Saturday, November 27, 2010

The side effects of addicition

The other day , I tried calling my mom. Tried the home number, she didn’t answer; tried her mobile and she didn’t answer. Tried the numbers again a couple of times but no response. Do not tell me this situation doesn’t kinda freak you out. Called my sis and she was in office so she didn’t know. Called our cook and she said she had left much earlier in the morning. I couldn’t do too much apart from wondering and waiting. Finally, mom called after a couple of hours, and it is anybody’s guess how that conversation went. She was finding it difficult to justify why she LEFT her mobile at home and went out. Hasn’t that happened to all of us many many times before?

See that’s the thing with mobiles. I mean , its kinda become an offence to forget your mobile if you own one. There is just this fundamental assumption that one WILL attend to calls if they have a mobile phone. But that is where the problem is. Such situations have happened even when mobiles weren’t around. And normally, I would have said to myself, “well, mom is out somewhere and so she is not attending landline call.”

Lets not even talk about the increase in number of accidents due to talking when driving! Yesterday, I saw a woman actually texting when she was driving!! I mean good ol woman, are you going to die if you do not send that SMS? But you certainly will die if you do indeed send that sms when driving!!

Kids these days prefer playing video games to actually physical games! They have started owning cell phones and laptops at such young ages, when we couldn’t even SPELL the word T-E-C-H-N-O-L-O-G-Y. Life’s become unlivable without a laptop or a computer. But these same tasks have been done very very well by our parents and elders with calculators, letters, landline phones, cars and so on! A freaky recent survey has suggested that the use of wi-fi actually harms our trees!!

People are F****ng their meaningful and quality conversations by being hooked on to their smart fones and other things, and friendships are increasingly becoming long distance. These are all side effects of technological ADDICTION.

True, technology brings far away based people closer, but it is also increasing the gap between those who live close to each other.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Reverse Feedback...now that straightens it for managers

We all dig giving advice! We just love it. As they say in Hindi “Aur kuch free miley na miley, saali advice free zaroor milti hai”. Managers are paid to do this  But in corporate jargon, this ADVICE is called FEEDBACK, or less obviously, APPRAISAL. These are strong undercurrent words, trust me. Regardless of how great a relation you have with you manager, things are always accompanied with a constant undercurrent- a realization of the fact that you are, well, subordinate and manager.

Appraisals, however complicated, are simple. Both, the manager and the subordinate, know a set of parameters, or more fancily, goals and objectives, on which the subordinate will be evaluated. There is a discussion and it is basically a game. Both of them have their view points and try to enforce these on to the other. Someone either prevails, or there is an intermediate area that is found, which keeps both happy till the next appraisal. It’s quite simple actually.
Appraisal is good in a way. Salary invariably increases, promotions mostly happen, some constructive feedback happens, and in the end, all iz well. Otherwise, there is attrition 

Anyway, for all its merits (or compulsions), appraisals, or simply, feedback, generally lack one very basic but fundamental element of EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION. This element is the REVERSE FEEDBACK, a word often treated with undue disrespect. Appraisals are mostly one way. Reverse feedback gives a manager tremendous opportunity to REALLY gauge the gap between the expectations of his subordinates and what he actually delivers. This is really very important because a manager cannot be effective if this gap is not 0. A manager knows what to expect from his subordinates, by way of a checklist handed to him by his HR.

But a subordinate expects the world of his manager. He does not know what to expect since he has no checklist. A subordinate literally grows and develops under his manager’s guidance, and therefore, the manager has a very important role to play in how his subordinate’s career sets. A lot of times, due to the mistakes or shortcomings of the manager, his subordinate has to take the beating. And the manager’s manager will not completely know the details of what has REALLY transpired. His only way to know is through the manager, his own subordinate. Reverse feedback, therefore becomes very important. And while no manager will admit or like being feedbacked by his subordinate, it really is very important. I would also go to the extent of saying that the manager’s true management lessons have to come, not from the text book, but from the ground level- the way his subordinate thinks about him.

It’s simple- Reverse feedback is more important to a manager than feedback is important to his subordinate.

Doctors!!! Where are you sires??

A lot of buzz words are making news these days- Ganesha, CWG, anti-outsourcing, Dabangg, Salman Khan, Dengue, Malaria, munni, IE-9, KBC, KKK, Oracle-HP , Dell-HP etc etc. From page 1 to 15 of any newspaper, you invariably see various forms of only one of these buzzwords these days.

However, on one small corner of page 5 or 7 these days is a prominent piece of news- the issue of increasing the retirement ages of docs. Basically, for a long time, there has been pressure on authorities to increase the retirement ages of doctors. This has a two fold purpose- doctors can continue to guide upcoming doctors and young students by way of teaching and mentoring; and two, and more importantly, they can continue to fill up for the shortage of doctors that has been plaguing our country for decades.

Like any other such issue, this matter has been caught trapped in the typical proposal-evaluation-objections- delays loop that we have now come to know of. What happens to this issue, only time will tell. However, this does bring to mind a very important issue, due to which, page -5 for this coloumn ain’t sufficient. In our country, lakhs of students appear for Medical exams. At even a mere 10% rate, thousands graduate every year. Then why are we still SHORT of doctors?

In fact, we know of so many many many students who keep reappearing since they didn’t do too well in their previous exam. Medicine is a really tough and dedicated profession, and takes tremendous patience and hard work. From personal experience of close friends, I know this. But once you graduate and transition the initial struggle, you are ready! Medicine is a constantly learning profession, but the initial stage is the most important. Even then, with thousands becoming doctors every year, why this shortage?

One very common reason that most will cite is the population growth. The other reason that we often hear is the very commonly heard, brain drain. But that still leaves some questions to be answered. Shouldn’t the rate at which doctors grow mirror the population growth rate? I mean, it’s not as if new doctors REPLACE existing ones? So, shouldn’t the POOL of docs continue to grow? If we know that there is a shortage, why are more new doctors released into the system? This does not necessarily need to lower the bar in exams, but just modify the system so that more students graduate in.

The other question which very strongly needs an answer to is why does this brain drain continue to happen? Why is the best talent leaving the country? And probably, most importantly, we need to compare the BENFITS of retirement extension as an SOS tool with all of the options above. Increasing OPTIONAL retirement age should certainly be encouraged, but only because a doctor or a prof wants to contribute to the profession, not because we NEED him to.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

I Salute our SUPER COPS!! Do you?

This year, the Ganpati festival in Mumbai is different. No, I am not saying that it has suddenly become more GREEN, with realization of the environmental problems finally having dawned. I am also not saying the Ganpati festival this time was less intense or less expensive due to the recent recession. I don’t also want to suggest it was less noisy this year. It was the same huge, fun, noisy, awesome festival that it is every year. It indeed was the Ganpati of the ol, as we have come to know it for almost a century now.

Yet, there was something markedly different this time. And that was the discipline one could see in the way it was organized. The long queues were controlled well. The noise levels were kept in check. Wild celebrations seem well subdued this time. Security is super awesome everywhere. And yet, people are having the same amount of fun. Most importantly though, the traffic on the road has been well managed. Every year, it becomes a night mare to travel on the road, on the 2nd, 5th, 7th and 10th day of this festival due to the visarjan. But not this time.

I am writing this on the 6th day of the festival- the day of the Gauri-Ganpati visarjan. This is the 2nd most crowded day of this festival, and it is safe to say that all these years, it was a wise idea to stay home on this day. However, today, I went to my office as usual. My office is in Thane, which sees some very big Ganpati celebrations and visarjans today. I currently stay in Juhu, which is one of the 4 or 5 beaches in the whole of Mumbai where visarjans take place. On a normal, non-Ganpati day, it takes me about 1 hour 45 minutes to commute between Thane and Juhu, either ways. Today, I would have expected the same journey to go to about 3 hours each time, since both areas see huge huge crowds and traffic.

Surprisingly, it took me exactly 2 hours in the evening on my way back home- just 15 mins more than usual! No big traffic jams, no frustrated honking, all smooth..

All of this is due only to 1 entity—The cops and the traffic police…The way they have managed all of this is simply superb and cannot be appreciated enough….In the hindsight, they keep doing so much for us- manage traffic situations, deal with the bad guys, travel in the worst of places, face so many physical hardships..and yet, they get so little of what they actually deserve!!! This is not to even mention the kind of bad spotlight our cops get a lot of times..i mean, there are bad people in every sector damn it!!

I think it s just time we sit up and take notice,,,,rather, we stand up and salute them for their job…so the next time you are walking on the road, feeling safe, go up to the first cop you see and thank him…you owe it to him….I just did that today, and I feel tremendously happy..we all like our share of praises and thanks, don’t we? Then why not the cops? lets realize we need them more than they need us…

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Being 28....tas tricky

Every bday I grow a year older and I keep saying it : "Ok, this one is truely tricky!". I remember when I turned 25, I had just entered MBA, and in fact my bday fell in the first week of the course. Things hadnt really taken off and it was a huge party organised by the institue itself!! not for my bday, but a get together to break the ice between all of us..wot a beautiful coincidence :) a bday sponsored by the institute, so to say!! I turned 25, and my sis Neha said "boy, u r 25 today!! no longer a boy!".. hahah...i mean, 25 indeed was tricky...it is slightly a diferent zone from 24 and before :D

26th bday in 2008 went by pretty ok, i was still doing my MBA..but between that and the 27th bday last year, i must say that was emotionally the WORST and the heaviest time for me!! I didnt have a job for 6 months post MBA, I was quarelling with family, friends, and all these came with a lot of other personal and professional problems..Life was hell..Lets say I was GOING THROUGH a huge turmoil...

the year between the 27th and now the 28th bday, which is the last year- 2009..I had just begun a job, was settling in and life had just started moving back on track after such heavy years...I had started meeting with frnds, people, had started saving money and started gaining experience..lets just say I had started RECOVERING out of the previous problems...big, huge, cliche, but TRUE words..

Today, as I reflect, I guess life is much better..lots things have happened in the last 2 years, some fun, some miserable, but as they say-alls well that ends well...Today, I have a nice job in Mumbai, something that I have been longing for years...the house is being renovated, and hopefully, the past is really, well, past :)
Being 28 is really going to be tricky,,its LATE 20s and indeed some deal :) Here is cheers to the future, and prayers for a happier life :)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The irony of the Indian middle class.

The last Sunday was a very rainy one and we decided that the best dinner, along with watching 3 Idiots on TV, would be Pav Bhaji. This decided, I went to the ShiV Sagar just below our building where I am currently residing. Around 9 PM in the evening, this is possibly as crowded a place as any other can get! Atleast 4 groups of people, about 15 of them were waiting ouside, and about 50 odd were inside, having a nice Sunday evening dinner with family and friends.

Lots of stuff was being served on every table. Starting with spring rolls, to dosas, to veg garlic to what not, dinner consisted of an equally big variety. Right from the regular chole bhature, to ofcourse, the favorite- Pav bhaji, right down to a pizza, food was being ordered and enjoyed. Now that’s a perfect end to a weekend, for a slightly upper middle class family aint it?

Come Monday morning and I had to travel all the way to Thane taking that damn dreaded train. The 1st class people offers only the luxury of about 10 people less as compared to the general class, in a normal population of about 200 people. The crowded train itself speaks a story- rather, it poses a question. These very same people, who were enjoying a lovely LUXURIOUS, PREMIUM dinner yesterday, who probably spent 500 bucks watching Inception as well over the weekend, what are they doing yelling, sweating, quarelling, irritating in a very very crowded, (filthy if I may call) train?

Come out of the station, and you see many of the same people waiting in long queues for the B.E.S.T bus! Its raining, they are wet (half due to the sweat and half due to the rains), their clothes are messed up, and they still wanna wait for the bus? Many of them also share rickshaws.

All in all, when it comes to transport and other daily MANDATORY activities, this same middle class Indian seems to be very very price sensitive. He is ready to be late, ready to be dirty, ready to wait on crowded trains. But this same Rs 50 K per month earning man is not ready to trade money for comfort. And yet, his weekend expense, borne out of STRICTLY OPTIONAL activities, almost always exceeds that of the entire week!

What is this irony about the Indian middle class? Is this man so tired of saving and fighting over the entire week that he indulges expensively over the weekend? Or is he a careless and over spender, but makes up for the guilt by cutting expenses over the week? I guess it would be difficult to really know why this irony exists, but exist it does.

Time for me to grab my dinner  I got to go early for work tomorrow. And oh yeah, I go to take the train 

Sunday, July 25, 2010

The dying inspiration

Watched SRK’s final match speech in chak-de? Felt inspired and thought u’d take the world by fire too? Tom Hanks’ success story in Forrest Gump is a super duper indication of how success and peace are so easy and simple to get in life. Watching that makes you feel you could achieve those heights too right? Aamir Khan’s character in 3 idiots, his ideals just totally connect with you, and you get the feeling that it is so simple to be ideal in life, ain’t it? The revenge act in Rang De Basanti, Will Smith’s story in Pursuit of happiness, the president speech in Independence day, are all stuff that legendry INSPIRATIONS are made of. Ajay Devgan’s roles in Yuva and Rajneeti are, well, simply inspiring. They represent strength and leadership.

Sachin’s batting and sport are truly inspiring examples of how academic brilliance is not the only single requirement in life. Sheer determination, passion, and the will to win and nothing else, helped, ofcourse, by talent (which can be nurtured, by the way over time), only and only, are important in succeeding in life.

Each of these, and many other moments, stories and events make us feel HOT from within, isn’t it? You get firing on all cylinders when you are watching the scene. You feel if DJ from RDB can do so much, if Kabir Khan in chak de can make this huge comeback, I too can change the world. I too can go back, finish up all my work, and do something brilliant additionally. Big B’s performance in Black represents PERFECTION, that can be achieved.

We all have a rebel inside. We all have a hidden dream inside. We all want to do this ONE GREAT THING, that will make the world talk about and remember us. We all want to set examples, trends, and want to be able to answer the question our kid is going to ask us- “which is one that one great thing you have done in life? Apart from paying taxes, how have you contributed to your country?” We all think about it. We want to be in the news, on the news paper, receive awards and be spoken about. Everyone does that. Everyone thinks like that. There is no exception to it.

But what happens when we walk out of the cinema hall? What happens when you drive back home, tired, and in anticipation of the following Monday? You FORGET about all of this, isn’t it? The FIRE within, simply gets extinguished under the thousand pressures we already face. Life goes back to normal and that’s it. All the feeling, the determination, the craziness, the INSPIRATION, all of these, simply DIE their natural eventual death. And this is why we continue to be NORMAL. Never SUPER normal. We are all afraid, may be lazy, may be just INCAPABLE , to take that rebellious step. We are just, too NORMAL.

But that’s not all true. We are NOT incapable. Everyone is capable. Everyone is! There is nothing rocket science about any of this! All these are normal human beings that just too that one step and followed their heart! The mind is rational but the heart is correct! The heart is brave. All of these above people are examples of UNDYING INSPIRATION. Life gives everyone the opportunity, and more importantly, the ability to do something great in life for themselves. Just take that step boss!! Let this inspiration not die down this time.