.. and they said "Betaal could not be coached !!"

sorry for the egoistic title !

In years, I ve taken my first ever long vacation without having to open my hand bag at the airport.
Yes ! No carrying laptop... !

I always thought it would be a torture. For someone addicted to looking at screen and hoping for clear the mailbox and when done, waiting for the next mail.. it was a supposed to be a torture. But then, I gave up tobacco last year "Cold Turkey" !

Not a big deal ! Phew ..

I packed five books of different tastes instead in my hand bag.

Started with Paulo Choelho - "Brida" and "The witch of Portebello". As usual, typical Pualo. There were re-inforcement of many mythical other readings I ve done. Then the magnificently described "Dreams from my father" by none other than Barack Obama ! Loved the book. And more over could relate to every emotion depicted in that book.

Followed by Google story - not much to learn, but inspirational.

And finally (what ?? you may ask) "Sex and human loving" but three Doctors ! This was like, well - no one needs to learn "How to eat, self defend or procreate !" But a lot has been written on the fundamental rights that God gives at birth to each living being, irrespective whether one's is born in China or USA :)

Point is - no TV and no Laptop was NO problem ! Really !! 8 long days. And plenty to learn and evaluate and think and practice !!

Betaal can be coached - in absence of action and ego ! 

Next milestone is   "Do nothing for few days" !

The Transport Business

Whether shipping people in a car or shipping information packets over networking devices, there is huge similarity between these two businesses.

- Both need to transport their objects, reliably
- Although the job is same, there will be many models of cars and many models of routers. Varying sizes and capacities
- The fancy cars will cost more. There will be a moon roof, which will cost a fortune, but one may not use it. Same with expensive switches, some fancy lil feature
- When cars used to sell only in USA and advanced countries, they used to be fancy, big, luxurious ... the same makers struggling to make cheap hatchbacks for India and emerging. Its the same in routing / switching - the latest trend is "low cogs" devices for Emerging countries !

With all these, networking industry can learn a lot from locomotive, which is 100yrs older that it.

Now, why did Nano fail exactly despite low cogs ????

Localized benefit ! Call center counsellors.

One of my very close friends, went through a most troublesome pregnancy.

Just fate - I would say.

Drs. would say differently, and name a 21st chromosome to cause all the issues. End of the day, the 21st chromosome was not invited by my friend to cause the rubble any way ! So fate it is ....

The baby goes in to ICU post delivery. And very predictably the Health Insurance company says, they don't cover the baby expense because of "pre-existing conditions".

Hmm..!!!  pre-existing for a baby just born ? How could that be ?? As per the insurance company though - "this is a condition that could have been predicted using aminosynthesis before birth and could have been averted".

And hence it has become a pre-existing condition for a baby ZERO day old !!!


It does not stop there... I did the bare minimum bit of picking up the argument with the insurance company through a few friends in HR. And mentioned that my friend is under severe mental stress because of the condition of the baby and physical stress also, because of the surgery. Hence when insurance doctors talk to her, they should be considerate.

To my surprise, our own HR suggested to use another benefit available to employees under mental stress. A call center counselor. This is very popular in the west, where individualism rules supreme. Most of the people in distress wont even have any one to provide a pair of listening ears. They can use a call center suave person listening to the sad soul and empathizing. That is therapy !

And  a registered benefit provided by the employer.

Here in India, one drops a bit of tear, 20 family members and friends are physically beside you to help !! What use does a call center counselor have here really ???

Shame on the HR departments copying blindly the benefits from west !!

"Core USP"

I walked in to a bi-cycle store, which is oh so rare in Bangalore urban area. You can find Car dealers, but the old fashioned bi-cycles, which used to be the ONLY way of transport when I was a kid, is no longer a common sight on the streets. Yes ! You can find an upscale mountain or racing bike easily in Bangalore though :)

With Rampant wealth creation and consumerism, one thing that has not visibly changed and that is "service" sector. So, you can manage to buy a cycle, but wont find a place to fix a puncture easily !!!!

Finally I found this new cycle store in a busy street, which is close to our place. Walked in to buy a cycle. And asked that ONE question that bothers me... "Can I come back here for any repair if I need to ? " !!

I would not have been shocked if he said - " No Sir, we just sell (high margin, less work) bikes. You ll have to go out of city for repair". I would have accepted the answer too, as I ve gotten this answer in past and accepted, although grudgingly !

But the answer was a welcome "Yes we do ! " followed by a warm short story - "We started very small cycle repair shop 30 yrs ago in North Bangalore. From that repairing shop to 5 major cycle stores all over Bangalore, we have grown. We have grown - but what used to be our core business, that is cycle repair, we continue to do that. That's our root. Core of our business. can't Quit."

So come back any time when you have a problem, - "Call me on my cell before you come " ... and like everything in India, a mobile number to go !!

Welcome change.. but then, I ve not tried it out yet :)

Kids get it easy ..

This Deewali, we launched an initiative in the apartment association to have a cleaner Deewali.

Simple agenda - Lets stay away from crackers ! And focus more on cultural stuff, eating good food, dancing to bollywood music etc. But then, those were all taken care of by the over enthusiastic kids of the apartment complex.

My agenda was just to convince or at least tell as many families to not burst crackers and save themselves some risk, some money, poisonous gas and unpleasant loud bursts of sound.

Some visuals with lil kids with Nebulizers, gory pictures of child labor, and accidents, all part and parcel of the campaign.

After tiring amount of posters and e-mails, I had the toughest job to do. Explain my own kids to abstain from crackers.

A day before Deewali, I tried talking to them (9 and 6 yr old boys - who enjoy bursting crackers a lot and under peer pressure to burst this time too).

Surprisingly, before I could tell them anything, they were telling me NOT to buy crackers, as pollution, accident .. blah ..blah .. They even showed me pamphlets their school has distributed.

Retrospectively, I should ve sent the kids door to door on this campaign :) They seem to be the most matured ambassadors of this.

Tears ...

Yes ! Emotions have a lot to do with how one carries his leadership.

Emotions - powerful tools to touch and connect and hence influence desired decisions. 

Display of emotions is how you make  your decisions more palatable, more acceptable and less rational  for your followers and peers.

What modern business (and not that business has changed in thousands of years) has taught through "Emotional Intelligence" is, how to "play" the emotions to get to a decision you want to get to ! Something that is re-discovered in board room lingo, originated from the Mahabharat days.

A certain display of extreme emotions in form of tears in a fellow colleagues eyes, who has worked for 15 yrs for the same corporation, has made me derail a long-in-design org structure that was being put in place to achieve very ambitious results. It was a lunatic at work ! And few drops of tears from a very sensible and matured fellow leader, arrests the lunacy !

Those drops were out of "passion" towards work or "passion" towards "norm"..but out of "passion" for sure.

Business results and org structures can wait ! Time to cherish that level of passion now.

Value of "absence" in leadership

We have heard, value of "presence" and price paid for "absence" of leaders ! Now, lets read about absence.

Once a loyal, very senior man who manages most of the floor for many years, wanted to go on a long vacation. Around 6 weeks. He knew the entire team depends on him. He has never taken off, because he has this great sense of ownership and loyalty. After all there are many undocumented answers to numerous unassuming questions, that pop up everyday.

The man had all that in his head. Out of seer experience and kin observation. A good employee indeed.

The man had two bosses (one solid line reporting and one dotted line reporting). So he had to go talk to both of them about the intention to get a 6 week long vacation.

The first boss is around his age. Been in the company for long long time, just like him. Very matured and knowledgeable.

When the man approached him and asked for the vacation, the boss #1 smiled and said, "Go ahead. You need some time off. Enjoy your time off".

This bothered him ! Hmmm.. he thought his absence will raise an alarm bell. And in the least needs some planning to make up for his time off. On the other hand the boss seemed pleased that he is taking off ?

The boss #1 sees the puzzle in his eyes and explains, "If you have set the organization right, coached your people correct, then your absence wont be felt. If you have not done that, there is no better opportunity to get that feedback first hand".

Then the man goes to the other boss - a much younger MBA and expressed his desire to take off for six weeks.

This guy is much more aggressive and believes in running shop with head than heart.

To his surprise the boss #2 says, "Go ahead enjoy your time off". This time he is puzzled again.

Boss #2 explains, if all your teams escalations come to me when you are absent, I would know how much you have been dealing with day in and day out. How much you keel me off the daily management. I would understand your real value when you are absent.

The man did have a great vacation !!!

Airport - Not open for business !!

Stepping out of the hustle  bustle of City life is definitely a welcome change. But one thing for sure.
There is a certain level of "inertia of motion" as you step in to the sleepy hill stations or laid back beaches.

One such this happened when I landed in a North East hilly, sleepy town. Beautiful place ! Me rushing to make to the airport check in counter, as per the airline instruction.  Sufficient planning went in to make it on time. Early morning flight. Get up earlier, leave time for commute, and leave 1 hr for airline that is mandated now a days for check in and security.

When we reached the airport, at the front door the security person says, "Airport Khula Nehi, Staff nehi ayehe ab tak".

We waited there until the staff showed up, very anxiously close to the flight time. Casually said, "Flight is on time" and checked us in.:)

Immense pressure for SLA ..

McD welcomes the burger buyers with "Get your order in less than 1 minute or get a coke free".
And they go ahead and walk to talk ... put a Sand Clock on your tray to make sure the order is on before the sand runs out.

The people behind the counters, run like machines - I can imagine, having such micro level targets and constantly running, can be really irritating :(

"Only in Bangalore" - instructions can be this considerate ;)

In your face - grabbing attention ..

Marketing folks never seize to amuse one. Last week there was a small cheapo gadget, with a photo sensor and a pre-recorded advertisement of a car, was embedded in to the news paper.

When you open the news paper, the device will read out the page long add to the reader ! In a loop, until the reader puts the paper down.

Hmm.... even news paper reading is becoming "listening". I am sure, more functional applications of such simple devices are coming up !!!

The art of empowering .....

One day a street smart, suave man, stops by a restaurant a little past mid-night.
He demands a 25% discount from the restaurant manager, saying he is a friend of the owner of the business.

The poor manager did not know what to do. Whether to acknowledge it or to take his chance and deny it!
And its past mid-night. He did not have guts to wake up the owner by calling his cell / mobile phone. 

After struggling a bit with himself, he decided to call up the owner. The owner heard the story, and took a very prolonged 20 minutes asking him several questions.

- Why do you think a 25% discount is unreasonable at this hour in our hotel ?
- If the manager gives more such discounts post mid night will the business make more money ?

etc.

A lot of such questions, but never asked "who is the guy demanding the discount to validate if he is really a friend".

At the end of this long 20 mins of conversation past midnight, the owner says to the manager - "The reason I spent so much time with you on the call at this time, so that next time you don't wake me up at such time".

"Whining" therapy !

Not everyone enjoys a perfect day, everyday ! No matter how positive, how detached from results, how calm a person is.

And what is worse is external factors or wrong doings, over a period of time create accumulated bitterness internally, until one day it explodes.

When it explodes, if it damages something, the first causality is subjects own day, and more often its a few days and some relations that matter.

Few of these out bursts in a year, can put one substantially down. While on the other hand, staying is control and yet "outburst-ing" at an well rehearsed "act" is always helpful to help one move closer to goal.

Very fine line between them indeed ! Just when medicine becomes poison, just when drinking becomes "not so moderate" - its in the same league indeed !

So here is a proven therapy - it works as long as one has at least one or two trusted friends. Just set up a "whining" session ! Plan it like one would plan a meeting. Friday at 4:00P to 5:00P, - "Whining" Invitees : so and so !

One hour - go loose ! call names. Use four letter words abundantly (for example "life" ;) ! Be personal. Find faults in everything others do.  Say that the system sucks  !

Once the time is up, just switch off. Back to your positive self. Back to being a believer in the process. Polite corporate citizen.

Its like Yoga for the vibes !! Thank Betaal later ..

Bold Moves...

Increasingly I notice, extremely bold moves are coming from very young, small companies.

Just a year ago, when giant laptop maker,  to accommodate one more key in the key pad, wanted to reduce the size of the SHIFT key. The design was eventually rejected, even if the new key was really cool addition for taking one touch pictures and videos on the embedded camera.

It was rejected, mainly because no one had the risk appetite in that corporation to change anything in the key board lay out.

Key board has evolved form type writer. Generations of human being are used to typing fast using the so called QWERTY lay out with space bar, SHIFT keys etc proportionately as big as you see on your computer.

The age old method of providing efficient typing does not need more validation than what it has gotten over years. Even the smart phones today are sporting QWERTY key board, to create value of business users / e-mail users.

In this time, comes a really small, 14 month old budget mobile phone company and changes that one thing that no one has dared to change. The Keyboard lay out.  Arguably making is simpler.. the ALPHA key board.

Could any large corporation take this risk ?? Younger companies, based in India, are breaking rules like there is no tomorrow .. its a welcome attitude !!

Being "Instructive" !

.. in a polite (and yet very irritating) way !  

 Not sure where this new trend has surfaced from. May be some wise MBA picked it up from a copy of HBR and then it is making its rounds !

In last week itself, at least three leaders have told me "I do not have to tell you what exactly you need to do in this situation,.... " and yet went on to tell the exact set of instructions.

Other forms of that statement are -

"You know how to do this better than any one else ... however ... "

"Can't do the job for you, but ... " !

Worse, I found my self doing the same thing to one of my line managers today ;)

Anyone else sees something wrong in this approach ??? Or its just me ??

Outdated law or deliberate inertia ?

I do not think any other country in the world goes close to covering all segments of population when writing laws.

Here is a snippet of a law written in 1967 and still in force, although "illiteracy" is officially a infinitesimally small issue now !

Its a thought - where one can clearly describe it by attributes like - "Age old classic !" .

Expat Invasion ..

After 64 yrs of achieving independence, and 20 yrs of open market economic progress, India is facing a new threat.

Corporate India is losing independence, slowly yet surely !

Expat Invasion is a clear and present danger.

Prologue : As MNCs / Global companies moving in to India to tap in to relatively cheaper and yet skilled and English speaking human capital, corporations going all the way to preserve multinational corporate culture and identity. Which is a very noble intention, and from this intention come the numerous expat executives, who have today infested all board rooms and maligned all policy decisions, making each Global company established in India, more and more a western company.

Cases in point -

1. A Global corporation in Bangalore updated employee health insurance policy. The council that was formed for this consisted of all Expats, far far away from Indian health care system. In India the health insurance is only for hospitalization for more than 24 hrs. In US, it is for all visits and they pay a co-pay. Here is council set a 20% co-pay in India too.. even if it is for just hospitalization which is least used option by the insured. When questioned by the employees, the expat council says "co-pay" is a norm across the world.

2. The new mom's coming to work in a Global company, were happy by an announcement that there will be day care at work. That was two years ago. Now they have outsourced the day care to a Singapore company. That costs a whooping RS 15K a month per kid. And can accommodate 1 teacher to 3 kids. Not the luxury Indian mom's used to. There need to be volume. Amazing facility creation by yet another expat board.

3. A health club / gym contract needed to be updated for an office in Bangalore. The process of selecting the right gym vendor done by ???? You can fill in the blanks - and can really imagine how it is not suitable for Indians working out here.

There are a few more. But increasingly depressing. And just like when India was under British rule, a lot of Indian's helped British rule this country, there are tons of expats of Indian origin in those boards and councils.

My sincere apologies to the readers of my blog to be in such a whining mood today !

Global business ! Exploiting varied labor laws...

Employees and employers often agree on just one clause of the job offer letter.

"Employment at will".

It gives freedom to the employee to explore better ways to further his / her career. It gives freedom to the "Employer" to clean up dead settled wood from the warehouse !

However, a lot of mid and small enterprises struggle to keep employees and always wish that people would stick around for many years, to accumulate enough details of the organizational DNA that helps a company run, the way it does !

While having lunch today with a well settled Bay Area venture capitalist today - I heard this new idea, that locks in good employees with their ventures. Use/Abuse of Global Labor laws...

The software companies that used to send jobs to India, facing this challenge of employee retention. So, Venture Capitalists are pushing them to hire India software engineers in Malaysia / Kualalampur.
Malaysia has this labor law - where a foreign worker can change a job only when current employer allows. And still a lot of Indian software engineers find Malaysia (an OIL country) lucrative to work.

For Venture Funds sitting in US, its cheaper than building something in USA and they can hold on to good employees that they import from India to this land !!!

Win-win-win ??

The economic world order - for dummys !

There is an age old joke - let me repeat that here !

"What do you call a person who knows 3 languages ?" - Ans: Trilingual
"What do you call a person who knows 2 languages ?" - Ans: Bilingual
"What do you call a person who knows just 1 language ?" - Ans: American

That used to be indicative of world power. No need to know others languages. As others would need the super power and not the vice versa. There was no compulsion to know and go through the uncomfortable learning phase.

Today I was talking to a long time friend who has settled in US of A. His son going to high school wanted to choose a second language and his first preference was "Mandarin". Yes ! You heard it right. That used to be Spanish / French earlier !!! But he did not get Mandarin because that class was already FULL !!!!!

Did not 90% of world intellectuals keep saying, China's Achilles heel is lack of English speaking population as opposed to India ?

Well.. world is trying to learn their language now !

"Amavasa of Asadha" vs. "Friday the 13th"

People of Karnataka / Bangalore treat "Amavas of Asadha" as the most inauspicious day.
This was last Tuesday for this year.

And that's the day one of my govt transactions registering a land was scheduled.  Something that is a candidate and driver for finding an auspicious day.

I was excited by the thought that the office would be really empty. I and the seller of the land, wont have to wait too long. We will get in, do the registration and get out.

Did not happen that way ... ! The govt. officer himself said, nothing can be done today and please plan on postponing.

Alas .. the queue, one day of waiting of Govt office I thought. I started looking for another inauspicious day near by. Viola - "Friday the 13th" today. There it was not so far away ! I would think, at least good portion of urban population wont show up on this day.

Went in being 1/3rd as excited as last Tuesday. Hoping the queue is smaller.

And it was  crowded like a festival. Wondered why ?

Then a priest comes out of the govt registrar's office with "Alathi" and "Prasadam" - asked whats up ? He said its "Shravana" something. The most auspicious day of the year :)

Guess, it all had to be done at the right auspicious moment, no matter how much one plans !!!

Video Blogging - Over rated ???

A new fad in today's corporate executive communication. Most of the communication comes in form of video blogging.

Let us not kid ourselves - Executive communication is important. No matter how high level it is, just knowing what your chain of command till the pinnacle of the organization think, adds value to day to day operations most of us burjuas do !

Earlier, it used to be a simple e-mail message. Text. One can read. Then it became rich e-mail message with pictures. Pictures are worth thousands of words ! Good .. Now it is Video Blogging..

A text mail comes with 2 lines and a link to video - "You can see what is on top of my mind at this below link".

I ve not personally seen any one of them. Well ! I ve not gotten any exec communication since this trend started. Totally wrong use of video ?

What's is the right price ?

Limiting this "observation" to sporting goods for now.

I love playing the sports that deal with a raquet and a ball or a shuttle type. I think, it comes naturally to me. As a result thoroughly enjoy  tennis, squash, table tennis and badminton.

Over the weekend, I was trying to change my gear for all these games. Buying new raquets and getting rid of the 5-6 yr old ones. They get a good amount of trashing :)

One thing surprised me is - price of a great TT paddle that players who think they are better than most (may not be professional, but in school, corporate circuits may be near the top layer) choose, is in the range of 5-6K INR.

Badminton Raquest.. good ones for the same demography, Tennis raquets, as well as Squash all in the same range.

This is certainly not coincidence ! They are made up of different material, different quantities, endorsed by variably paid athletes. Still, priced around the same range.

I ve a strong feeling, a good amount of research is done on what "players" of certain seriousness, want to spend for these equipments. And hence the price set that way !!! May be the marketing MBAs can qualify this for me ?????

"Collaboration Works"

..only if there is "Command and Control" to enforce it !!

Major corporations are moving to collaborative platforms like WiKi, and coaching their managers to pitch in two cents on each initiative, that helps move the tasks in a better manner and shares the risks.

As my own experience goes in past one year, all collaborative initiatives start out with a lot of excitement, and then slowly dies down with no single person taking ownership, until some one in exec ladders notices this and whacks everyone.

Need to find a sweet spot - that can get best of both worlds !!!

Sick Child Syndrome ?????

Got annual customer satisfaction results for two hot selling products in the entire industry.
Both of them are out there for more than 10 years. Make a Billion USD each, every year ! Pretty useful products.

One has been in constant news for wrong reasons, last year. Issues, Quality - customers needed a lot of hand holding with this one.

The other one has been pretty quite ! As as of the comments in customer satisfaction report says, "It just sits there in the corner and works !!". And each hour it stays up and works, make money for the owner !!!

Now, one would expect good customer satisfaction score for product 2, right ? NAH ...... The score is exactly opposite.

While trying to understand this "limite" mass-user psychology, I did remember one incident / story !

When in school, you ask a healthy child to describe his  mom,  he says good things.

If you ask the exact same question to a child who falls sick often, his response would be much more "elaborate" and much more kind to mom, as the child has gotten continuous care, being sick often. 

Lost in Metrics ..

Metrics all around us !
Measurements, stack rankings, trends, analysis, charts.... !
We would like to think the "message" in the "metrics" gets across.

However, most of the times, the audience is not ready !

My KG child, who gets back from school, plays teacher and student at home and draws the following ....

We know how he does his dictations at school from here :) But not sure he knows what the marks and the sad face mean to him, apart from being something he remembers and automatically does at the end of the dictation.

NOTE: In his mock paper, he has written apparently the same thing all over. Marked one of them as TICK and others CROSS !! Obviously the message is lost !

Thanks for your feedback !!

My last flight was a month ago. Domestic - Kingfisher. I was traveling with family back to Bangalore from the home town.

Being normally a happy person, I ignore inconveniences which are small and can be ignored.

Kingfisher, in that sense was a breeze. Flight on time. They even serve good hot food on board (a very few domestic ones do that now). Kids love the entertainment section. The hospitality is great. Did not really have any issue.

A few minutes before landing, the stewardess got a feedback form to me which I happily accepted to fill it up. I checked all "excellent" radio buttons. Had profusely praising prose in the text input, open ended feedback ! All good.. right ?

Today I got a mail from "The owner of the airline", as it says in the "from" section. A printed one.
That says, "Dear Guest, Sorry about the inconvenience caused to you during your flight IT-3446 dated ....... We have received your complaint and taking actions so that these problems do not repeat. Appreciate your understanding".

Dasaha ... and beyond !

The "tenth" day is a big day for the rituals.

The entire family gets together. The common Kriya is done in the morning. The eldest son, after the Kriya waits near the river, while the entire extended family, friends, relatives get together and come to the river bank.

None of them would have shaved or cut nails for all those 10 days, nor even gone to temple or done any thing celebratory - including eating food that they like !

They all shave at the river bank. Take a dip and offer water to the soul. Wear new white clothes.

The process finishes around 5PM. It depends on how many close relatives one has. Till that time everyone fasts. Then they eat some food together.

This is the day when the heads, mustache everything of the sons are shaved completely. The Janoi / sacred thread,  changes side to the usual, purified. The lamp is taken off.

The sand on which the lamp is kept, belief goes, when the lamp extinguishes there would be "foot print" of the animal that the soul has gotten in to. The soul after staying up  for 10 days, finds another body.

I remember when my maternal grand father died, the burning lamp drew up the oxygen from the sand and made a picture that looked like a bird foot - and my mom gave up eating chicken for ever.

So, this time before anyone analyzed / imagined any *foot print* I shouted - "none". Its a Moksha  !

And picked up all the sand.


The Eleventh day - some more rituals. More around cooking specific food. But one major change noticed this day in the slokas - instead of addressing the dead as "preta" it changes to "deva".

Meaning the unhappy soul becomes Godly !

The twelveth day -

The mourning family eats the food they like. The official end of the mourning and rituals.
The bones are safely kept inside a small container with OIL, which works as a preserver.

After a year it would have to be put in river Ganges....

"Kriya"

(continuation of the previous post)

Once the cremation is done, the "kriya" starts. The eldest son of the deceased is supposed to follow the "kriya - set of rituals" which as the faith goes, helps the soul rest in peace.

One key Hindu belief is - rebirth !  Soul never dies. The body does. One the soul leaves the body, it can come back to any other body, based on Karma.

The truly complete lives / souls - without any desires left, attain Nirvana / Moksha, which means, those souls never take rebirth.

The kriya in a way is the last ditch attempt at making the soul believe that it had a complete life and there is no desire that was left behind undone ! Which along with prayers to Yama, who keeps account of Karma, should help the soul get moksha.

While the concept is explained, the rituals go like the following.

The eldest son, every day goes to a river bank (or water body like lake / pond), takes a dip in the water, prays the "soul" and "yama", cooks some food on the river bank and offers to the soul. Then takes a bath in the river again.

This goes on for 10 days. Through these days, the eldest son, does not shave, eats a specific boiled food (tasteless are you are supposed to be mourning !! ) ONE time a day, feed a few bramhins each day and give them clothes.

A lamp is kept lighted through all the 10 days. The objective being not to let is go off until the 10th day.

The bones collected from the cremation are kept in a secured place and are prayed as symbolic presence of the soul.

After the days Kriya and after feeding the bramhins in the evening, the son is supposed to sleep on floor right next to the lamp, guiding the flame through the night.

It is certainly physically tiring. But does work as a powerful distractor and helps the mourning family in a way.

Cremation

The people of Odisha take the dead bodies of their beloved one's to "Swargadwara". The name literally translates to "The Gate to Heaven".

Swargadwara is situated right on the sea shore (Bay of Bengal), facing the famous Hindu temple or Lord Jagarnath of Puri.

So cremating a body is not something where a lot of us have prior experience with.

So, while one's dealing with emotions, flash backs, logistic nightmares of carrying the dead body out of crowd of mourning relatives and friends on to suitable vehicle to go to the gate of heaven, one would be thinking about - "What Next ??".

Thankfully, the place needs no experience. There is no user manuals or no boards showing you direction too.

One thing helps. ....

The puff-eyed, un-kept being with the dead body in the boot, is the one who needs the help. Clear, un-mistakable identification. A few of the people who make this a living approach on their own.

They size up the body with their experienced gaze and say - "2 quintal wood" is all you need  and 300 gms of Ghee !!

A priest comes forward, takes note of your caste / Gotra and all.

The first chapter of the final rites start with cremation.

The eldest son of the deceased goes to the sea, takes a dip, gets a pot of water and comes back with the wet cloths.

Once a place is selected, the water is used to sprinkle and clean up / settle the dust in one area. Some fire woods are burnt and a make-shift temporary stove is made to cook porridge (rice + dal) that would be given to the soul (called "Preta").

A sequence of prayers start here which translates to "requesting the dead soul back in to the body" ! A final plea to make the dead alive !

When that and offering of the just cooked porridge ("Pinda") is done, the body is laid on layers of wood. 

The eldest son,  takes a bit of fire and puts it on the face of the body. This is called the "Mukhagni" - fire on the face. At the point, he is not supposed to stay back or look back. Should straight go to the sea, take another dip and go home, while other relatives stay back to make sure the body is cremated completely, collect a few pieces of bone and come back home.

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Note: Swargadwara has a lot of Aghori's. The "cannibals" who eat burning human flesh if any cremation is left un-attended. Aghori's are deeply religious people. They believe there is no worst thing than eating human meat, and once done that, nothing can be considered bad. A form of purification of their soul, and acceptance of everything without being judge-mental like the common people. Pretty profound for me apprehend as of now !

THE Loss !!!

Returning to blogging after a long  while ... but the time was worth spent beside  my ailing father in his last days, followed by his death and the Hindu rituals there after that lasts 13 days.

Just when I was starting the believe that I ve control over my emotions, thoughts - I was proven wrong ! Seriously wrong.

He has been ailing for a while, and one after another body functions were slowly giving up !

A long painful process to watch, let alone go through, eventually comatose, moving to supported life and then death.

So, in that sense it was not any where close to an "un-expected" / "un-timely" death.
It was coming, slowly yet surely ! We all knew it.

In fact, I thought its good in a way ... as it wont shock us !

But, I was wrong. No matter how anticipated it was, the moment doctor said, he is "no more" there was an overwhelming sense of loss. A dreadful void in life ... !

A collage of flashback memories ... !!  And those accumulated moments of guilt, where as a child I failed him in my life.

Its certainly a LOSS that is a chapter in itself in ones life.

What followed the death is 13 days of Hindu rituals (Kriya Karma). I am going to blog about the rituals in details, and hope you wont need to read/know these ever.

Abscense of layered thinking ...

.. happens to major brands too ! Look at this picture. A cool technology, advertised at one of the busiest airports ... do you see anything wrong ??? ;) ;)

Mind-share ..

I grew up in a locality which is a "Mao" area now. The nearby hills and forests, that used to be our picnic spots have become head quarters of Naxalites. The police station in the city has become ammunition center for them, that they rob every once in a while. Life still moves on ! People have accepted the gradual change and occasional firing in the heart of this mountainous town, is part of life now.

However, what surprised me is the mind-share the Naxalites have among people. A lot of sympathy. The legends go that when Naxalites come to rob ammunition to the police station, police makes sure they do not have any issue procuring them.. etc. Some believable and some not so !!

But this one drives it home - there was this district level essay and debate competitions among students that happen on State Day. Very prestigious awards and students treasure them. Last 2 years all the Top award winnings essays and debate speeches are "Pro-Mao" !

Talk about mind-share ..

Obscene Green !

Seen in a posh, high end designer shoppe, where "wasting resources" is the right - talking Green is the act !

With talking and looking Green being the latest round of fashion among the elites - looks at the toilet paper turning Green and slogans to recycle !!

The "Coach" does not have to be a great player !!!

My new lesson, that I learn hard way. I am going to treasure this rest of my life.
While struggling with one of the toughest problems of my professional sphere, I was  applying all technical skills to fix it. All hands on deck approach !!

Not going any where, I babbled the problem out in front of someone, who has nothing to do with this profession or field of work, but has been a general coach to me all through !

Viola ! His preaching did help :) I am going somewhere with this.

man vs machine ...

Ruthless business ... in the pursuit of protecting assets, sometimes completely forget the people who build it.

This story pertains to India's telecom poster child. Growth of which has been synonymous to "India Shining". It has an office routing billions of mobile calls, right next to the Arabian sea, on Marine Drive Mumbai.

And in a series of mysterious failures in the systems, the out come turned out to be what you see in this picture. The air quality. The amount of sulfur in the polluted sea shore of thickly populated and industrialized Mumbai is 6 times more than that of WHO recommended max level. So much so, that the copper wires running in the system boards turn in to copper sulfate over a few months.

Here comes the funny part. The execs of this company are screaming at all system vendors to replace the systems. But no one is talking about rescuing their employees from the same offices. Their own employees breathing the air that can destroy metal stored in air conditioned labs !!

Accessibility

A few things current govt of India is doing, that are pretty well thought through and very sensible.

Notice the new 2 rs coin. It has value written in Braille !!! Talk about accessibility.

Open Communication - Moderated ;)

When one of the biggest IT companies of India, decided to allow its 100,000+ employees to blog on intranet, it did it with a lot of confidence.

The company had a lot of arrogance and over confidence, that its employees would write constructive stuff in the intranet social networking site.

HR department was proud announcing the initiative and touted the "Open Communication" culture and ability to take open criticism.

It also said in that announcement, that the unhappy employees, now venting on Facebook / Orkut would do so on the intranet.

Within hours of it being out, so many name calling, so many unhappy employees screaming, made it an instant depressant for the HR community.

The same HR team, that announced the Open Platform for communication, went back and said, the site will now be "Moderated" by HR team for posts.

And... more importantly, they reinforced, moderating the posts is not against open communication and transparency is not reduced in any way.

After all when a cat closes its eyes and drink milk, it thinks no one can watch it !!

Improvement (Satire warning !!)

The internal support had become a nightmare as the company grew leaps and bounds over a period of time.

11 yrs ago - e-mail not working, send a mail to sysadmin@xyz.com. The guy comes running and does some magic.

5 yrs ago - A web interface where you need to sort through options and create a case for your problem. All problems starting from AC not cooling your cube to PC has virus under one web portal.

But then, you have these issues which do not fit in to any of the categories and get filed under "Other". Misuse begins and people become lazier and put everything under Other, so that they dont have to find out where the problem is. No need to apply / use the brain at all.

So, company goes ahead and hires a sr. exec to find a solution to high number of internal support issues and sorting issues and chaos etc.

Clever fella - designs a web interface that no one even can navigate through. Sales it at the "New, Improved". As no one could use it, no one files cases or they create "community support" wikis.

The sr. exec now shows metrics to the world - "restructuring of the tools, solved high case issue for such a large company" !!

Wonderful !!

Daily Updates ...

After a few days away from blogging .. and something that can be explained by the subject of this blog !!

Conveying sense of urgency is an art. Sometimes it can be really irritating.

The org is working on something which is very critical, and needs all depts to work in emergency mode - HW, SW, Marketing etc. etc.

Here is what my boss did. Set up a meeting every day lunch hour. He knows conflicts / clashes will be less during those hour. One excuse gone.

Next rule was a tough one... no matter there is update or not, everyone involved in the brainstorming need to meet for daily update. That's like written on stone. That ONE rule can not be bent.

Daily updates - some work will be done in 24hrs. No exceptions !!

Look "up" to explain the "unexplainable"

Can not explain something ? Say - "Its all created by the ONE above".
Blame it on the Stars. The Destiny. The Almighty !

Look "Up".

Honestly, the people in our industry has done this many times too. Can not explain some hard bugs in your product while customer is screaming ??

Explanation - "Cosmic Rays changing 'bits' in the hardware". Look UP and be rescued.

Look who is using the same technique now :)

"Ignorance" and Swami ..

We are going through the time, when the first page of tabloids talk about all swami sex scandals. The spiritual gurus caught on camera doing something not so holy as per the society.

In the leading Sunday daily, there is a big topic on "Sex and Swami". And yet another great Spiritual leader makes this comment (the pic may not be too clear.. so I am typing a snippet here) - "Since the Mahabharata, RAVANA's have disguised as Sadhus ....... ".


Hmmm, That was in Ramayana !! But if the Guru says so :)

As good as "West" ..

Found in my work place gym. A first aid box. And then a life saver kit.
Very thoughtful Work Place Safety measure. In India, when one is inside work place, it is as good as "West" - but it needs "Localization". Look at the emergency dial number ...  picture below ;) Should not we change 911 to 108 ???

Will we "walk the talk" ?

Mar 27th night 8:30 to 9:30 will be "Earth Hour". An hour to shutdown all lights, save energy and more importantly spread the awareness regarding conserving energy.

IPL 2010 is big on Green this year. Every player is wearing a green tag. And before every match they hand out a green tip (e.g. please walk or bi-cycle to work).

Now, I am waiting to see, if IPL Match at 8:00P on Mar 27th (KKR vs KXI) halts for 1 hr or not!!!

Will the preachers of green, also do green ????

Street "Activism" ..

This is Mar. In India, it means many things and one of the most important things among them is "end of financial year".

End of financial also means - "Harassment by traffic police on the road, desperately trying to meet some numbers for the FY and for themselves too in the process".

Me and bus load of my colleagues were going on a off day today to a near by resort. Right outside the city limits, a traffic cop stopped us. For no apparent reason. There is no light to cross there. Its a place where doing any mistake is challenging.

Of course the poor driver and the helper went down. There was a higher ranking officer inside the White Gov. SUV who did not even get down and show his face. One assistant was standing out who did the "stopping" and directing to the higher up. The higher officer, looked at the papers - at his own pace. 10 mins gone. Some more negotiations, 15 mins gone. No clarity on what he is looking for and when he would let the people inside the bus (which is rented) go.

I tried to get down to talk to him. But the bus assistant stopped - Once !

Then 2 more minutes later, I asked the entire team, 50 of them to just get down and start walking on the highway without arguing, telling anything with a smile as if we had always planned to get to our destination by foot. One after another all came down with their stuff and kept walking. Back in my head, I was sure the cop will let the bus go after seeing this as he would have a lot of confusion on what happening. Just as we finished 50 meters of walking, the bus was released :)  

Staying motivated through "Idle" period ..

This morning I woke up to sear horror ! My ToDo folder looked something like this.
Empty, blank and with a message which can be labeled as the worst news to neo-workaholics like me.
"No To Do" items.

I know it is temporary. Still its chilling experience. It is so much better when this list is full with a tiny scroll bar on the right side of it.

Obviously finding difficult to accept this. I am going to spend some time researching today, how do armies stay motivated when they do not have WARs for decades together !!!!

Inclusive India ??????

Shades of "Gender" has primarily been a "West" thing. Preaching tolerance to transgenders and advocating compassion to human beings which can not be defined as "male" or "female" has been mostly a "west" thing.

However, I ve never seen an official form in US where "Sex" has more values than M / F.

And today while filling up renewal form for Indian Passport I see this (image). There is a third value. "Others".

Pretty inclusive indeed !!!

Hype

This week one of the biggest networking companies made a pre-announcement that said "Launching something that is going to change the way internet works and will redefine the world of communication".

Then the announcement did come in - that of the Biggest, fattest networking device that can hold simultaneous video calls between 1.5 Billion people.

Path breaking indeed. But not in line with what was pre-announced. World was waiting for a NEW way of communication altogether. The world got a faster way. Not sure the world is ready of that speed though !

Sometimes, too much hype sets the expectations high and the real thing fails to rise to that !

On the other hand, when I do not get a WOW moment from a hype - there may be two reasons. First - it may be too simple and basic and non-innovative. Second - it is so profound that it is beyond my capability to appreciate.

Automation .. examples !

After a long long time I happened to visit the small, reputed Shiva temple on the hill, close to my native place, in the deep rural interior of Odisa.

Found one example of "age-old" automation and one example of a "new" one.

In one picture, you would see a (form) of a Drum and some bells that are normally played during the "aarti" are automated !

Inquisitive, I asked around why the drum and the bells were automated to play in unison using an Electric motor while the age-old manual system was in place and part of tradition ? The answer was very acceptable - One of the temple fraternities thought through this project completely during one lazy afternoon and when completely done, everybody loved it and kept it this way ! Reminds me Phunsuk Wangdoo !!! 

The second one is very age-old. Farmers take crops from the field (lentil) and dry it on the only tar road on the center of the village. The idea is when vehicles go over it, the lentil is separated from the hay, that they sweep and clean during the evening. And they do expected 5-6 vehicles an hour on that road. 

Over-designed for under-flexibility

This same bench in the local mall without the middle hand rests, could have happily accommodated the 2+2 middle class, mall going, Indian family. Alas, now it can not actually take any more than 3 .....

Mobile Health Care in India

With respect to one of my recent work, I was looking for different things that ails Health Care System of India.

And, on of the key ailment of Indian Health Care seems to be "Delivery" of health services.

While there are plenty of doctors and hospitals in urban areas where Health Care as a business is making sense, the rural places do not have access to health care, easily.

And some of the companies trying to solve this problem of distribution through "Mobile Health Care" systems.

Whenever I travel to rural places, now I keep an eye on  how health services are being distributed to this area for my learning.

And guess what, most of the places I found is this age old mobile health service provider !! In each village, in each small market place. A van, a few posters with speakers talking about different health services :) Take a look at the picture ....

Signs of time ....

Akio Toyoda, from Japan, chairman of a Japanese car company is blasted by lawmakers in US for a quality issues. In a live congress session in US.

Is this a sign of time to come ? Do we fore-see Steve Balmer, John Chambers or Steve Jobs being tried in parliament house of India or in front of premier of Chine for software bugs in years to come ?

Car industry is older than IT industry. But the trend is un-deniable.

Just a few months ago, one of my customer was escalating an issue high up in my company. A small quality issue that could easily be worked around. And to express my displeasure I said - "For every small issue, you do not have to escalate to Obama". "Obama" was figurative to show the magnitude of escalation and attention seeking attitude.

But, looks like with Toyota in congress, its no more figurative.

Segmenting our "Psyche" - A good business !!

Drove off alone, an hour outside the urban area. In to a a slightly rough terrain. Not entirely sure of the location, map and how to get back. No idea of local language. Not enough to ask the way out too.

And most importantly - forgot to pick up mobile phone when I left home.

How do you feel in 2010, when you are in this situation ?

This incident can be very panicky just for the reason that you forgot your phone behind.

15 yrs ago, the exact same situation would not have been so dangerous.

The techniques of coming back to civilization would also be same. Stop by some small shop, use majorly body language to get some direction and trust the reciprocal body language.

And just get going. Even follow cars with KA03 plate :)  would do.

Our mind has become very dependent of mobile phone being with us. Even if we do not have an urgent need for this, if it is not with us we feel some level of loss of confidence.

Extending this story, in US now a days, the home surveillance using webcams is a service that is hot. One of my colleagues, who has had a dog for last 10 yrs, has this webcam installed at home and keeps monitoring the activities once through the work day. And he is availing that service for last 1 year. If that service is down, in 2010 he works from home, as he is not sure what the dog is doing at home.

In 2005, he was not so worried. He came to work and trusted that dog would be OK till he gets back.

Measurements ...

Measurements / metrics have been part of many corporate solutions for long.
Repeat - "Part" of the solution. Rarely the "whole" of it.

But it can be !

Here is a small experiment conducted internal to my team. There is an e-mail list where a lot of customer facing people post technical / marketing questions. A community of engineers keep looking at the list and respond.

This is a simple way of communication, however completely works based on someone looking in to it and responding. At a large team level, it somehow works out. And although its so free form (no ticket numbers, no tracking to closure), it has a lot of impact on customer sat if the responses are delayed.

The posters when do not get response in a day or two, post the same message back with "[2nd TRY]" in the subject line.

The experiment was to just count the accumulative [2nd TRY] in a month and publish the ticker count in internal websites and OPs slides. No other action was defined on what we need to do if it is 2 a month, 30 a month vs 70 a month.

Interesting thing is, this month it is running ZERO. The heightened awareness created by measurement is enough for the honor based community mechanism to do the due diligence.

Now, can we do the same with Global Warming ?? :)

(On a lighter note) Ignorance is *not* bliss !!!

The following material came from a very close friend abroad with a request to put this on "Betaal Gyan".
Betaal obliges :) 
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Really didn't want to send this to your work ID but this is must have material for Betaal Gyan.



The Facecloth

This has to be read, laughed at and passed on. There is not a woman alive today who won't crack up over this!

I was due for a cancer smear with the doctor later in the week.  Early one morning, I received a call from the doctor's office to tell me that I had been rescheduled for that morning at 9:30 am.  I had only just packed everyone off to work and school, and it was already around 8:45 am.  The trip to his office took about 35 minutes, so I didn't have any time to spare.

As most women do, I like to take a little extra effort over hygiene when making such visits, but this time I wasn't going to be able to make the full effort.  So, I rushed upstairs, threw off my pyjamas, wet the facecloth that was sitting next to the sink, and gave myself a quick wash in that area to make sure I was at least presentable.  I threw the facecloth in the clothes basket, donned some clothes, hopped in the car and raced to my appointment.

I was in the waiting room for only a few minutes when I was called in.  Knowing the procedure, as I'm sure you do, I hopped up on the table, looked over at the other side of the room and pretended that I was in Paris or some other place a million miles away.  I was a little surprised when the doctor said, 'My, we have made an extra effort this morning, haven't we?'

I didn't respond.

After the appointment, I heaved a sigh of relief and went home. The rest of the day was normal - some shopping, cleaning, & cooking.

After school when my 7 year old daughter was playing, she called out from the bathroom, 'Mummy, where's my facecloth?'

I told her to get another one from the cupboard.

She replied, 'No, I need the one that was here by the sink, it had all my glitter saved inside it.'

NEVER going back to that doctor ever!!

Think "Simple" ...

One thing that distinctly "Indian". And I am proud of it !

In other advanced countries, if they would have built a door like this that pinches your knuckles when you open the door, they would replace the door. They would sue the maker of the door.

The owner of the door can actually return this door within the 30 day "money back guarentee" period.

In India - the solution is simple :) See for yourself. Just cut a piece smoothly off, near the knob !!

When to "bite" ???

Went to attend a ceremony today. A "Upanayana" or a "Thread Ceremony" conducted by Bramhin families.

Being from a different place, my knowledge of the rituals and the kind of food that would be available was very limited. But 2 hrs of Bangalore drive has already made all of us hungry. We were waiting for the food.

The food turned out to be just superb ! Amazing food and uncountable items.

A very hearty, big meal ! Right when I was thinking, I am really full - came the most Yummy part (the south Indian deserts). And no matter how much I wanted them, I could not eat much. So are the people with me, who were unaware of the menu and sequence of what is coming.

While the locals, who have seen similar ceremonies and who liked this part, waited and kept enough space to enjoy the most delicious part of the meal

Now, let me switch all of you to a different story ! This is lil more contemporary corporate !

Its been a while, line and middle managers are very nervous and anxious about "Road Map". They know they can do more. At the same time, not sure if they sign up for stuff which may not be interesting.

But every passing day without clarity, the resolve drops and they do sign up bits and pieces. Not too happy about that unseen roadmap promise which is not materializing.

Sr. management has repeatedly said, keep a free pool of "substantial size" and have trust. It will help us take on bigger share of the road map, no matter what it is and when exactly it is coming.

But that "freeing up'" is not happening. And no big road map is showing up, up front to force a "free up".

Walking back from the "End State"

Currently, I ve an assignment that is much bigger than what I ve ever dealt with in my professional life. So, I am feeling much like how Nillekani might have felt being given the UIDB job. Just in a different scale may be ;)

Last few weeks I am completely lost about even where to start, as the problem definition is so vast.

Whatever I think of, has been thought of by someone already. Whatever I feel is a gap, has no money in it, for the business to be sustainable. But, just staying away from all the money, schedule, business viability, I do see 10-15 yrs away, entire country / region needing a solution that should start being in place from now.

The need is clear. The problem definition is crisp. There is only going to be increasing need for this. Then why does not it fit the standard business plan criteria to get funded and started ?

Trying out a complete new approach ! Dream the "End State". Scenario 2020 for emerging country like India. Then walk each block of that desired end state from 2010, without thinking Money / P&L for now !!

Will update how it goes :)

Addiction to Nagging Nannies !!

I see kids growing up with constant reminders.

Early morning rush to school, screams by mom/dad - "brush properly. Don't waste breakfast, did you finish breakfast ? Its 7:30A already ... you should better be dressed, school in 15 mins" etc.

At work I see the so called program managers sending day in day out reminder mails, which are becoming more and more machine like, script like ! - "You the have such and such action item to finish by ".

And things get done.

So, I went in to analyzing, what value add does this nagging reminders really have ? Does it irritate the people who are already doing their job as if they own it ?? Does it help the rest of the people who would slow down if there is no reminder ?

One interesting thing I found out is - there is a certain level of addiction built in to all to these reminders. People / Kids being screamed at, being nagged, have grown dependent on this. Just like say nicotine addiction. If you let them go, they would not be able to complete their own work in time as back in their mind they are waiting for that nagging, that scream.

I am going to take this risk and try it on my kids this week. Wont push them to complete their morning routine. And if the miss school bus that is fine. They should realize this and get the ownership of their own actions.

Experiment with family first. Then it would come to work !!!

"Loading" and "Productivity"

After measuring productivity quarter over quarter, for a large pool of young and skilled engineers, I see a pattern which may not be too obvious.

It was known that if the "loading" is less, productivity will be less.
Meaning, say you have 5 things to get done with 1 person's help.

We assign 1 item out of the list to the person. Wail until that is done to assign the next one etc. The productivity will be lower than assigning 2 from the task list together.

Logic: Person has to do certain level of multitasking. When stuck on one task because of external dependencies can work on moving the 2nd item. etc.

Now, when we stretch this, assign all 5 tasks you know of for the person at once without serializing or prioritizing them, or telling each one is critical.

The productivity of this model becomes lowest.

This one is more tricky ! Here the reason of losing efficiency is no longer because of "idle cycles because of waiting on external dependencies". It is more behavioral !

Human being tends to "procrastinate" when there is "too much" to do !

Right when I think I am getting to the right level of loading for optimal efficiency of the work force, my trainer at the gym broke the news to me - "If you overwork, you ll feel so sour that you wont come to gym for 3 days, and that will make you achieve less result. If you work out too mildly, your body would stay lazy and feel no need to build more muscles."

Hmmm.. this is not new !

Gen Z - Idiots !

Time to practice Picture Composition for my 8 yr old. And here is the picture that was given to write a 10 sentence story.

We all know how the story should have gone ! And here is how it went :)

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The Two Friends
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Once up on a time there were two friends. "Chatur" the Tortoise and "Rancho" the Rabbit. They wanted to go to the nearby temple. Chatur said to Rancho, "I am very slow. Can you put me on your back and run ?". Rancho carried Chatur and started towards the temple. But on the way there was a river. Then Rancho said, "I can not swim. Can you put me on your back and help me cross the river ?". Chatur took Rancho on his back and they both crossed the river and went to the temple.

One more "money" mantra !

This is taking the "money" theme to a certain extreme.

My kids school came up with a rate chart a month ago, that looks like this -

"Forgot to do home work - Rs. 50 fine"
"Forgot book at home - Rs. 50 fine"
"Dirty shoes - Rs 25"
" Wrong socks - Rs 25"
"hair not combed properly - Rs. 25"

etc.

For all these, when we were kids, we had to stand separately in assembly or max kneel down.

Even schools are getting innovative in business of money making ! Not sure what the kids will learn. Here the punishment is given to the parents.

My 8 yr old, when he forgets to pack the right book - I pay Rs 50 next day.

Taxing financially to inculcate discipline among toddlers. Taking it too far.

Economic bent to traditions !

Having grown up in the land of rituals, traditions and so called culture, I ve accepted few things as norm without questioning them.

However, I see financial viability changing some of that.

Recently I ve attended 2 marriage parties, in southern part of India (this part abides by tradition more than the other parts of India) where "Reception" is done the night before the actual "Marriage". This used to be a NO-NO not so long ago in India.

Being inquisitive, I asked the reason. And figured - the party halls are given for booking for 24hrs starting mid-day to next mid-day. And going over it would cost twice.

So its economical to do the reception on the first day evening and marriage in the following morning and get out of the party hall after that.

So, it may not be only money, its availability of the party halls to. So money and availability has been able to change the thousand year old custom !

Economy is the only true religion left !

Its the "change" and not the "net" value ...

Everyday we walk in to our work place with huge digital displays showing company's stock price.

That's one of the ultimate metrics of effectiveness of our work - agreed ! And lot of us who have this stock in our portfolio through ESOP/ESPP or RSU do pay enough attention to this one.

One thing interesting I noticed today though ! When the ticker is in RED we get that feeling, "MAN something went wrong". Even the very next day if it is green we feel happy. Even if the net value on the green day is less than that of the red day. See the pictures. Cropped to hide identity of blogger's employer.

Mobile - Ain't we ?

We all love to move.. and to work ! PDAs have proven it by their popularity. We work, play, network on the go !!


So when one sees this futuristic bus with video-con, high speed comm links, office equipments etc. in built - it feels like "WOW" !!

Want to brainstorm next sales strategy ? Get in the bus ! Hit the road. Go to nearest hill station, and finish up the work while on road. Sounds cool.. until you see the fat cable below the bus physically connected to a building power source ;)

Don't we love technology ?

Certainly yes ! It makes our life easy. Helps us achieve monumental tasks with much less effort.

Now see this following product / solution announcement touted to be next frontier of technology ..

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Controls for lights & Aircon will be enabled tthrough Phones of Individual Room Users, please note that there are NO physical switches available to control Lights.

Phone features for Cabin users:

· Lights Turn ON/OFF (No brightness control available)
· AIRCON ON/OFF
· Aircon Room Temperature settings


The above services will be automatically enabled for Calendar Bookings. If the conference room is not booked through outlook, then you can turn ON Lights & Aircon by using the IP Phone. These services will be enabled for 30 Minutes only, after which the controls go back to energy savings mode. Please book the room using outlook to avoid this.
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Turning ON a light bulb - Monumental Task !!
Using phone menu (which is in the room you want to lit) to light up the room - much less effort !!

Really !!! ???