We always have the choice to take a different path and move away from the difficulties of the current state. In the event, we don’t exercise this choice, does that mean that our net subconscious satisfaction level in our current state is positive? Somewhere within, we are satisfied…happy with the ways things are moving? Probably yes….
(With reference to living a life in Mumbai…..)
What is the most sought after skill in life?
My views on this have been changing with time. When I was a student I was given to the understanding that being academically brilliant is the most important skill in life. When I joined job, industry veterans informed me that academic brilliance has very little to do with industry. According to them (not sure how many of them really mean it), infinite capacity to work hard is the most sought after skill in life. A closer look convinced me that while hard work is important, it need not be a skill. Now, as I am 29 years into life, I realize the importance of one particular skill i.e.“being able to communicate”.
Be it workplace or be it home, be it with family or be it with clients and colleagues, one skill stands out and that is ability to communicate. By communication, I don’t mean garrulousness or talkativeness. Communication is more into conveying our thoughts and understanding of an issue to another person. It can be as silent as a nod, it can be as warm as a hug, it can be as sweet as a smile. It can be anything which gives us a genuine chance to connect with another person and vice versa. Communication is not a unidirectional flow. It’s about understanding and being understood.
It’s not easy to communicate effectively. It demands patience, experience, mutual respect and more importantly regular self training.
Some mails I have received in the recent past bear strong linkages with my engineering days….new news pouring in from my old friends….So much has changed in the lives of the bunch of teenagers who shared a common wing in the hostel.
A is the new dad in the group.
M got married to an American classmate with whom he shared common PhD courses.
B is busy scanning girls from Orissa. Finally completed his post doc and is ready for marriage
D is still single and probably plans to remain the same for some more time.
C, after a long stay in US, plans to return back to India and is evaluating MBA options in India.
Nice little mails….cann’t help a smile while reading them…
What is happening to people in this city? Is it the space and time constraints and the severe lack of resources and amenities which are responsible in driving the so called “gentlemen” and “ladies” to such frenzied levels? In the co-operative societies or in the local trains or while driving on the roads, I have witnessed instances when people display a frenzied sense of zero tolerance. People in their apartments are almost on the warfront because of some minor parking issue. Boxing, judo and karate activities are quite common in the local trains. Belligerence is the pervasive attitude on the roads with every vehicle driver assuming that everyone/everything in the world except him/her is stationary. And these are the people who look well educated and well groomed.
The number of local trains is not enough to cater to the needs of ever-soaring influx of people into the city. Apartment builders, in their aspirations to suck out the maximum from the buyers, have raised disastrous structures wherein the occupants staying in these buildings will have perennial and eternal sources of problems to deal with. Roads are not enough to accommodate the rising number of vehicles registered in the city. Government is doing something… but that doesn’t seem to be enough. To add to the woes, time is such a rare commodity.
I am not complaining against certain people or rather against how people behave under certain situations, nor am I a cynic. I am just wondering how living under extreme pressure makes sophisticated and well educated people behave with such degraded levels of immaturity.
(I admire this city…for all the excitement it provides. I respect the people in this city for what they go through to survive here….I have myself experienced unmatched human kindness and support in this city but yet certain experiences are not so pleasant and today’s post mirrors this frustration.)
Some silent achievements of my childhood which never got their due:
….when I learned to ride a cycle…and finally fell into a rain water filled pit along with the cycle
….when I stood before the whole school and delivered a speech….on children’s day
….when I won my first prize in school....in a fancy dress competition
….when I made my first real friendship
….when I read my first story and enjoyed the experience
….when I motivated other kids to complain against a particular teacher to the principal
Authored by Mohsin Hamid, this book is in the form of a monologue by a US educated Pakistani youth with an undisclosed American in a Lahore restaurant where he recounts his experience of immigrant life in New York. At 21, Changez was an Ivy league graduate, working as an analyst with one of the most revered of valuation firms. He was in love with an appealing and elegant Greek classmate Erika, who did not mind welcoming him into her thoughts. Accolades after accolades, Changez proved himself to be the smartest among his batchmates. He loved his newfound status that his business card unfolded for him. He loved the social life that Erika introduced him into. Personal life could not have been better for a successful Princeton educated Pakistani youth who was beginning to consider New York his home.
Soaked with free flow of electrified emotions and the beauty of the Japanese culture during the early decades of the last century, this book “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden, is a fictional depiction of the life of a “geisha” based out of Kyoto during the pre/post Second World War. My current profile has decent exposure to legal aspects of business. Every contract is in itself a legal document. Law, I feel is the most open ended topics where interpretation of a single phrase or line can run into pages and in some instant into books. People into law have invented wonderful phrases which can completely turn the meaning of something upside down. For instance, consider the following phrases, which one can trace out in almost any contract, sitting reclusively away from the uniform tempo of the rest of contract.
“Notwithstanding anything mentioned anywhere in the contract, this section will hold precedence over any other clause. “
The whole contract might read like a decorated love letter between two parties but the inclusion of the phrase “notwithstanding anything…….”, line and the attached clause can include some of the most draconian conditions of the contract. If someone is not savvy enough not to understand the significance of this statement, he can land up in something really unpleasant later.
Similarly consider another phrase:
“Subject to clause xx.xx, this section confirms that all the liabilities will be shared between the two parties in proportion of their investments”
The presence of the phrase “subject to …” drives home all those situations (referred in clause xx.xx) where the liability will not be shared. And this clause will be hidden somewhere in the end of the contract.
Consider yet another:
“……. Shall not be unreasonably withheld”
Now, who defines the limits and boundaries of being reasonable? Some really nasty stuff can be attached with this phrase and if the intervention of this phrase is required during the course of the contract, it all depends on lawyers again to fix the problems.
For someone like me who would rather prefer to maintain simplicity in everything, law seems to be an inevitable mate.
Often wonder what made their founders give them the following names -
Apple (ultramodern gadgets)
Orange (telecom service)
Mango (apparel)
Pears (soap)
Red Hat (OS)
20th Century Fox (Film studio)
Caterpillar (Construction equipment)
Jeep (vehicle)
Things change….or should I say they evolve….
When I was a teenager, there came a bollywood song by the lyrics “Hello sexy…hi sexy…”. The whole concept was no less than a revolution of a sort. Elderly men and women claimed that Indian culture is doomed….parents tried their best to veil their kids from hearing such songs. Cultural ideologists threatened to destroy movie halls screening that movie. Teenagers mumbling these songs were severely rebuked…The list is endless. Such was the effect of this outburst that finally the word “sexy” in the song was replaced by the word “baby” and the world moved on.
Today….”sexy” is perhaps the most glamorous word, well appreciated and respected by every silo of the society. It’s the word which truly defines beauty in all its versions. In the business world, every high potential idea, every new thought is so respectfully named “sexy”. Any idea which is platonically stimulating to the mind (I repeat “mind”, forget others…) cannot be defined more articulately than being coined sexy. Even elderly people don’t mind using this word. And cultural ideologists…I believe they are not so unhappy about the usage of this word….From beauty to vehicles, from ideas to business plans is there any other word which is so pervasive in its usage.
So what happened….is this just a generation change.
One of the most visible aspects of corporate life is to understand and appreciate the significance of information. Especially in the Indian context, people love to restrict disclosure of facts and acts.
The culture of an organization is greatly shaped by its information management policies. If critical information trickles down into different levels of an organization like free flow of water, the organization cannot survive. As against this, if information just remains within the closely guarded veil of a few people, the organization becomes highly centralized and the majority of the employees will soon lose interest in the affairs of the organization.
Where should the balance lie between transparency and secrecy? What should be the optimum level of organizational trust that can guide towards a healthy balance between employee motivation and company disclosure restriction policy? Not easy to answer...I guess.
