confused rambler

the chaps are here!

2008-07-31T22:21:00.000-07:00

To break the monotony of our usual life, the party kings are here.. man.. what I'd give for a few more hours of sleep :(

i dont think ive seen clark quay as much as this in the last 2 years hehe :)

anyways, quick poll - after dinner, 2 bags of popcorn and a few drinks - how many McD chicken burgers can you eat? Apparently i wagered that i could eat 8 for 100 dollars. Soon i was actually attempting that .. finally gave up at 5.5 burgers when i was on the brink of dying

just to prove my point!

2008-07-24T02:55:00.000-07:00

just to prove my point, here I am!

As I sit at research, the biggggest thing that strikes me is that no matter where u go, there are more things in common between people, rather than the differences..

what she wants in life, what her fears are, what she wishes she had done a little bit more - so so so common....

surprisingly, each one of us springs to point out how 'my country is different, we are different ppl - u guys would never know!'

:)

the pheonix rises ... a little bit

2008-07-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

well then, am back! its been several months of hard hard work... not so much a reason to not write as was the feeling that i hadnt thought enough to write..

its been like that for a few months - restless at mind, need to be constantly doing something almost as if I were afraid that I will stop to think and then realise that its really not what I want to do - after all escapism is inherent in me :(

anyways, today I was sitting at research and complete boredom, bordering on insanity has forced me to start off again! so here I am, hoping that the dam is down and so the water will flow! :)

cheeers!

becoming kewl

2007-10-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

was on penguins blog (which i think is very cool btw).. and saw her pseud little counter which keeps track of who comes to her blog all that..

so i installed it , and now all u nerds from antartica who used to visit me .. i can see you!

btw - it must be quite smart cos i tried to come back to my page again and it didnt increase the reader count! damn damn!

taking a tag: my first :)

2007-09-18T00:02:00.000-07:00

Succumbing to the pitfalls of promising something you haven’t thought through – yet again.. here I am taking up unpredictables tag on ‘my biggest quirks’

To be completely honest, I don’t remember if it was quirks or if was oddities or weirdnesses or what – but I think it was generally in that area and my current in-flight status (Bangalore to Mumbai) doesn’t allow me to go and check - so here goes!

1) Superstition : I like to believe this is not in a very bad way J, but I have a lucky interview shirt, the lucky cricket whites, the lucky bat, the ‘big presentation’ set of clothes and all that..
2) Bathroom floors: I absolutely ABHOR walking on wet bathroom floors, just completely hate them. Fullstop.
3) Am I weird to not like middle seats in flights. And NO – its nothing to do with my waistline!
4) The need to see everything, always – for those who wear spectacles – ud probably understand what I go through – I don’t take my specs off while sleeping, while bathing even swimming till I found powered goggles J
5) I need my ears warm – honestly, I don’t know why this is not the case with everyone. The one part of the body I need to cover first in cold times is my ears – why do ppl stare at a poor guy using a blanket to cover his ears in a flight? If I wasn’t scared of being killed with bong based comments, id wear a monkey cap forever. Id even get them matching with my clothes
6) Soft bananas – fewer eatables are more disgusting than ‘gone soft’ bananas with those squishy black marks .. yechhhhh!
7) ‘sms barrage’ : I usually have sms sending attacks – these are bursts of 15 mins when I send sms’s to frends and folks – some long due, some random.. just feel the need to communicate. Never really understood this.. just happens. Whether its on the way to airports, or while walking home, or just some time in office.

I cant remember any others.. can you?

oh btw.. tagging ganji, faiz, sleazy, mak (this ought to be good hehe!)

atoning for my sins

2007-09-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago - i felt the gnawing sensation that I have begun to associate with my craving for blogging.. and thru the ensuing hectic weeks it receded to a dull pain somewhere - constantly reminding me that i needed an outlet..

anyway, here I am, back to living my very erratic online existence (yes Bharat, erratic with an 'a' is also a word).. just that I dont know where to start from..

Pauline once told me that you should not change > 2 major things in life at the same time.. and I think I may have done 1 too many.. so here go the big changes..

a) Spunky is here .. finally - after more than two years of living away from each other, we've landed up in not just the same city - but the same company too! I warned her about the latter.. but u know the young of today..

Ive got a few hundred questions about how it is this far, and my answer remains the same.. i dont know! it still feels like a holiday and we really dont know how couples who live in the same city feel like.. talk about getting used to long distance relationships!

b) We've moved to a new house.. still not gotten over the loss of the simply awesome elmira heights.. a overall downgrade in the face of fast rising rental rates, but still pretty decent. The best thing about this place is the convenience, its right at the office junction which reduces my need to travel to a max of 500 m.

The huge downside is the state at which the house is right now, paint peeling off, leaky bath tubs, 15 inch tv, doors that scare you with thier creaking and need to shut by themselves.

c) Ive changed roles.. From a time where i worked with a team of 10 non-indians to now where I have only Indians to work with. And boy! is it different .. almost like a flip or whats imp and whats not..

The role is fantastic, so are the people.. and oh! i still have to do the crappy work, but still, its no Herbal Essences Australia..

anyway, a combination of all of this has me gasping for breath - taking its toll of items such as blogging etc etc..

feels good to be back.. cheers!

was itching to write something!

2007-08-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

the last 1 month has just flown by .. for one, have been a nomad of sorts, living in vishys house for a week and then organised some fraud trip for a week and then shanks/sameers house for 2 more.. and fairly unexpectedly , have learnt a few things.. the joys and fears of staying alone, living the life of a 18hr work process and still enjoying it.. just a cpl of the various things i got to pick up ..

Will write about that in detail later.. right now i need to go live my 18 hr happy work day :)

cheers!

:(

2007-07-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

18 days now since i did any worthwhile excercise (not counting the number of times ive gone up and down vishys stairs - i dont knoe how ppl live in duplex apartments)

the sad thing is that the best excuse i could offer myself (and trust me - im pretty good at deluding myself) was that (a) there was no company to play and (b) my shoes were packed away somewhere.. no other reason.. work was ok .. not much travel (maybe 4/5 of the 18 days).

the sadder thing is, im getting comfortable with the idea of feeling unfit :(( some1 drag me out to play something this weekend please!!

2007-07-07T20:20:00.000-07:00

I call my last 15 hours a little bit of a Spanish craze phase.. with U -tube vdos about spanish music, their dance forms and even about the food.. suddenly, bengali seems to be losing its place as the most charming language..

anyway, it all started with last evenings as we landed up in the 'cuban libre' a new pub at ClarkQuay - when we got there i was grumbling about how I had to contend with another foreign language (still grappling with my issues with English).. but to my complete surprise, last night was an awesome experience..

for one, the spanish singer - she was awesome looking.. and when she sang in her semi-husky voice it didnt matter what she sang.. and maybe its just the charm of an un-understoon language but the lyrics just seemed to add to it all - the entire song was one full sensual wave..

and that was just the singer and the band, the cool part was yet to come.. the couples on the floor dancing.. wow.. what grace and what movement.. none very good looking and mostly middle aged but they made us feel so inadequate that I cannot articulate it well enough.. u know the kind that makes you feel like going a couple of years back and reliving it with a cpl of changes (like salsa lessons etc)..

of course, the entire feeling may have been accentuated due to the spirit in my bloodstream, but its completely worth it..

So now, the Europe back trip looks more and more likely - with a long stopover in spain :) .. who all in?

2007-07-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

Some time last week, I decided to stop blogging as my roommate and spunky (both being diff people) hinted ever so slightly (or maybe quite blatantly) at my footage-hungriness (is that a word?) and all that.. so I lay low and despite wanting to blog about something last week, i controlled myself...

then i happened to chance upon mainaks blog/website and then clicked on a few connections and finally read an article by a software engg. in Infy chennai on why he blogs.. it was awesome.. and though I wasnt smart enough to keep the link remember a couple of points.. 'Helps me communicate to people things that I wouldnt really have done either because a) its a different side of my character that they have not seen earlier b) its stuff that i dont feel confident about talking in public and c) i simply dont have the context to talk this with my frends in a day to day life scenario... and then he goes on about how he encourages all his frends to read it to get a more 360 degree view of who he is..

so , nett, blogging is back.. cos i have self justified its importance :p

why we blog

2007-06-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

Sitting in the IKs place (thats intellectual keedas for those who dont know - its called 11-02 dunearn gardens) - and we suddenly came upon 'why do people blog?' - for those who have a good answer, please tell me what to say - cos all i did was look at them and say a meek 'just like that' - perhaps cos I had a feeling that they would pin down the hapless blogger world on the table and disect it to bits before they came up with a satisfactory answer - a heavy round of of IM revealed several key hypotheses - including 'unleashing the hidden side of ur personality' to ' cowards who cant say shit - so write shit' - admittably most of this was after a strong influence of alcohol and so wont really write about the the last few hypotheses - even Nayak (who we consider to be the one with the mind in the gutter) would have struggled to come up with it ..

so then - me (in the minimal thinking capacity i have) started wondering - why am i here anyway - and as usual im confused..

marketing lessons

2007-06-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

Finally, I've taken the hard call to separate out my blogs - now my cricket posts (which people allege are pretty much all my posts) will move to http:\\cricketatpng.blogspot.com - all in the spirit of a consumer centric world :) - i've also promised that i will squeeze my life harder to extract something to write something or the other in the absence of a happening life ..

As they say .. lesson 101 - if your TAs want 2 diff things, u need to offer diff propositions!

Of course, whether Im spreading myself too thin - only time will tell! till then - come visit both the sites.. the link is always here.. cheers!

loo-natics i tell ya

2007-06-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

outright - this post is prolly more relevant to guys - or at least i cant think of how a woman may have gone thru such an experience.. but feel free to read thru and tell me if it does (one learns new things everyday!)

It first noticed it when I started working, fundamentally there are two kinds of guys - based on guess what: the way they act in a public (or office ) bathroom - especially while at the pot... now before u judge me - read thru it!

a) Type A will come in and quietly do his thing and leave - maybe a quick nod of acknowledgement if he sees some1 he knows.. most of the actual down time is spent staring hard at the wall in front, as if mentally wrestling some complex differential equation inscribed on it..

b) Type B has probably been working too hard all day - and mistakes this to be similar to a coffee/ciggy break - they look for ppl they know in there and often even go into the loo in a pair.. standing there is not a reason to stop talking and maintaining eye contact is an added bonus..

Anyway, these two live in perfect harmony - till the point where Type B sees Type A one day - and then starts off a discussion.. poor A, visibly squirms, trying to decide between solving the equation on the wall ahead or look back at type B, finally settling in between, making it all the more obscene and uncomfortable.. talk about captive audience..

The other really bad situation you could get into is when u are there doing the wall equation solving thing - and suddenly u are flanked on either side by two type B people who are in the middle of the conversation.. Try as much as u want - but there is nothing u can do - they will both be looking straight at u as they talk - the slight sway/bend back isnt much better either ! :) - now thats what i call being caught in a cross-fire!

so from all of the type As in the world to all u type Bs - do not judge us by our lack of communication in the loo, we are much more the talking type - just in slightly better situations/places! and for heavens sake - just take more coffee breaks!

the sweeeeeeeet taste of success

2007-06-06T21:25:00.001-07:00

I may be rejoicing (?? i meant herbal-ing) too soon, but looks like we've found an apartment! ye ye!!! :)

Rupee and vidz moving out - so we may be taking their place - frightfully expensive but chalo something is better than nothing...

phew! wont have to live at the airport or the office now.. thank god!

Woes of an underpaid marketer in Singapore

2007-06-04T04:35:00.000-07:00

First and foremost.. YES! this is a crib post - an outlet for the bottled up frustration - especially cos i have no one to blame.. but the supply demand gap for good condos on rent...

Anyways, it all started off 2.5 years back when i did my little calculation of how much id save if I lived in Singapore with my marketing salary - it wasnt bad at all - around 1.5 times of a normal Indian salary living in India.. and that made up my mind about taking up this job...

For the first year or some, things were rosy.. Elmira Heights was the perfect place to live (close to office, town, friends and sports ) - and to boot wasnt very expensive at all... allowed for a very very comfortable lifestyle.. and then i got ahead of myself..

In a moment of weakness, I decided to invest in a systematic investment plan that makes it compulsory to invest some money every month.. dont remember if i was drunk or just plain dumb (more likely a combination of both) - but here I was saddled with a monthly commitment..

And then .. just like that, the bottom gave way - and the axe fell - not in one, but two painful blows:

- The company wants us to become PRs - for those who dont know what it means - its basically a cut of 33% in ur salary that goes to the govt fund (and u get a measly 2-3% interest on it)

- The rents have gone up MASSSIVELY - from a reasonable 2200 sgd to somewhere in the region of 3500 sgd - makes u wonder if you living in downtown NY.. not that i know what that is like..

An example of how bad it is
Assume that a new hire gets 4.5 K - and work the numbers..
- In hand post PR stuff is nearly 3K
- take away rent and very basic living expenses and u have like 1 K left
- u blink and thats at risk and dont even dream of going for a vacation .. lets not get towards repayment of education loans and u risk getting mugged if u can spell 'investments'.. bah!

Im hoping some1 in HR is tracking all of this and is exhibiting some nimble footed 'in-touchness' and will increase salaries significantly - otherwise id be surprised if we dont see a mass exodus from the company..

And of course, my depression has nothing to do with the fact that we lost this weekend (cricket of course!) and i got a massive duck :(

a non-cricket blogentry - a slacker day

2007-06-01T05:20:00.001-07:00

Ive said before - there isnt much to talk about in my life nowadays except cricket.. but a certain person has strongly 'advised' me that I need to write more non-cricket stuff or risk sleeping on a couch forever.. so here goes..

Todays day was spent like a sack of potatoes for most part of the day .. sat on the couch doing nothing at all .. pretended to work while distantly aware of the happenings on the tv.. pretended to attend two/three telecons.. and mumbled a few words there to make it sound authentic.. and basically surfed the net.. for no specific thing.. just random - site to site jumping.. blog reading.. it really is a good way to spend time u know..

one thing i came across was a poem by Rabindranath Tagore (yeah bring on the Bong jokes) - called 'Where the mind is without fear' - one of my fav pcs of poetry ... a poem that you keep discovering.. every line has layers of meaning which u need to peel off .. and they all link back to the one theme of the poem.. truly inspiring poem.. for the very few who havent read it before.. here goes..

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

:)

another of those days..

2007-05-29T19:35:00.001-07:00

One of those days... gloomy weather outside.. insides groaning and complaining.. work seems like the most distant priority.. people come around asking for stuff and you feel like just answering 'I dont know and I dont care!' :p

but a silver lining exists, even on this dark grey cloud.. the mid week holiday.. the oasis in the middle of the sahara.. i honestly believe that every week should have at least mid week break .. just to help you recover from the wear and tear that office brings..

and of course, there is Friday after that.. and sports again.. come to think of it .. today is almost like a Friday.. should make some harrys plans and some dinnering and all that :)

alright - the days not that bad after all then - of course.. to dampen the spirits.. small matters of work are still there.. sigh!

so.. back to strategic stuff.. setting up meetings, process invoices, print stuff out, write agendas for meetings.. vidyar - we need to start the 'united abm blogger' soon!

more strategies!

2007-05-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

The spring is there in our step, and we are clearly on a high (as my previous post may tell u) - but as some smart guy said, the only way after uve reached the crescendo is a steep steep drop.. other smart guys have called it the law of averages - but what i call it is a) complacency and b) not embracing change...

Despite being the best team around - I think we have a couple of big gaps - couple that with a few changes (of playing conditions/Grounds) and we may actually have a problem.. the key changes this coming week are
a) We are playing at GIIS Queensland - a much smaller ground
b) The opposition would def have heard about Bakir and Matt and would plan for that

This is my take on how we should tackle each of the issues :

a) Playing at the smaller ground

Means that a 200 may be enough - need to bat faster - id revise all of Paddus targets upwards by 20%.
Need some1 upfront who can play well square (pulls/cuts) - to me the ideal guy here is Sriram
Singles are going to be rare so the disadvantages of running slow dont count much :p - so let Ganji open
If an opener falls early - get Esh in and if neccessary even Swapnil and hold for the first 6-8 overs..
I wont bowl myself too much unless really needed - even the top edges fly for 6 here... but always willing to give it a try :)

b) Competition knowing about Bakir/Matt

Could keep thier best bowlers back
which means we need to maximise the new ball bowlers and get some1 up there who can hit!

So my proposed batting line-up is :

Ganji
Sriram
Paddu/Raff
Bakir
Matt
Tapish
Raff/Paddu
Shiv
Swapnil
Esh
Goel

If wickets fall fast - then Esh and Swapnil go upfront..

An interesting option will be sending Swapnil up instead of Ganji and asking him to go for it.. or maybe asking nitin goel to do that :)

Bowling:

Bakir, Nitin, Tapish, Paddu, Swappy, Matt, Shiv (in order of priority)

Separately, for the friendly against KB, this is my proposed line-up

Raff
Tapish
Paddu
Bakir
Shiv
Sriram
Swappy
Manish
Esh
Nitin Goel
Ganji

Just to mix things up a bit :)

cricket continues

2007-05-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

For those who dont like cricket (read spunky, oli and a few other such loser kinds) .. apologies .. there hasnt been too much action in my life but for the cricket matches on weekends and during the week, a constant to-and-fro of discussions around strategy, analysis, chest thumping or plain bitching..

In normal circumstances, this would be a fairly poor reflection of the kind of excitement in my life (the lack of which is a completely different story which i shall leave for a less joyous time).. but for this one time, its purely behind a complete upliftment of the spirit of the team - suddenly u can sense it - there is a sort of nervous passion in the air as emails float around, the Srirams of the world are deeply introspecting on a freak dismissal, Esh is raring to go at the bowlers again and even the iceman polska is betraying some emotion! (not yet to a level to getting ganji into wanting to run fast singles tho - now that will take something!)

This season feels like a piece of Yanni music - (refer to the Optimistique album) - starts of slow and low and then builds up tempo and style.. and just when u think its going to taper off, he takes the next higher note, till u are amongst notes u didnt know about.. so thats what happened on saturday - just when u thot that the last match was an awesome allround display - this one completely smashed that out ..

Bakir and Matt were the stars of the day - they came, they looked around with utter disdain, helped themselves to a quick pile of runs like kids in a unattended candy store and then were in the process of stomping out the last bit of self esteem the opposition had before guilt struck home and they let the poor wet mice go..

It wasnt just the runs, it wasnt the sweetly caressed shots interspersed with savage blows, it was they elegance that they commanded while they were there thay was awe inspiring.. Matt looked like he could score that fifty again on one leg, one arm tied down and with a blindfold.. Bakir - what should i say!

Anyway - the bowling wasnt as rosy as this - key highlights for me were a) Swapnil bowling with a lot more control and lower pace b) Matts outstanding bowling c) now always expected - a 5 wicket haul from Bakir and d) a significant improvement in my bowling vs last time..

Our ground fielding sucked a little, as did our catching - we dropped a good number of catches - somethign we really need to fix, if we want to keep up the good work...

As we move towards the next match - they key question is - is there a higher note, or have we reached the crescendo! - who cares! as of now - i can feel the music in my ears!

Cricket ramblings continue..

2007-05-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

Realised that I didnt pay tribute to Nitin (Not u ganji - i mean Goel) - in my last post.. or to Swapnil.. Both fighters to the core - have been invaluable to the team.. and of course there is Esh who has bled for the team ;)

Anyway - this is not about being good to people.. this post is about my take on the strategy - and my attempt to influence team management...

I may trash some people and thier abilities here - but no hard feelings guys - u know how capitalistic worlds are run :p - but seriously - please dont get senti :)

First, Whats working? (pls note how i placed 'whats working' first - in the spirit of positive thinking :p)

a) Our bowling absolutely rocks (apart from the spin bowler who just plain sucks! and that we dont have a back up for Tapish - come on Bharat/Raff!)

b) Our middle order - Whether its the cool killer tapish, Solid Bakir, Paddu or the substitute middle order batsmen (Bharat, Lal etc) - we always look our best when these guys are in the middle.. singles come easy - the occasional four looks effortless - over the last 6-7 matches - this is usually a phase for 10-15 overs of the match - typically 8-23th over ..

c) No dropped catches yet - and ganjis slip catching nothwitstanding (actually even he got a runout :p) we've been a pretty neat side.. till now at least :)

Whats not working?

a) Our average score is lower than it should be - we should have hit the mediocre sides for at least 200 in each match

b) Our starts are slower than they could be (with restrictions and all that)

c) In the last few overs, the lower order isnt able to accelerate properly, either losing the wickets too fast in a frenzy to go out there and smash the first ball for four or six (read: Raff, Shiv and Paddu are going in too late :p)

My ideas on further improving an already excellent team. Pretty much all of it revolves around being flexible and not planning a batting order in terms of who goes after whom but thinking of who should go at what stage of the innings

So - this is how I believe we should structure our team - comments obviously invited :)

Core middle batsmen : Bakir, Tapish, Paddu, Matt, Bharat - these guys should ideally be there by the 10th over and one of these guys should play on till the end.. Send them at whatever situation they will score at a run a ball - only issue is that we have only 2/3 of this kind and so they shouldnt take too many chances

Single pickers: Lal, Swapnil, Manish, Venkat (?) - these guys should play around the core batsmen - these are our gritty batsmen, who can either stay there while the bowling going well and can rotate the strike and give the core batsmen more strike.. the occasional boundary is a sweet bonus.. :)

Slammers: Raff, Shiv, Nitin Goel - This is the bunch that flinches everytime some1 defends a ball pitched up - and Raff even goes to watch other games cos he thinks esh and Ganji are batting slowly.. Ideally if they play 4/5 overs in the middle - those will give almost 50 runs, now whether u want it in the early part (fielding restriction time), or around the 15th over to speed things up a bit or later in the 24th over onwards - thats completely the captains call but its a shame to have hard hitters sitting in the pavilion till the 27th over and then they need to go slam from ball 1 .. One more thing .. if they are slammers - no point asking them to bat like opening batsmen in the nets - let them have a go.. in the nets too :)

Opening Defenders: Esh, Ganji, Sriram - Sriram can pretty much play in any of the roles we talked about - so lets talk about what the blunters need to do .. Esh and Ganji need to ensure that for the first 5 overs we dont lose a wicket - not too differently from the last match - a little more single taking may help - and a few more of ganjis sweetly timed shots on the legside may actually help us forget the last 2 seasons :p

So nett, keep each of these groups ready depending on the situation of the match..

Anyway - thats the opinion from the bottom of the pyramid - im sure the the view from up there will be a little different..

but on a separate note : here is to Paddu - the glue that holds the splinters together.. Take away his brilliant cricket skills and mind, take away his enthu that lifts the team up or his super-gentlemanly conduct and ull still be left with his ever smiling self (despite pain, tiredness or plain irritation)

(if that doesnt get us up the order raff, nothing will!)

anyway - time to get back to work - i love WFH days :)

Evolution of cricket in P&G

2007-05-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

For those who came in late - I am part of the P&G cricket team - which true to P&G culture was the best at work life balance but thats pretty much where it all ended.. nets was an unheard of concept and playing a match with 11 was as real as getting incremental money at the end of the fiscal.. notables on this team included Sriram 'blast from the past' , manish 'got married and disappeared' Chaudhury and Nitin 'runs as fast as he walks' Gajria and me ..

Every match was a combination of a) a flawless execution of a middle order collapse b) a bowling line-up that was determined to help the opposing batsmen get a few runs (some1 needs to do that right!) and c) incessant intellectualisation on what worked and what not after that match - all fairly unactionable stuff..

In between, we went a step better - we joined Kaybee - a team that was as splintered as ours, Ganji loved the guys who played there - with a seasons cumulative score of less than the number of Km from Newton to Novena - id think he had good enough reason to be pissed off when he wass dropped from the team ;) - but the external perspective while playing for these guys was helpful.. we realised others sucked just as bad - and Sriram took the leap of faith saying 'P&G will field its own team this year'..

And when u could just hear the laughter dying out (as a reaction to Srirams statement) - we saw the advent of a new generation of cricketers in P&G - Bakir 'demolition man' Shaikh, Paddu 'Nazi captain', Tapish - the ice cool killer, Raffy - the diversity quota (hehe - actually the Gilchrist) and Bharat 'currently limping ' V. ..

More about what happened to this team - in my next post..

The vishu saga

2007-05-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Vishys undeniable raw tam-bram studd farm appeal continues to bowl over the women.. the latest being the interns party that was hosted last night..

Its no surprise that this was the only bright thing about the party - given the other parts of the night were doing one of 4 things :

a) Lifting daaku off some1/thing as he fell over in yet another drunken stupor.. and watching vishy as he muttered incomprehensible abuses under his breath.

b) Taking our own case, and intermittently shouting 'Rule 2', 'Rule 2' (For those who came in late - Rule 2 = 'dont take our own case while ragging is going on')

c) Shouts of 'North zone', 'South Zone', 'East zone' and random cheering behind that every time some1 mentioned where he was from... proudly (And much to aparnas chagrin) led by Dobby as he cheered for the 'Aamar shonar bangla, bihar, assam and orissa' and equally ineptly led by the considerably drunk Nerdy who was leading the illad brigade (dont crucify me guys :p)..

d) Random bhasad cheering for IIMA, B, C - and a semi whimper for L, FMS and NUS. :)

Back to the highlight, Vishu was clearly the centre of the night - whether it be his Salsa dance with Anupama (which he thought no one noticed:p), Being lovingly called 'vishu' by only tam bram girl there (resulting in suspicious green smoke around olis ears) , consistently being in the top 2 guys in the room when the women were asked to the extent where there were two women who were willing to arm wrestle (in the absence of mud :p) just to get a chance to dance with their 'Vishu'.. Cheers man - uve got then eating out of ur hand havent u - with Nayak out of the race under super PML considerations (PML = pyaar mein lulla for those who came in late), this leaves Vishy with a clear path - like chritiano ronaldo with only the keeper to beat.. :p

anyway - just hope this post didnt make u think that the party was fun.. it was a damp squib if there was ever one - over drunk people, mostly boring (read uncooperative) interns, lack of the nayak, not very involved senior junta - pchaa - lets just move on to the rest of the weekend ...

simple and powerful!

2007-05-18T21:06:00.000-07:00

Check out the excerpt below - my new MD gave this to me in our first 1:1 meeting last month. Now I am as big a cynic (and probably bigger than) as most of you reading this .. but something about these simple 5 lines caught me - as I thought a little about this - the strength of these points really drove home..

___________________________________________________________________
Beliefs that drive my behavior:

1) Build an organisation - the volumes/Business will follow:

You cant succeed if your people dont
Find a mission and culture to rally around
Create legacies, not assignment histories

2) Lead, Follow or get out of the way - DONT WHINE:

You are an entrepreneur, not a consultant - act, dont just give advice
Dont bitch about ur brand team - if you dont believe who will?
All teams need cheerleaders - and it starts with us

3) Win externally, dont swirl internally

If it doesnt build cases or equity, dont do it
Dress up the store, not the office
Business should drive processes, not the other way around

4) Business can be much simpler than we make it

Win with few big ideas rather than with small scattered ideas
Buzz words come and go - fundamentals are forever
Focus on the action - not the jargon
Cut the swirl - elevate to the decision maker

5) Be ready to quit everyday without regrets

Have passions other than, and more lasting than work
Do whats right for the business and my people, forget 'agendas', 'promotion timings'

_________________________________________________________________

Do post a comment if you didnt understand something - and ill put it in a non-P&G way :p

Desis - where do we stand vs. the rest

2007-05-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

Over the last 2 odd years - ive spent inordinate amounts of time working with a completely diverse A-Pac team - an Aussie, a Thai, a New Zealander, an Indonesian, a Chinese, a Singaporean, a frenchman and a Filipino. While i run the risk of being completely unidimensional in my analysis of each of these races, ill go ahead anyway.. just dont quote me anywhere :p

Dont know about u guys, but before I came here - I thought of SEA as pretty much homogeneous set of people of asian descent.. and Ironically, I spent all of Friday morning getting the data to prove to management that each ASEAN market needed a different kind of marketing because they were different people!

Anyway - back to the topic: Remember, this is a comparision of the mid tertile of people rather than a comparision of the top people from each race (top people are the best - no matter where they come from )

What are we good at :

a) Ability to put fight - call it the boon of a competitive education system, or call it the bane of not having our priorities right - but Indians have the ability to really live with their foot on the pedal ..

b) Adapting to an environment: Most of us are adapters by nature - brings to mind that Undy ad which goes 'zindagi mein bahut kuch adjust karna padta hai', all of us are just children of a system that teaches us to take whatever is doled out to us - nett, we are survivors, clinging on to in an ever changing environment

c) Thinking ability : A controversial one.. but in my time at P&G, ive found that most Indians are good thinkers - not just math, but overall their ability to think through a situation and a problem. It could be just the crosssection of people in P&G but Indians do seem pretty strategic.. u know what i mean?

what sets us back:

a) Menial is bad, strategy is good: Coming from a culture where menial is bad (starting as early as the caste system) and thinkers are great, its no surprise that we look down at routine boring things, and prefer to do a 'strategy' project to 'implementation', prefer 'brand management' to 'sales'..

b) Operating with discipline: not so much on an absolute scale as on a comparative one vs other nationalities - Indians lag behind on this one by a long long way - repetitive detail oriented things are just not our cup of tea - u can either fight hard to imbibe it - or recognise (like i did) that there is no hope and i need to duck everytime something like this comes along..

c) A wide perspective: Given that 90% of us have never seen anyplace out of India and have never met non Indians, its but natural that we are untouched by the concept of global perspective.. whether it be Indo-Paki issues, or a west vs East story or even caring about the difference between Thailand/indo/mal/Vietnam - nett, as long as it doesnt affect me i dont have to know it!

d) A thirst for information: Again, this may be skewed due to the cross section ive met, but Indians usually arent actively trying to learn about new things/cultures.. Especially if you compare this with Aussies, you see that they are extremely well informed - whether it be local politics, international issues, laws and regulations and even health related stuff.. you really need to be in the midst of a transfat, good fat, bad fat kind of conversation to realise that these guys spend a lot of time really understanding things that affect their life..

e) Qualitative is Global: Probably the biggest, especially in a engg/MBA context, if you dont have numbers in the statement u made, you are obviously a fraud and 'global'.. If there is one thing id like to go back and change in our Indian MBA mentality, it would be this - It is the biggest bane of our education system - something that is the single most important factor that pushes our EQs all the way down to the futuristic ones we will use for robots..

I had a few more, but in fear of sounding like a indian basher, i shall stop here :)

Jai hind!

life stage changes - i hate em :(

2007-05-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

the other day I was browsing through Samchos blog (senior of mine from IIMB - gem of a guy!) - and came acrossa paragraph where he recommends a small excercise.. remember the time of your life when you have been very happy.. and look at the people around u then.. and now think of how many of those you've spoken to in the last week, maybe even a year..

i know i know - nothing nobel leaureatish about that - nothing that even a BCom couldnt figure out... but try it - it can throw up a few really interesting things..

For those of you who have been waiting with bated breaths for my example.. here goes.. I actually thought of two/three diff ones and in the interest of political correctness (the bane of a public blog where ur gf reads ur articles ;) ill mention the relevant one..

In room 34, Cauvery block (1st year hostel in RV College of Engg) - All of us sitting in the room, discussing Kamus birthday and feeling guilty at wat happened at his birthday celebrations: with good reason i may add - having kicked him in the most unmentionable places, having smashed an egg or two on his head and the star: ponks pouring a can of rassagulla syrup on him. Raja is proposing that we buy him a cake and despite Sandy the farmer and Chippar Ghosh's vehement protests at having to spend an additional 10 bucks, Gopi the 'daadu' calls it out that we will do as raja says.. As usual, 10 people end up sleeping on 3 beds cos no one wants to leave and go to his room lest he misses out on some fun!

That brings me to our gang during Engg - the ten of us + the girls (R2, Suki, Dra, Eex, Du) . The girls are an integreal part of the gang - but being a hostel buddy is somethign else.. honestly! Ive been putting off a post dedicated to each of these folks but will do it soon .. lots of dirt there :p

Anyway - back to the point of the blog - once I got to thinking about the gang and the times we've had, to the nostalgic point of picking up the phone to call some of them on full charge ISD, I decided to stock of where my relationship stood with respect to each of these guys... one by one, deliberately... almost unhealthily clinically :(

The reality wasnt that tough to figure out - I was in regular touch with 3- maybe 4 of these people... Id no clue what was happening to almost half of the people who are part of the happiest times of my life..

From a time where we discussed, argued and fought over what colour of jeans should one buy to a point where i was told by a stranger that one of these guys is getting married .. from a time where one person having something to do in the city meant that all of us went with him, to a time where 3/10 attend a wedding.. the heart starts to sink at the mere thought of the level of degradement..

Dont get me wrong, its not that we are all not frends anymore - I know that today also - I can bank on most of these guys to stand by me - come whatever (and id do the same - no matter wat) - but everyone seems to have moved on.. onto other things that matter just as much as this... or more.. in fact 'more' is probably more accurate... i believe the term they use is 'life stage'..

Which brings me to the official announcement of the fact that I hate lifestage changes, the evil force that tugs at threads of past relationships trying hard to make it rip - that causes close people to move on - that causes ponks to come to singapore with his wife and stilll not want to meet up .. that causes Rohit and Gopi to stay thousands of kilometres away in a context that i dont understand.. that changes your expectation of strong frendships to a sick point where you almost expect that a frend who has moved out of the immediate vicinity of your life is probably a lost cause..

Save me the speil of the good things that come with lifestage movements - i know it - but that doesnt stop me from cribbing over the fact that Im not eating dinner with the BAAGS tonight (For those who came in late : BAAGS = bhatti, anirudh, ashwin, gopi, shiv hehe)..