: This is the root cause of the problem.

Arjun: meaning?

Krishna: I’ll take a call based on situation, which means if the mistake is made by a person who does not fit in my scheme of things, I will speak against him.

Arjun: and if he fits in?

Krishna: I will bring into play three monkeys and will speak about improving processes, controls and tone at the top etc.

Arjun: But this is wrong.

Krishna: No this is management and the day you will learn this philosophy you will also start growing in the organization.

Arjun: but Krishna, this is not the teaching of Mahatma Gandhi.

Krishna: No one really knows what exactly he wanted to preach, everything is subject to interpretation and the speed at which I’m growing in the organization it seems that my interpretation is correct and working for me.

Arjun: In that case I may not be able to work in this organization any more.

Krishna: Don’t get emotional, all organizations, whether family, social, political or corporate are same and remember I like you.

Arjun: meaning you will never see any wrong in me.

Krishna: Yes, till the time you fit in my scheme of things

Krishna: Do remember my management lesson:

“Use these monkeys as per your convenience and keep doing wrong if it benefits you.”

Arjun: But these monkeys are not asking you to do wrong.

Krishna: No Dude, in fact it is implied…see what they say. Do not see, hear and speak evil which means you can silently keep doing wrong.

Arjun: Thanks Boss, I will try to become Mahatma like you although it seems difficult for me.

Krishna: Good acceptance is the first step to change. To be successful, I have always seen Mahatma in my Boss.

Arjun: Yes, Boss now I can also see “Mahatma in my Boss.” 

After few days of this conversation, Arjun was again stuck with some thoughts in his mind and wanted to have some guidance on how to go further, so he again approached Krishna. The conversation went on like this.

Arjun: Boss, I have another question for you.

Krishna: I told you earlier also to clear doubts at the first given opportunity.

Arjun: yes Boss, I remember your words.

Krishna: well then make practical use of my wisdom.

Arjun: You are right Sir.

Krishna: I know that I am right and you cannot contradict it either.

Arjun: Sir back to my question.

Krishna: go ahead.

Arjun: Boss! you keep saying that you can see through people.

Krishna: Yea, I can and I can read minds too.

Arjun: This is incredible, is this a God gift or you have developed this skill?

Krishna: Ha ha ha

Arjun: Boss, I am curious, if everyone in this organization is able to develop ability to see through people then there shall be no confusions, no misunderstandings and no lack of communication. We shall hire worthy characters and there shall be no difference in “practice & preaching”. There shall be complete trust and all shall work for the betterment of the organization without any apprehension.

But Sir, there are people in this company who aren’t clean and transparent but are still close to you. If you can see through them, why don’t you expose and get rid of them for the benefit of the organization?

Krishna: Good question Arjun but you are forgetting my first management lesson

Arjun: yes, Boss you told me to “Use Gandhi’s monkeys as per our convenience and keep doing wrong if it benefits us.”

Krishna: That’s what I do…

Arjun: I didn’t understand

Krishna: Indeed, I can see through people but I use this skill as per my convenience for my benefit

Arjun:  but isn’t this wrong?

Krishna: wrong or not is just a perception and as I told u last time that everything is subject to interpretation even Gandhi’s three monkeys are subject to interpretation.

Arjun: I agree but is it not correct to hire right resources, that will solve all problem. Once this organization is free from unethical people you will be able to apply Gandhi’s principle of three monkeys to the fullest.

Krishna: Arjun, it is difficult to get honest and intelligent people in this world and to run business you need people who have business acumen and can work with various kinds of individuals & in challenging environment. Only honesty & ethical behavior cannot serve the purpose.

Arjun: I didn’t understand.

Krishna: See, I believe in only two management philosophies

Arjun: and they are?

Krishna: First one was propounded by Bhagwan Ram and the other one was by Shri Krishna

Arjun: Sir I am unable to understand what has Bhagwan Ram & Krishna got to do with modern day Management.

Krishna: This is where you go wrong, both Ram & Krishna were management gurus.

Arjun: This is interesting sir…

Krishna: In fact for both Ram & Krishna ultimate objective was one i.e. ‘Good must prevail over bad,’ but their routes were different. On one hand Ram believed and practiced only ethical behavior whereas Krishna practiced blow for blow, you may call it situational leadership.

Arjun: but which one is the right practice

Krishna : Principles of Ram are impractical in today’s world.

Arjun: But sir ideally Ram’s principles only can bring peace and happiness in this world

Krishna : we don’t live in an ideal world and by practicing Ram you shall never reach the pinnacle and therefore I practice Krishna.

Arjun :  I agree  but Boss then what is the relevance of Ram in today’s world

Krishna: Ram is what you can hope to be and Krishna is what you actually can be..

Krishna brings practical approach to life whereas Ram cannot be practiced

Arjun: coming back to my question. Can you really see through people?

Krishna: ha ha ha! No, I can’t and no one can.

Arjun: I didn’t understand

Krishna: Let me explain, it’s extremely difficult to look within. unless you are in touch with your inner self, you cannot connect or see through the inner self of the other. A soul can only connect with another soul.

Arjun: wow sir but why do you keep saying I can see through

Krishna: well this is a strategy to make other uncomfortable

Arjun: But what is the need

Krishna: to hide my own inefficiencies.

Arjun: So you are saying…To hide your flaws you attack others…is this not wrong

Krishna: Again, this is your interpretation. I am here to win!!

Arjun: win what

Krishna: To win everything I want and eventually to win over myself.

Arjun: You are so candid, Are you not afraid of anything

Krishna: Not of you at least.

Krishna: remember “Keep applying principles of Krishna till the time you reach to a position where you can afford to be Ram”

Arjun: You are great. I can clearly see “Mahatma in my Boss”

Dreams..!!

Dreams are something we all see. We used to dream in our childhood, during our school days, college days, when we joined our first job and so on...

As we grow up or dreams keeps on changing, the milestones start becoming bigger, tougher and meaner. We keep on evolving and so does our dreams.

What happens when we are not able to match our own expectations or when our dreams shatters. It feels like end of life, as if you we wrong all along the journey and nothing else matters now.

What should we do then?

• should we lose all hopes
• stop dreaming 
• go in exile
• step up, pick up a new dream and start again

I would say, why not start again.

Dreams helps a person in setting his ambitions and aims in life. Then one spends life and his time in life chasing it, making efforts to make that dream a reality. He might fail sometimes, succeed sometimes.

Not everything we dream is a reality but we still dream, isn't it?  

So why stop dreaming and as Steve Jobs once said, sooner or later all the dots will get connected and you will see the entire story.

Keep dreaming, Keep walking the journey of life..!!

Why even the most powerful team falls apart..!!

What exactly is a team?

• Is it only a group of skillful people working together? No
• Is it herd of people who are expected to say yes to everything? No
• Is it a one man show (read manager)? No

So what exactly is a team and who keeps it bonded together ?
If you go by books and management principals, it’s always a manager who binds the team together and ensures that everyone is working towards the larger organization’s goal.
But in reality, it’s mostly the inverse. The teams are driven towards more of a personal goal. Although as per “The Manager” that might be his correct understanding of the organizational goal.
Let’s have a look on few possible reasons which create this disconnect in real life

 1.     Showcasing unnecessary stress and urgency
When every-time things are portrayed as urgent and team is pushed to finish it as soon as possible. What happens eventually that team members stop giving importance to even urgent things.

 2.     Lack of transparency
I do understand that information should be shared with only intended recipients but a practice of hiding all the information just to use it at later stage never helps. It’s always good to keep your team members informed about reality of the project/ assignment. No one likes surprises, that too always.

3.     Judging people only basis own experience
It’s good to access people basis personal experience but it’s dangerous to be judgmental basis only personal experience. No one in this world is having all the experience in life. A truth, the way it’s interpreted is, My Truth Vs Your Truth Vs The Truth. Its very dangerous for any team if the manager is accessing people only basis his knowledge and consistently ignoring inputs from others or taking only selective feedback. Team members in this case lose their motivation and will never deliver to their capacity

4.     Nano-Management Expert
Gone are the days of Micro-Management, now a days managers go one step ahead and they even want to review mails which are being sent, doing multiple iterations of a simple document or spending time in revising the presentations for n number of times. When one is kept under the lens all the time, the person tends to finish the job just for the sake of finishing it because he/she knows that this will be reviewed again and again and again. This kills all the talent and suppresses creativity.

5.     Not giving personal space
Last but not least, people who expect the team to be there at office all the time, expect them to spare all the personal time for office, eventually force the team for the truancy. Everyone is a mature individual and knows how to take the responsibilities and finish it as per the agreed commitment. But everyone needs personal space too. What seems as a waste of time to a manager can be the person’s choice of de-stressing (I have heard sarcastic comments on my hobby of writing blogs in my career). This should be respected and given space.



If simple things like above are managed tactfully, the team can do wonders..!!

Innovation..!!

What's an innovation ?

• Inventing something new
• reinventing something in present scenario
• revamping existing processes by removing bottlenecks, or
• doing something which gives positive new solutions

In my view, anything which improvises existing process and procedures, refining it, adding something new (irrespective of it's being big or small) which enhances the output or anything which results in customer delight should qualify as innovation. It doesn't have to be next big thing, irrespective of its size and aura, what should matter most is the customer delight and business excellence.

It doesn't needs fancy jargon, complicated explanation or fancy titles. One should target excellence with simplicity to achieve it. Targeting to enhance basic building blocks will also serve the purpose.

Simply, keep innovating and keep contributing..!!

What is the key factor in customer satisfaction?

• I have heard so many times during my career "The testing was not done properly" or "The delivery guy doesn't have proper business knowledge" or "Delivery was not done on time". People rarely realize that following steps ensure that any delivery for customer (internal or external) is done "On Time In Full"

  • Requirement gathering- Ask as many questions as possible while collecting information at this stage. Don't get dishearten by people who say that you are asking questions because you don't understand business. In fact you are asking because you are having hawk's view of the entire situation, which in most of the case is better than any specific user community. Capturing more and more details will help in preventing re-development of output and hence sticking to timelines
  • Feasibility Study - Don't get surprised if user asks for a 8000 CC car while offering to pay for a 600 CC engine and expecting it to get delivered as on yesterday. Do a stock check before you commit on what can be delivered in your current scope of delivery 
  • Modular development - No one will ask it specifically but will expect every part of your delivery to be independent so that it can accommodate last minute "Eureka" moment inventions and discoveries
  • User based testing-  Ensure that the user who has given the requirement, tests it to the best of his capability. You might have to scrap entire output just because it was not tested by the user
  • Go-live- Always be ready to mitigate any mishap during this stage (trust me Murphy's law is not a myth). Start with a small user base in controlled environment so that anything going not as per expectation can be corrected without any major impact to business.

  You will always come across people who would know everything and are always ready with suggestions. My stake would be to take as much as help and input possible in order to deliver best output.
  And I strongly believe that support cost will be minimal if above points are handled properly.
  

Do you really have a right of online privacy ?

In today's world where you are being tracked everywhere,  when your mobile and apps installed on it shares your location with the world, when your search results are stored and analyzed by search engine providers and your browser history no longer belongs exclusively to you, do you really have right to privacy ?

In my view, yes you do!

What you do online should only belong to you unless it's shared by you on social media. If you are using tools online to do something, you should not be tracked in the name of providing better suggestions or recommendations. When you use your e-mail, which is a private thing, no one should try to read it and throw suggestions in the name of ads. If they can't sustain providing a free service they should better charge it and leave us alone. Those who can afford it, will use it or people will stop using it. Yes they are not doing us a favor by providing a free service and stealing our very personal data.

When I use my social networking account, I am provided control on what can be shared with whom, similarly when I want to close my social network account, I expect that all my data is deleted from the servers because I no longer want to be available on that social network. Yes, as a user, I do understand that I will loose my all data when I close my account but in the name of making it available anytime, why companies are retaining my personal data forever?

As a consumer or an end user, you are using a free service because it is being offered free (having terms and conditions in coded language doesn't helps at all). Just because you are using a service your privacy can't be left at the mercy of service provider.

What I am doing inside my browser should not be of any concern to anyone, it's me doing something for myself (of course it should not be something against humanity)

As a human being, you me and everyone is entitled to his or her right of online privacy and we do not want to give up on this right anytime for anything..!!

A Startup…!!

What comes to your mind when someone speaks out this word “Startup” ? I am blessed to have wonderful friends who are the one, really understood the real meaning of this and have given me chance to understand it too. Thanks Macha(http://gomowgli.in/) and Sal(http://www.delyver.com) for this. On the other hand I have also encountered few who are really a shame on the name of this. Thanks to some really money minded idiots.

As far as my understanding of this fabulous word goes, “Startup” means a bunch of young (not necessarily by age) people working together to create an environment wherein everyone is putting their best to achieve something. They are doing it because they love to do that, they are passionate about it and they want people who are joining them to enjoy working with them.

Few ground rules I understood from them

• Not everything is about money, although it surely matters
• You can grow if you keep your customers and employees delighted and involved
• There are no ground rules to achieve what you want to achieve
• Team means a team that work together, not the bureaucracy
• Everyone contributes towards achieving, they don’t just do the job
• You grow and take everyone along
• You don’t stay as startup forever, you grow and get more organised but keep the spirit alive
• Individuals never win, its team which always wins
• Develop a sense of belongingness

For the money minded ones, if you can refer to above basic things, trust me you will grow much more faster.

No one remembers Larry Page or Mark Zuckerberg for which brand of watch or clothing they wear, they are always remembered for what they did for their dream concept.

Its very simple, learn and grow or simply perish under greed..!!

Who me...!!

Who is this inside me which keeps on asking questions to me at every step, every day

• If what I see is correct
• If what I listen is correct
• If what I do is correct
• Am I fighting for right things
• Do I see what I should see 
• Am I ignoring my inner self
• Am I the person I wanted to be

Don’t know, not sure about what I should reply to all these. I just choose to have these thoughts in mind and “Keep walking”. Maybe someday, somewhere I will stop and answer all of these..!!

The playground of democracy…!!

So everyone is talking about politics now, talking about caps, flowers and brooms. Deep inside we are too much of tolerant to anything and everything. We turn blind to so many things everyday, people driving on wrong lanes, jumping red lights, paying bribes on getting caught, loitering at public place and we take them as a part of our lives. And then we talk about being a super power and crib about not being able to become something close to be a power.  Somehow this all gives me a feeling that people love to gossip, discuss for hours on the layout of this “political playground” but when it’s time to really act, they prefer to hide inside their comfort cocoons and hideouts.

Most of the people plan out a holiday, getaway or simple stay inside their homes on voting day. There are many excuses of you not interested, and a simple way to vote if you really are interested. Excuse of not having name in voter list is just an example of laziness, if we can run across to get our cars registered or for a LPG gas connection, we can get this done too. If they can’t go out and vote, what is going to happen by sharing facts and forwards about political parties on social media!

Yes I agree that you have paid taxes (willingly or unwillingly) but just paying taxes doesn’t gives you right to crib if you are not exercising your right to vote. Despite so much of push from media and EC, the voter turnout from the so called cosmopolitan was not great, which itself is a shame. If we can take out time to party despite a busy work life , why can’t we spare one hour in five years to vote ??

If you want to play this game, you have to make your hands dirty, if not for you, at least for your coming generations…!!

Why do we need stimulants always..!!

Why do, we, the people always needs to be reminded of things. Things as small as our basic duties towards society, that we are not supposed to frown on everyone we see around, that a small smile is lot more contagious and welcome than show off of money. We always tend to forget the small pleasures of bringing smile to people whom we don’t know. We start feeling like god in our pseudo power centres of cubicles and it simply vaporises out of our brains that, nothing lasts forever, no power no slavery, no dispute and no loyalty.

We tend to forget things and then get awaken by small things like a simple movie or a statement by a not so smart street kid. why can’t we learn to respect people even before they call it a day, why can’t things be smooth, why can’t everyone have their own share of respect without demanding it in a wrong way.

Someday, I believe this will be taken care of by one who is supposed to get this done..an I will keep walking with that faith..!!

Usual games..!!

This was bound to happen sooner or later in India. Our government has always been lax when it comes to cyber crime and cyber law irrespective of which party was ruling. They always believed that Army is the only requirement to defend the boundaries of this great country.

When IT boom came to India, under pressure from other developed country IT security act was introduced in 2000 and was again amended in 2008 but nothing concrete in it. All the crimes were bail-able in that. Like present laws, this was also made and never enforced. One of the finest excuse was all the social networking sites are based out of USA on which Indian law has got no control. Oh come on, take a cue from China, if you really want it, being a government you can have it anytime. No one in power ever thought that the incident which happened two days back with people of north-east can even happen. And now when the situation goes out of control, the action taken are usual expected one

• Block SMS for few days
• Blame Pakistan for everything

Can they explain that just by blocking the SMS what can be achieved now, damage has already been done and if Pakistan was the originator of this rumor, who helped in propagating this within India. no one from Pakistan came here to forward these SMSs. Now even Pakistan denies its involvement in this incident and asks for a proof, we too are waiting for that proof.

Now one senior politician says, all Indians have got right to work and live anywhere in India. Oh yes, we know this is our right as per our constitution, can you just ensure that this is being followed across country keeping aside your political interests and vote politics. Please do not wait for something big to happen and then declare this from some podium, work on a daily basis to ensure this.

I am assuring you, if your party can do this, you don’t need to ask for votes in any election.

My dear politicians, if you all can grow up from fights of caste, religion and vote, we would appreciate your efforts in controlling law and order situation in country, controlling the shooting prices of commodities, providing the tax payers a quality life.

Can we have freedom to live in our own country please??

How about this..??

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feelings of being at India gate..!!

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

Bhopal..a bleeding story..!!

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mockery of Education…!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stanleys and Ishans of our world…!!

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

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

We the strange bunch of people..!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Delhi nights and early mornings…!!

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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