Convergence?? Long shot... but maybe?

Its not exactly funny, but its hard not to laugh if you've been following the headlines for the past few days… Well yes, I know.. its not a laughing matter but its also natural for an observer to quip "Why stop with states?? why don't we split every district/ city/ street into its own land"

I don't understand politics and neither do i know much about what's happened in the past in the world of politics, so i won't try to pretend i do.

I'll digress here and recollect an incident that happened about 8 months ago... Me and a group of friends decided to head to the Wagah border on our way to Delhi... A beautiful sunset and with the 'beating the retreat' proceedings underway, my friend sitting next to me pointed to the sky and smiled. We looked up to see a flock of birds flying across the border and I realized what she meant "they don't have borders do they"

And here we are yet, trying to divide pieces of land further more!!! More borders, more boundaries!!

As an inane observer, can't help but wonder, is it simply madness or possibly an act that might provoke thoughts towards convergence?

'coz well, we seem to be heading down a path where ultimately one'll realize "ok! now that each street is a separate entity, what next??" and maybe they'll answer declaring "we can't function anymore! one country, one state"

no point musing you say? you may be right, since there's no way of predicting with any amount of accuracy what might happen... yet, there's a nagging feeling that I might just live to find out :P

BLT Diaries: My management credo (part 2)

Continued...
Part 1 at: BLT Diaries: My management credo in the making http://ohnewoerter.blogspot.com/2009/07/blt-diaries-my-management-credo-in.html

“Thou shall beware the wrath of the P-R Vortex”
Its depressing, its frustrating and damn near impossible to bear… its not often I’ve heard someone complain of the power-responsibility (P-R) dilemma… then again, I am limited by the sample of managers I’ve heard from regarding. What’s the vortex you ask? Well, I’m talking about the situations where one finds themselves stuck in a role where we have loads of responsibility, all accountability and zero power on who/what/how/when of the actual execution.
The ride on this wave is as choppy and mutinous as it can get, but hell, we’re going to have to and are expected to survive and emerge (with as little damage as possible) on the other side. Not to fret, we have of course, a big smug smile and a great story of how we braved the storm… (Alas, only until the next one comes along!)

“Thou shall, ‘be the ball’”
Of all the funny situations (not funny to the protagonist at the time mind you!) we’ll find ourselves in, the best is the one of the being the ball… you know, those really awkward situations when you find yourself trying to get two teams, who seemingly support each other, to well, actually support each other!
The feeling of being bounced around from one court to the other (visualize a completely harassed trainee as the ping pong ball in a game of TT that never ends…), a sense of nirvana coz we know that the only role the ball has in the whole scheme of things is indeed to get smashed, thrashed and bounced around, and at last (if one is lucky to survive to see the end of the game) feel the elation of being held high by the victor!!! I rest my case – thou shall, indeed, be the ball!

“Ye shall always be the puppeteer short of strings”
I am not kidding. Honestly!!! There are moments when I yearn for those days when I could code-compile-and see it work!
Getting people to work is so much more difficult than doing it yourself…
U’ve got them working? Great! Now lets get them to work without getting on their nerves…
Done? Good! How about making them enjoy their job… however mundane it is??
I rest my case! =)







Will continue...

BLT Diaries: Mumbai

Statutory Warning!! This narration is totally biased - seen, felt and expressed in the terms of a photography buff and a damn near quixotic essayist!

Having vowed to write/blog regularly, I’ve never really stuck to the resolution. But the whirlwind that is Mumbai has fascinated me into penning this one down

This is not my first encounter with Mumbai and it has most certainly not been ‘love at first sight’. My first impression of Mumbai was a capital lettered NASTY!! (Rains and a couple of sluggish dirty and smelly taxis are to blame!) A typical visitor’s reaction I’d say in hindsight. But this time around, I’m here to stay… albeit for a few weeks only (once again during July-Aug amidst the monsoon mayhem). I am now able to see Mumbai from the eyes of someone who lives in this city – freshly pressed formal trousers folded up to knees, laptop bag in one hand & umbrella in the other, rush hour morning traffic en-route work, a walk on the sea face while returning home, calling friends and meeting them over dinner.

Bustling train stations, striking malls and stores, Big-bazaar queues so long that they leave you teary eyed, the super rich, the visible poverty, high rise buildings fenced by tiny one room tin roofed homes (I know not if they can be called houses, but a bunch of rain drenched kids and granddads playing outside the curtain that doubles as the door, definitely makes ‘home’ a fitting description!), huge Victorian style Gebäude* so picturesque, that I risked getting out of my taxi at a signal during rush hour just to click a snap (*Gebäude just means buildings :P but if you’ve seen the ones I’m referring to, I’m sure you’ll appreciate me using a word that sounds more exotic), flyovers- one after another, buildings that have stood for decades (if only they could talk, what history they’d be able to recount!!), red buses sounding their characteristic horns, the unrehearsed ballet of the black-yellow taxis, the smell of the rains, the sight of the sea, the breeze, lights, noise, people, crowds!

Confounded… Drenched… Lost… Overwhelmed…Charmed!

And every step of the way, I’m told “Yeh hai Mumbai meri jaan!!”
To which I quote from Delhi 6, “Yeh shehar nahin mehafil hai!!”

BLT Diaries: My management credo in the making

As DMB put it succinctly, So much to Say!!!

Been 4 months since I left the secure walls of B-School and even lesser time since I’ve been working as a manager… well, management trainee to be precise... Too early to be giving gyaan you say... I’d agree. But never too early to pen down observations... not surprisingly, its stuff that is mostly just common sense and nothing that calls for an MBA to understand. Yet, I realize now that its not so much the knowledge but the actual implementation that brings into picture the multitude of complexities that I hadn’t given much thought to.

Most of my management credo, I derive from my past two bosses (two really great managers in my opinion) and their style of working. But recently, as a management trainee, I have been able to observe a lot many managers from the perspective of a manager-in-the-making. As an observer, I could not help but analyze the situation and dig into the why’s and how’s. (An occupational hazard you could say :P ).

And the result, well, adding a few more decrees to my own evolving management credo!!!

“Anything can be, and everything that can be, will, very likely be, uncertain”
What’s the big deal in being a manager u ask? Well, after having happily spent my time as a s/w developer, the biggest trouble I had was getting used to working with an enormous level of uncertainty. Before my current role as a management trainee I told myself, “Hell, I’ve worked with clients who change their requirement more often than they breathe… I can handle uncertainty.” What did I know!! It has been mind boggling, the number of factors that are variable when you assume the role of a manager… things which are difficult to foresee. Anything ranging from hunting down a vendor who has absconded, handling emergency procedures when a sudden storm hits your tiny town and forces you to shut down and what not!

“Ye all shall learn the most sacred art – Follow Up”
As for the next big challenge I have realized I will continuously face as a manager, it’s a glaring complexity one has to learn to work with and is something that is not always taught in a B-School. I’m talking about the fact that as a manager your performance depends not only on how you work and instead relies on the performance of so many others who directly or indirectly contribute/affect your work. The last couple of months, my major learning has revolved around a seemingly very silly yet vital concept –“Follow Up”. Those of you who have some corporate experience probably know what I’m talking about here.
It’s the art of getting things done, pushing people to work for you and doing all that without getting on their nerves. That said, it is not a very easy thing to do when you are a trainee – you know, when one is neither a boss nor a subordinate.

“Earth calling moon rocket!” (Doesn’t exactly kling like a decree, but bear with me :) )
The calling!! One of the “Tintin” comic book bubbles that says “Earth calling moon rocket… come in moon rocket” is the source of this odd title for this decree. It is not a lesson in humility or any such thing… its just that the elation and excitement of the first job as a manager (more so when its the first assignment as a management trainee) which makes it very easy to lose sight of ground reality. You know, the “wave the wand, and change the world” kinda attitude.
Don’t get me wrong here. I believe in thinking BIG and making it happen. Neither am I a compulsive “look before you leap” person. Rather, what I’m trying to say is “Make sure you know where the ground is, how hard you may land if you fall, and leap only if you think you can handle a fall & the broken bones just as gracefully as you would handle a successful leap”. Non-comic book version of this decree,
“Thou shall respect and revere reality whilst thinking big”

To be continued…

BLT Diaries

Chapter 1 - Haldia Awakening
Haldia, WB

(hmm, guess i've been watching Heroes a lil too much!!!)

It started out with an unbelievably dingy hotel (ironically named "Classic Inn" nothing classy about the place i assure u). After a depressing few days in the "classic inn" moved (ran frantically would be a closer description) into the company house. Awesome place with a private garden, patio, music system, gym and home theatre.
If your thinking it had it all, well, reality check... the only things missing were a water purifier, washing machine and best of the list, pest control!! so much so that it reminded me of the land that time forgot... only replace all the dino's with terrifyingly huge/tiny lizards... ewwwww!!! U know paati's (granny) tales of hearing lizard's chuckles (i dunno what else to call the wierd noise they make) being inauspicious?? That better not b true for my sake coz i'm given to listening to entire lizard 'o concerts when i'm at home!!

The next few days went by without much happening. The usual work-home-TV-internet-takeaway parcels substitutes for food-sleep. Then came a all enchanting Sunday. (btw did i tell u, by some silly rule, factories work six days a week...talk about work-life balance, blasphemy!!)

Back to the story. The all enchanting Sunday.

Plan of action: Stay up really really late on Sat, watch movies that i've seen already a zillion times... who cares! i should stay awake!! wake up after noon... take a riverside walk, spend quality time with my precious (tats my awesome'st legendary canon dSLR i'm referring to).

And as most (needless to say, most=> every single one) of my plans end up in deep graves, the all awaited Sunday went something like this.

The only thing that went according to plan - movie marathon n staying up reeeaaallly late on Sat. As for the rest of the Sunday, this is how it went.
Woken up rudely at an unearthly hour (who knew clocks actually touched actually hit 8:30 am on sundays) by the guest house cleaner!! the rest of the day went: clean-dust-clean again (damn! should have dusted bfr cleaning the first time!!!)-eat dry toast-wash clothes(still no washing machine !)-stay indoors... political unrest outside.. u better not venture out says my manager and finally blessed sleep (outta exhaustion). Blissful wasn't it?

But all was not lost... I promised myself that next sunday would not be the same. After a surprisingly fruitful week at work, again the most awaited Sunday.

This time, it did get better!! took a lazy long walk by the riverside, got drenched in the rain. Sadly it was pouring so heavily, that i wldnt dare take my precious cam out for a few snaps! Saw a overloaded jetty take off on the hoogli river, a broken bridge that was really picturesque and to top it all, saw an actual hovercraft in action (u know, the 007 kinda awesome luking ones) at the coast guard hovercraft port. Totally rocking!

Monday morning blues were quickly washed off by the beautiful rains. Which now have turned into a cyclonic storm (named Aila!). Am now stuck at work inside the factory coz its too dangerous to venture outside winds at 90kmph speeds, trees uprooted n everything. Which is what brought about this long long ramble from my part. Got a lil tired of being stuck in my room and listening to the wind wailing outside.

3 more weeks to go in this tiny town... Chapter 2 in d pipeline!