Social Media- is to be slowly born again in new world # First HCLTweetup

I kept my profession out of this space but an experience of an event calls to be typed down to be kept as ever lasting memory. I work for a technology company but have no technology background, believe it or not but my first encounter with computer was in graduation first year during my BSc. Mathematics. Therefore computer for me was like a rocket science if not more till 6yrs back :-). And after completion of my graduation when I landed up to Galib’s city for Job search (my another post has detailed rationale about this move), my first interviewer asked me, can you operate a computer? I answered, NO explaining further that only thing I know is how to place my hand on mouse. From this background to finally working for one of the most disruptive IT company and then being part of first tweetup (I was clueless what does it mean and finally figured out ,it is Twitter meet up, God Bless Sergey Brin and Larry Page whose Idea is saving grace for so many like me ). OMG this is turning into a fairytale or another slumdog into motion ("millionaire" doesn’t go along with fair distance);-).

My job is such that every week I end-up meeting 100+ new people F2F. I am in talent acquisition and in line to this I frequently travel to metro’s and budding IT hubs like Indore, Bhuvneswar , Vizag n all and keep meeting & dealing with people. Therefore going into another meeting or get together doesn't excites me much to be honest unless there is something unique or new about it. So what prompted me being at tweetup? that too when I am in pressure cooker situation these days, it was just that I’ll get to meet the genius thought leader who has given new meaning and dimension to word “Management” The maverick Vineet Nayar.

I am new to twitter and still learning about it but why did I join this? Just to know what is so god damn great about this tool/portal which has cost an Indian minister his post, so called charismatic Lalit Modi bitted the dust over night courtesy Twitter. Also it gives you access to management, leadership theories free of cost from likes of Tom Peter’s to Gary Hamel, you name one you will get him. Mark Zuckerberg’s allegedly theft Idea from an Indian origin mind is also a buzz word, recently only I became more active on Facebook because the way people were talking about it whole day everywhere you go, I thought I should make my presence felt before people start doubting my existence :-).


And then the D-day came I went all excited for tweetup and best part was the venue, it was an art gallery coveted with art work of MF Hussein to Tayeb Mehta and almost all big names from Indian paint brush landscape. Though it is next to my work place but it was my first visit there. Tweetup started with casual introductions to sharing of embarrassing twitter incidents finally leading to very insightful discussions about digital identity and branding thanks to our young (for his signature indeed he is) & dynamic Chief Marketing officer who is musician also, Oh you just said "sounds" interesting ;-), He is on exploration for his unique sound . The topic digital identity was vast thus it was natural to have diverse opinions. Great Confucius said whenever possible "Be clear" and that’s exactly what both parties did and lines for verbal battle have been drawn, which lead to very profound discussion about, How one should craft his/her digital persona? to optimize his/her influence and impact. And then question came straight from tweet world, how does an employee’s individual branding helps an employer? And answer came walking into gallery in form of our Chief Enabling Officer (That's what CEO in HCL stand for) ; today Vineet is great brand into business space because of his management theories, thoughts and ideas which are changing the business nuance across the world. Need not to mention because of his ever growing individual brand image HCL is deriving great dividend of him being at driving seat.

After discussions on digital identity and personal branding it was time for all 25 of us to sneak-in in one of the most evolve business minds. And he started with intriguing thought that world is full of Idea if you have eyes for them. What stays forever? Only Ideas, Gandhi , Martin Luther King are still been followed and revered because of their ideas. Which are so relevant even today and making the world better place to live. Midst of all what had been said and discussed in HCL tweetup, most defining and profound thought which has stayed with me is “what is so unique about U and your identity?” Along with this Vineet’s answer to a question “who is your most favorite person whom you follow in twitter?” His answer was “I don’t follow people I follow ideas”. When there is so much available from Preeti Zinta’s twing tweet to John Hollon’s people management theories and you can’t have both same time thus being self censored & knowing your filter is very important to keep away from distractions. Because twitter serves all simultaneously imagine having continental and south Indian food on same platter, will you be able to tell the taste after meal, even foodie experts like Kunal & Vinod Dua will be lost ;-) are they experts? at least their Santro stuffed bellies suggest that. After full dose of high voltage social media usages & implications we celebrated our first Tweetup with yummy cake and delicious snacks.

Imagine a Google or Apple employee meeting Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs for 1 hour in so casual manner cut across the band and level. That too owing an idea which being formulated on social networking site just a week back. Am I dreaming? Yes but in HCL we turn dreams into realities and explore the unexplored with each passing year. Tweetup was another testament of this spirit, CEO met with 25 of us for 1 hour, shared his mind-boggling thoughts, clicked pictures. It has a message to all who still romanticize with pyramid, here it has been inverted big time and bottom is on TOP now if you still so romantic about it, just to remind you with words of our CEO “pyramids are associated with death as well”. “Employee First” at center stage once again.

To all twitter transformers, folks this is our opportunity to make it big and take it to next level, lets design a framework of our influence and optimize our impact with more collaboration and bring more people on board. Thanks so much for having me there and please keep educating me with art of tweeting….Bokul ,Kavita & Anshul thanks for putting this together and painting this ever changing HCL canvas with painting of its own kind called “TWEETUP”.

Happy Tweeting!!

HINDI HEARTLAND BRAIN DRAIN IS BIG JOLT TO NATION’S ULTIMATE DREAM.

I wrote my last blog about women empowerment societal prejudice and mediocrity mentality on the whole. These are certain issue which kept bothering me as young citizen of this nation and being eternal optimist, I know it will change one day because debate and discussion has already started taking place on these issues at various levels. But there is one issue which has not caught-up the attention of the nation however it has come to surface intermittently and faze out without being discussed with earnest sincerity to find solution. But in my opinion this issue is silently doing collateral damage to our country which is not quantifiable today but eventually once it will come to surface perhaps it will too late & we’ll not even left with room to mend. The issue I am talking about is workforce migration from Hindi heartland like M.P., U.P. & Bihar to metros like Delhi & Mumbai.

This entire issue has 2 facets to it, one view is of metro citizen, who has strong views about large part of his city being turn into slums resultant making their daily life more cumbersome. Other view is of these migrants who has unanswered question in their heart for ages i.e. Where should we go? Do we really have any choices? and believe me this is most rampant question which every youngster asks himself & others in Hindi heartlands, once he reaches to stage wherein his father looks into his eyes with hope that he will take care of his debts, his sister looks up to him with hope that he will find a dream man for her, his mother looks up to him with dream that her son is grown-up now and her wretchedness will be vanished soon. Thus sheer pressure of these untold responsibilities coupled with too little opportunities to live his dream in his home state put him into peculiar situation which ultimately make him think about “land of opportunities“.This is how the city of Galib and commerce capital of India been referred in these area with background of some fairytale stories of, some real time Heroes from these villages who migrated to these cities and made it big for themselves and their family.

The next story will surface moot issue further though there is another layer below this which is equally complex but because of central government schemes off late like NREGA n all it is getting curtailed to an extent. This story is based on true story where only plots & characters changes house to house however climax is same everywhere. I completed my higher secondary a decade ago from one the backwards area of M.P. (that is what official data says) and first time I have had my encounter with the question, where should I go? All my friends from elitist family took the train to Mahakoshal in the coast of River Narmada for their higher education. I left on my own to write my own destiny with a pen which ironically has no ink into it. Like pre USSR dismantling, world diplomacy used to have only 2 roads one used to go to USA other to USSR akin to this student in those areas has 2 options only either they clear engineering or medical entrance or go for bachelor degree in science for Arts student had more dreadful fate and had to options to choose from. I cleared my engineering entrance, god knows how? and was all set to get admission in royal state of Gwalior which my father denied with all due respect owing my track record coupled with significant dip in my % from 80’s to 60’s that year courtesy cricket fever. Finally since I didn’t had any option I opted for road B and did my graduation in science not because I wanted to be an Einstein or Newton but because I have been barred to do what I wanted and forced into this.

After I got my graduation degree, many so called pundits there told me to do MSc. in Mathematics and take the Aryabhatt legacy forward. But I was very clear in my mind that spending 2 more years here would be like trying to climb oil soaked straight bamboo hence I discarded all the suggestions from Raichand’s. [In Hindi Heartland you get only 2 types of people “Rai-chand” -One who has suggestion on everything under the sun and “Rai-bahadur” -One who gives advice to you on any topic without even you being asking for it  ]. So did I have any options to choose from? NO and then the question pop-in again Where should I go? The answer was land of opportunities and here I am, though I didn’t contributed to slums but I certainly prompted more folks like me to come here and add to your misery in public transport, queuing up for almost everything you need for survival. God bless Kishore Biyani who used our vulnerability to great effect and created an empire nonetheless he has one window solution to lot of our problem, doesn’t he?

Even after a decade when I go there and seek if there is any opportunity where I can fit the bill? And not to my surprise I am still useless for that socio environment, why? Primarily because there is hardly any private investment there at least which I could recall? Except some cement factories, Adding insult to injury the place from where I am graduated underpinning of India shining the Railway is yet to reach there. The only reason for this abstinent which I could think of is perhaps our governments had been headed by great Gandhi followers who discarded this foreign transportation system here  Vijay Mallaya’s fly good times are ages away from these places no one even dreaming about it there today. Now since there is no rail line therefore raw material can’t come coupled with dismal state of infrastructure add fuel to fury of investors and they are shying away from these areas from day one. Midst of all we have a frankenstein’s monster called naxlism which is spreading its wing in these states. What all the options do we have? When nothing is right there is huge opportunity lying out there and improvement can be started from anywhere. All we need to change is approach and intent. You have to create more opportunities in these states to get this fixed ,we need to have multi angel approach such as better education system, top notch infrastructure which can lure the private investment. And finally we need to reestablish the trust of youth that they can have better future in their home turf because given a choice each one us wants to be there and give back to society whatever little he or she can. Astounding GDP growth will not establish us as super power unless growth is more inclusive, for that we must stop the brain drain in ruler areas with immediate effect. We’ll not fix this issue unless we consider it as gruesome as inflation, poverty or naxalism for that matter. “We’ll try” approach has to be change to “we’ll do it” since “we’ll try“for me stand for we are not committed. This migration has vicious circle which is impacting us in larger scale and it should be decoded before it gets too late……….