Rewind 2006...

Everybody is busy shopping, few making plans where to head to and many more things happening, for we can hear the bells ringing to welcome the NewYear!!! But here i am introspecting how has the year been !!! As i see over the years transforming myself into a better individual adapting to the changes around me, year 2006 has much more than this. I should say i have become more open, going towards the greater degree of being Extrovert, new add ons being diligence and perseverance into my life. I have learnt a lot with the people around me in the companies i worked and the social groups i volunteer- all the factors mentioned i attribute them to the groups i have been working for. Also this year has been the year of HIA ('Huge Information Assimilation) which i have been constantly trying to catch up on over the last 25 years and i think this quest for knowledge will be alive and will grow as has been happening the equation being directly proportional . Yet again this year i volunteered for another group called "Clean & Green" where my whole perspective of looking at life has changed and this group has actually transformed me into something which i cudnt believe myself.

If year 2004 Dream-A-Dream has imbibed me Empathy Not Sympathy , 2005 VODO has instilled me the some the best time - risk- management - networking - and many more soft skills which i apply at my daily work , 2006 C&G made me realise Beyond everything there's something called "Nature" and you need to embrace it, care for it as you care your mother, this group indeed has brought me an attitudinal change within myself as it made to get down to my knees and made me feel "A big problem is to be treated as a Big Oppourtunity".

As i always reiterate the fact every passing day is learning expereince for me and so is an year. Like all those beautiful moments you do have some off days and some incidents which make you feel bad , i realised i need to live with it and probably learn something out of it than cribbing over it for we can never escape out of Murphy's Law.

I have travelled a lot this year - trips to MekkeDaatu, Sangam, Galibore, Pearl Valley, Muttathi, Bheemeswari on a regular basis, then trip to SITA, Masina Gudi, Top Slip and a business trip to singapore along with the two trips i made to Vizag this year and recent one to Kanva reservoir.

On the theatre front i have been given the charge of "Production Manager" though burdened with extra responsibilities i have enjoyed it a lot be it closing the sponsorship deals, back stage work or co-ordinating with the cast, PR work and also giving music for the plays. We were able to pull off 8 productions succesfully this year and i enjoyed every moment of it.

On volunteering with Dream-A-Dream computer workshops i thoroughly enjoyed teaching kids which tested my nerves but in turn developed lot of patience, co-oridnated couple of workshops, monsoon miracles event and now part of the fund raising task force designing the strategies on the same to envisage the organizations vision.

On the Social entrepreneurial aspect, formed "power of we" with friends -as part of which conducted a traffic workshops, interfacing the NGO's with their needs and most importantly ran the "Bangalore Marathon" for the first time in my life - A real feel good Factor till date.

Switched company after slogging in for year and half to a Bigger MNC with a new profile and slowly got adjusted to the work environment but still lot be explored and yet to contribute my full fledged efforts.

As mentioned earlier volunteering with C&G - trying to mimize the "litter menace" at the often visited public places across the caurvery basin - learnt very good stuff and met some wonderful people who had an tremndous impact on me - be it on appreciating the beautiful places of nature or those long hours of treks or on how sensitive we need to be on human relations and a lot more.

Over the years though have been very sensitive and sentimental i have never showed it out. But few meetings with this wonderful person has actually made think where i was going wrong inspite of doing all the exciting things in my life - i have been a good engineer, good volunteer, good friend but not a good son.. for me my family has always taken a back seat. And having spent a day with this person's family i realised the missing link and when i shared the same she comes out with this beautiful lines which still echoes as i re-read it several times - "after all that they have done for us if we cannot give them what makes them happy, what is it that we have achieved in life?" though soundz simple yet a profund thought. Now that i roped in this person let me dedicate few lines confering a title "influential person of the year" :

I have known her for the past 9 months to be precise 9 months 9 days cutting the HH:MM:SS. For the First time when i met her i have titled her as an "Angel" - indeed she is, i discovered it over the period of time when I got along . Those hours of talks over the luncheons we had( though embarassing i have to say i made her pay always), minutes of chats on a regular basis be it general or for the cause we were working for have always had some valuable gyan with few funny moments of ayyooo...yupppaa...non-offensive blunt shut ups etc.. I have come across many women in life but never met such a sweet person, a person whom i always look up to. She has been the same sweet person every time I have seen her or talked to her and that says alot about her character. I was always amazed by the way she priortises her chores with due importance to perosnal relationships with family - relatives and friends. Always ready to extend that helping hand even before asking for it. I have many more incidents to narrate but would like to keep it to myself as i read somewhere which i rephrased it to my convenience "Don't ever tell everybody everything. If you do, you start missing everybody". I know for sure our paths are different may not have the same stories as i had over the year but how this person walked into my life and carved a niche in my heart is a story i will tell my grandchildren but for now i adore her dearly for she has touched an untouched corner of my heart with those beautiful lines making me realise where i have been going wrong.

Overall It has been great year so far with many interesting people around learning a lot from them . With all those sweet and sour moments that went through the year i hope the odd numbered Year 2007 will be evenly balanced and has much more exciting stuff in store . Since the dawn of the year happens to be an year more wrt to my age - i would like to make simple birthday resolution of - sleep less, gain more gyan, see new places and be more socially responsible.

Give Me A Break HoneY!!!!

Suddenly all the love songs on the FM are uninteresting to you, you feel like shutting the doors, spending most of the time alone , thats for you to realise the relationship has gone awry!!!. And the more you try to be in solitude without any discussion with your partner the more it deteriorates your condition. Everybody knows the break-up of a relationship is emotinally difficult for both the parties. I have seen couple of break-ups in my family where the concerned had really tough time for GOI (Getting Over It). Though i beleive in the institution of marriage which is supposedly according to Hindu Myth - is a relationship for 7 lives - off late the very belief in this institution has gone for a toss. Just when you are getting associated in a realtionship you think this would last for ever, you would see places together, you would do things together. But what happens after the marriage - soon you discover he/she is not the same as before and you start realising you need a private space and many more dreadful thoughts all leading to "Break-Up". But couples should realise a break-up is a loss the end of something that was special and important to you.The grief you feel can be similar to the grief you experience when someone dies. You will miss the person -the special things you did together, the long talks you had, the private jokes you shared. You may wonder what might have been or simply miss being part of a couple. Maybe your he/she is the only person you've ever met who shares your passion for a certain type of music or art. Until the thought of dumping each other crosses your mind there are still chances of re-aligining the relationship. Even otherwise i strongly feel you should give it a try to see if you can recitfy what has gone wrong in the realtionship. Probably if you dont feel like discussing it - write it down what are the cirumstances that instilled you this dreadful thought, what are the expectations - write down everything possible. Each of the couple should know this and should probably strike a solution rather than merely dumping each other. You have to remember when you can break one you can break another one too (even if you think you can get over the previous one with a new relationship). If you feel guilty for each other for breaking up thinking that you hurt him/her you should realise that still there is a room for you to get attached.
I have never heard of couples breaking up in my father's generation, but lot many in the generation after him : Is it because of the the sweeping structural and cultural changes - the scoiety to which we are exposed encourages this kindaa stuff. If that is the case i would defintely want to live in the era of grand parents than in this so called "metro-cosmo" culture.

Probably the break-ups before marriage makes sense than after - atleast in the earlier case you have had good study on the realtionship - and thats when you decided to take it forward or not , and once you decide and enter into the instituion of marriage - breaking up after a few years is something that needs to be pondered over and over again.

Though at this junture of break-ups people talk about the self-dependance and all that crap - you should realise the emotional trauma that you would have to undergo for you to come out of it. At the same time i dont say you need to just stick to for the heck of it - my appeal to those publics is give it a thought - nobody is perfect - A simple s/w analogy -We do design systems and you introduce bugs - that does not mean you scrap the s/w - instead you go over it - analyze it and check if it can be rectified. - Though might not sound a good one to defend - but you have to give a thought of analyzing it to every detail before breaking the marriage - my worry is about all the future citizens who have to live without one of them and undergo so called one parent relationship and definitely the break up is a catastrophe as he is growing.

Though I dont have the expereince of the marriage i am strongly against the marriage breakups probably bcause of the situations that i have expereinced. So i would definitely vouch for "Honey letz take a Break - .....to Mauritius"

For all the Bongs And Non Bongs Also!!!! (A plagiarised one)

For your reading pleasure and to Ignite you if you are a bong ;-) (Definitely not my writing)

Overview:

There are two kinds of Bengalis that we know. Probashi (or Expatriate) Bangalees... a fairly large and diverse group and the other is the Bengalees who are from Kolkata. This group is incorrectly known as Bongs, as they are merely a subset.

However, this is the only group, which matters. Gokhale said of them, long years ago, "What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow."

To which Rene Descartes responded, "I think (today), therefore I am (Bengali)." Like all other Nobel Prize Winners, Oscar Awardees and most successful Indian cricket captains, Rene Descartes was also a Bong (this fact is not known outside of Kolkata).

Physical Description:
The Bong has a large head, glasses, glistening hair and dark skin. Older Bongs develop an ample stomach to balance their large heads. This happens by the age of 25. They smell of Keo Karpin. The average life expectancy is 65 years. What is even more impressive is what they do in those years. Outside Kolkata, regardless of weather, sex or age...Bongs can be seen in their Monkey Caps. This is a must-have accessory as well as a sign to recognise other Bongs.

Early Years:
While most Bongs are born with innate talents in singing, dancing, painting, film-making, cooking or embroidery, their creative talents are honed even before they can start speaking. Frequent meets are organized between infants and their successful ancestors and other relatives. MA degrees (preferably from Cambridge, or at least from Presidency or Jadobpoor) are displayed over the cots. The infant is exposed to the best of Bengali thought - Marx, Bentham, Kalidas, Tolstoy, Chekov*.

This increases the size of their heads and the height of their ambitions. Similar examples, though rare, can be found in European tradition as well, as in the case of Mozart. In India, however, Bongs have the sole preserve on such activity during infancy.

Soon, when they grow up a little, their characters are further honed in the best of schools. Here, I am not referring to the St. Xavier's, La Marts, Don Bosco's et al. They are important in the nurture a Bong child goes through. What is even more important are the schools the Bong child passes through before school and after school. Many a Bong child wakes up at five o'clock in the morning to attend swimming classes. After one hour of swimming, he attends tennis coaching before rushing off to one of the first heaven schools mentioned above. School finishes by three or so, from where, he scoots along to Singing/Instrumental Music/ Dance Classes , followed by tuition (in at least three of all five subjects). He rounds off the day with coaching on either Debating or Quizzing.

Many a Bong mom, after the mandatory afternoon nap, will carry the child along through this day, feeling equally energised with uncommon zeal. This behaviour is again not restricted to Bongs. It is also seen within kangaroos in Australia who rush along from one clump to another bush.

Growing Up:
Soon the Bong attains adolescence, doesn't find friends of his age (since not everyone is competing for the Nobel Prize or the Indian captaincy) and finds intimacy in conversation in his/her parents or the poems of T.S. Eliot and Pablo Neruda. When school ends, they move on to the good colleges - St. Xavier's, Presidency or IIT Kharagpur.

The best of them, though, move straight to Joo (Jadobpoor). However, in recent years, Dilli (Stephen's obviously), is becoming the preferred destination for some escapists. In colleges, they decorate their rooms with books or portraits of Robi Thakur (Tagore). On the opposite wall, they will have posters of Che/Maradona and Enrique Iglesias, thus expressing solidarity with Latin American culture. All of them share equal interest in the Bong-Rock (Bhumi, Chondrobindu, Cactus, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple).

Later Years:
Bongs mature early. Critics have said that they grow old early, but that is nothing but old hat. Years of toil and Eliot would obviously bestow wisdom. The reason they look older is because the sole purpose of a Bong's life is to win the Nobel Prize or the Oscars (and in recent years, captain the Indian team). With great responsibility comes great age. Add to it, the chlorine in the swimming pools and you know why Bongs grey prematurely. As far as their mission in life is concerned, they have been very successful at it.

Every Indian Nobel Prize winner has been Bong. So have the Oscar Awardees. And yes... the most successful Cricket Captain. And you have my favourite Bipasha Basu too?

Once Bongs have kids though, their mission on life changes.

The only raision d'etre for them is making sure that their progeny achieves the heights that they could (or couldn't). Hence, parent Bongs are mostly found outside of schools, colleges and tuition classes.

Diet:
Diet is as important as Robindro Shongeet. There's nothing that a Bong can't eat. However, they prefer protein over other food groups. The largest source of protein for them is fish, then meat, and then mishti (sweets) made from milk. More than fish itself, it is the knowledge of fish, which is coveted and enjoyed. Carbohydrates are tolerated if they are deep-fried in oil or if it is an accompaniment to fish. Luchis (equivalent of a Puri), Telebhajas (pakoras) and Phuchkas (Paani Puri) are the favoured source of carbohydrates.

The young Bengali though, invariably, always lives on a diet of Farex, Lactogen and Waterbury's Compound followed by Horlicks in later years.

Mating and Procreation: A few Bong end up being in relationships, which lead to love marriage:) This is sometimes shown in movies and song. However, most do not have any such social malignancy and end up marrying the woman of their mother's dreams or men of their father's choosing.

This results in mixing the right genes for the next cycle of Bongs. Love marriage, by its very nature, is random. It sometimes results in tragedy, like marrying an alien (into unknowns of another country... like India ). Hence, it is avoided, wherever possible.

Social Life:
Adda, Robindro Shongeet and Cha. Repeat. Do note that the young Bong doesn't have a social life (at least not till he wins the Nobel or gets a Government job).

Habitat:
While you may find a Bong in other places (like occasionally in offices), the best time to observe a Bong is in his natural habitat - the best of colleges, the best of schools, the best of coffee houses. It is here that he will tell you about Balzac while she will recite poetry with gay abandon. To mix in with the Bong, apply Keo Karpin to your hair and carry a jhola.

Hopefully, they won't notice your small head. Do not worry about not knowing the language, as the Bong likes being heard.

Famous Bongs:Many famous Bongs have been referred to in this extract. Hence, this section is used to debunk that big myth about Bongs. People believe that Bong men can't be hunky. If so, then what about Abhishek Bachchan (via mother,) Saif Ali Khan (via mother), John Abraham (via girlfriend), Hritik Roshan (via grandmother)... ...?? It only goes to prove that Bongs are good guys, despite their love of cracking jokes about every other community but completely lacking the ability to laugh at themselves... ha haa

WHY EMPLOYEES LEAVE ORGANISATIONS ?

Following is an excerpt that i came across recently apparently sent by - Azim Premji, CEO- Wipro to thier employees:

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

Early this year, Mark, 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 Mark 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, Mark walked out of the job.

Why did this talented employee leave ? Arun quit for the same reason that drives many good people away.

The answer lies in one of the largest studies undertaken by the Gallup Organization. The study surveyed over a million employees and 80,000 managers and was published in a book called "First Break All The Rules".

It came up with this surprising finding:

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," write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman.

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. Dev says: "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.

Talented men leave. Dead wood doesn't. ..

Immediately I went and looked at this article : http://in.rediff.com/money/2005/jul/08bspec.htm

My Take : I shifted two companies - the first one though was something unavoidable, the second shift in a way i agree with the person who wrote the article. So indeed me too a talented man :-)

Unveiling my First travelAbroad

Well I am not sure how long this blog will run into but you have to bear with me. "If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things." Well this was something i picked from Henry miller's quotes and dedicated to my friend when she was about to travel to Singapore as i was sure i cannot make it to wish her for the bonvoyage. However that quote really intrigues ones self when you are out of the country. Here it goes...I had been to singapore last week on a business visit. I was excited as its the first time i will get to see a different culture altogether which i had always heard of but never felt my presence there. I was mentally prepared to expereince th culture shock ofcourse with help of my dear friend who had been there earlier. Every moment of the trip is amazing.

First things first..I landed up at the airport (after a day long hectic schedule) well in advance so i was the first one lead the crew to board the plane. Though nobody was there to bid farewell for my first international travel i was just waving my hands at the people who turned out for the fellow passengers. Had to go through a long process of secuirity cheque and finished it at reasonable time than expected. Had to kill another 2 hours, called up who can bear me and managed to bore for half an hour. The next 1 hour passed just like this for i met a veteran techie from HP based in US of A..playing the "Gyan Gyan" game. We talked and talked - ofcourse it was all about how technology changed the world , how HP & ORACLE are different. Luckily i finished half the book of "World is Flat" and i gave my gyan from that. Soon it was time to board the flight. All the while i have heard of boeing read abt it and now i am flying on Boeing...The journey was about 4.5 hours. I was a satisfied man with the hospitality of the crew inside the flight. Though had been on a jet lag over the last 2-3 days(For those who thin jet lag is caused only if you travel is sheer misconeption. It can be caused even due to mere physical exhaustion) i was exhausted by the time i reached singapore. But here i go..i was amazed at seeing the Aiport. This is something beyond what i actually heard off. That was an "infrastructure shock" for me having been in blore over the last 4 years. I thought for myself way back i will spend as much time possible in the airport. Though it takes a pretty long time to get out of the airport you will never crib for it since the surroundings are so soothening that you will enjoy every moment spent. Got out of the airport took a taxi to the hotel. I was fasicnated by the skycrapers - if singapore is like this imagine how will the city of skycrapers look like. Passing throught all those huge buildings reached the hotel. Quickly checked into the hotel - my room is in the 27th floor - and very nice view of the city from my room. Had breakfast, took a quick shower and opened my laptop to see what was my plan (courtesy prepared my dear friend). I thought i will have walk around the suntec city where i am put up and then leave to SENTOSA ISLAND. Suntec city is the place where all the BIG corporates are put up..and you have Only the BIIIIIIG MALLS around. It has got 4 towers and each tower is has a mall. Added to this there couple of other Big Malls Around. In between all these towers there is huge fountain called "fountain of wealth" a must see place supposedly the largets fountain in the world. Took a walk around all those big malls,big towers,buildings etc. Landed up at the MRT (Mass Rapid Transport if i remember it correct the automated metro trains).

And the system they have in place to get the tickets is amazing. You need not have to do any preparation in order to get to any place, just look at the map - figure out where you want to go, if no direct train interchange - all is in the map - only thing u need to know whats there in the map. Drop in your coins,key in your destination and thats it you get a card for the day. Swipe it and wait for the train, "Mind the Gap" when the train stops hop on to it and by the time the couple next to you finish smooching you are already at the place you want to be and the door is wide open for you. Reached Harbour front took a bus to Sentosa Island Resort - a major tourist attraction. Has a few beaches, some theme parks,luge.. and lot more exciting stuff including Palawan Beach which lies in the centre of the southern coast of Sentosa. There is a suspension bridge that leads to a small islet off the coast which is said to be the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia, or Asia's closest point to the Equator.. If you want to lighten your wallet and have fun at the same time this is Sentosa is the place. I could just chill around this place for more than 4 hours. Went around the place tried few of the stuff had some exotic food. Everybody who goes there has to wait till 7.45 pm for the fountain show musing the reflection and refraction of the lasers hitting the water particles creatinf a 3-d image is something worth waiting to watch explaining the importance of Sentosa. After an exhaustive day got back to the Hotel preparing for my actuial business. The rest of the three days of my stay was equally good with the majority portion of the day being spent for the purpose and the evenings going around the unexplored parts of singapore like Orachard Road (on parrallel to Brigade Road....wll lit up...since christmas is approaching with good shopping stuff)...marina square...mustafa (one of the largest and cheapest store to do your shopping. You get everything on earth here.). There are couple of pure eloctronic malls like simlin square where you get you can freak out if you are a gadget savvy. Though in the evenings it was raining i could manage to check out everything has been planned except few. The best part of Singapore is the infrastructure, the traffic system - everybody follows the lane disipline so religioulsy you can hardly hear any honkings, every vehicle rips on an average speed of 80-90 kmp and the best part is they give respect to pedestrians (even at no zebra crossings) which is quite amazing. You have digital automated system in place which let you know how much time will it take to reach you if its a peak hour traffic (ofcourse we do have RJ's doing the job in blore..). Truly i was taken back by a surprise with the traffic system in place. Added to this the place is so clean everybody takes that extra step of walking 10 steps to throw the litter which is hard to find in India. Though its quite humid and we do sweat, In the evening when i get back to my room i see that my collars have no shades of dirt at all thats the level of dirt free zone they maintain, also I had polished my shoe only once and it was neat and shining until i reached bangalore. Another quick fact i came to know is that nothing is grown in Singapore even the electricity and water comes from the neigbouring malaysia including the food nad other stuff..no wonder they have such a huge harbour. Though i was feeling lonely (it would have been nice if there was one more atleast to click the snaps for me) the people are very friendly there they smile at you whenever you exchange a glance at them. Needless to say the culture is weseternised with so many pubs and coffee shops openings up the youth spends most of the time either in the malls or at these places.

On the last day of my stay i went to MerLion Park - Statute with Head of a Lion and body of a fish - a strange animal though recalls the story of Sang Nilama Utama who found a Lion while on hunt in this Island and named the place Simhapuri. Probably he has a taste of the Sling which illusionise the body of the lion in resemblance to fish. Anyways its the trademark and awesome place to visit and you can the boat ride around the bay which covers most part of the city. Right opposite is the staute of Stamford Raffles - the founder of Singapore..no wonder all the places predominatnly are suffixed or prefixed with raffles. A nice place to walk around till the Esplanade mall where i came across a bunch little kids spent some time with them finished the last minute shopping checked out of the hotel at 5 pm. Luckliy since it was a business travel i had the chance of travelling in merc and limo around the city on couple of occasions. Reached airport well before time. Checked in my luggage and was just freaking out in the airport for almost more than 2 hours. Took every snap of it browsed internet, tried the Baileys caramelle flavour, had a foot massage covered every angle of Airport. Its just different earth altogether i felt.

I wished the indian government send some of their beuracrats , the politicians to these places learn how the government here works, how they designed the system , how they built the infrastructure etc. I would defintely like to see atleast couple of cities in india having this kind of infrastructure in my life time. Its not a magic that the Singapore has created (if you see the population in singapore is predominantly domindated by tamilians no wonder you have sign boards written in tamil along with english- the entire labour is migrated from india.- they knew how to harness the skill) it all depend on how to tap the exisiting potential and utilise the fullest extent in creating such infrastructure rather than being occupied in filling their pockets. Thats a different topic altogether will key in some other time.

Finally after 30 mins delay the plane took off. The view of the city in the night from the top is simply superb. Soon it was dinner time..I had been asked to try out repeatedly - Singapore Sling so tried this in the craft pretty nice drink. Reached bangalore and finished all the checks but had to wait for an hour to claim my baggage...we defintiely need provision of stress busters in Bangalore Airport. And now in putting down my expereince in brief with the circadain rythm in action, so please bear any typo's. Well as stated initially one's destination is never a place but a new way of looking at things hopefully i see a better infrastructure rich bangalore in near future just to avoid the cribbings by all these foreginers , for when we are foreigners we boast about the place left right center like what i did above but when we are mainlanders we along with foreiners crib, well that should not be the case.

And finally A big Virtual Hug to my friend who took her time out in making a detailed plan, knowledging(plz recommend this word to oxford) me abt the place and the timely help in every possible way right from handing the lock n key in the last moment to the USD's for xcange ( I guess i have to return the equvalent rupees:-) ) without which i would have had to forgo my shopping.