Déjà vu
Saturday, January 04, 2014
Why i am cynical about the AAM AADMI PARTY!
Monday, May 20, 2013
The Bet!
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Another Day in a Salesman's life!
Everyone smiled at each other as they watched the figures on the board. The targets looked next to impossible. People in the front row had to maintain a serious face in order to not get caught disapproving the targets.
Why are those back benchers laughing? Asked the tea boy…
“I think they might have cracked a joke” said the office boy
As the tea boy entered
“You think this is fucking funny” shouted the person standing by the board…
The room had a pin drop silence excepting the sound made by the tea cups being placed on the seats
You have no courtesy or dignity towards achieving these numbers and you think you are here to giggle about them? shouted the Location Manager at Joe(one of the sales executives)...
“No Sir…” said Joe rising from his chair
“Why were you giggling?”
“Nothing Sir we were just….”
“Just what…sharing a joke….we keep doing social service by delivering only 50% and when I am here to instill some seriousness you are giggling”
“Sir…”
“People like you are being made to sit in AC rooms and being served a tea so that you can laugh at our targets”
Now even the tea boy understood that something was seriously wrong with this tea interference and stood as if he required the big man’s approval to serve tea.
With no obvious signals, the tea boy did not serve the tea to Joe and left the room in fear.
Joe stood there answering the Location Manager for the next 10 minutes, obviously on his last month figures, while the rest silently sipped on their tea…
After the meeting was over there was a murmur in the office about the way Joe got cornered and people were poking fun at him. I watched him closely and could make out that while he was trying his best to show no emotions, he did look a little shaken.
Slowly he excused himself out of the crowd and took a walk…I saw him cross the street and buy a smoke…I don’t know why I did it but I walked across the street and ordered tea from that very shop. He could make out that I was watching him all this while in office and greeted me with a sheepish smile.
I broke the silence “So what happened there”
“Nothing sir, the usual targets and numbers”
“Ok…how is it (numbers) looking like?”
“Bad…last two months I made some incentive but looks like this month onwards I won’t”
“You can work a little harder” I suggested
“Yeah I don’t know how to do it” he said as if he resigned about it…
"I have just recently brought this” he said, showing me a blackberry handset…”I don’t know how I will pay its installment for this month” he said
“How much did it cost?”
“Eleven thousand, I took it in 6 months emi scheme sir…”
“Ok you seem to be tech-savvy” I smiled at him
“No sir actually I brought it for my dad, this weekend I will go home and give it to him, my dad still uses the old torch wala nokia” he said with a lot of pride, I could see how much it meant for him to give the phone as a surprise to his father
“How old are you” I asked
“I am 29 now” he said
“You married or still an eligible bachelor” I asked
“Ha-ha no sir…there is a lot of time for that” he said as if 29 was too young
“Sir, are you too in sales?” Joe asked breaking his curiosity to understand who I was
“Well I work out of the head office in Analytics” I said…
“I also wanted to get into some IT kind of profile but now they will not accept me…they say I am too old” he said
“Well you seem to be doing a good job...You got a blackberry and all” I said
“No sir…of late it has become very difficult…am in this profile for more than 3 years now and I am vexed of it…there is no growth”
“But have you discussed this with your location head…”
“Our previous RM sir used to like me a lot…I have done good numbers under him, he used to say he will try for my promotion but now he is gone and my numbers also dropped these days” said Joe
I smiled….ok so if you don’t mind can I ask you something…
“How much do you earn” I asked
“I earn 22000 per month 15000 I send home
Rent plus other expenses 4000
I manage in 3000 including petrol...
I could not understand what he meant by managing in 3000 rupees. In current day scenario that’s next to impossible
“Then why do you smoke, aren't you wasting money”...I asked
ab theek hain...(Sigh)...he smiled!
He thought he smiled but i only saw a twinkle in his eye. I now understood why he could not marry or why he could not afford paying this month’s EMI…I felt extremely bad for him…
“Sir, Shall we have lunch?” he asked
I nodded and we left to the office cafeteria together
I was completely occupied with Joe’s financial struggle while I was picking my rations…How does a guy who should have been married by now live happily by sending home 3/4th of his salary and feed himself on peanuts and willpower!
I sat with him and I could observe that he was still sad by the thrashing he received in the conference hall
“Sir, if performance is not meeting expectations in next 3 months will they ask us to leave” he asked as if I had the answer for that
“Well…………………….i don’t know but it’s the business’s call” I said, obviously, unprepared for such question
He looked confused and very concerned as if he wanted me to decipher it for him
“If you really don’t meet their expectations they could” I said to confirm the possibilities
“OK” he said with a smile and bent his head to focus upon the food
He was struggling with his food and I could see that…
“You are not eating” I asked
“I will sir, but I was just thinking what will happen………….”and he could not complete that line….There were tears flowing down his cheek… he could not even chew the food properly, there was just too much emotion all of a sudden
I did not know what happened, It felt weird in my stomach…may be I had tears too but then I firmly commanded “Go to the restroom; wash your face and comeback...just go”
He obeyed me and hid his face in his kerchief while he rushed to the washroom. He was back after a couple of minutes. His eyes were red and face looked swollen…he was looking uncontrollable…
“You know….” I started trying to catch his attention
“Rest room is such a great place…………men who faced difficulties in life mostly cried in the restrooms…but then you also need to gather yourself to face the world outside it and probably that’s why they often say you need a short recess once in a while. You can always take a short break, think of people you love the most and gather your strength, and do things that you were, otherwise, hesitant to do”
Joe listened to me as if I were making sense to him,
“If you have really gathered yourself in that restroom I would like to tell you how I want you to perform and how you could grow if you would not mind working with me for another 6 months…probably I would love to see you having an i-phone this time” I said with a smile
“Sir, am not understanding..who are you” he asked
“I am the new Regional Manager, nice meeting you Joe!”
JPR$
Saturday, May 05, 2012
A Day in a Salesman’s Life
“Ok sir…I need to go Thank you…” he said and there were a few extended seconds of eye contact from aravind, before he turned off his head to face the oblivion called as the SALES CONCALL…
“Some customer in this building …he is coming with documents” I said
“Tea” Siva asked
“Cant you see am filling this form…………………….. I asked you to bring your bike and you always come by bus…how the hell am I supposed to fill so many forms on a month end, am going to be late today also” I said…
For sales guys a motor cycle happens to be their worktable…it’s their means of transport, logistics, workstation, what not…
“Sorry ra but there is no petrol…I am waiting for the salary…I have to survive in 500 for next 3 days” siva said…
“Make it 4…Salary comes on 31st and today is 26th” I said
“31st is Sunday, it will be on 30th only” he argued…and he suddenly put his arm around my shoulder and began tapping it as if to show me something…
I picked my head to notice a very beautiful girl who was just exiting the building we were waiting at…
She was fair, perfectly elegant, had a friendly and pleasant face and looked a traditional type.
She walked outside the building and was crossing the road towards the side of the road we were on…probably headed towards the bus stop beside us.
“My mother’s choice would have been like this” siva said…
“Yeah right…probably you wouldn’t have been her mother’s choice” I sneered…Siva took a slight offence to my comment and I could sense that…
“As in, the kind of jobs we are in” I continued as if it weren’t about his fat and bald looks anyway
“But are you supposed to have a background to fall in love with Beautiful girls” he asked innocently…
“That’s a million dollar question…who says no…” I said
Just then something happened, the lady actually, as if she heard our conversation, gave us a stare and to be very honest she stared at me…
“Lucky idiot she is staring at you” siva said
“Oh come on…may be she just heard our conversation” I said trying to play it down…but I also kind of felt it.
“No dude she stared at you…I know” siva said
And immediately as if to justify his findings she stared at me again and this time I felt a little assured of the findings…She continued the stare a little longer than expected and now I began feeling a sudden rush of blood and I was definitely not stable…
“Dunno man but I would love to have such a girl, at least as a friend” I almost lost my fake composure while making this statement, awkwardness I thought.
“You know what…these opportunities don’t come again…just go and say hi to her” siva said
As soon as he finished saying those words I felt as if I was hit by a thunder, not because I cannot do it but because I was somewhere considering it…
“Are you mad…can anyone say hi to a girl just coz she stared at you” I retorted expecting an encouraging statement from my friend
“There she goes…she is clearly staring at you and now this is obvious…if you have guts go and say a hi, I will fill your forms” siva said
Filling forms is the last thing I am thinking about here, but how can I do it…what kind of a public embarrassment is this, I thought…
”what if she ignores” I asked
Siva immediately raised the pitch in his voice, sensing the fact that am considering it
“if she ignores you just forget it…but if she retorts………………rey she is worth a try ra…………………………….she is in a bus stop and that bloody bus can come in any moment” he preached while expressing through his bloated face
“Who knows if this hi can change the course of your life” siva continued…
He said it………………he uttered the lines required to fill my back with a propellant to do the needful…
I cursed the situation but my heart was pounding now with excitement…I was breathing very hard and I was rehearsing saying a hi…just then siva shouted “rey mama”
We observed a bus that was 200 meters away, pulling into the bus stop and somehow even the girl was staring frequently at our animated behavior as if she was expecting a quick output from us rather me…
I declared to siva ”I cant do it so quickly dude…let her go…forget it” I said as the bus halted at the station
“Waste fellow…if I were you I would have never left this opportunity” he said and I sulked…
However something curious happened here…the bus had just left the bus stop and we could notice that my dream girl was still here (bus stop), standing at the same spot and has just completed giving me a stare…
Now it was Siva’s turn to stare at me “you doing it or shall I shout at you in public” he threatened….
“Can anything be more coincidental…the bus is gone…she is still there…do it you fool” he cried
“Ok fine fine”…I said and I rehearsed it for one last time…. I began walking towards her and the very clever girl has finally realized that I got the trigger…but somehow she was no longer staring at me as if she didn’t bear any fault in this “hide and seek” that was taking place in the last 5 minutes…
I was about to reach my angel and just then my mobile began vibrating…
I obviously cannot say hi to a beautiful girl with a hole bring drilled in my pocket and I immediately picked it up to finish it off…
“Hello…” I said
“Yeah this is vinod here…are you the guy in blue shirt at the bus stop” the person asked…………………..…he was my customer for whom I was waiting all this while…I just turned around to find him standing behind me with a couple of documents in his hand…
Oh god…all the inner strength I conjured for this moment was supposed to be interrupted this way, I thought.
The customer began loudly “Take the documents boss ……………..…See I need this account activated in 3 days else I will cancel my request…I don’t need fake promises” he said…
“Ok sire…there wont be any such problems…we will take care” I said in an almost inaudible tone…
“Can you give us any references sir” siva asked…I was now upset because this is delaying my tiny sweet act…
The customer began smiling….”Ah let me see……….well……………..yes one second” he said looking over my shoulder….”Hey Archana just come here …he called”…
I turned around to see that it’s the same girl and to my horror she was walking towards us...I never wanted to hurt anyone but I really wanted to hurt Siva very badly for asking a reference that day….
“Hi Vinod…em chestunnaru (What you upto)” she said…
“These guys are asking for references…it’s a bank account ..Its good, they give an “all atm free” debit card” he said…
I just kept looking at the customer and I acted as if I refused to acknowledge her presence over there…
“Oh really…all atm access is free” she asked, to which siva nodded his head…she asked a couple of other questions as well to which only siva responded….however the best was coming
“OK anna I too want to open this account” she said…
I felt like the organs inside were flushed out deep into the earth while siva stared at me in horror…The dreamgirl( a little while ago) has now called me anna and has jumped to become my sister. She has asked me for that dirty application form which ruined my life’s biggest quest
…I felt like I was being repeatedly crushed under some boulder…
“Siva can you handle this, I have a call” I said to which an understanding siva obliged…
I never turned my head again to look at her and I could see things getting blurred owing to my eyes turning moist but looks like I can’t even have these moments in solitude. My phone began ringing again…I checked it and it was a new message that just dropped in…
It read “Concall in 5 mins, be ready with leads & login scores”
I dunno when I fell asleep during these few minutes…”No no lets wait for 5 more minutes” I said
I opened my window and I could see that Mr. Aravind has just moved into the building and was trying to connect his phone…I waved my hand across to a security guard near by and gestured to call aravind…
Aravind came down running to me…”Yes sir…”
“This is my card…give me a call in sometime and tell me what documents I should give tomorrow” I said
His expression totally changed…he could not understand the chemistry of my decision making but he surely was at loss of words before he finally said…yes sir I will call you… An event that occurred 7 years ago is still fresh enough to help me empathize with my fellow salesmen.
I gave him my details just in time when the traffic cleared………….I know am just a lead for him but a good enough lead to save his evening from a concall…A feeling of nostalgia and content engulfed me…such are the days of a salesman. A little bit of Shamelessness, Creativity, Hunger and lots of insult to face in our daily lives.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Do we need a Woman's Day
When I began typing the first few lines I had nearly deleted each line at least 5 times in trying to rephrase; Such is the voltage of this topic and one is got to be careful :P
I had asked few ladies & women “Why do we need a woman’s day?” There were 5 different kinds of answers I got and I am pasting them without mentioning who all gave it
Responses:
1. I think you are a male chauvinist
2. It’s a message that things are changing and its for good
3. I too don’t understand why we need it
4. It must be these marketing people’s trick
5. Kya farak padta hain…just wish and forget
Why, actually, do we need a woman’s day…we have valentine’s day, mother’s day, father’s day, AIDS day and so on and so forth…most of them are based on love and some of them are based on causes like Aids and cancer…So, in terms of sending message across or making your loved ones happy these causes make sense!
But woman’s day sounds groupist if not racist…it’s like celebrating the identity…doesn’t sound very convincing :P…before some of you are ready to pounce with punches upon me, I want to explain that this is what one can see with a naked eye... When we talk about woman’s day there are three sects of people reacting to it
Ø One who took it as a sarcastic joke
Ø One who are not bothered
Ø One who are very vocal and chauvinistic about it
For those who took it as a joke
Lets imagine…
You might have heard some elderly women in your own family saying how I wish my lovely daughter/daughter-in-law has a baby boy, well I heard this a lot of times in my household and once I tried arguing with an old lady in my family over this, but owing to her age I could not argue for long. One thing I could understand was that she didn’t have a chance to opine since her childhood. She is purely influenced as far as her mindset or thought process was concerned and you could blame it on the people who did that to her under the shadow of traditional values.
We have heard about female foeticides and all. It is the heights of gender discrimination and a shameful reality rampant in the hinterlands of our country. One cannot even understand how the mother is willing for that or how she was made to agree to that.
Dowry, a phenomenon that has been reduced as far as colloquial dictionary is concerned but still a major cause for marriage failures.
So like they say in our marketing lessons that “Rural india has a lot of potential”; An India with rural mindset has these problems which are waiting to be tackled and solved.
For those who are not bothered
Woman’s day as a cause couldn’t appeal or create any influence on you…fair enough
Let me ask you a question
Which avatar of an Indian woman you appreciate the most
The classic lakshmi who is responsible and sensible, neatly dressed, well mannered and also softspoken. A symbol that every household is proud of and wants to respect the woman for the values she means to them.
or
The modern sweta who likes to hang out late, spend too much time on mobile...partying hard and who doesn’t mind a smoke while being very social and open as far as attitude is concerned.
or
You need a customization option…
Well if you are a guy & chose the third one, I believe, there is a male chauvinist somewhere inside. Not for being choosy but somewhere you may prescribe her a certain behavior more often than not
I spoke to a lady who told me that it doesn’t bother her at all as she doesn’t understand the concept of Woman’s day. It sounds unconvincing to her
But when asked to choose between these avatars she said “i like any woman who does not have double standards
Ø A smoking woman who does not stare at other smoking women
Ø A traditional girl who does not secretly crave to smoke”
For those who are vocal about it
Its good to celebrate the identity…but unfortunately the ones celebrating could sometimes be the wrong ones…We see the city girls who have been well educated, with a decently good upbringing being more happy about this.
Probably many of us would agree that this is a male dominated society and a lot more can be done in trying to help the women but first let us support the ones who are suppressed and they are probably not around us.
If we see “woman’s day” more as a cause than an identity celebration we all can question ourselves “Have I done anything to help the suppressed women of my country” The answers are with us. Some of them may ask “How can we help”
One angle is education…if we work on supporting education related moves it helps the coming generations by providing them a tool to opine…That would definitely rein in a lot of betterment in the future generations as far as gender equality is concerned…There can be many other angles in which this situation can be tackled…so we can use Woman’s day as a day to ponder and ideate on how we could help!
“ Woman’s day” is a cause that goes beyond the women in trying to help the deprived, suppressed and helpless beings who have been victims to rituals and mindsets. It is also about fighting the double standards in both men and women for the social upliftment of mindsets and also to create equality & dignity in their respective limitations”
It is definitely not about a PONDS or VIVEL throwing Katrinas and Deepikas to wish you a feministic Woman’s day Isn’t it?
PS: I thank all my friends who contributed for compiling this thought process.
JPR$
09 March 2011
Friday, September 03, 2010
MIND SPOTS SUNSHINE
Conference Room
Hotel Ohris (Basheerbagh)
I took a 10 second pause and we all know what a 10 second pause literally means in a B-school interview. But the 10 second break worked. Just before the interviewers thought I had no answer at all and were proceeding to the next one I uttered the following words
“When I come to the Great lakes, a place where each student comes from a diverse background and has a lot of work experience to share with, which forms the very crux of your learning curriculum and to add to it the thoroughly designed PGPM which gives me an understanding of various business aspects like Finance, Marketing, HR & Operations which are like pillars of a business and give me a thorough understanding of how a business works from end to end. After undergoing this kind of learning, tomorrow, I have a complete understanding of what is happening around me in an organization and when I have such understanding it gives me confidence. And it is this confidence which finally powers me towards putting in those extra efforts and achieving sizeable successes.”
I couldn’t believe I said all this. It was an answer which I did not completely prepare for. To add to it was my tone which was simply perfect. And the interviewers too were all smiles and they stopped asking me Why MBA after this reply. After that what followed was a confident interview for another 10 minutes with firm handshakes in the end.
I climbed down the steps and started walking towards the parking lot with extreme confidence. With 30 months of work ex across the business development departments of an Automobile Giant and a minnow IT startup, I felt like it was my day and I have made it. Though I had given the GD-PI for IMT Ghaziabad I was pretty sure of being rejected owing to tougher competition, so GreatLakes was my best chance and something today just kept telling me that I was in and I have crossed the final frontier. With one deep breath I gained control over my overjoyed emotions and started driving to proceed for lunch.
I can’t imagine the disappointment of my parents, who got involved too in my quest for MBA degree, if I don’t make it. I was filled with anxiety and nervousness that I was hardly able to eat my lunch when my phone buzzed and it was a call from a companion who too attended GreatLakes GD-PI. I knew that it was coming and with no further delay I answered it.
“Did you see the list?” he asked...
“No..are the results out” I asked
“Yeah I got waitlisted” he said
“Ohh…is my name there “ I continued “Hall ticket no. XXXXXXXXXX” I asked
30 seconds later
“Sorry dude I cannot find your name” he said.
My heart sank…I could no more eat my lunch...I went to the computer and checked the waiting bad news…I also checked the Pagalguy forums where hopeful & disappointed candidates like me were posting funny messages but I smiled with pain. Just then my boss called me for a meeting and trust me I could barely move my feet or lips in the meeting.
Evening
I spoke to my closest pals phani and pavan, both empathized with me while trying their best to instill strength in me. When I spoke about KJ Somaiya they probably hid their disagreement because they didn’t want to suggest me another crack at CAT. Phani went a step ahead and told me that if I am good I will sell from anywhere and I better not drop my MBA plans if I make it to KJ Somaiya. I spoke to many people around me who didn’t find the same impressive enough. But I just didn’t want to end my MBA dreams this way and in order to stay positive I visited the website of KJ Somaiya and clicked their placements link.
It was during lunch when I felt bad for myself…after 4 years of dedication to CAT here I am consoling myself to be in the waitlist of a college that I earlier didn’t plan for. But destiny decides right, if my efforts were lacking then I deserve this!
11:00 PM
Once home I sat on my computer to check mails and as a usual practice I opened pagalguy.com. Something caught my attention then…there were too many IMT’s in the left panel clearly reflecting that for some reason IMT is all across the news today…and its very obvious for what reason it was. There was no need to guess as I typed
Epilogue: It’s been around 6 months since I passed out from that great institute. I had a great time during my MBA and it was the place where I met many firsts in my life.
IMT was sunshine for me.
JPRS