The forgotten “Patriotism and emphatic resurgent”

I always wonder why out of the blue every year, 15^th August is a day that suddenly makes us all very patriotic. I woke up listening to Mahender Kapoor and Manna Dey on radio and the moving manual of patriotism Manoj Kumar on my idiot box which got me thinking back to my childhood when 14^th August gave us a half day off from school where we had to polish our shoes and iron our clothes properly so that we were well prepared for the festivities that the next day offered. Most important of all was the “Booni ka laddo” J don’t know if this ceremonial style was restricted to heart of India or other parts as well.

This went on till higher secondary, along with these visible symbolisms a sudden surge of patriotism with passionate speeches and patriotic songs with no “sur” (Hindi Sur-Taal one) whatsoever were integral part of celebrations, All this used to start with first ray of light and by the time the sun set everything would be called off, erased from our memory and life got back to the usual business along with some trophies and medals to put in our showcase. By the time I reached college, 15^th August had changed quite a bit and became just a holiday where the most we would do was play a cricket match, even that single day of patriotism was out of the mind and replaced with romance of cover drives and square cuts.

But this year, 15^th August, 2011 came in a different shape, size and vibrancy. I was in small village in Madhya Pradesh where I could see no development whatsoever since immemorial. Early morning I woke-up to tunes of ‘Jab “ZERO” diya mere Bharat ne’ and immediately the thought came to mind on what a song to start an Independence celebration only because the irony is perhaps that this village is biggest testament of this song with its “ZERO” development J . In last 20 years all I have been witness just to so many cases in courts on land disputes and on the hindsight I believe, “land Acquisition” bill perhaps the government can consult these undesignated, argumentative talented law experts who are fighting these cases with their own fathers and brothers for ages. Midst of this sheer disgust we still get together every year on 15^th August to epitomize our freedom, unity and brotherhood. As the day progressed some eminent citizens voiced their opinion about dismal state of schools, teacher’s, and absenteeism in the most ritual manner as they had been doing for decades with zero follow-up and action afterwards. Then the drama begins as one of them came onto the dais and proclaimed that “I’ll ask a question and no teacher will have answer for it. Tell me a state which has 7 letters name?” After a deathly silenced he said “I told you no one would know, now do you know what kind of future our school and kids have?” He was not the first one of his kind. My cousin told me that last year this school organized an inter block Volleyball tournament and the local MLA was invited as Chief Guest for prize distributions , in his post match speech he said , There are 3 most popular games in the world “Balebaal, Footebaal and Tournament” J.

I believe my brush-up with patriotism is not an aberration and most of us if not all have had similar experiences unless you have had the privileged to go to Don Bosco’s and Saint Mary’s only. But all this changed on August 16^th 2011, by the time clock turned dawn a man from a small Village in Maharashtra walked to the political corridors with his white dhoti kurta and Gandhi Topi. At first glance he looked like just another NGO person who wanted to take head-on the issue which had been a discussion point in this country. Some predicted this to happen and thought that it will chew away all the hardwork and goodness gone behind unshackling the grip of the East India Company. The predictions turned out to be true and a silent menace against corruption started towards some greedy self centered power abusers who have gradually intoxicated whole system. Midst of the ever growing GDP and the dream of becoming an economical super power this issues has been part of AC drawing room intellect for a while but it was limited to that only without any substantial action at the ground to change it.

But it again took a village patriot to come forward, like all other people movements in our history, to galvanize the nation on this issue as well. The Gandhian, Anna Hazare has history behind him from being rampant fiery young guy who didn’t hesitate to beat the hell out of a police man while he was trying to overpower him on behest of his positional power, to a WAR solider of 1971 Pakistan war and then on to turning into a Gandhian, social activist in a dramatic style post reading the book of Swami Vivekananda in a train journey, rest is history in the making. Man taught us if you have right intentions and a big idea the sky is the limit. Ramleela ground of this historical city which has seen so many agitations during freedom struggle perhaps would have least expected to be embraced with same sense of patriotism, intense passion for the country amidst modern slut walks and gay parades.

With each passing day that Man captured the imagination of Indians with backdrop of Symbolisms. We as a society always been romancing with “Prateekvaad” and the moment we saw a 74yr old man ready to sacrifice his life and take head-on the paradoxically dogmatic government with a no burning buses, stone pelting and effigies bashing method but, without making any tangible harm to the other side of the table which will awake their souls as Gandhi has demonstrated in backdrop of numerous occasions during communal violence. India has learnt biggest lesson post independence in last 12 days that people hold the keys and each individual is empowered to bring the change provided we collaborate with intense passion rather than thinking what enablement do I need to tackle the problem? We must think of what we can do to make a difference for the problem at the threshold. The forgotten patriotism has an emphatic resurgent which perhaps is a new ray of hope in the looming darkness that our democracy is going through.........

JEEVAN KYA.... ?

Jeevan kya? kathhin nirnayo ki kadi si hai

Har chhand sangharsha se bhari si hai !!

Kabhi Bebaak, vachaal , alhaadpan se bhari

Kabhi khamosh Udaas Tanhayiyo se saji !!

Sansaar ke rangmanch pe avtarit koi patkatha si mano

Kabhi parishtithiya utpaan kar hamein niyantran mein hone ka vaham karati

Agale pal sab soch ke vipreet kar mano aaukaat dikhati !!!

Kabhi Achanak kuch avishmarndeey pal de jaati

Agale pal bebas lachaar bana kathhputli hone ka ahsaas karati

Jeevan kya ? kathhin nirnayo ko kadi si hai................. !!!

Exploring the silent intelligence with tremendous learning......

A few months back when life had become a routine like brushing teeth, I deliberately hooked to latest phenomena of the world i.e. social media, it suddenly became like brushing teeth with nice music on which was some solaceJ. My situation was almost like wanting to go to the ground to play and but the management decided only letting me coach. So I stayed put and like the saying when things look gloomy and dark after few hours the sun will come out which is exactly what happened. One day I saw a post on one of the internal social networking mediums to make a call on a number. Filled with an abundance of enthusiasm and exuberance I called the number only to realize that there was an exciting future waiting but with it came huge risk and there was a lot at stake. In a sense it could be lot of accolades or despair.....

The opportunity was tough at the same time very exciting and irresistible. I had been asked to do something which I never done before nor did I have the experience or formal training for it. It has taken me four years and 12-13 hours a day slogging to reach where things could be calm, quiet, with some sort of visibility, trust of my seniors and respect from customers. But still I had one big question in front of me WHAT NEXT? That call had the answer but it had also infused the element of fear and doubt in me. It is always a risky affair to bet on a new companies stock but some of the best brokers have made their fortune buy doing this day in and day out. I was in a big dilemma but then I told myself you can’t make it big by playing safe, if the ship is in the safest harbor what is it made for? Nope not at all, it has to go out of this safe harbor to find its niche. I weighed my options and said YES to opportunity.

The deal had its own twist I had to move to city of The Thalaivaar ( Rajani Land), and boy if you ask any north Indian which city they would want to visit last on the earth, it is going to be this one, this is not right to say but I am afraid it’s true J. I personally had no prejudice hence thought peoples opinion is their own opinion and none of my business J thus let me go and explore, let me take my boat to rough water and let the adventure of raft begin.

To all my friends in north India here is a message from Chennai- “I am neither loud nor very vibrant but I am accommodation in highest order, I don’t aspire to be Shanghai and LA as my other competitors, I am still very much Indian and would like to remain same. But that doesn’t mean I am not modern, I am as modern and forward looking as it can get. I have most generous people who still think moral science is most important science and it has to be practiced in daily routine life. And when it comes to food I can give any city in the world a run for their money, you will get tired of counting but list is endless, the variety is unimaginable. And if you ever doubted my global appeal, chef Floyd Cardoz’s has answered on my behalf in emphatically styled “UPMA” (Believe it or not) is now a part of the global cuisine “MIND IT” J, it has won him the TOP Chef Award of 100KUSD in LA last week.

While I was gradually getting charmed by Chennai, I met some superbly intelligent people, who are masters of their craft; they change your outlook about things with their disruptive thought and knowledge on subject in each touch point. I have had my struggles but after a point I realized it was not Chennai which had issues rather the issue was with my mindset and I started embracing it gradually realizing what I could have missed. Midst of holy city exploration I have been learning thorough the journey each passing day. It has had its WOW moments along with some very low ones, but all in all it was a tremendous journey both personally and professionally. You can’t dream big and remain riskless mediocre at the same time in life, Take a chance, don’t wait for opportunities to come and knock your door, time has come to build the door.................

MADNESS IS THE NEW SOLUTION- Be a MAD let’s get obsessed to change...

It was one of the most usual days in office and post lunch suddenly I received a mail in my inbox with the subject “Be a MAD” I was about to ignore it thinking it would be another forwarded email from one of my friend(s) who redefines the meaning of insane. But then I saw where it came from? It was from a Man whose “statement” “opinion” and “words” has realigned the thinking in boardrooms forever. Yes it was from our Maverick CEO Mr. Vineet Nayar. Well before you think I am some big shot and it was only addressed to me [wow I wish someday....:)] let me clarify it was his usual address (always an eye and mind opener) to all HCLites. It wasalong mail asking us to be a MAD in our scope of work; he was actually urging us to “MAKE A DIFFERENCE” (MAD) by pushing the envelope of innovation and creativity in our sphere of influence. This was my first encounter with an Idea and concept called “MAD”.

After a couple of months one afternoon I happened to see a tweet from another maverick Leader our dynamic Lead musician in HCL band cum CMO with a hashtag #madltd. I immediately googled it and saw one of the coolest websites apt for Shakira’s generations (my game, my rule and world is my playground), not only was the look hip but it immediately caught my attention with its compelling content like “This ain’t right...’‘They are not doing their job...’‘I wish somebody would do something about this...’‘These guys are useless...’Heard it? Said it? Now do something about it. You have always wished for things to change around you. Now make the change around you happen. MAD LTD is the platform, the springboard from where you can not only Make the Difference that you desire, but also Lead The Difference”. I said WOW!! at the same time I asked myself, is it something new and unprecedented? Perhaps not, but what actually hit the nail on head was the last line “No SUBJECT is off limits, no CAUSE is too small, no IDEA less worthy. So come on, put on YOUR THINKING CAPS, sign up and start changing the world”. It isn’t about one community, issue or area; it is about you and your changing idea that was indeed new and refreshing.

The madltd and ideas selected for grand finale

The time was never more testing than it is today, the world is falling apart what with revolutions&wars, earthquakes & tsunami, competition was never fiercer; the customer is getting more demanding with each passing day. So I always think in the midst of these unprecedented scenarios what would be the differentiator between winning and defeat? According to me it will be the ability to foster Leaders and Leadership at all levels. We have all heard great speeches on this subject from podiums in the most eloquent manner from well decorated leaders but unfortunately reality is like A. Raja talking about integrity and honesty, nothing at all at the ground. I have read great articles about Infosys being meritocracy organization for the last half the decade, but the fact is no one is more capable or intelligent enough to run the show other than close net of founder members, resultant smart people don’t want to be “Das” take there “Pai” and go out. But HCL always lead from the front and sets the examples fostering leadership, the biggest testament is a SMT (Senior Management Trainee), is CEO and Chairman today.

The Grand Jury ; Diversity&Sustainability Head- Ms.Srimathi

HCL is a world of boldness with its disruptive thinking showing the path to others that haven’t dared to even think about. So when I saw “INSPIRED BY HCL” in madltd I felt proud, elated and told myself the legacy continues. What a great Idea to invite and ignite the young minds when they are uncultured and have courage and endurance to win the world. MADLTD is a canvas for these modern Picaso’s to paint the world with their change ideas. MADLTD came to fore in October-2010, since its inception, over 520 participants have submitted their unique ideas on the website. Around 15 innovative ideas were shortlisted, Like IFA-DFA "Ideas For All - Development For All" and the madster says “I am madly mad about changing things, not because I suffered it's because I saw people suffering”. Another Madster came up with an idea of Making a “wikiRadio” ,One young Madster who couldn’t join army despite clearing NDA and CDS, owing to weak eyesight has an idea of spreading the awareness and motivating youngsters to join “Indian Army”. Another young Leader came up with an Idea called “KAP” connecting Kids to Adults to Plants; it was simply mind boggling to see this flying zone and the reach of their thoughts.

I was planning my business trip from Chennai to Delhi and when I heard of the grand finale for MADltd, immediately tweak my itinerary and made it a point to be there to listen and to see these future leaders but more than anything else to derive my own learning from them. It was a spectacular evening where these 15 MADsters were grilled by an esteemed jury of distinguished leaders from Corporate, Digital media and marketing and literature world. Majority of the Ideas were about sustainability and upliftment of weaker section of society, this again testifies that this topic is closest to the heart of the young generation and that’s why companies have never felt so much pressure to be SOCIAL. The evening was opened by our dynamic and vivacious Diversity & Sustainability head Ms. Srimathi. She in her own jovial style gave the message again on how important it is to humanize everything that we do even in this cutting technology age. The biggest MADster Vineet’s address to the audience in his own inevitable style spoke about how “being mad is not about winning or losing, it is about taking the ”first step” towards your closet cherished belief. Madness is an obsession and it is good”. After 4 hours of quizzing, speech and a Q&A session by Ms.Shayali Bhatnagar and her idea KAP stoodout and she became the CEO of MADLTD. CV doesn’t make a CEO, an IDEA does. And if you are not mad about something in life you are average and mediocre and that is curse. MADLTD is just a start today to foster leadership and make a better tomorrow. Lets BE A MAD.............

The madsters Mr. Vineet Nayar and Mr. Chetan Bhagat with Winner and First Runner-up

MERI EIBADAT......AAYA TUMHARE DWAR...

Tuesday 19^th April-2011 my fellow fighter friend (we(actually she) religiously fight daily for no reasons) suddenly asked me if I would like to go to Temple with her, usually for such question I just have one answer "give me a break" that day I don't know why but I said "YES". We went to Hanuman temple in CP, Delhi and the experience was Blissful , Pure and of full contentment. While I was sitting alone in central park in CP, I felt the silence and calmness around me despite the usual noise of kids and families there and wrote below lines then and there..........

MERI EIBADAT......

Aaj aaya tumhare dwar, Tumhara shukriya aada karane

Un Tamaam sangharsho ka, tamaam kathhnayiyo ka

Jo tumane bheji meri raah , meri sheekh ke liye !

Bahot kam aaya tumhari chaukhat pe main,Par sada ahsaas rahta tha

Tumhari marazi jaroori hai ,meri har jeet ke liye !!

Log tumhari chaukhat pe , ankhein band kar mangate hai tumase

Maine ankhein khol haq se manga hardam tumase , Yakeen tha mujhe tum par

Sach aur imaandari eibadat ka tareeka hai mera , Agarbattiya nahi jalata, janta hun dhunyein se taqleef hoti hai,

Samaj ke banaye ashtha ke mantr bhi nahi janta , Par yakeen hai mujhe tum par , janta hun ashtha, mantr aur agarbattito ki mohtaaj nahi !!!

Jab bhi andhera chhaya hai , tumane rasta dikhaya hai

Jab bhi nadaniya ki maine aur thhokar khayi hai , Tumane uthaaya hai

Bhawnaye jahir karane ke huner mein thhoda peechhe rah gaya

Tumhari haziri rajister mein thoda neeche rah gaya

Bahot din baad aaya to kya, dahleej ke paar ek shukun sa paya hai

Mano tumane pure dulaar se gale lagaya hai

Aaj aaya tumhare dwar, Tumhara shukriya aada karane ... !!!!

It will remain IMPOSSIBLE, only till you actually believe it is ACHIEVABLE.......

It was January 22nd, 2007 when I joined the world of boldness and immediately discovered this is just not a “statement” ;). This was my first corporate experience and I had been given just one week time to get my act together and master the tools and process which were almost scoffing my idiotism, each time when I used to log-in and goofed up. I joined as a replacement for someone who kissed the good bye to HCL and about to leave in a week’s time. But one thing I always told myself that “I CAN DO IT” if it is meant to be done by human race :), I might take 20 days if a superior mind can do it in 7 days but I’ll do it eventually. And that’s exactly what I told myself in that situation that “Rocket Science” is one stream everything else has MORAL SCIENCE and BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE as a backdrop, provided you know how to use effectively what you hold on your shoulder :).

HCL made me learn the art of swimming by pushing me into the waters despite me being coming from deserted place where perhaps there was no water at the first place forget about swimming. So once I got control of situation and rainy day vanished, bright Sunny days started unfolding. “Life is beautiful” theme came back into scene and then one fine morning I opened my desktop to read this mail which was to change everything in jiffy. It was a notification for Review with our global head and first time post my joining each one of us were being asked to be present there. It was a Video Conference meeting since the chairperson was in Chennai but we reached the venue to realize that perhaps technology is trying to safeguards us ;). VC refused to work and then our Boss suggested if we can have a telecon. But then we got another twist in tale when Chairperson declined to have a call unless VC is there. Finally after lot of struggle VC worked and the first statement came from Chennai like cruise missile of uncle Sam to Bagdad “I wanted to do the VC just to show you guyz my sad face resultant your performance”. I was shell shocked because we were doing well in terms of numbers vis-e-vis industry benchmark but as they say great leaders come with shock therapy to wake you up sometime. He further continued “What you are doing is great and you are religiously hitting the numbers but my issue is bar is not going up, limit is not getting pushed further and I don’t know how much you believe in yourself as a TEAM but I can bet my life you have potential to achieve unthinkable”. And he concluded by bestowing a target which looked monstrous at that very moment for us. We felt exactly like Ashish Nehra he would have felt if asked to open the batting against Joel Garner :)

Pic Source-hullonline.wordpress.com

The conviction, confidence and faith with which he uttered those words infused new lease of confidence in us. We started believing that very moment that perhaps we can do it and told ourselves let’s give it a shot. And before closing the meeting he put the cherry on cake by saying if you will achieve this target, company will sponsor a team outing to location of your choice. Each of us knew that we need to dismantle our closely cherished beliefs, process and way of working with immediate effect to achieve this. We needed to wipe out our boards and all needed to be redrawn in clean slate and that’s exactly what we did. We sat together and distributed the jobs keeping the forte of each individual in account. Our job nature was such that it target demanded a travelathon across India but we had some soft powers in our team. They were equally upbeat about the job in hand we decided that they will travel less vis-e-vis masculine power of the team idea was to play on team’s strength to come-up with a sustainable planning to yeild quick results. I and one of my colleague had our bag packed for next 2.5months we travelled across India, wherever there was possibility of getting the talent including the cities like Indore, Vizag , Chandigarh , Bhubaneswar other than all major IT hubs.

We had a stipulated timeline of 60 days to achieve this. It was 7 days to deadline and we realized we were strikingly close to target but almost all the cities were being visited by then and we were in no idea zone as a team. We all knew it is litmus test ,elephant has been pass through only tail has stuck and we can’t let that spoil all our hard work, weekends which we spent travelling chasing this target for last 2 months just like that. It required one last display of our non exhaustive energy and enthusiasms and at last we put that in for exhibition again. Henceforth ecstasy followed, mail of appreciation pouring in from all quarters ,including our maverick CEO and we all know he doesn’t utter a word unless he actually mean it and he wrote back just onw word “GREAT !!!!”. “Life is beautiful” theme came back to scene straight away we went to GOA for 2 nights 3 days and it was like living a dream more so because we earned it by putting so much together. We all were imperfect and full of shortcomings as individual but when we came together we made one heck of a team which redefined the awesomeness by complementing for each other’s weakness and made this TEAM a SUPER ACHIEVER. It was close to impossible target when we heard it first time but once we started believing ourselves that we can do it and started unleashing our common passion to optimum everything started falling in place. There is nothing more powerful than “UNITED TEAM” on “COMELLING MISSION”. Start believing it now, Impossible is just an illusion if you back yourself to give it all what you have....you will make it happen everytime.

Lessons learnt from 22 yards – All it takes is relentless persuasion with undying passion.......

“Passion” for me has lot of meanings but one word is common in all i.e. “excellence”. I hail from place where English is still an alien language but their game Cricket is common passion for entire socio structure there. Like every other boy when I reached to age where I could hold a willow in hand I started playing it with growing aspiration to become Rahul Dravid one day. Surprise no Sachin :) yes it was Rahul I modeled my game on because of his impeccable technique and amazing temperament.Rahul was not gifted as Sachin or Sehwag but he made it big because of his sheer passion, hard work and never say die attitude and he is batting manual if you want to master this batting art. In the absence of basic amenities I practiced in scorching sun, make the decks myself, watered it rolled it daily and used to think about game 24*7. All this paid off to an extent I went to college and represented my university all 3 years in state level tournament. I used to be only student from math stream to represent university, historically it was always art stream students since it required 3 months camp, no classes no practical which is tough for science stream student.

P:ic source-Fotosu.ru

As they say sometime life is too tough for no reasons and one day I had to take a next step in life where pitch got changed suddenly. I had emergency in family and it required me to do a job to help my father financially instead of continuing my studies post graduation so I took the train for Galib’s city with plain graduation degree, bare minimum proficiency in colonial language but oodles passion for excellence and winning. I used to think quite often do I have any positive take away from all that invested in this game? What was it which drove me nuts? To practice in scorching sun, to bunk school/college, travel in jam pack busses umpteen times to play matches where barely any spectator or good prize money at the stake. And I got my answer it was the “PASSION” for the game. And then I told myself if I can bring half of that passion in this new phase of my life I’ll make some place for myself. I always believed no matter what the situation is there is way around to turn that into good and that is always on me every single time. As someone said you never win silver 99.99 times you lose gold thus never settled for mediocrity. It’s all about self belief that you can change the game and if you can’t there is no pointing being in that game. I landed in HCL and found myself amongst top notch management school professionals I was indeed odd man out with plain graduation degree. I had been brought on board on backdrop of sheer deliverables and credentials which I made with my 25 people firm I started my career in. HCL have had their doubts apparently because lack of management degree vis-e-vis the role but finally they decided to take a risk driven by their DNA  and called me one day to say “you have the passion for this craft and we want to take a chance”. I told myself this is what all I needed just “A chance” this is my time now and before opportunity knocked the door I got up and opened it. Circumstances were trying and I backed myself to go about my business with surgeon precision. HCL recognized that passion and perseverance and I have had privilege to be twice on coveted podium of O2 .HCL is ever changing canvas find your passion and paint it with your success story remember situation can be changed for good and it’s always on you every single time. Keep the endurance alive to explode your passion and keep pushing your limits.....

Shut-Up and Listen to us-THE UNPREDICTABLES

If you reading this I got to believe my abrupt branding or tagline perhaps has done the trick. Know you must be thinking, where the hell did I get this insane branding Idea? :) Actually I happen to see the advertisement of famous Gen Y Titan brand “Fasttrack” displayed as [40% discount “F*****ck” is back] and it immediately caught my attention and could have yours as well:).

Coming back to real business of this post, off late one word has created a repel effect in business corridors i.e. “Gen Y” this features almost in all SMR and high level strategy planning even to level of WEF in Davos. I used to start hearing about this couple of months back and then one day my Boss asked me to do some research on this topic. I immediately banked of our GENIE “Google” (Throw out of “windows” what Eric Schmidt says “Bing” is not even in scene in the race with genius of Lary & Sergey’s creation) and fetched out some data, to my surprise first thing which struck me was I god damn it happened to research on myself. I am a GEN Y, as per the popularly accepted definition which is “People who born after 1980”.The moment I realize it is about me and my behavior patterns I started aligning my thoughts towards it and hence this post today.
What made me amused and aghast is that all the journals, articles and research about Gen Y is been done by Baby boomers. Now I do not doubt their credentials or quality and accuracy of research. But while I was reading those articles my favorite channel “Discovery” permeated to my mind. The program about sea creatures with running commentary in background where as per the body movement of creature commentator predicts and tell what is he/she feeling and about to do . Now I can understand this research since poor subject can’t speak but we for god sake are blessed with voice, Goodness gracious don’t just observe our behavioral patterns and conclude what we want and aspire, time has come when they should SHUT-UP and listen to us.

Pic Source-Adrants.com

First of all I don’t agree to definition and believe Gen Y has nothing to do with age, now you will be thinking Idiocy is surfacing again :) perhaps but why am I saying so? In the business context world is excited about this generation primarily because they have shown unprecedented behavioral patterns which have great relevance to future business culture and structure. Now the definition says anyone born after 80 is gen Y thus will have these behavior patterns common. Actually behavior comes from values this predominately has to do lot with socio culture you have been born & brought-up in. Therefore there would be sea behavioral difference between fellows brought up in Datiya and Delhi. This definition put lot of folks out of the Gen Y circle who fits the bill with perfection for gen Y based on their sheer behavioral patterns despite they being closing to their half century in life. And I find them more close to me than lot of duds of my age.

Now I am greatly thankful to all the researchers on behalf of Gen Y'rs, who made all the effort to make us meet ourselves better and almost did the job what great Buddha was trying to do with mankind many years ago ;). They are talking all good things about us and telling the world that we are Self Motivated, Dynamic, has Multi-tasking ability, Self Esteem, Confident, Ambitious so on and so forth. Boy are they talking about us? Perhaps they are talking about Mark Zuckerberg & Shawn Fanning ;).

Now they also say what Gen Y wants will actually steer the business, is it? And if that so we actually don’t want much except few things such as, Environment which let me be who I am? Means let me be bold, creative and innovative because we don’t distinguish between work and home (Rightly or wrongly for you to debate) , yes we are bit impatience but in the lightening fast technology age we accept everything to be done like we do, “Udan Sikh” was fast but we know more about and seen Usain Bolt now you know the rationale . Keep giving us challenges with directions not commands. Ensure you don’t have “Supervisors” but “Managers/Leaders” to works with us in your company who can really add-on something. We believe in giving brutally honest feedback and accept same from you. We believe in Facebook & Twitter culture where I can rebut to Barack Obama also hence no boundaries and pyramids please.We may not have all the answers but will ask you right and tough questions you may call us Gen why? and be ready with answers :). We don’t compromise, neither with quality of work nor with Fun therefore please ensure we have the room for later as well. There is lot to say and will perhaps come-up with another post to conclude this but before I sign off I would quote one of Gen X Senior Manger during one of our discussion” Let another recession come you will what happens to Gen Y” She is right we love challenges and see opportunity in every adversity but if we’ll get our act together and you gives us all listed above perhaps recession is word of history which may not repeat in our life cycle and as she said "all will see what happens to Gen Y", some of you will call it "arrogance" some "confidence" and that’s what we do to you .......welcome to zone of “UNPREDICTABLES”.

SOCIAL BUSINESS CALLING “It’s a final boarding call for HR”

“Nobody succeeds beyond his or her wildest expectations unless he or she begins with some wild expectations” - RALPH CHARELL

The World of business has seen head spinning changes off late. And all of us who are travelling in this gorgeous looking Titanic (Economy) post recession must take not only precautionary measures but come out with new innovative solutions at our scope of work and influence area before we hit the real rough water and obstacle again. You must be saying oh don’t be cynic, perhaps I am ,but imagine if some people had been cynic about safety of Titanic underneath rather being blown away by beauty and spectacular which they saw ,history could have been different for all those who were on board. Now market is full of opportunities and adversities with volatility as theme. We must look for our chunk into it. So what are the challenges which are at threshold of HR community? Well the list is endless and it was always for this function when it comes to challenges but today we have some colossal challenges and problems to deal with, which are most prevalent across the business landscape no matter which industry you are from.

image source-trustrucos.com

Some which I consider most gruesome challenges are Retention, winning talent, luring (deliberately not using “winning” here and apparently kept it separate) Gen Y, creating the culture of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurial Leadership. Now the well established fact for Human Capital Management is that there is no plug-in solution. Most of you would be saying there is nothing new about challenges listed above, yes you are right but what new is, earlier these were not winning prepositions with the magnitude they have become now; today they are real GAME changers. And the sooner we realize the better it is for us. This is the sentiment that has cultivated the subject line of this post “FINAL BOARDING CALL FOR HR” we must get on board which we have been delaying all this while. It is also important to understand despite knowing all these are challenges for us, why didn’t we do something about it? Because these were required to change our most cherished beliefs and we failed to understand that we were not only resisting the Idea of innovation and change but resultant we had resisted GROWTH as well in big way.

We were so engrossed with our world (“the misnomer” it was never yours it was/is “the world” age now). And thought onus of providing solution is with people at top. Resultant we ignored some vital trends from market which we could have leveraged to great effect and we missed the solutions also lurking in these trends. What is one biggest trend which has changed the business, people and society recently? That is paradigm shift in ways of communication. Today anyone with access to a device with an internet connection can communicate with anyone around the globe almost for free with lighting reach, immediacy and ease of use never seen before. You saw it all know the reach of it as well then why aren’t we leveraging it? It is proven fact now that business value is not created in process it is always gets created in interaction and we are in midst of this transformational way of interacting. Most of us still consider this as phenomena in its own and not as materialization of paradigm shift in communications. This is currently affecting the every aspect of work and business one way or other. We have our own views of it and use them as an excuse for not actively trying to understand it. I myself is an infant in this new world and trying to upgrade my knowledge and know how because if you don’t someone else will and he/she eventually replace you. Friends Knowledge is right there just one or few clicks away. Someone can tell you what/how to use it but no one actually can tell you 100% how it will be of value to you and your scope of business that you got to figure out.

image source-genesis-institute.org

At this very moment when I m typing this I know what are maverick Chief Enabling Office has said at the podium of WEF in Davos courtesy Social Media, VN said “India and china is not any more about cost equation but cutting edge innovation” .Lets do what we can and are capable of without being worrying to much of consequences “The Chickens will always come home to roost”. History says all legends were driven by the challenges, by the chance to push the envelope, by desire to do something which will bring radical change. We have Challenges; have the platform now let’s push the envelope with innovation and seriously exception work.................

THE MOMENT OF NAKED TRUTH -AN UGLY SIGHT OF “ONSITE”

I have encountered the word “onsite” at very early age when I was little kid, one day when I enquired the absence of one of my maternal uncle to my Nanu (Maternal Grandpa) he replied he is at“onsite”. People in Hindi heartland hardly use English perhaps because they believe revenge is purest emotion and still hate the language of Firang’s as much as they used to hate them pre independence :-). My Nanu happened to be BA-English of those days and still gives run for my money when it comes to colonial lingo debate with him. I asked him with amusement WHERE? After hearing the word, He said “onsite” Kido, where building work is going on. That day the meaning soaked in my mind that “onsite” is the ground zero where the actual work is on. And I kept hearing lot of interesting stories and character associated with onsite for so many years since my maternal uncle is a Contractor and that bring me to an idea of another blog post to narrate those stories.

Those days I never thought that the word “onsite” can have make or break effect on lot of people’s life till I started my career with cash cow of India Economy i.e. IT. For majority of IT folks this word has equal significance of a pilgrimage if not more. The purpose of their life is to go onsite no matter what it takes. They hop the jobs in the pace the chicken loses his feather just for this ultimate goal and keep floating till they get the opportunity to go. Now owing all this I have had gorgeous picture of IT-ONSITE in my mind and was romancing with it deep down till I get to hear the story from one of the horse’s mouth itself. That was MOMENT OF TRUTH which reminded me one of my favorite Hindi adage “Door ke dhol suhawane hote hai”.

image source-blog.anuragsinghrana.com

During one of our off the cuff discussions about this topic he asked, why do you think people are crazy for onsite? I said for pleasure, fun and also they make some money. With smirk on his face as if he was laughing on my idiocy he replied, what you say is true for customer who goes to brothel but not for sex worker isn’t it? she does it just for the “MONEY” only. I was baffled with the metaphor and asked him you could have picked someone else. He said NO WAY she fits the bill here with perfection, I asked HOW? He answered because she has no standard, no set rules, no self censorship and she can go to any extreme of self misery to make money and that is true for majority of these folks, I have seen it all. And then he opened the Pandora box.....

Story-1 – The Crusader-

He told me story of this gentleman who was in his first visit of Lincoln’s land. He didn’t wash his cloths for a month including the first garments which was responsible for Aadimanv’s graduation to Manav. My story teller was amused and aghast in fact persuaded him to clean that at least ;) the gentleman answered him 4 times saying “I’ll do it next week” and then he returned to his motherland. I told him, well there can be only one reason, he must be a great environment crusader who took ”every drop counts” campaign god damn seriously ;). He laughed and said he was a jerk who was trying to save 10-15 dollars to be paid to use washing machine there, because you can’t turn your bathroom into dhobi ghat there like in India.

image source-boringbabbler.blogspot.com

Story-2 The ridiculously smart investor-

Here the protagonist again came with first stamp of America in his passport. He was living with his 3 collogues and they decided to have contri for food and other household items. Everyone will pay equally and you can get what you like to eat, where budget will be equally distributed. Now everything was fine except breakfast since all 3 used to start their day with different fillers. One with Apple & Juice, other with Lime juice and our Hero with milk and corn flakes. Now after a week hero thought if I am paying for all 3 why should I only eat milk and cork flakes. He changed his routine now he used to wake up early in the morning have his usual filler Milk with corn flakes then after 30 minutes he will have Apple and Juice and then before going to work he will have lime . The story continues and reaches to climax when after a while other 2 started seeing NEW BRANDED Apples, Juice Bottles and Banana’s in their refrigerator. His name was written all over with marker  he certainly knew his stakes and could have had great future in Dalal Street....

Story-3- The adult who never grew -up

In this story the protagonist is again on his first visit of land of opportunities. He didn’t take the insurance before flying for obvious reasons of it being chargeable. Once he reached there his terribly painful lonely time in toilets (he had piles) which was kept in check with medicines here suddenly turned horrendous. Now since he had no insurance he couldn’t visit the doctors there because if you are not insured you have to almost mortgage yourself to seek private doctor’s help, his all saving would have gone. Now his torturous back reached to stage where he had left with no options but to relive his childhood and bank on control mechanism product of uncontrollable called “The HUGGIES”. One day the product couldn’t withstand and stains were out in display for all. The customer lost his patients and told him to grow-up and he was being flown back. It can’t get more despicable than this and if Aussies are beating us owing these issues what choice you have left them with...Daag sachche hai :)

Story-4- The Rich Taxi Drivers-

Well Indians are world beaters when it comes to business and this protagonist is carrying the legacy. He happens to be a senior guy who makes perhaps hefty sum but still just for his business sense fulfillment he came with an Idea. He keeps a track who all are flying from offshore to onsite on weekends when and what time they will land-up there. Once he has this information like a true friend he will call them and tell them that he is free on this Saturday and can come to pick him up. Well the guy on other side of the phone feel guilty and thinks all this while I was wrong about this Man, he is god’s gift to mankind and this very moment the protagonist completes his pitch “if you will take Taxi he will charge 150$ you can pay me 125$” only :) . If on some day your car broke down and you need his help to reach to work, he becomes a Jason Statham of TRANSPORTER who says “Transportation is precise Job” bring the 2 $ each.

The lit goes on and stories are endless.... from eating Indian brought Maggi for entire month and getting ill almost to close death situation to a point where monk like customer who never had any historical record of escalations finally wrote to account manager that next time when you send people onsite please ask them to use deodorant at least. You may and may not agree to this but these are true stories from the account of one of the eye witness.......YES THIS IS THE UGLY SIGHT OF “ONSITE” there would be good one as well which one day I’ll narrate with my personal experience.... ;);)