A journey through Real India

“I do not want anything!!!” I told my mom in an irritated tone

She was dismayed at my tone

Who wouldn’t, when her son visits her after 5 months and begins acting weird as soon as he steps into the home but what she didn’t knew were those last 30 hours I passed through which completely left me annoyed…

30 Hrs ago

I just stepped out of my campus gate searching for a shared auto in order to reach dilshad garden metro station. I just checked my tickets

MKI PBR Express Old Delhi to Rajkot Departure 13:10 Sleeper Class (S8 9 LB)

I do know that PBR stood for porbandar but I didn’t know what I stood for, I was in a hurry while booking the ticket and didn’t bother much to go into the detail of my journey. Somehow the feeling of boarding a train from ChandniChowk didn’t go too well with me. One, I have never been to this station and secondly I never heard of any other station than New Delhi or Nizamuddin in Delhi NCR.

I reached the station by 12:30 PM well in time for my train and read on the display screen that my train was 20 mins late and would be arriving on platform 12. On reaching the platform I began feeling hungry but I had a more important task to perform. I promptly purchased the book “3 Mistakes of my life” so that I could finish it in my current journey. A novel had always served me well in lonely train journeys especially if it has all the typical masala, which I always find in chetan bhagat. Somehow I have read all of Chetan Bhagat’s books during my train journeys only and I felt he should speed up his rate of writing books in order to meet my demand. While paying for the book I noticed the unmistakable golden arches

McDonalds is here right on the platform….

”Wow… Chandnichowk is not that bad” I felt.

Like any other ‘new Indian middle class’ student I placed my order, talking only in English, keeping my conversation terse with a plastic smile sustaining throughout the transaction. Somehow everything seemed perfect today, right from the shared autos or the Delhi metro or the ease of directions or reaching the railway station, everything seemed to be on track… …. all is well indeed… I thought and began enjoying my McEcono meal.

13:10 is when I stepped out of McDonalds aware that my train is 20 mins late; however to my surprise a new note kept flashing that the train is expected to arrive in 5 mins by 13:15.

I was pleasantly relieved… what better than a sumptuous meal followed by reduced waiting for a berth or bed that is arriving to yet another insomniac from IMT. A look here and there and I could already see a train pulling into platform 12, a white and blue colorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Die$%$l engine…???!!! I Thought.

How does it matter whether it is a diesel engine or electric, I consoled, and began waiting for S8. Just then somebody told that the train is coming from a place (I will not mention) but popularly tarnished in socio-political discussions…I somehow felt uncomfortable since I booked a sleeper ticket and its been a while since I boarded a sleeper class train…again I told myself that one should stop generalizing…S8 just passed me and I took a quick walk to reach it. Well the train didn’t look that great from outside with faded bhogies and bad windows but the best was still in store, as soon as I entered it, there was a horror show waiting to be unveiled…

The train, true to common beliefs, was stinking badly and the compartment was as shitty as one can get…

The entire compartment was filled with inexplicable filth, both dry & wet, was also used as a spittoon and had a layer of shells of Moomphallies/Groundnuts to walk on…so much for the filth that the janitor who entered to clean the compartment himself said “Yeh rail ka dibba hain ya kachde ka dibba” and left without cleaning it.

“I promised to come home and parents are expecting me” I told myself. I didn’t want to even think of the “R” word then

I began scouting for my seat and soon found out that the section of the compartment where my seat belonged took the cake as the crappiest part of the compartment. There was a married couple, the husband who looked very very shabby and the wife definitely not above 20 with already 2 kids who were more than 6-7 years old…Yeah they too were shabby

3 others comprised their family excluding the above mentioned who were occupying the berths and questioned my arrival into their peaceful crap…

“That seat belongs to me I said showing No-9” I told my co passengers

“Wooh babua ko baithne ke jagah dedena…agar seat aapka hain to hum hath jaayenge” is how the guy sneered and the rest of them smiled at if it were a family joke.

I sat in an area less than 2 by 2 feet not because they weren’t accommodating but I didn’t feel like occupying any more space. I began feeling very bad and started cursing myself for the reservation choice and to make things worse a Moomphally wala or a groundnet seller just arrived…

I was hoping he would go unnoticed but looks like my companions had a love for groundnuts…so much that they handpicked 7-8 packs in a span of 2-3 minutes

That’s it as if the flood was not enough, the entire family feasted on the groundnuts spitting their shells on to the floor and making weird sounds while eating. I tried suggesting them not to spit in the cabin…however they mistook my gesture and in return offered me some nuts. I denied the offer with great difficulty and acknowledged their benevolence. The laptop bag through out the journey would remain on my lap while the other bag consisting of my clothes remained on the berth...No other place was even worth putting a bag…

This family had a characteristic; Adults above 20 year old kept spitting dry or wet once every 45 secs and used the spacious compartment to pristine the remaining gaps, while the audacious kids went a step ahead by doing it at double the rate through the windows. There were times I just couldn’t take it and gave a scornful look to which only the kids responded with eyes filled with surprise and a non stop vocal-nasal coordinated spits fired with more intensity. I thought of retreating because i wasn’t able to take it anymore, but the train had already made its move and we were nearing gurgaon.

Finally the TC came and I felt relieved hoping he will kick this family for occupying sleeper class on a general ticket and I very soon learnt that they all very much had their reservations done. For a moment I felt guilty…not for my travel choice but the fact that I had no right to behave this way, where I wished for people not to travel with me or they should be kicked off by the TC but just because their habits were eccentric…

When I was filled with this guilt a thunderbolt struck & kicked all my guilt out of the picture…

The family planned to have their “lunch” and somehow I must admit that it didn’t smell pleasant…

After sometime I made another awesome observation, Even a carpet like table cloth also would not be able to dry the food overflows or whatever that happened in the last 30 minutes…The berth and the compartment now had a stink that cannot be overcome even if a Public-Private Partnership initiative was launched to fight it…

There is no way one can tell an entire railway compartment to behave human like and believe in minimum living standards of hygiene and cleanliness. You would be kicked out or outlawed for portraying an alien face…

Few minutes down, the upper berth in my section was just vacated and I sprung to occupy it immediately...That is when I attained some peace and began reading “Three Mistakes of Life” in order to drown myself into something. My will to ignore the surroundings was so high that I completed the book within 5 hrs to wrongly raise my head during the deadly dinner break…holy crap…

I requested the gods for mercy and they too were busy with their dinner I guess, I began reading the better parts of the novel again for another hour. I completely forgot to eat a snack or dinner; infact I lost the sensation or the will to eat in spite of my stomach crying with hunger for the past two hours. Actually I lost the appetite…I kept browsing through the novel to keep myself busy

Finally the sleeping hours arrived and I hoped to sulk in silence but looks like I was wrong with the later part of my previous sentence. Silence was robbed from my life with the snores of the lovely family which matched the loudest of the alarms I ever heard. Luckily the kids didn’t snore else I would have considered jumping off the running train.

The dinner break of the gods was over I guess, they decided to bless me with some sleep in this hostile environment. I slept, or lost consciousness to the deadly smell, around 11 in the night when I began dreaming about those lovely hours of playing counter strike in the lab

or playing badminton

or dating nice gals

or waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Or waaaaaaaaaah waaaaaaaah wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sob sob sob

Waaaaaaaaaah sob sob sob

A new noise just erupted in my compartment, loud initially and matured to loud & clear within a short while. I raised my head out of scare more than inquisitiveness to check what was happening. The youngest of the spit kids wanted to have a tea in ajmer and he wasn’t allowed to get down by his unwilling mother at 3 in the night (How unfriendly). The spitkid would not be silenced unless he has a tea and the train had just left ajmer… Yeah I forgot telling you this train didn’t have a pantry car which meant he would cry till the next station arrived

I could not sleep and begged them for the first time to kindly silence the kid, but it didn’t seem to have penetrated their wail. The spitkid was too vocal for my disgust and he was promised a tea in the next station.

I immediately got down from my berth and checked for the TC. 10 mins of search did yield the TC but then I did the stupidest thing one could imagine…Instead of asking for a seat change I asked him when the next station was about to arrive as if I owed the spitkid a tea. Looks like I was suffering a nervous breakdown now…The TC, an angel sent for me, though he very much resembled the spitkid’s maternal uncle, offered me another seat in a different section of the same compartment which was some n times better. I don’t know how he read my face expression impromptu…we humans are awesome...

The berth looked better now, however the kindness quota was over; neither the cold wave nor the snore wave were ready to let me go off the hook…

I was tired & shaken both physically & emotionally. I sat on that upper berth brooding into darkness & waited for the sun to rise…I began thinking of my return journey which is a AC III tier berth, however I am scared now to travel in these trains itself…

Sometime later I heard a lot of noise in the train and learnt that ahmedabad was about to arrive, it was then at ahmedabad finally when I got down and had a coffee @ coffee day. I immediately remembered the coke which I didn’t finish the previous day at McDonalds…I began sporting a weak smile as if to preach “that is how life is at times…” to people around me.

My destination was 4 hrs away from ahmedabad and I sat awake all those four hours

I passed or killed this time by looking outside through the nearest window. The scenario was a little abnormal with thick green fields followed by dry lands followed by green fields and dry ponds. All too contrasting I felt, the green fields were too green and the dry lands resembled a drought land so it was a strange topography… I thought

Just then something happened to fade the existing contrast. The spitkids came to this place as well and as if every window had to be victimized in their ritual, they began using the same window, through which I was looking outside, to continue their mania…I immediately switched my view window and that is how those 4 hours were spent in a complete denial mode. Finally at 12:50 Rajkot arrived…

My dad who heard my story was smiling and consoling me & when I reached home it was heaven… Mom kept asking me a lot of questions to which I wasn’t answering and then she asked

“What do you want for lunch” will you say anything… to which I replied

“I do not want anything!!!” I told my mom in an irritated tone…

Epilogue

Honestly there is no moral to whatever I have written above however one thing is true…I still see a lower side in me for writing so much on hygiene and habits

But those dream jobs we think of in Unilever or ITC where we plan to hit the Rural or the Real India and sell to glory…is somewhat farfetched as a thought. If I represent one of you guys, who would love to shop in a Levis, watch a movie in the PVR and eat in the McDonalds or a Pizza hut; Trust me in those 24 hours I could not handle the real/rural india… Looks like a dialogue of “VS”...

Are we helpless...

We are fighting an enemy who has no face. The enemy is hidden in the dark making his preparations and striking at the innocents while using them as shields, calling it “Jehad” or a holy war. It is stunning to know that the people who have caused this mayhem are youngsters just out of their teens. It is clearly evident that this is an age where passion and rage surpass reason and these propagators have been trained to be so throughout their teenage. The roots are definitely from the madarsas where kids are trained to fight in the name of holywar and are brainwashed to do so. Who else would believe in glory after death and go on a slaughter, killing innocents & breadwinners of numerous households.

After the 11/26 attacks the entire nation has been a victim of terrorism. Though you may not have faced the terrorists, the media coverage of this entire episode was so comprehensive that even a newly born baby could have exhibited streaks of fear. The attacks did cause a mental stir in a young nation that has begun to believe in dreams and potential. That is what even the terrorists wanted to achieve. By repeatedly targeting urban India, the very signs of progress made by this country they are arresting the common man’s fondness towards dreaming big. The recent attacks in Mumbai have stood as a testimonial to this fact. The attacks were so properly organized and orchestrated that around 4000 security personnel of the highest levels took 3 complete days to flush the terrorists. While the security personnel were definitely the heroes who have eliminated the propagators of one of the longest remembered terror episode in India, we should not forget the fact that most of the hostages were killed.

As Mr. Ratan Tata said, the problem is that we don’t learn from the past. Blame the population or the different sects of population which make it difficult for us to identify the thugs; it is a fact that we have been least prepared for such kind of attacks in spite of some reasonable hints given to us by Intelligence agencies. Whether it is attitude or apathy, one fact clearly comes out of this episode - we have got used to this kind of violence. We have begun to forget, forgo and forgive (may sound harsh) whatever is happening. That definitely seems to be the stance of the current UPA government. They are trying hard to salvage their image by showing some last minute aggression which would definitely subside with people’s memory but a pitiable fact is that the government is doing the least on preventing such kind of attacks. The home-grown intelligence agencies have failed miserably in most of the previous occasions and this is a serious threat. It’s high time we concentrated on what can be done before another such glorious attack takes place weakening the strong hearts of this youthful country. It’s no use to scare Pakistan in the name of war. They are convinced that india would not want to attack a nation that is controlled by religious mavericks and power-hungry politicians. If India is not able to launch a direct offensive due to the nuke fear, cant India pull off a proxy like it did to some extent in Afghanistan.

A convincing solution would be to strengthen our security and intelligence while increasing the vigil in the cities. It’s high time the politics in India detaches itself from ostentatious secularism and allows the security forces in rationally carrying their duties in sensitive areas which are doubted to be the breeding places. The Mumbai attack did leave a haunting effect and cause a feeling of insecurity in the growing segments of the country. The confidence levels sagged looking at the helplessness of our mighty army in flushing out a handful or terrorists. This could have happened to any of us shopping at a local mall, or dining at a nice restaurant, or in a movie multiplex or a Delhi metro station. It may sound a cliché but we have to be empowered by our intelligence and vigilance… A common man can’t think beyond this and is equally helpless in solving this problem.

What we wear is what we are...

Today morning I was discussing with one of my colleagues over the kind of clothes one is allowed to wear in our offices. In most of the offices we are asked to wear formals but thanks to the IT industry, at least one day in the week we are allowed to wear smart casuals. So when I was discussing this, I asked my friend what people wear to their offices in the US. He told me that the office dressing culture in the US is not so stringent and over there employees are generally seen in casuals unless there is a serious engagement, It’s only in the financial and banking sectors where people are always seen in the formals. I felt good about it since wearing a casual to the office is much simpler and agreeable and started complaining him about the stringent rules we Indians unnecessarily impose onto ourselves. He told me then that in the US most of the companies have a separate sales office and their sales professionals are always dressed in the formals since they keep engaging with their clients through out the day. He added that in India most of the companies do not have such system and that is why when a client walks in to their office they want to show them a pious environment. Like he said it is the Indian companies that are in search of business today and they want to prove their seriousness and commitment to their prospective customers, so wearing a casual to the work place might not be a right indicator.

My friend’s statement came as an eye opener to me not because it was a shocking discovery but looking at the thought process that goes behind your dressing in the office. Even in the IT industry when the customer is visiting the offices the employees are asked to be dressed in formals. When you go to any ICICI bank, you find all their employees wearing a similar shirt and sporting a similar tie. They are interacting with their customers daily and that too with a large number, so it becomes an essential obligation to differentiate themselves in the crowd. Even in a well established restaurant you see the bearers & butlers wearing a uniform to make their customer’s life easy. On the contrary we do not see a customer regularly & directly interacting with the employees of an IT industry thus making life casual for their employees.

While thinking about this, I was reminded of an interesting observation. The East had been a conservative and value driven society while the west believed in freedom and advances we made. That is why when you go to many of the Eastern (Japanese and Korean) companies you find the employees wearing a uniform. These companies do not have cabins either and they encourage all their employees in sharing a similar workplace. This strengthens their philosophy of mutual respect, equality & eliminating socio-economic differences. It is possible to compare this kind of thinking to the communist way. In the west people believed in freedom & expression, a characteristic of Capitalistic trait and that, thought not solely, explains to an extent the philosophy behind their dressing. The Cabin culture of course has taken its birth in the west which symbolizes the personal space demanded by an employee over there.

At the end of the day it is all an invisible culture and tradition that goes behind our form and our actions, a terrific influence that we commonly ignore.

Thursday, May 29, 2008 Ravi Shanker

The MMTS train of Hyderabad

Ping Pong …….

Ping Pong………

Ping Pong...Ping Pong… Ping Pong (Now getting more frequent).

Aah that’s my door bell making such a cacophonic noise and finally succeeding in waking me up.

I open the door with half closed eyes to find my maid giving me a “Will you ever improve” look while picking the Newspaper and the milk packet that were lying abandoned at my doorstep for the past couple of hours.

It’s hardly 7:40 AM in the morning and I can already feel the surroundings around me heating up at a rate unmatched by the cooling effect of my air cooler. I lazily get up from my bed just to see that Shashank has already called me twice. Ohh my godddd not again it’s yet another typical day that has dawned upon me.

As usual, late and lazy, I call up Shashank at 8:00 Am to find out what he is up to and to my despair I discover that he is already rearing to go to the office.

“Meet me at Jubilee by 8:30” says Shashank and clicks his phone.

Shashank is a devil especially in the mornings, he has his family to take care of his hunger and discipline but how can he expect a similar performance from me. I unwillingly pick the toothbrush and start brushing my teeth. By the time I am done with it it’s already 8:10. I know that it’s impossible for me to catch Shashank at 8:30 in Jubilee and I do not want to hear his husky voice whining at me in the mornings so I safely drop him a message saying “It will be 8:45”. Two minutes later a deadly noise erupts in the chamber of silence. It’s Shashank calling me on my mobile.

I pick up the call to only hear the loud display of anger and being defenseless I request him to carry on. That’s it, the storm has been silenced. Now am on my own taking every bit of time to cajole my lazy soul and doing things only when I feel like with no remorse at all towards being late to the office.

Its 10:30 now and I have learnt that there is a local train at 10:53 that can take me to office by 11:20. Driving a bike in this extreme summer especially in Hyderabad’s traffic is not easy that too if it’s a 27 km ride. All these days I used to travel by car but believe me driving such a long distance in messy traffic conditions is no joke either. You will end up being for more than an hour and a half in your car. The only comfort is that you can have your AC switched on and enjoy the glances of those suffering bikers who look at you as if you are a monarch. But other than that there is no fun in driving for so long unless you are a passionate driver.

I unanimously decide to board the Local train and rush to the Arts college station. Within 15 minutes I have successfully managed to buy the ticket and am standing under a shade waiting for the train to arrive. Within minutes the train pulls onto the platform puffing a dust storm marking its arrival which blocks my view and fails me in catching sight of those precious unoccupied coaches in the front. I immediately board the train and push myself towards a bunch of seats which show the promise to be vacated.

Come Secunderabad you have half of the train emptied due to which I comfortably manage to get a seat and this is when I begin enjoying every event happening in and out of the train. 5 minutes over and the train departs from Secunderabad to begin what I call as a majestic journey to my office.

Within no time the train picked a lot of speed passing through a cluster of one storied and two storied buildings on both sides most of which painted in yellow and green color. There are a lot of cables entangled between these buildings used for multiple purposes with the most significant purpose being for drying the washed clothes. These cables resemble a huge spider web that would have taken some 200 years in being laid. These homes have used the railways tracks as a perfect dump yard for all the litter and waste material they accumulate. The train begins to slow now and a road passing under the bridge, on which my train stands, indicates the arrival of James Street.

From James Street you are in for a small time visual treat. On one side you have the typical deccan topography comprising of green and brown pastures of land and on the other side it gets more and more scenic with the arrival of Necklace road and the visually splendid Hussain sagar lake. It’s a combination of HUDA’s manmade beauty with the road and the pavements and natural beauty of Hussain Sagar with the Buddha statue in the center epitomizing the tranquility in Hyderabad and of course who can ignore the foul smell. The parks eat outs and the entertainment hubs around the lake symbolize the rising Indian middle class that is more rhetoric, outgoing and demanding. Just when you are being deeply mesmerized by the panorama the train takes a hostile diversion bypassing the Necklace road station.

Soon, you are greeted by a never ending noise of vehicles that are honking and trying to create a beeline for themselves on a bridge that surges over our train signaling the arrival of Begumpet, a perfect business place that houses Software enterprises, famous shopping centers, jewelers and auto giants; perhaps the busiest place in Hyderabad. You can also see a multitude of giant hoardings standing over you in their bid to attract the average consumer.

After passing begumpet the density of population gets lesser, I can see a lot more space around the railway tracks and I find very few houses around it at least on one side. Just by the time I start wondering what could be coming this way we are already at the Nature cure hospital station. I can slowly feel the air getting warmer and the land getting browner with the occupancy decreasing as we get along. Soon I can witness the arrival of rocks and rock filled golden colored hillocks in the landscape; Borabanda has arrived.

As the train marches from Borabanda a large commotion of neatly dressed, well behaved and reticent youngsters get up reminding me that Hitech city is the next station. Fresh from the college, energetic crowd in their twenties and thirties holding a newspaper in one hand while deeply lost in the music of the new shuffle they just bought represent the glittering workforce that Hyderabad fell in love for the past one decade. As the train decelerates I can see the Cyber towers building, the emblem of Hitech city, and soon a number of concrete structures representing the innovation in the field of architecture, standing tall amidst the rocky hills and arid landscape welcoming us to the Hitech city.

As I get down at the Hitech city a thought passes through me. The last 30 minutes that I spent in the travel is not just my travel to the office. It has been a travel through time, scenarios and peoples expectations. Within half an hour I saw a time period of 30 years and that is why I call it unique… of course am late to the office as well.

The World of Love, Infatuation, Feelings etc

“Don’t tell me that height is the only factor which creates so much difference”

“Why are you guys always behind beautiful girls only”

“I know that she is a bit selfish but I believe I can change her”

“Why does she sport a smile while speaking to me?”

“He always looks at you before he goes to his seat”

Such a regular collegian gossip which we find in our emptied classrooms, coffee shops, Canteens, parks and famous hangout places etc when a guy disagrees with the criterion adopted by a girl and tends to argue or when a girl expresses her surprise at the way boys think. Visit any of these places and you are bound to discover the basic fundamentals of dependence, respect and care flowing in the air. These fundamentals have been evolving since ages but they have been subjected to such a constant change that we better say they are revolving.

So what really is the criterion for a guy to choose a girl or for a girl to choose a guy?

===============================================================

Some Typical Responses (GIRLS)

What features do you look for in guys?

Beauty matters only a little what actually matters is compatibility and trust. I expect him to give me enough space to breathe, respect my feelings and be honest to me.

Suitable Products: Wagon R (Average looks, enough space and Solid Performance)

What physical and social features do you insist on?

Height above 5’6 and with a cool attitude.

Suitable Products: Samsung Refrigerators (Big ones), 5 way Cooling Guaranteed

Turn offs?

Philanderers and Hypocrites

Suitable Products: Lie Detectors, Metal Detectors J

Your views on Laila and Majnu?

Ohh they were such a great lovers. You really want to have someone who loves you so much.

Suitable Story: Karan Johar’s Dostana (Yet to be released, It stars two men unfortunately)

Love Marriage or Arranged? (Now there are multiple responses here)

Ø My house hold is very strict about this; my parents are my best judges.

Ø Love marriage ofcourse, No doubts at all.

Ø I don’t know

Suitable Product: Videocon (What ever role life offers play it cool)

Some Typical Responses (Guys)

What features do you look for in girls?

Well beauty of course matters but I also expect integrity. She should be honest to me and respect my parents. She should be very flexible and understand my feelings.

Suitable Products: Plaster of Parris

What physical and social features do you insist on?

Good Features, Nice Structure, Beautiful & very gentle.

Suitable Products: Nokia N series.

Turn offs?

Shorttemper, Lack of flexibility

Suitable Products: Bigbabool, Boomer

Your views on Laila and Majnu?

Theirs was a genuine love story. Can you imagine any other?

Suitable Story: Murder (Really Genuine)

Love Marriage or Arranged? (Now there are multiple responses here)

Ø Love Marriage

Ø Arranged Marriage, go for the dowry

Suitable Product: Vodafone (A dog’s never ending care story) or Virgin mobile (Get paid for incoming)

===============================================================

That’s the story friends. At the end of the day a fair truth is that all of us look for the best deal in the market. So when it comes to choosing boy friends or girl friends we are no different. I wont apply this to all of us but yes I would do it to most of us.

To be continued…

JPRS

21^st April 2008

Management Mantras

Incident 1

This was happening at Zaheer Memorial High School play grounds. Our team was chasing a target of 82 and we were at 75 facing the last over with 4 balls remaining. I was the last guy batting at No.11 as I was considered to be a sheer pace bowler at that timeJ; rather a dud with the bat. So when I was taking my stance the other guy came to me and said “ Brother you only have to stop the ball from hitting your stumps, the best you would do is block the ball with your body and run as if you are doing it for your life”. Now a couple of thoughts started to flow within me- First I was obviously hurt with his comments as he was underestimating me as a batsman, Secondly I wanted to show him what I am. The bowler did bowl a merciless delivery to which I had no answer; I swung my bat only to hear the sound of timber and a glare of hopelessness from my non striker. The team looked at me as a hopeless performer and laughed at me the next time I raised my hand.

First Management lesson:

1. Do what the Team or company requires from you in order to grow quickly. This gives you better opportunities to showcase what you are.

2. Respond rather than reacting.

Incident 2

This time we were playing a carom board match. I am quite good at this game and was obviously the dominant partner when I teamed with someone. In one such high spirited encounter we came down to a situation where we had to send two coins into the hole before the opposition pushed the red and their one into the hole to successfully end the match. It was my partner’s chance and I urged him to push the tougher one of ours into the hole first and then think of the red but he had his eyes set on the easier one. I beg him to listen to me but he wouldn’t and then I shout at him talking about my experience in these kind of games and then he would say “ok just see”. He pushed our coin in such a way that the opposition could not push the red into the hole without pushing ours into the hole. That’s it. This guy had become famous for his brains and innovation though he or I had the least guess if that move was intended.

Second Management lesson:

1. Sometimes it is better to be innovative rather than just listening to what people say because that represents your inability to think out of box. To simplify I would say "Just try your luck"

2. Don’t shout at your partner because when he excels people shall look down at you as a joker.

Incident 3

One day I was attending a Corporate Client of ours. My boss told me to be stern while negotiating and think repeatedly about our brand image and comeback only with success. These things were so deeply engrained in my thought process that I went to my client with an authoritative body language.

Me: “Good afternoon! So my company has started this initiative with a vision of ………………..” ( I was interrupted)

Client “Well I guess we have no time for that. Just tell me what the price is”

Me: “Well we have given it some tough thought and finally narrowed down to Rs 3000 a piece”

Client “That’s very costly. I am not at all satisfied. Is that your final say?”

Me: Well I think……. (Brand image). No- Yes that’s our final price. Anyways I am just making a confirmation call, please excuse me.

I go out to make a call to my Boss

Me: Sir they look negative with this price what should I do

Boss: Do better negotiation and ensure success

Me: But sir without a price dip how could I convince them

Boss: I understand but somehow bring us the good news we are waiting for it. I know you can do that.

I go back to my client

Me: Well we can’t reduce more than a hundred but we are fixed.

Client: Ok I shall give you a call someday. Bye! Nice meeting you

After two days my boss says that the client declared it negative.

Boss: Couldn’t you call me at that stage, if you couldn’t handle it, I would have sent Mr.X with you or perhaps Mr.Y. You were so stubborn with that price band.

Me: But sir I had to ensure our brand image doesn’t fall. How could I reduce it to some 1800 from 3000 all of a sudden (Cmon man it isn’t a saree)

Boss: Ravi, From now on I would want you to work with the training department; leave the corporate clients to Mr.X.

Me: Thanks Sir! Sorry sir.

Third Management Lesson:

1. Your boss may stab you at any point.

2. When you are trying to do something that you are not good at; attach stakeholders to it so as to share the fruit equally.

Incident 4

After some time I met a guy from a company we are acquainted with and we were speaking to each other at a restaurant. I enquired if I could approach him with the corporate package that we have. He asked me to wait for some time and I understood his answer. The next day I surprisingly received a call from him and he tells me that I could give a try with his HR head. I sheepishly go with my proposal and ensure that it’s a secret as I wouldn’t want to get scolded again. This was the discussion

Me “So we launched this initiative with a vision…………………”

Client’s HR head: “Hey I was impressed with your mail yesterday. Could you just make it a hundred less including all taxes?”

Me: “Of course sir we could”

Client’s HR head: “Please sign this document. It is done”

Me: “Thanks Sir”

That evening a great news spread across the department. This guy has done a magic. He has got us a big deal. He is excellent and it went on till the next few days. People would come and see me congratulate me and ask “So it must have been a tough job wasn’t it”. And I would say “Well it was a synergy of our brand image and thrust towards success with the help of our lovable Boss”.

Evening the boss mails me.

Ravi Good work. I knew that you were capable of it. Perhaps why don’t you help Ajay across making a corporate presentation?

Fourth Management Lesson

1. Some good things can always come in your way.

2. You never know which strategy works and it’s a matter of sheer luck when something works for you. So success gives you the confidence to test your stance one more time while failures make you sport multiples stances in a single go.

So never mind friend. Enjoy life as a performer more than a manager.

TO ERR IS HUMAN & TO LOVE IS A PROBABLE ERR

How sweet those moments were

It was the day when i came down to your house. Surprisingly your mom n dad weren’t there. I started reading books at your home with an alibi that I was waiting for your brother but I knew that you were aware of the purpose i was there. I looked at you relentlessly but you were so immersed in looking outside that you left me disappointed.

I was trying to peep at you and make a regular sound, but you were motionless. My body was growing cold with the cool breeze that flew across and your long blackish brown hair just shuffled over your chin because of the breeze, making me feel irresistible to you. When you just pulled it back from your rosy chin and ears which had faint streaks of hair it just killed me. Your white dress made you look like an angel. Your eyes were like pomegranates that have freshly taken birth. Your lips were as red as a red rose. When you walked, it created an angel path for me, when you gave me an occasional look I felt like I had been blessed with god’s best wishes. When you giggled each time it made me feel that I was growing closer to you. And when you yawned and stretched I felt sleazy; for your ignorance of a stranger.

What are you telling me, Don’t you mind doing things that you are not supposed to in front of a stranger or have you chosen me to be your man. I rush through a labyrinthine thought process. All of a sudden when you ask me “coffee or tea”, I out of confusion just utter coffee and see you smiling again. I wish that those moments were stretched to eternity and stored in my hard disk forever. I keep seeing you though I don’t own you; you keep giving me an occasional look and smile. When you keep doing that, my heart pounds like a battering ram and it keeps pushing me towards making you my Juliet.

I finally make a decision that I would do it today. I slowly gather strength and courage to propose to you. I pick up the rose that I had hidden secretly and start advancing towards you. When you hear my foot steps and turn back in surprise I just close my eyes to offer you the rose and tell you

“ I love you more than what a mother does to its offspring, more than what a Swallow does to a flower, more than what a man does to his life”

Would you be my princess and accept me to serve your life as your better half. Then I turn back for your ultimate reply. You come after an eternal minute, then place your hand on my hand and smile at me tauntingly. With that a rush of warmth fills my blood, I go mad with joy and ecstasy and not able to control my 4 year love, I start sobbing”

All of a sudden I woke up to the reality to find my watch showing Morning 8:00, February 14^th. Its 20 years since that day passed in my life. As I start brushing my teeth blood flows as the toothbrush strikes hard in my jaws. But tears flow through my eyes for what I faced that day even today. I still remember how you shouted at me when I proposed you that day. You did not like me, but more than that you had no right to punish me. You chose to vilify me and tell my parents that I created a problem for you at the college which I never did. The bell rang as the maid had come and I wiped my eyes with a towel. As I start going to my office in my car I remember how my parents kept crying for their son’s conduct. How they felt insulted when your parents came to my home to fight for the cause. And after that how I would become a laughing stock in my college days. I remember each time when you passed across me which created a murdering shiver and insult. That day when I unfortunately ran across you which was by pure mistake you made a mess out of it and complained to the principal. I still know how I was made to take off my shirt and walk while kneeling in those corridors. When my parents heard that, they could take it no more. The worst they stopped believing me.

I ran away from my house for the biggest insult of my life. I did not want my parents to own their son’s misdoings. Suddenly the traffic signal turned red. I reach my office and have just finished a meeting. My secretary says that she wants a half day leave with a wild smile because its 14th. I let her go. Again I remember the day when I chose to leave that locality since no body believed me. I left my home, my place and my IDENTITY.

After 20 years I still find it difficult to spend a lonely life abandoned by my home, abandoned by self. I still don’t dare to speak to a girl looking into her eyes, people take me for granted thinking that I belong to some anachronistic times. It’s a lonely life with no family of my own and I am already 42 today. And each time I see this date, I ask myself “Did I deserve this”

Just then I see a greeting which carries the words

“Happy Valentines Day”

And I laugh in my solitude, waiting for the next day to arrive...

“Not every one is lucky and not every one is necessarily brave. Let god chose to partner such hapless”

One truth at a time please...

If at all you like this I must give some credit to my friend Pavan from whom I borrowed few ideas

The other day I was thinking- Why is it that I am feeling ownership of my senses- Can you just imagine-Why are we feeling ownership of a soul that is occupying a human body? Lets think- Why we should have got this sense when we were in this body and why we did not get the same sense since its birth where as after a certain period of time. There is no way I am going to agree that it is all science with our brain being the "master piece". No! There is life not only within my body but also in my soul, but “where had it been before I took birth”; Was it in someone else's body- then why did it forget its history. Or does it follow a progression that as time progresses our IQ and EQ increase. Knowledge is also energy, where does it go when my soul leaves my body. Does it collapse? These are few things which i could not percieve till today.

Leaving these questions, what is truth, what is good and what is God. Everything is subjective and relative. If light is the truth then darkness can we rule it as false. Same goes with everything- What some may perceive as truth may be false to some one else. They say the Universe was born out of a very energetic tiny spot that has been expanding and expanding. If a part of magnet can repel the other part, Then a part of that tiny spot may also have an impact on some other. I believe that everything is cancelled out in this world. The end equation may have infinite constraints and parameters but the result is “0”. Light/Darkness, Thrust/Gravity, action/reaction I believe P (Event) is a superset of two variables which are {Cause, Effect}. The sum of probabilities of both cause and effect is “1”. P (cause) need not be 0.5 it can be 0.99 or .000001. This defines the irregular cycles in life. I believe that If we are doing some thing in this life there is a certain cause tied to it, we all are governed by a cause. When the cause expires the effect is “1” we die.

I also feel that there is a certain truth in this world on whose realization we get promoted to the next dimension. Then why do these goals and aspirations exist, is it to delay the process of super promotion. May be then they are not exactly our goals.

Within so much confusion can we know what “truth” is? Well there is one truth which flashes regularly like a nature’s law acting on us which is “MATING” Yes it is a truth, Think over. God neither taught that to us nor did he to a street dog.