Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Persistence of Placement Consultants

It has almost been a year since I have stopped considering a job change, but having regsitered ( and later deregistered ) on a job site last year, I still keep getting calls from placement consultants.
Today was another such day. The consultant called me on the cell and wanted to know if I was still working in the organization where I was working previously. When I replied in negative , he wanted to know the present organization and went into a spiel that he has a opening at some place. On expressing my reluctance , he switched mode to find out if any of my friends/ex colleagues were interested and if I can share their names. On expressing my inability to share such information , he went on wax eloquently about benefits about moving to that particular city and how things are improving there inspite of the image being presented in the media.
I would like to appreciate him for his persuasive skills and wish I have skills similar to him

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

2 minutes

Yesterday evening I left office at around 6:45p.m. At the same time I saw many others leaving for the day. One of those guys from my office, decide to take a short cut to reach a petrol pump which is on the road to the office. Infact he took the wrong lane, was hit by a truck and lost his life. He is survived by his family and a small kid.
Today morning when I read this through a mail, I felt very sad for the guy and his family.

Many times we see people taking a short cut to save 2 minutes or even 2 drops of fuel. We fail to realize these 2 minutes could be the last 2 minutes of ones life as was with my office colleague.
While driving or taking such shortcuts we should keep in mind that this life is not only ours but a life of all the people around us, the people whom with we spend our lives.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Exasperating

It is really exasperating when a professional organization promises to send you some document by a certain date, but even a week after the committed date they don’t send. Do they expect everyone to follow up using personal contacts to get the documents? Why can’t we have a law to sue such careless, lethargic organizations?

Probably they might be behaving the same with their employees and when employees quit, the managers or higher ups try to cajole them with carrots
God save such organizations

Thursday, June 09, 2005

First Day at School


Today was the first day of my son at school. Probably he being too young too understand the importance of this day in life did not show any excitement, but we being parents were preparing him for the day. Though the first day lasted for just 1 hour he seems to have enjoyed it, especially the new environment.

The school administration did give us some clear cut instructions like that since they don’t want any child to bring a mobile phone to school at any time, parents should also ensure that their cells are off, not even in silent mode in the school. They made it clear that for children to be disciplined, it is essential that parents to follow the same.

Monday, June 06, 2005

Living beyond ones means

All of us, might have encountered this situation some or other time. Why is it that people we employ to do jobs for us (like watchman, cleaner, maid etc) come to us and ask for a loan or advance which is in fact couple of times their monthly salary.
Ever wondered what might be the reason? Is it their poverty or living beyond the means or simple ignorance of financial planning? One can understand if there is a medical emergency but most of the times that is not the case. At most of the places where we work, we do have the concept of salary advance, and the amount is usually equal to the number of days completed in the month never is it 4-5 times the salary. If we say no these guys, they get annoyed, so one needs to be diplomatic in answering them.

As a matter of personal principles I have decided never to give a salary loan to these guys even if the guy stops working for me

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Loan from Credit Card Companies

Gaurav Sabnis's post Revenge is Sweet reminded me of this .

I have had instances of these credit card guys calling up an offering a loan at exorbitant rates.Couple of times when I had time on hand , I just checked out at what interest rate they were offering he loan. The usual answer used to be 15 % to 20 % per annum or more. At that point I used to make them an offer that I will give you the money on loan and would be happy with 1/2 of interest rates they were charging. Immediately the phone gets disconnected

Monday, May 09, 2005

Haves and Have nots


In a society, the have nots always look up to people who have things and aspire to lead a similar life. But what happens in a family when have-nots visit their folks who have. They desire to use the things which they don’t have in their homes. This is more pronounced in children and they start fiddling with things which they don’t have at home. In this process, there is a strong likelihood of they not using the things properly or damaging the same much to the consternation of their hosts.
For the hosts on their part, its a much difficult situation , on one hand they see their things not being used properly and on the other hand they even cant say no as it would surely lead to spoiling of relations. Is there a way out?
Intolerance

Yesterday on one of the streets in Pune I saw a Volvo bus , not allowing a Maruti to overtake.
The maruti has a sticker of tiger on the back giving clear indications whom it belonged to or the affiliations of the owner.The maruti driver some how manages to overtake the bus , stops his car in the middle of the road, forces the bus to stop and starts arguing with the driver. Then suddenly he picks up a stone and hurls it at the drivers windscreen and smashes it in an instance.

One fails to understand why the so called political class and society has become so intolerant.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

My Second Boss

It is said that children are the real bosses for their parents.
On Saturday we got our second boss.


Thursday, March 24, 2005

5 mins for an Interview

I recently came across this news article in Financial Express which mentions of interview lasting for 3 to 5 minutes to judge whether a GM in public sector bank can be elevated to the post of ED. What I find is surprising is that how can an interview board which consists of distinguished people judge a person in 5 mins for such a senior post.


The only other idea which comes to mind that interview might just be a formality and whether to promote a person or not being decided by political masters on the basis of some other considerations


Saturday, February 26, 2005

Infrastructure needed to develop a city


Infrastructure

I had been in Banglore last week. It lacks the infrastructure or may be the city has grown but the infrastructure has not improved at the same pace. I fear that the way Pune is growing it may go the same way in next couple of years. Builders and city planners are just interested in bringing up IT parks, malls, multiplexes, but what about the basic amenties. Do the roads support these. What about parking places for the number of vehicles which are being introduced everyday
Unless and untill these issues are addressed it is no point marketing the city as next IT or any other destination

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Visually Challenged


Most of us have seen Visually Challenged people on the street and have always marveled at their ability to walk without any support. At my office in the cube, where I used to sit for some time, sits a guy, who is visually challenged. Looking at him working on the desktop no one can imagine the same as he doesn’t wear black glasses. He has normal glasses, but probably they have high power. I have seen him working deftly on Visual Studio, SQL, Outlook and even Instant messenger and heard him discussing technical issues on phone or with colleagues. He always has headphones on which gives the impression that he is listening to music, but he works using the voice interactive software. He never gets up from his seat, except for going to canteen or restroom and even at that time, his friends or project team members come and escort him.

I also didn’t realize about his handicap (or should it be even called one) until I asked one of my cube members. I was under the impression that he probably has some difficulty in walking and that’s why he needs help.

Wednesday, January 26, 2005

Republic Day Parade

I remember as kid every year I used to watch the Republic Day parade on TV with great enthusiasm , but probably since college days and all these years after that never watched it .Today I wanted to my son to enjoy the fly past of aircrafts and the march past of soldiers, hence made it a point to watch the entire proceedings on DD.

After all these years it was really a nostalgic feeling of having watched the entire proceedings and it made me wonder how we used to wait for this day every year.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

An Interview of different kind

Couple of days back I attended a different kind of interview with my wife. The interview was for my son’s school admission. The admission form had clearly mentioned that school does not believe in interviewing children and that’s correct approach taken by school.

We were supposed to meet the principle who asked us why we want to admit our child to their school , have we read the prospectus , how far is our residence from the school , where did we hear about the school and that’s all.
The results were supposed to be put up on Monday but yesterday I could not find time to go and see them. The school authorities had clearly mentioned that they are not going to entertain any questions on admissions and the result list. Today morning I was relieved to see my son’s name in the list. Never in my schooling or college education I felt so anxious for the result as for last couple of days.

The school in question is a different kind of school than normal school as it believes in imparting education through self learning , experimentation and hence they also limit the intake of the students. Infact , I had liked the atmosphere of the school on the day itself when I had gone to take the admission form

Monday, January 10, 2005

New Job


Today I joined a new job after 4 weeks of vacation /rest whatever you may call. These 4 weeks made me realize that I cannot sit at home. Still a long time to go but I wonder what will happen to me post retirement.

Regarding new job, it surely is bringing a lot of responsibilities. I am happy that I selected this out of all the offers which I had.


Saturday, January 01, 2005

A New Year

A new year has started and I am looking forward to lot of new changes in the coming year.

About resolutions I had seen this article couple of years back and thought that today is the right time to put it here.


A to Z of New Year resolutions


A
AIM high in my work and life
Avoid mediocre thinking and performance
AnalySe my mistakes & learn from them
Anticipate consequences of my actions & communications

B
BE curious and keep an open mind
Be alert to new opportunities
Become more dependable/reliable to my colleagues and superiors

C
COMPILE a list of pending matters regularly for taking actions
Challenge my assumptions
Celebrate success of self and team regularly
Collaborate more and compete less

D
DREAM for and contribute in creating a congenial work place
Delegate more
Debrief regularly, especially after each major event

E
ENERGISE self and people around me
Experiment with ideas
Earn respect from others
Enjoy uncertainties

F
FORGIVE the defaulter but would not forget the fault
Focus on the overall objectives of the organisation and team
Follow up regularly with people

G
GIVE and receive feedback regularly
Go extra step to talk and sort out work issues instead of sending IOM's
Gear up the teammates & kill complacency

H
HONESTLY fulfil the promises
Have an understanding of the teammate's families and background
Have at least one major challenge a month to overcome
Hold back public criticism of colleagues and teammates

I
IDENTIFY wrong work habits and develop the correction plan
Inject humor in the routine drab office
Impress superiors with actions and not with 'gift of the gab'
Invite colleagues/teammates at home to strengthen informal relationship

J
JOIN a group of learners and help each other to learn new things
Judiciously deal with all subordinates and guard myself against any perception of partiality
Judge people only on the basis of their performance and contributions

K
KEEP learning new things
Keep fixing tougher targets for self and the team
Keep strengthening the IT skills
Keep anger under control
Know the problem from multiple angles

L
LISTEN emphatically
Learn to say no
Learn to respect the feelings and thinking of others
Loosen the tight controls and let people take charge of work processes

M
MENTOR new comers in the team
Market ideas effectively instead of imposing them on people
Modify past behaviour that has been irritating others
Mend differences with others
Match the individual agenda with the team agenda and organizational agenda

N
NETWORK with people in the industry
Negotiate performance expectations and results with the team members
Negotiate honestly to reduce differences amongst colleagues to develop a congenial work place

O
ORGANISE parties and get to gathers
Obey the office norms and ensure that others do the same
Overcome the wrong notions about the people who work around me
Offer tips to others whenever they get struck in their work

P
PLAN daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities
Praise people openly
Polish presentation skills
Participate effectively in meetings

Q
QUESTION effectively
Quest to create customer delight
Question myself about the contributions I make for all my stakeholders
Quality injections in all my actions

R
READ, read, read…
Relax, relax, relax…
Review, review, review…
Reinvent self

S
SERVE with the right attitude
Spot the right ideas and talent
Search for new opportunities in my work area
Set deadlines and help people achieve those deadlines

T
TEST understanding of teammates before setting them off
Train, train, train…
Try to balance emotions with actions
Take care of the money and property of the company

U
USE mistakes of others as their learning opportunities
Understand factors that hold back my people and help them overcome
Undertake implementation of at least one creative idea every month

V
VALUE evaluation of each action
Volunteering for positive change initiatives in the organisation
Voice disagreements politely and diplomatically
Vibration creation through successful action

W
WATCH against resource wastage
Weave trust and harmony amongst teammates
Weight pros and cons of each action

X
X-RAY the past to dig out the hidden bad performance of attitude
'Xchange learning with others
Xerox the successes of other teams and organizations to identify the points to meet or to beat

Y
YESTERDAY is history; take charge of today to design the tomorrow
Year after year write new action points in this list
Yearn to break my past records
"Yes and…" and not "Yes but…" approach while participating in meetings

Z
ZEAL to heal the emotional insecurities and problems of teammates
Zebra crossing to protect self instead of taking uncalled for risks
Zone of comfort for self to relax and rejuvenate
Zero defect in fulfilling the commitments made to the person sitting inside 'ME'