SEA TO SKYSCRAPERS

Image courtesy Bins Corner

Amit belonged to a very poor family. His father used to work at a scrap yard and mother at a vegetable shop. Both of them somehow managed to earn money just enough for a simple meal 2 times a day .Amit was their only son and they loved him a lot. They wanted him to study well and become a doctor. But their poverty forced them to make their son work in a small tea shop. He used to work during the day and study at night from the retired headmaster who used to teach all the poor children free of cost.

‘Amit, you have written a very good essay. I am very proud of you’ said the headmaster one day. Though only 12 years old, Amit had a deep concern for the environment. He liked spending all his free time near the sea and stare at the waves endlessly .He was happy with the way his life was shaping up.His only secret wish was to go to  a school and study like the other children of the village.

One evening during the classes, the headmaster told him about an essay competition being conducted only  for the school children. The winner was to represent India in a climate summit to be held in Japan the following month. Amit’s happiness knew no bounds. He wanted to participate and make full use of this opportunity. Alas! He did not have the initial registration fee of Rs 100 and knew that his parents would never give him this money. The headmaster sensed his hesitation and decided to pay the fee for him. He did not want a bright student like to miss an opportunity only for lack of money.

Amit had collected a lot of material on the subject of environment from the magazines and newspapapers that his father got home from the scrapyard. After dinner he took out all his material and sat outside to write down. Over the last few days, he’d seen a lot of animals dying due to chewing of polythene along with the grass. This was a cause of concern for the whole village and he wanted to do something about it. He was awake the whole night and completed his essay by morning. During the day he took  some time off from his work and rushed to his guru’s house. The headmaster read the entire essay and corrected the small spelling mistakes . ‘The content is very strong’, he thought. Amit then  rushed to the post office and gave the envelope to his postmaster uncle.

A few days later Amit received a letter from the organizer of the essay competition. Although  his essay had not won the first prize but the judges were very impressed with the thoughts of a young writer and decided to send him also for the summit at Japan. Amit screamed very loudly as soon as he read this and immediately rushed to the  headmaster's house to thank him. After all, this would not have been possible without his guru’s encouragement and constant support.

Today Amit is in Tokyo. The delegates at the summit had been very impressed with this boy’s clarity of thoughts. At a very young age his awareness and concern for the environment was commendable. One amongst them, on knowing about his poverty, decided to provide scholarship for all his studies till college. Amit’s eyes are filled with tears. His parent’s dream of seeing him as a doctor was coming true. But right now all he wanted to do was to stand with his new friends and feel the beauty of the city.

TRANSFORMATION

The little boy was excited,
He’d found an earthworm lookalike,                                    
He got it home and hid it in a jar,
‘Glopey’ he thought was a nice name.
                                                                                                         Glopey did not like it here,
It was missing the beautiful green park,
Alas! It could not do anything now.

It soon started liking the little boy,
Both of them would play together,
The boy’s friends envied him,
Glopey was indeed a different pet.

One evening the boy started crying ,
The jar was empty,                                                                           
Glopey was missing,
In its place was a beautiful butterfly,
trying hard to come out.
Just then his mother came,
And removed the lid
Out came the butterfly ,
And flew away into the open.

The boy got angry ,
He wanted his Glopey back,
His mother calmed him down,
And explained all
‘What you got home was a caterpillar,
Its now emerged into a beautiful butterfly,
We must not keep it closed anymore,
Freedom is what it desires.

The boy listened carefully,
He  was very  happy ,
His green Glopey,
Had  turned so 
colorful now.
He turned and wave to the butterfly,
which was sitting on the boy’s favourite flowers.

OPTIMISM

                   

Image courtesy Link

                        

                  Adversities and obstacles now

                  Confidence and courage strong

              Optimism- A new high again.

Saturday 9: I'm so proud of....

  
1.What are you proud of?
 My ability to get self motivated.


2. What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize? How did you win it?
My friends ridiculed at me when i participated in a flower arrangement competition  about 15 years back. I was the youngest among the participants but my arrangement was adjudged the best.  The prize that i won then was a water bottle but my confidence   got boosted up.

3. Tell us about something you've done that in retrospect was a waste of time.
 Missing classes during  Graduation to prepare for a paper presentation and ending up not participating at all.

4. How old were you when life changed the most for you? How did it change?
 Life changed the most for me when i was in class 4th.  Moving into a big city like Delhi for the first time was very challenging. New friends,new school and neck throat competition. The stay of 4 years taught me some very valuable lessons and also made me independent.


5. Tell us about a place you that you've been that you considered to be very tranquil.
Ladakh, one of the most beautiful places in India. You are bound to fall l in love with the nature here. The simplicity and innocence of the locals is what you'll remember the most for years to come.

6. Who is your favorite news anchor/reporter? Why?
Barkha Dutt  for her strong and candid views. Her courage and strength are truly inspiring.

7. If you were to have the opportunity to name a new town or city, what would you call it? Why?
I'd like to rename the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad to P.V.Narasimha Rao airport as every state has some people whom they are very proud of and this late prime minister of India, being one of them to the people of Andhra Pradesh.

8. What is something about which you've always wondered but have not yet found a good answer?

Why am i not able to sustain my interest for a long period of time?
9. When you can't go to sleep, what is your personal remedy to help yourself drift into Lullabyland?

Listen to my fav hindi numbers on my i-shuffle or read twitter updates on my mobile.

Friday Fill-Ins

1. One of my strongest beliefs is that nothing is impossible.

2.  A huge flower blossomed in my garden today !

3. The sky is cloudy with a threat of rain and wind and cold, and  i want to enjoy it with a hot cuppa tea.

4.  Talking to my mother  is comforting to me.

5. I always thought I'd be a journalist when i was in school .

6. There was shiny white light on the road today  and then I went outside to look at the full moon.


The last blank is not of much use since i am posting this on sunday night when the weekend is almost over.

CAN I ???

Problems creep

Failure comes

                      Opportunity prevails                      

Look within

Thy Confidence

Thy courage

Biggest strength

Now and forever.

ENERGISED

Image Courtesy Link

Sreeram was a 2nd year student of MBA studying at Delhi. Recently he came home to Hyderabad during the Dusshera Vacation. Life had always been a smooth ride for him. He had never stayed away from his parents but for higher education he had to do this. There were times when he repented this decision of his. During his stay at home this time, he got a lot of time to introspect his goals and objectives in life. Having done this, he suddenly found energy within him to work harder to realize his dreams. He wanted to make his parents feel very  proud of him.

Serenity

  

Image Courtesy Link

   Vented anger
   Softness of the waves
   Serenity prevail

Meeting friends equals 3 hours of Masti

Yamini and Manmohan.....My city mates in Pune, college mates and classmates too. More importantly, they are the friends who are just a call away and are always there for you. 

On Wednesday....13th Oct 2010...we all decided to meet. We were meeting after 2 months( almost). I took half day from the office and so did Yamini. Luckily,Manmohan had a holiday. The venue and time were decided and this time there was to be no cancellation or postponement.

From 4.00pm to 7.00 pm we freaked out completely.

 From pizza in Domino's to Mirchi Bajji in the crafts mela , we relished them all.  

 From Magazines to Bangles of various types, we girls bought them all.

 From leg pulling to troubling the only guy, we enjoyed it all.

Some of the treasured moments..............

A full stomach means a full smile.

Mannu. aka Manmohan

Yamini....

The Hyderabadi....'Mirchi'

Mirchi....Mirchi. :)

THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING CLAW

 This incident happened in Nov last year but is certainly worth mentioning for the smile it brings every time i think of  it.

I was in my 1st year of MBA and a part of the National HRD seminar team formed in the college for some days.I hardly attended any classes for almost a month. Instead, around 20 of us who were selected from the whole college for the seminar co-ordination used to sit in cubicles assigned to us in the faculty room and make calls inviting the Head HR's of various companies for the seminar.

     During one such day ,my friend Yamini and i came early to our temporary office and decided to stand out and talk for sometime before starting our work. Suddenly our eyes fell on a huge owl perched happily on a window on the floor below ours. Frankly , i had never seen an owl from such a close distance  and decided to take some pictures.Just then our other friends also came there and got excited seeing the owl.Since it was daytime we knew it was asleep and would not fly away and clicked pics from various angles.

      Suddenly my eyes fell on its claw and i observed something. I told Yamini too and even she was surprised. Yes.... in an excitement of ours , we  had not seen the bird carefully. It just had one claw. 'Was it injured '? ' Did it have only one claw', we kept asking each other and the others around us. Alas, none of us could figure out the reason. We decided to go inside for sometime.I just wasn't able to concentrate on my work and decided to check again. I could still see only one claw. Disappointed i came inside and told Yamini. We decided to take up the matter seriously and called up the Blue cross society. After talking to about 10 people ,we finally got to explain the situation to the right person. He listened very patiently  but started laughing afterwards. For a moment i was surprised and also angry on the man. This is what he said after sometime:

 ' Madam ,you don't need to worry at all. The owl while sleeping sits only on one claw.  This is its posture. Just like we have ours, it has its own. Don't bother, it will fly away in the evening.'

  

The Mysterious Owl

Saying this he hung up.I immediately told my friend about this. She  had been anxiously waiting for the conversation to end. We both looked at each other and started laughing loudly. Our other friends joined in too and the office now looked nothing less than a  laughing club.

Even when i am blogging about this incident now,i can't stop myself from laughing.

I have always believed that 'Experiential learning ' is the best learning .We had  indeed learnt a unique feature about  the owl from this  incident.
So...always remember......'An Owl rests only on one claw while sleeping'.

The One claw finders

'COOL'..............WAY OF LIFE !!!

Nothing gives one person so much advantage 
Over another as to remain always
cool & unruffled under all circumstances
                                                            THOMAS JEFFERSON

'Thats a cool phone' ,' You look really cool today", 'This dress looks really cool on you'. How many times have you used the word 'Cool' ? What is 'Cool' according to you then ?

Different people have different answers to the word 'COOL'. For some it is a concept while for some others it is a state of mind. Outward appearances may present the impression of cool but being cool means completely comfortable in your skin, with your attitudes & beliefs; but most of it in a way that will enrich not only your  life but that of the others around you.

So lets trace the history of this word.  During the 1950's cool was a movement , a revolution ,an evolution of sorts. Cool was part poignant, part optimistic ,part fatalistic , part groundbreaking ,part old world. Cool in its infancy was about redefining boundaries or ignoring the fact that any limits might have existed in the first place.
Cool was rebellion and cool was a form of self acceptance. Cool was trying to redefine the societal roles of past ground.

The generation next superlikes this word. Its short and happening .To me Cool is a 4 letter word which saves you the trouble of writing big compliments. Just say 'cool' and you're done.

 So what are you waiting for...leave back your cool comments on this cool article.

Cool


Too Cool


Super Cool                                                        

THE APPLAUSE BAROMETER

Tweets.....Twitter....Tweeting....i love them all. Apart from the virtual conversation with celebrities and the opportunity to win loadz of cool prizes that it offers, you also introduced to some really cool terminology.I loved the way the term ' The Applause Barometer ' was used on the opening of the CWG. The excitement in the air was very evident that day. The crowd was in full josh. They jeered as well as applauded....equally well. This is how the 'Applause Barometer's' readings were interpreted.

• Mrs Sheila Dixit was strong at No 1 as the crowd proved that they still loved their CM the most.
• Our former president Dr Kalam also received a vibrating  applauding.
• The former PM ( Shri vajpayee) was almost close to the former president but ended up being at no 3.
• The current president and the PM had to be satisfied with the 4 th position ( jointly shared).

But,But...the surprise package from the crowd was reserved for our neighbours. The contingent from Pakistan received a grand welcome from the crowd. Who says we don't love they neighbour??

Needless to say the barometer came very close to bursting when our very own Indian contingent walked in. Dressed the best , they were   ready to prove  that they were indeed  'Better than the Best and the rest'.

Amidst all this the 'man of the CWG' seems to have been forgotten???" Mr Kalmadi....we are sorry but the barometer suddenly broke.Please wait till the closing ceremony."

THE SPORTS EUPHORIA....

Sports had never interested or excited me as much as it does now. My watching of cricket was limited to a  'India-Pak' match ,a 1 day ofcourse. T 20 also seemed good at times since these matches would get over fast. As for the other sports, i preferred taking the help of the newspaper (just to keep myself updated).

   The CWG seems to have  brought  in a lot of wealth for me in the form of ' Sustained Interest' and 'High Excitement'.Suddenly i ve started watching a lot of sports on TV. From Tennis to weightlifting, Swimming to Shooting, i seem to be enjoying them equally.So much so that i ve subscribed to a lot of CWG alerts on my mobile.

' India wins its first gold' , ' Another gold for India at the CWG', 'Its raining gold for India today'. Wow...i loved reading all the  tweets that kept coming every 2 mins. Just as i was about to put the phone inside, it beeped again. At the same time my boss called me to update him on the project i was working on. I wondered why the Beep and the Boss had to follow each other so closely??I came back after 20 mins and quickly read the message. Woah....I wanted to scream .The message read' India beat Australia by 1 wicket to win the 1st Test in Mohali'.I was super excited. It had been India's day on the sports field since morning and more was to follow very soon. The excitement of seeing your country win is way above everything else. I guess its time we brought in more youth icons from the sports arena than our very dear Bollywood.

 With a sustained interest successfully achieved the next thing on my list is to watch a cricket match live sitting in a stadium.These are experiences you don't wanna miss .

 'Laxman for India very very special.' was the last message before my phone ran out of charge. Call me biased but the 'very very special' Laxman  is also a Hyderabadi himself.

Simplicity Personified

Confidence, Elegance,Humbleness and Simplicity....she had them all. Since morning she had been busy welcoming all the guests for her niece's marriage.It was a high profile marriage and one could see a lot of shimmer and glamor around. Yet,she stood out in the crowd. I had been watching this lady since a very long time. At that time i only knew her as the bride's aunt. It was only later i got to hear more about her. Even an introduction like this is too short for the lady i'm referring to...Mrs Rama Bijapurkar. I could not talk to her for a long time but will always cherish the short conversation that i had with her.

  As soon i came home,i goggled her name to know more as all this while i'd heard the guests  praising her a lot.I was pleasantly surprised at what i saw.Mrs Bijapurkar....an IIM -A passout ,member of board for several companies like M&M,Crisil etc; author of 'We are like that only' ; guest speaker at the country's top mgmt schools and an Independent management consultant.(This is the time when you thank google the most..perhaps all of us are indebted to it in a lot of ways and several times):)

 There was something about Mrs Bijapurkar that made me admire her from the very first moment .I guess this was those one of the few times where i had met a lady with so many achievements to her credit and yet so humble in person. Even today the first name that comes to my mind when questioned about my role moder is Mrs Bijapurkar.I love explaining the reason to all around me.

Its been almost 2 years since i met her last. Yet , her magnetic and vibrant personality is etched strongly in my memory. Last week , i was an interview of hers on the TV. Dressed elegantly in a cotton Saree ,she preferred her office as the venue for the interview. I couldn't help but extend my coffee break for not wanting to miss the show.

They say an experience teaches you a lot. I believe that be it be anybody's story,there is something to learn each time. My experience of meeting her has had a positive impact on my life. 

At the top there is place only for few and Mrs Bijapurkar has made that place permanent.To me she is certainly a personality to 'Emulate'.

The Google way again.....

Wow.....Google it made it to the top again.Its amazing to know how it emerges as clear winner each time in the survey conducted by 'Great Places to work' Institute. The others in the list include:

2. Makemytrip
3.Intel
4.Marriott Hotels
5.Netapp India

Surprisingly i am using too much of the 'HR in me' these days .All that interested me in this survey were the unique practices that the HR dept of these companies were following.

To start with,Google practices ' Self Promotion'.Depending on your achievement of targets you can nominate yourself for promotion. Sounds interesting.Wait till you read more.

'Idea Generation' cannot be confined to a particular place and true to this ,Google introduced a unique concept of' 'Learning in the Loo' where there are white boards all across the loo and employees keep scribbling their ideas as and when they get it.( I only hope somebody doesn't roam with a  duster too often....lolz). According to Googlers this is one place where everyone would definitely look at the board.Wow.....thats 'out of the box thinking'.

Another interesting practice is that of 'Peer Bonus' ,where depending on the work an individual does ,his peers give him bonus in the form of vouchers paid by the company.

As a company,Google has revolutionized the world but Gogglers ( as the employees like to call themselves)are always motivated and excited to do something new ( Thanks to the unique HR practices the company has).To put it in better words,Google stands synonymous to the term 'Luxurious workplace'.

So if it was  Google on one hand; the other companies in the list also had something different to offer to their employees.

Marriott Hotels,Mumbai conducts the ' Annual Associate Appreciation week' where associates across all locations share their feelings/appreciation about their peers.The whole idea of this initiative is to make the employees feel good because the company believes that happy employees mean happy customers.

In classic Stripes Ltd, Mumbai, the peers are also made part of the interview process to help choose candidates who would establish a good rapport with them.

Godrej Ltd also has some unique HR practices to keep their employees motivated.'A just like that party' is what everybody looks forwards to and 'Bedhadak Bolo contest' is one event where the employees can voice their opinion/concern about any issue in the company. The management also encourages the employees to give suggestions which are accepted  if found implementable.

'People will forget what you said to them'
'People will forget what you did to them'
But
'People will never forget how you made them feel'.

Well,looking at all these unique practices it certainly makes you say that companies are leaving no stone unturned in treating their employees in the best way.

THE NET-GEN-ERS

Welcome to the Facebook generation.Whether you like it or not; you gotta believe that social networking has redefined communication and brought in a lot of openness amongst many of us.No wonder many organizations are making sincere efforts to encourage this amongst their employees too.

      

White Revolution,Green Revolution....Heard about the 'Twitter Revolution'?? The influence of Twitter came into light during the Tehran Elections & protests and marches were organized using Twitter.People across the globe showed their support by adding a green flag in their display profiles.They were tweeting live updates of the protests much faster than any news channel.

        According to a survey about 65% of Fortune Global 100 companies have a twitter account and are using it actively.'Employee Engagement' is giving way to the 'Employee Passion Models' . Organizations are encouraging employees to become a part of an internal social network and bring out new ideas and thoughts from the employees.

  Recruitment using the social media is the new buzz these days.So,how does the HR department use these social networks to their advantage? Research says that more than 70% of the organizations are utilizing the  social media for recruitment.Your profile can speak a lot about you. From the status updates to the friends to the groups;its all there ready to be analysed.

  A lot of companies these days are encouraging their employees to blog or tweet."You,as an organization care about what your employees think" and this should be conveyed properly to them.These internal networks help the employees stay connected with each other and forge better & stronger relationships.It also leads to improved communication and acts as a motivation tool.

  One of the best examples of such a network is IBM's beehive.The internal network in the company helps employees connect with people they are currently working with as well as with people they have worked with in the past.For an upcoming conference call,if the users don't know the people on the call,they can go to their Beehive profiles and find out their common interests-work related or recreational.

    Todays employees want more freedom and a platform to express their views and thoughts freely.We talk about change and to me 'Social Media' is the new change to which we should be contributing.

An Evening at the MSAT ZOO