Saturday, January 04, 2014

Why i am cynical about the AAM AADMI PARTY!

I have been a hardcore fan of BJP, not because of being a Hindu but BJP offered the only alternative to the otherwise corrupt and indecisive Congress. BJP doesn’t have the cleanest leadership but there were some key leaders like A B Vajpayee and L K Advani who constructed my political sense and before the surge of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) BJP was perhaps the only major party (exclude CPI & CPM) which had a truly democratic structure. Congress and the regional parties are guilty of enforcing dynasties.

Enough of BJP; this article is about AAP and i shall be as neutral as possible.

Social networking has played a major role in the 21st century and thanks to the opinion leaders in these networking sites today we see a decrease in the number of educated youth who pass indifferent & reckless statements about politics.

Last month ‘Arvind kejriwal’ has been undeniably more popular in social media than any other personality including NAMO. With Kejriwal and his team’s victory in the Delhi elections, it looked as if movies like Yuva and Nayak are indeed going to be a reality. Every reasonable BJP and Congress supporter also, somewhere deep inside, rejoiced with the entry of AAP.  AAP’s victory truly demonstrated the power of democracy and we need examples like these to make sure that the so called Bahubalis and Khaas aadmis are kept away from the Indian Polity.  

But somewhere AAP has displayed a lot of brashness or arrogance in the media post the elections. I see each AAP leader hell bent on painting every other political party black. It is either my way or high way!!! Such has been the attitude of every AAP leader who appears on the news channels.  Today whatever freedom we are enjoying under the tree of Democracy was a gift given to us by ‘Shri Jawaharlal Nehru and team’ called as Indian National Congress. Congress upheld the principles of Democracy, Liberty and Secularism. And when the Congress started getting it wrong during the emergency era we saw the emergence of the Janata Party under the leadership of Shri Jay Prakash Narayan. During Emergency the Janata Party fought a revolution, as well as a freedom movement, and in 1977 when the elections were held Indians restored democracy into India by defeating the dictatorial Indira Gandhi. Few years later Janata Party would alter itself to become the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP). Thus both Congress and the BJP had a major role in keeping India as the world’s biggest democracy and dismissing them as total crooks is indeed arrogance. There has been no humility in AAP’s victory except Arvind Kejriwal’s rhetoric “Meri Aukaat Kya hain”.

Another point that really amuses me is AAP’s sudden intent of fighting the Lok Sabha Polls. Agreed you have entered politics to clean the corruption but don’t you already have a task at hand. You have been handed Delhi’s state government to keep your promises and take a charge of your ideas and don’t you want to focus on that. Why can’t AAP deliver for this term in Delhi, set an example and then take a plunge into their nationalistic ambitions. How come AAP has decided to focus the next 3-4 months on Lok Sabha elections than to deliver in Delhi? Of course water and electricity related decisions have been taken but then there is a lot to do. Somehow this decision of contesting Lok Sabha polls looks a bit out of virtue or probably getting carried away.

BJP leaders have been contradicting themselves in the entire run up to Delhi elections but there was one valid question. When Arvind Kejriwal thundered that he would not have given or taken support to form a government how come today he and his party is ok to take support of the same Congress whom they fought vociferously. It may be argued upon that it was for a greater good and such compromises were required but isn’t the AAP guilty of accusing other political parties of low moral grounds. Forget the SMS feedback exercise AAP’s critics will definitely not buy it, worse if some of AAP’s supporters are sceptical about it. BJP did not indulge in horse-trading in order to go for a re-election as they were convinced that AAP too wanted a re-election. What is wrong in choosing a re-election or what is wrong in even offering an issue based support to the BJP. After all it’s a similar compromise that you have got into today.

Some of AAP’s top leadership have already taken political classes and have started making irresponsible statements about Kashmir’s Autonomy or even surrendering it. Minority appeasement was visible in the way AAP embraced controversial clerics. Calling Batla House encounter fake, which even Indian Mujahideen confessed of being true, only adds to the list of minority appeasement moves. A tainted leader like Kamal Farooqi joining AAP will only complete the process of AAP being termed as a B-team of Congress. So on and so forth there have been few aspects on which AAP seemed a little less convincing and the only way to judge them would be to give them time. Hence am going to be cynical about AAP at least till this election.


There was a time when NaMo fans were considered intolerant on social networking but the past month had witnessed the birth of thousands of intolerant fans of AAP. The fact to be celebrated is that the educated class has got involved into politics but sadly no body prefers to debate or discuss. There is only abuse and that definitely is not a trait which any of these parties would agree or accept.

JPR$

Monday, May 20, 2013

The Bet!


“So you really want to do it?” I asked
Pratik nodded in silence...
“But then no blame game, you are coming into this by yourself” I said looking at both of them
“Yeah united we rise else united we fall” exclaimed Sumit reassuring me
 “Ok pass me the phone” I asked pratik
“Apne phone se lagana” whispered pratik
“Sigh”....I entered the number and clicked call
It was ringing....
“Ok, have you decided” asked kishore
“It’s on” I said and looked at pratik and sumit’s yellow faces!



Few hours ago
It gets worse than this” said mani...looking at my face dripping with sweat
“I bet one cannot do sales here without travelling in a car...it’s so difficult here” I said...
Just then my phone buzzed, it was mom
“Hello” I said
“Did you have lunch” Mom asked
“Yeah just now” I said (actually I didn’t)
“Good, keep having lunch in time and also take fruits at 4’0 clock, seasonal fruits like”
“Yeah I am taking them, you had your lunch”
“Yeah we had it, I don’t know how you take care of yourself........sometimes I get worried about your marriage.....you are already 29 and still not settled”
“Ok I know where this is going...I don’t have time we will talk later”
“If only you had a better job and better salary....are you paying your education loan?”
“Yes I am, now please stop and let’s talk later” I pressed
“Ok take care...do call us post dinner” she said and clicked the phone...
Food, fruits, marriage, loan how many things she is worried about...even I think of them and I don’t feel any better thinking about them in this Chennai heat...
“Sir shall we eat” Mani asked..,
I looked around and we found expensive restaurants, I cannot afford for two peoples lunch here....
“We will go to T nagar and finish the call there and have lunch” I said firmly...

Post lunch I called sumit my roomy as a part of my daily routine
“Ssup where are you” I asked
“Nothing am just sitting and thinking” said sumit
“What happened why are you lost?”
“Nothing I had received my credit card statement....I shouldn’t have taken loan on credit card for my sister’s marriage
“Hmmm how much is it”
“Don’t ask...I am paying for one year and it still is stuck with the same outstanding”
“Well these credit cards are dangerous things” I judged
“Look at pratik...he keeps transferring balance from one credit card to another to escape interest”
“Yeah poor chap he is doing worse than us, listen I got to go...I will call you later” ended sumit



I finished my calls and reached my office. People were reading about the arrests of players involved in spot fixing and it seems to have become a rage this evening. People were seen cursing ipl and the greedy cricketers...
“Hi” a voice greeted me from behind
I turned around to see Kishore, my colleague.
“Hey what’s up....your ipl cricketers seem to have made big news again” I said
“Haha...these people will still watch tomorrow’s match...people are craven for entertainment” he said checking his mobile which just buzzed
“Is that an iphone5” I screamed looking at Kishore’s phone
Kishore gestured me to lower my voice “don’t scream like that...I just got it yesterday”
“Two months ago an HTC and now a brand new iphone5...But how?”
“Hmmm...nothing” he shrugged
“Dude, come on tell me the trick man” I begged
“See don’t tell or discuss this with anyone”
“Sure you have my word” I said




Tring Tring.....
“Hello” said sumit
“I need to talk to you for 2 minutes” I said
“Sure go ahead...”
Tomorrow is the final Bangalore vs. Mohali
“So”
“Who do you think will win” I asked
“Well Bangalore is the favourite however you cannot write off mohali”
“Ok here is the deal....5000 if mohali wins and 1000 if Bangalore wins...this is per every 1000 invested”
“But who will invest”
“.........Us”
“You mad...you want to bet ....dude you crazy...”
“I am ready to bet 2000 rupees on mohali...if you are willing we can invest 2000 on mohali and 2000 on Bangalore”
“And”
“Even if mohali loses we will get our money back”
“And if mohali wins” asked sumit, I could see that I had his attention
“We will win 10000, you keep 5 and I keep 5”...
There was silence for couple of seconds and then sumit finally spoke
“Is this safe”
“Well I spoke to kishore, he got an iphone doing this and he has been doing this for the second year”
“Police have arrested cricketers”
“Those are cricketers and bookies not the one who bets” and thus I silenced him...he asked me few more questions and dropped the call


In 2 minutes my phone buzzed and it was sumit again
“What if it rains” he asked
“Then we will forfeit all money, I checked weather report and if it’s right its bright tomorrow!”
“Done...am in...What about pratik” Sumit asked
“I don’t think he will join given his commitments to send money home every month...
“Yeah we will talk about it in the room tonight” said sumit...



For next 2 hours I only kept thinking cricket and money. Ten thousand is not big enough but enough to pay my rent and other stuff this month...same would apply for sumit. I started home early as I was not able to work with these thoughts. When I reached home sumit was already at home and was discussing to pratik and no need to guess what they would have spoke upon
“What do you think” I asked pratik
“You know me and my conditions” said pratik... “I cannot afford these” he affirmed
“Ok so what about you” I asked Sumit.
“Am in...”
“I hope you did not discuss this with anyone”
“None except pratik and...”
“And...”
“One of my colleague”
“Dude, you mad....this isn’t legal and we are risking it for easy money, this isn’t a gossip”
“Don’t worry I will tell him that it was a lie”
“Oh come on stop it now...just leave it and don’t discuss about it” I said and looked at pratik
“I won’t discuss” said pratik
“Ok then am dialling kishore.” I said

“Hi Kishore”
“Hi Raja...so what did you decide”

“I want to place two bets for 2000 each on Mohali and Bangalore”
“Oh sorry man I forgot telling you something important...the minimum bet is for 2500 rupees”

“............................................Oh...can I call you back in 2 minutes”
“Make it quick” said Kishore

“He says the minimum is 2500” I said
“What...”...”you see these things keep increasing....” said sumit looking annoyed...
“Well what do we do” I asked
“I am fine till 2k, it’s your idea and you invest 3k” said sumit
“What! My idea....I don’t think I persuaded you...you are interested and here you are talking to me” I responded
“Let’s ditch then...” sumit said
“Good you are already playing a blame game...nice to know such things before we started” I dismissed



Ten minutes passed and there was a pin drop silence in the room till a phone call erupted out of nowhere
It was kishore calling me....both Sumit and Pratik were looking at me but I didn’t answer the call as I did not have an answer to what he would ask
After some more silence Pratik, finally, broke the peace
“I was planning to buy a shirt anyways...may be I will put that here and hope to see...”
Sumit and I glanced at each other...we could not believe that pratik too came forward
“So you really want to do it?” I asked
Pratik nodded in silence...
“But then no blame game, you are coming into this by yourself” I said looking at both of them
“Yeah united we rise else united we fall” exclaimed Sumit reassuring me
 “Ok pass me the phone” I asked pratik
“Apne phone se lagana” whispered pratik
“Sigh”....I entered the number and clicked call
It was ringing....
“Ok, have you decided” asked kishore
“It’s on” I said and looked at pratik and sumit’s yellow faces!


To be continued...

JPR$

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

A sudden halt by my driver, took my eyes off the laptop and we stopped near a mall where the home guards were blocking traffic so that few vehicles make their way out of their building. Meanwhile there was this guy, dressed in blue shirt and black pant wearing a tie on a hot summer day, with many brochures and boxes in hand, running towards the traffic jam from inside the mall. I don’t know how but he sensed that I was observing him, and immediately began sprinting towards me. I was about to gesture him that I had no time for it but he flashed the bright blue tie inside the box indicating that I could carry one by giving him a listening. I opened the window to give him a chance
“Sir…Platinum card for shopping across lifestyle and other related stores…lifetime free and you can take the tie as well” He said while catching his breath 
I knew it was the 25th of a month and it’s a month end push
“Am really sorry but I have too many cards” I said
“Sir, it’s absolutely free and you can use it as any other utility card” he said and before he continued
“rey aravind…concall twaraga raa (Come soon there is a con call)” a voice interrupted…
Another guy wearing a similar uniform tried rushing this “Sale-in-process” Aravind.
“Yeah like I said you can use it as an extra card……………and…………………..” he was not convinced by his flow…probably the mention of concall caught his attention…

“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…



“Whom are we waiting for” Siva asked…

“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…
“I told you, she is staring at you” Siva declared after her current stare

“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…
I was devastated…I donno if I heard him clearly but am sure that the angel standing behind me heard clearly and now she knows who I am…

“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”




Sir this traffic isn’t moving here at all…shall I take another route...my driver asked…

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.

JPRS
6th May 2012


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

Prologue:

Normally I finish the article first and then think of giving it a title…no guesses that this is the most logical way to do it but today somehow I liked these set of words mentioned as the title above, which I accidentally came up with and, conversely, I wanted to create an article in order to justify my title. May sound strange, but wish me best luck.


February 17th 2008 Hyderabad
Conference Room
Hotel Ohris (Basheerbagh)


I was speechless at that point and felt like a dead duck with no answer at all to the bunch of questions they posed, all of them (questions) testing my very purpose of why I need an MBA?
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.


March 5th 2008

As time passes you slowly start losing the confidence on great efforts too. On February 17th I was beaming with confidence as soon as I came out of the Interview Hall but today I am as scared as the worst performer would have been. The admissions department of Great Lakes told that the results were due yesterday viz on March 4th but somehow they did not appear. I checked the site repeatedly in the night till 2 and participated in those ever active cribbing Pagalguy.com before I fell asleep.

Last year I scored 98 percentile and felt equally confident about my NITIE interview but I had only disappointment to face. And the delay in announcing the results is making it scarier for me. Its already 1 in the noon and there is no response on the phone from the admissions department. I proceeded to lunch as I could not afford more delay.

Already I have been left behind in the race to B-schools amongst my Engineering classmates. The guys with whom I used to benchmark have made it to FMS, IIM, MDI, NITIE etc and here I am praying to get into GreatLakes, I thought while standing in the queue for the lunch buffet.
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.


March 12th, 2008

Morning

Today the waitlist of Great lakes came up and to my dismay I don’t find my name yet again. The pain continues to haunt me. Six days ago the results were announced in which I could not find my name. This takes me back to the scenario I was facing last year where I had calls but ended up with no conversions. It looks as if last year’s pain had taken a temporary break and is back haunting me.

Evening

I check up with Great Lakes Admissions office and the news is that there will be no more wait lists as most of the candidates in the first list have taken up candidature. By now I was actually expecting it and I began thinking of the worst situation. Either I should enter KJ Somaiya or I should take up a job with Infosys that was offering me around 7 lacs.
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.



March 20th,2008 Bangalore

I have just finished my GD-PI of KJ Somaiya and have felt very good about it. One reason possibly is because of the low percentiles of the candidates around me and secondly because I was very confident and sensible through out the process. I was really feeling confident that I will be at least in the first two waitlists and since KJ Som would be rejected by many candidates I could stand a better chance.
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!


March 29th, 2008 Hyderabad
11:00 PM

After long while I had some good time with Shashank and Gowtham. I am done with my MBA campaign for the year 2008, whether I make it or not or if I need to take another crack at it doesn’t matter as of now as it’s too early to decide on anything. Thus, we had a nice get together and for some time I forgot all the pain. I enjoyed the dinner and had a quick ride home.
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

www.imt.edu and clicked on the admissions

It asked me to enter my CAT TR No and date of birth. I prayed god and with a deep breath I clicked submit and it returned

“Congratulations! You have been selected for PGDM-FT program. Fee details will follow”



April 15th, 2010 Hyderabad

I had been selected to KJ Somaiya’s flagship program too.


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