Sick

I’m sick with headache, nausea, a floating feeling and highly restless with acute regurgitations! Apparently all these are symptoms of acidity and indigestion. My entire food track is burning and can’t eat a damn thing. It all started 10 days ago with some food I ate at the pantry at my workplace - eating here or anywhere out really scares the hell out of me now. Eno, lots of fluids didn’t help. The condition got worse because I ate out a couple of times over the weekend too. The doctor has advised me to stay off oil, coffee/tea, spicy food for the next few days! I got to go to work today but just don’t feel like it.

Weekend - Anniyan

After our trip to LISTEN, we watched a Tamil movie called “Anniyan”. Hyped beyond the attention it deserves. It is the story of a Brahmin, the character played by Vikram, who suffers from multiple personality disorder, flavored with concepts from Hindu Mythology. He exhibits more of a Jekyll and Hyde behavior. The dark sides of him surface whenever he sees sins being committed in the form of injustice, corruption, inequality, disrespect toward women- anything that a middle class Indian would go through.
What I liked? - The dialogues. A very good portrayal of today’s India and the civilized Indians enjoying and exploiting democracy. 1 billion+ nation and not even 1 gold medal at the Olympics.
Should you watch? – No hurry. Watch it on a VCD/DVD. Not worth spending 100 bucks.

Weekend - LISTEN

We had a blast this weekend. Friday evening, V and I went swimming in our apartment pool. The last time I took swimming lessons was 13 years ago. I could barely stay afloat then. V’s parents are experienced swimmers. I believe they used to swim in the village ponds and lakes! So V’s dad took up the task of giving us swimming lessons …not quite successful yet. We emerged from the water 15 mins later with water in the ears ..hope to continue our lessons and do better next time.

LISTEN

Saturday was quite a hectic day by weekend standards. It was the girls day out! I went out with a coworker to an old age home called “LISTEN. The organization I work for believes in giving back to the community we all belong to by offering service to the needy in whatever ways we can. They encourage employees to volunteer a few hours a week by participating in any one of the projects. There are numerous locations around the world that manage quite a few projects for the aged, deaf and dumb children, education for poor children. There are about 14 such projects under the Bangalore chapter. LISTEN is one of them. What can be a better example of displaying corporate social responsibility? This was my first time. The person I went with also happens to be LISTEN’s project leader. As part of this project, volunteers spend a couple of hours every weekend with the elderly and listen to all that they have to say. The longing for these elders to talk to someone and the desire to be heard to is very high. I heard a few stories of how they struggled all their lives to bring up their kids just to be finally deserted at the age of 70. You can sense the sadness in their voice but they still hold their head very high and live with pride. They are quick to say that they are happy here in an effort to conceal the sadness caused by separation from family. This is their new found family. Some of them have been living here for the past 7 years.
Just so I made myself clear, these elders are not interested in materialistic possessions of any kind. They are past that age. All that they crave for is a little affection and attention. If you can contribute, then please do so. All you have to do is just go and listen to them. Yes listen, no talking! Encourage them to talk!
However this was not our agenda for Saturday. We were there to do gardening – well actually removing the weeds in their backyard. It was a good experience. It has encouraged me to contribute wherever I go to.

Friends @ Bangalore

Tim and Adam are on a business trip to Bangalore. I’m looking forward to meet them this weekend. It has been almost a year since I last saw them..time flies.
T can be a great mentor, has given very valuabe insights on various occassions and is a wonderful person to work for anyday. The distinct memory I have of the days when I worked for him are the initial interactions .. one day he sat in my cubicle and spoke at length of a requirement and I had a very puzzled look on my face (not because I didn’t understand what he said but was thinking of a solution) . I believe he thought I didn’t understand his accent/language and asked very slowly “did you understand what I just said?”. I replied, “Yes”. Not convinced he went about repeating the entire thing again. This has happened on several occasions when he would stop in between and ask if I understand the meaning of a certain word!

The Art of Persuasion

Persuasive conversations. The third and hopefully last such conversation happened this Monday. I’m impressed by the effort made by the current organisation to retain employees considering I have stayed only for 2 months now. As much as I would like to work here, the decision is beyond me now. Every conversation was persuasive influencing me to stay, yet adopting a different style - the first one was very aggressive, the second to the point and a factual one, the third exploting the interpersonal communication skills effectively. However, there was one thing in common in all these conversations. They sent out the vibes of how much passion they have for the organisation they represent. At no point in time, did I ever get a feeling that there was an underlying selfish motto to be satisfied.

When I joined this place, I used to wonder why do they keep harping about their values and the spirt of commitment and integrity and blah blah…Now I know why they do..the more you hear such passionate people talking, the sooner you adopt the culture and the values. Its like mesmerising ..the only difference is here you choose to get mesmerised.

I’m not leaving because I’m unhappy and they know it and acknowledge it. I guess any dialogue based on honesty is always fair and opens a lot of avenues! Just about when I was begining to settle down and start loving the place in the true sense despite the shortcomings in technology, I have to leave. I hope to return someday here.

Wedding Anniversary - Three Years and still going strong

Today, June 21, is our third Wedding Anniversary. The day means a lot to us, for the journey we went through to get here 3 years back was quite rough! But if it were not for those testing 2 years, I don’t know if we would be so strong today! So we cherish it more than anything else we ever will. A lot of things have happened these 3 years - we have stayed apart for more months than together! I know 3 years is not a very long time compared to our parents who have been together for 30 years but I know we will get there too happily :)

For someone like me who was so scared and against the idea of a marriage and the fear of unknown, this has been a great roller coaster ride! Vivek, the expressive one of the 2 of us, recently said about us :
Its like a slow cycle ride…….. u just pedal on … rather dont have to pedal….. the initial thrust is all there and it will keep it moving … just once in a while u have to pedal vigorously :))

There are times when I have heard couples say, “If only I had married this person or I wish he was a little older than I or a little mature”. There is always room for that “If only”. But from where I stand today, I have no regrets and life just seems perfect. It is a great feeling to realise that there is someone who knows all about you, can read your thoughts and you don’t have to finish sentences, anticipate your mood swings, knows how you react to situations, acknowledges your fear for cockroaches :) , shares your dreams and pushes you to the edge to realise them and most importantly someone you can share all your dinners with and all the dances to dance with (btw, we are not great dancers but manage a step or 2!)!
For people who have known V and I since college, this was one of the weirdest pairs to have gotten together. Staying together, we have developed common intrests in Formula 1, books and I’m promoting blogs to Vivek though he doesn’t appreciate the idea of me reading “poop” stories on dooce.com. Just so you know, I don’t!
We spent a quiet day at home today! Surprise factor was a rose boquet from the organisation I work for - a nice gesture that even after working for 6 years I never got at my earlier workplace.

2005 U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis

The U.S Grand Prix race began at 11:30 p.m. IST. So I didn’t see it. When I woke up this morning at 6:00 a.m., I muttered to Vivek, “Who won?” referring to the race last night. He instantly replied, “You wouldn’t want to know?” The first thought that crossed my mind was I had missed some real action and that Schumacher came first. I was right on one account - Schumacher did come first but as I learned later, it wasn’t much of a race at all.

Trouble started at Indianapolis Grand Prix on Friday when Ralf Schumacher crashed. When I heard this, memories of what we witnessed in person at last year’s Grand Prix came back to me. Ralf was rushed to the hospital last year after crashing. He wasn’t hurt that bad this year. But no one fathomed the extense of damage the reason of his crash could cause this year.

14 of the 20 cars on Michelin tyres decided to pull out after the formation lap on tyre-related safety grounds. For the first time in years, all the 6 cars that started went on to finish. A lot of accusation against Ferrari and if it was right on their part to have continued with the race. Ferrari have now climbed to a joint second place for the constructors. All the fingers have pointed at the Ferrari+Bridgestone combination for Schumacher’s poor performance this season. But it is that combination that did it at Indianapolis. And like Barichello said at the Press Conference, I thin Ferrari should not feel guilty and neither should they have pulled out of the race. It is Michelin’s problem!

Ferrari is back in action and there is still scope to pull it off! Go Ferrari!

American Morning - Bill Hemmer out?

Just read that Bill Hemmer will no longer co-anchor CNN’s American Morning with Soledad O’ Brien. We don’t get American Morning here but the time I was there I truly enjoyed the show! They made a good combination with their chit-chat.

Ripple Effect - Why do teams leave?

The discussion on Fast Company on what happens When teams leave is very interesting. It talks about what happened at an U.K ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi when a leader left and his team followed suit. This is a very common phenomenon in the IT industry. I’m observing one such move at close quarters and these are the questions that come to my mind now:

First a little background on the situation. A successful manager named X quits and a group of 9 from his team decide to go with him.

“Why would a group of 10 people just leave when their leader quits?”

Probably the answer is in the question itself. Because he is a leader and not a manager. Perhaps he is someone whom they look upto for everything. Even if he does not have the answers to all their problems, he shows confidence in his team that they will be able to find the answers themselves. Someone who doesn’t intervene at all. He has probably redefined leadership that they find it difficult or rather intimidated to work for anyone else. He is probably someone who puts himself in any situation before the team and sets an example for his team. Exhibits an immense passion that sends their energy levels through the roof.

On second thoughts, is it so good to be dependent on a leader who decides your career moves as well. Probably a wrong choice of word in “decides”. I should have probably said “motivates”.

Maybe yes. Maybe not. Maybe yes if you are not capable for deciding for yourself and acknowledge that fact as well. Maybe yes, if you can decide for yourself have weighed your options and then decide to follow him. Maybe not, if he is selfish.

“If the manager was successful and he had such a dedicated team, then it goes without saying that all the projects they would have done would have been commendable too. A good line up of customers who would swear by this team. So why is this transition happening then?

I don’t know. But I think I found an answer to this question in this sentence -
“Negativity, cynicism, and sarcasm are the leading causes of death when it comes to organizational confidence,” he told me at one point. “They don’t help the brand.” Neither does it help the individual. When an organization stops patting the shoulders of its efficient soldiers, the spirit can live only so long. Eventually it dies. “Confidence” is the key word here.

Finally, to summarise I realized these are the reasons why they leave:

a) the leader and the cohesiveness of a group – sometime the bonding is very strong
b) better career options and the confidence that their leader will make them realize the same.
c) Pay factor - more than the passion, I also believe it’s the deal they can work out together as a group that is attractive. Money is a temptation and the greed never dies!

This is just one case of how teams leave. There are instances that I call the “Ripple Effect”. When a peer leaves and if the rest of the group is a closely knit one, the ripple factor sets in. They also start looking for other avenues within a short span.

How does this affect an organization? Well its not a secret that organizations are not dependent on just a bunch of people. The invisible factor is the demotivation and stress caused to the rest of them who decide to stick on!

On a final note, I agree with Ralph Waldo Emerson..
Money often costs too much.

Infosys and Advertisements

If you want your picture to feature in The Times of India newspaper, Bangalore edition, I know of a way. All that it takes is a resume and a degree from a reputed institution with 70% percent! Join Infosys. Until a while ago, I thought Infosys was a IT services company. Maybe I was mistaken. They are probably into advertising? Or should I be a lil decent and call it as brand building? A few instances …
The day their quarterly results are announced, their entire top brass is sitting in the sets of CNBC newsroom.
Almost every day in the business section there is a newsitem on Infosys. Today’s section has an article how Infosys has a hand in the design of A-380 design.
Every Wednesday there is a recruitment ad in the corner of Ascent.
2 foreign nationals who joined Infy as interns were interviewed recently on a news channel!

Give us a break!

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