Saturday, July 26, 2008

Enroute to hell !

Time and again; I see a very bad sight of leghorn chickens, carried upside down- tied(in a large numbers) to the handlebars of the cycle and the rear parts of the scooter/bike. It's a very sorry sight to see how animals are treated in the most cruel fashion in our country.
It's clear that these chickens are taken to be killed; but let's treat them with some respect on their way to hell!

Most of chickens, get burn from the heat that gets generated from the 2 wheeler silencer and worst, they passively inhale the harmful gases like CO as well. Some of them even hit the ground when the 2 wheeler guy takes a heroic turn and some chicken heads and legs gets damaged in the cycle spokes and tyres.

The only way to stop such cruelty to animals is to practice vegetarianism. Break the deman and supply chain - when there is no demand for these chickens/animals, atleast then will we treat them as a fellow being - with due respect which they deserve?

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The Art of Parenting !

Today I was at myself, dropping and bringing back Arjuun from his playschool(Seeds at Adyar). Whenever I go to his school to drop him in the morning; I feel a bit uncomfortable to leave him and come back. At times; when I am about to enter the school gate - I feel like taking him back home. Then I shake my head and watch Arjuun for sometime(without his notice, until he gets settled) and then I come back home. Watching the kids play,connect , interact and communicate really provides me a lot of inputs on how develop the art of parenting.

1) As a parent we should help the kids to add life to their years; rather than adding years to life.

2) Adding life to years is Growing ; adding years to your life is Ageing. We should help them to grow and be open to learn new dimensions from them.

3) We should also help the kids to understand - Whenever they make a choice; they also choose the consequences that come with that choice. If we are able to get this message to the kids in the right way - then it will help them to make their independent decision.

4) Every man needs a good female friend and every female needs a good male friend. I am not talking about the spouse here! So often this aspect is missed and neglected. This generation kids should be sensitive to this fact and should build on this.

I havee read in many books that for a female - it is very difficult to get a true friend(male or female) and if they are able to get hold of a true male friend, they are extremely blessed and it helps them to a great extent in their life. Females who have true male friends have achieved a lot in their life and they are extremely satisfied and content.
It makes them a real inner winner.

5) As a parent, another important attribute that we must exhibit to the kids is acceptance. They should be willing to accept the fact that life is always not fair and they will have to face the downs. Once they learn this acceptance - they can generate intelligence and creativity from this acceptance to help them overcome adverse situations.

6) Subroto has stated in his book Go kiss the world that ' The job of real leaders is to continuously build infrastructures - Physical,Intellectual and Emotional '.

I think the job of a parent is to continuously build that emotional infrastructure. What do you think?

Monday, July 21, 2008

Lessons Learnt from Go KISS THE WORLD !

Yesterday, I completed the book written by Subroto and today I registered my feedback and wishes to Subroto(in his blog site) for coming out with such a book that adds a lot of value to the life of every professional(IT or non-IT).

Some key take aways for me are the following:

1) Open your mind before you open your mouth - Many times I have never done this in my personal and professional life. Life will be so much better and happy we are able to practice this.
2) When you make a choice; you also choose the consequences that come with the choice.
3) To get; you must first give.
4) Self doubt is positive.
5) Frustration is always a function of your ambition and your capability.

Frustration = f(Ambition - Capability).

High performance achievers set very high standards for themselves and for others. The also expect others to follow that - which will not happen in many cases. Hence they get frustrated easily, because of their inability to change the system. So to reduce our frustration levels, we have only 2 choices - Reduce your ambition or enhance your capability levels.

6) Practice humility and simplicity.
7) Great leaders do not emerge out of brilliance; but out of resilience.
8) Connect with people.
9) Passion always takes you higher.
10) Give importance to small people down the line - Pleasing your boss is not important, but making your team member comfortable and happy is very important.
11) Life is all about constant negotiation in every sphere and there is nothing to feel bad about this.
12) Money is not the source of happiness.
13) Look beyond yourself - try to see the pain of others.
14) Forgive yourself and others for the mistakes.
Finally,
15) It's all in the mind and mind only !

Thank you Subroto for this book and more for the lessons that I learnt from your priceless masterpiece.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Go Kiss the World !

The above words are not mine; but I am able to relate to them very easily. These were the last words of Subroto Bagchi's Mother - so motivating and powerful; that it made him to discover a great company called "Mind Tree". Infact I am now reading this book written by Subroto Bagchi. Half way through this book; I find myself at a bit of crossroads. I recently did come out of Alcatel( organization that I was working for the last 8.5yrs) and joined another organization.

But at this point of time; I am finding it very difficult to disconnect from Alcatel.Every step I take, every move I make, every method I implement, every individual I interact - I have realized that Alcatel has dominated my thoughts,actions,feelings and emotions. It's been hard for me to come interms with the reality- that I have now joined another organization. Even when I am exchanging greetings with others; I still tell them I work for Alcatel. Then somewhere my mind rings a bell to ask - " Are you still with Alcatel"?

I don't know why this is going through my mind- May be Alcatel was my 1st job, was with the organization for the last 8.5yrs, was more like a 2nd home,excellent mix of people,great teams to work with,wonderful leaders who had a great vision to see the invisible,great friends,positive culture and motivating environment. I also started my career there and progressively evolved with the organization.

After I started reading the book written by Subroto; the question that comes to my mind is the following :

Did I make a mistake by coming out of Alcatel? May be yes, may be not? Could be due to the vulnerability of my age, my maturity(or the lack of it) and certain other support systems I did not have when I made the decision. Should I have been talked into by somebody?
I really don't know and don't have an answer to these questions that keeps coming back at me in a hard way. But if I had make a mistake - I don't feel bad to accept that and learn from my mistake. Emotionally- it's been a down for me( I wouldn't say an up); I take these lessons as part of my learning curve and move forward.
Do I have a choice? For whatever decision I have made - I can blame nobody else, but me and me only.

When I left Alcatel; I wanted to learn six sigma? This was the core reason. I am very much doing that and infact more learning interms of Agile,Scrum etc. But at the same time, I have very much understood that there is another angle that enhances the breadth of your learning - which is the attachment,respect and passion that you have towards your organization? Did I miss this angle somewhere? Is it a irreversible miss?

Though workwise,I do not see an issue - emotionally yes, I am finding it hard to seperate myself from Alcatel. It's a continuous battle between my mind and heart. I will have to wait and see who wins the battle?

Monday, July 14, 2008

Back after a long time!

I am back into this after a long time and this time it's special - bcos Arjuun is just sitting on my lap and giving me instructions on how I shud go thro with this post. Special thanks to Shiva for helping me to come terms with my blog. I very well know that my blog was almost dead for the last couple of months; due to certain variety of reasons. I will be more frequent from now on. Not in a position to complete my write up today;since Arjuun is not allowing me to proceed further.

Want to post some thoughts on change management aspects; will do so tomorrow. Until then take care and have fun. Arjuun says a big HI to all of you !