Of Aspirations and Chole Bhature!!

I remember having Bread-pakode in lunch many times because, I could not afford to carry tiffin to office during the times I was working as a Marketing Executive.More so, its the Hari-chatni that came along, add to my craving for it, though BP(Bread Pakode) was never a lunch item. A CB(Chole Bhature) would have cost me Rs 20 per plate, plus the taxes(Guys!!I am talking about the masale) and the fact that I had to walk for another 10 minutes to Shankar Market and to stand on a queue at a position not less than 11(which was very much to deplete my already exhaustive body, stemming out of making/attending too many client meetings in a bike in a temperature almost consistent through out the day at 39-40 degrees).

I also remember to drink BS(banana shake) at Bunty's Juice shop. In a small glass of the shake, my peg is made of 3 banans(way too much), 5 tea spoon of milk and no sugar...This customized shake starts my day, when I just pass by the way to office; when I go out to attend a call and when I come back; on all occassions I had to have it.

I was a class apart then, or I was a member of non-class.or en masse, a person who was only concerned about coming to office, do the job, have meal and go back home. I was one when stand in a crowd, was easily invisible. In short I had traits of an aam aadmi.The tie that I wrapped round my neck would easily transform into a string for the crowd in a metro rail; it was a non-knot, the length was always imperfect, as in it would either be above the trouser belt or would linger much lower than the belt.I missed a mirror in my life. I could not look up to myself and only time I would look at the mirroring cars behind my back.

With such a glorious attributes, my first impressions were always non impressions. The glass of water being offered to me would only help me to introduce myself. By the time I would try to introduce my company and make the proposal to the client, the sheen that was there in the client eyes would have gone and he would express his gratitude of reaching him after driving those sun burn kilometers. I just had a bad lunch again.Only happy news was for, the meeting was over and I can claim my kilometers in the petrol bill.

In short my job life and life in general was aspirationless. Time has changed, so have I.But you know what no matter how many cups of stylish coffees I may have in office or how many restaurants I flock on a monthly basis, I am still the same person, in terms of aspirations in my life!!

Looking like invictous!!

The greatest word perhaps in a war or any competition is Victory...

It is wonderful to know Tax Reporting Team gets to embrace that word, more often than not.It is more delightful to know,given the fact that they were almost written off in this event of WBR Cricket Cup 2010.

True, that their Captain spent some embarrassing moments on the process floor, finding it hard to deciding on the Final 11.Absence of the stylish Opener Puneet Nayar was a dent in the Batting line up; Secondly alrounder Shyam N is no longer part of the team!! The pace battery had a leak on it, after the sudden departure of unorthodox medium pacer Pankaj Sahu..And a day before the Match, Captain VJ got the shock of the day, when the mainstay of the Team Kush Handa said he won't be available for the entire match!!

It is very well said, it does not matter how strong a unit of resources unless it is utilised to the best capacity. A challenge was on and the Team faced it with valour. The dependable Karan Vohra was elevated to the opening spot along with the uncanny Deepak Sharma, who made a 110 runs opening stand, which built the foundation for the team.Later on, a surprise package called Siddhartha came handy with the ball and got the better of the L & A team and claimed 4 wickets to destroy the batting attack.

This win gives many lessons, including the fact that, it is NOT only the stars that makes one win a game, but it is the collective efforts of the team that takes any one to the destination called victory. A learning lesson for the losing Team was not to take the other players for granted, as they turned out to be the mayhem makers for them.

The lesson for the winning team is to learn from the lesson of the losing team and not to get carried away by this victory..

Rest..they know it very well, when they play to their optimum capacity, they get the better of even the BEST!!

Silence....Silence

Have you ever tried to gauge the pulse of the floor? the riveting series of events that catch our ears and eyes, the engulfing episodes that bind the floor aura and the ever clocking moments that pass, side by side with the registering of the TATs and the SLAs.

Among all these, there are certain issues that go over looked, thinking of a bigger picture, however needs some careful consideration.

In an organisation, all employees behave responsible by performing their daily tasks and deliverables at the optimum capacity, in their process. Each one is well aware of this. But they sometime, somehow overlook their responsibility towards their neighbours on the floor.Just like we think of the neighbour near our household area, in a floor or in a company also, we should not forget the doctrine of peaceful co-existence.

I do not want to prove that nobody follows this doctrine on the floor. I also know and want to appreciate each one who follows this doctrine, without any lapses. However, there have been times in the past(almost becoming a regular instance for some) that some of us, for the sake of sharing our most hilarious experiences and craking jokes of the day/or a the experinece of watching a comedy movie which was not all funny (thinking, if that is not shared at that moment, someone else would do), almost forget that the employees in the other process is fighting with a transaction processing, the correct resolving of which is a need of the hour. The aftermath of the joke might make the team mates indulge in a laugh riot, but might as well deter the concentration of the employee who is fighting with his task and he might just make an error out of it.

It is a common practice in an organisational set up to mix fun with work now a days..But is anybody aware, that it might have some unwanted consequences if the thin line between fun and excessive fun is touched?

Coffee Table Talks!!

Interrupted by the communicator buzz!!Mostly this have to be a call for a coffee break or a luncheon. Office has become more sort of a home, historically and in present times. It is so obvious, when you almost spend 33.33% of your day in office. Or some even argue, the percentage is more. Math is simple, just add the hours you take to commute to and fro office, in the office cab daily!! Thats pretty much being in office only. It is even exceed such hours, when you spoil your evening/night with your partner/roomy, thinking that your boss had not paid heed to your hard work.

This is a discussion, in the coffee table...mostly when you add the brown sugar twice, mistakenly. In the excitement to share the mental agony with your colleague, you almost forgot that you only take one sachet of brown sugar with each cup of cappuccino; or for that matter you also forget that you wanted to drink a frappé, in lieu of a cappuccino; or to make matters worse, you forget to collect your mobile from the security personnel, in exchange of the token you just gave him. So you rush from your coffee table, run upstairs and argue with the security for your mobile and almost with some fuming debates you come back with the mobile, only to drink the hot coffee that turned pale a few moments back!!

When asked about your careless behavior, you would point out you are unhappy about things rolling up and down in your life. "All messed up!!".. You do not try to clean the mess...You just complain..Coffee table gives you the biggest opportunity..In your coffee table, you would like to share the stories of the distant coffee table, towards which your eyes gaze, despite your coveted unwillingness.You are unhappy that you failed to clear the assessment for a SME position. Had you been promoted for a SME position now, you would have been promoted to a TL position the next year, in which case you would have also enjoyed the facilities of the Manager of the distant coffee table.

" What are those facilities?", your curious colleague..

" Apart from the documented ones", you would spell out softly, " I would have been blessed by the reason NOT to bring lunch office. Because you would have been well butter fed by your ardent subordinate who in a haste to please you for good ratings and favors, would easily nosedive into a regime of Mathhis to Rajma Masala Curry!!"

By this time when your pale coffee is emptied by you, you will still yearn for a biscuit-chai combo, because you are yet to share some more spicy stories. As if, your job is not to go up to the production floor to work, but to live some enlightening moments by indulging in office gossiping. You talk about the break up of your previous process colleague with another of your previous process colleague; you try to justify your role as a mediator between the two, when you have just mummed and may talk about the sub-prime mortgage crisis;Coffee Table talks are often non-productive!! That you may think; but it is the coffee lovers that make a coffee table. Consider an example:

Shaurya comes joins you in the coffee table, of course with a diet coke with his hand. He tells you, that you are about to see a change in the manager's post in your process. He also mentions you that this new incumbent is a guy from a support function and is not very cooperative with the team members and hence you need to act smart and fight for what is right.That was one. Shaurya says that you should be aware of the guy in the pink, un-pressed shirt with specks as he is not to be trusted. The other piece of information he shared with you is the fact that you need to know, doing what makes you achieves the best ranks in the process/company!!

Your new manager identifies and recognises you by the coffee table you sit and the coffee wizards you spend time...

Understand, it is the coffee tables that makes your life at office!!

Finally....Some Integrity Lessons!!!

When an advertisement for a job is posted, it is a practice to mention the eligibility criteria among other things. But no where in the eligibility criteria it is mentioned that " the candidate must possess the highest standards of Integrity Framework and reasonably of good character"; this is perhaps because of the fact that it is assumed that one pass those tests in schools and Colleges.

Yet; at your work place, these qualities assume breathtakingly strong importance. You may not be asked to leave your organisation for the non performance of the things mentioned in the eligibility criteria, but for sure you will be asked/forced to resign because of the non performance of something that was not mentioned in the eligibility criteria; one of such things is INTEGRITY.

Everyone must have heard about the story of Karn and Parashuram (Mahabharata), where the former lied to the latter that he was a Brahmin, so that he was admitted as a student for Dhanurvidya by Parashuram.But later on, when Parashuram discovered that Karn was in fact a Khatriya, the former not only cut short the latter's training stint, but also cursed him that he would have forgot all his learnings at a time he would needed them the most. There could not be a better example of the price one pays for not adhering to Intergrity.

The corporate world today can provide many such instances. An AVP submitting false/fabricated hotel bills to employer to claim Fringe Benefits; A Senior Manager misappropriating confidential client information...all these were treated with a Phantom Menace, from termination to life long career exile.

In Sports as well, taking drugs to attain short term strength on 100 meter race; faking age and falsifying caste etc....some have been punished and some have been gone unnoticed...

Few more examples when things were overlooked; An employee faking false experience certificate to get better compensation...coming to office late, staying for few hours and getting back home saying that the employee forgot to give the spouse the house keys; these things and many more seemingly lopsided practices of professionalism did not come to the scanner because the employee was a manager's favorite!!!

It is frustrating for some chaps, however to be victim of a genocide, because they tried to achieve something which was not achieved by the favored some; the way they did it was questioned...looking at the bigger picture, such stray incidents could have been well ignored,but as you know, the favorites have to be satisfied at the cost of the less favored ones, as the less favored one asks/fights for their rights!!!

Integrity does Exist however, I would say is in practice; but it is used as a weapon by the vested interests against those who deserve the right to live also....