Being in a consultancy services company one of the many advantages I have is the fact that I get to work on different assignments. Each assignment brings with it a new set of excitement and challenges. It also gives me an opportunity to work with a new team, a new client and a new BOSS.

Bosses are different creatures. It seems they are infected by a rare virus called Bossirus. Each boss has a particular strain of the virus. This virus infects as soon as someone becomes a boss. Here are the known strains of Bossirus, written in no particular order:

Agony aunt/uncle: They are the best bosses if you think you are the chosen one to suffer in life. Some people think that they suffer not only in office but in every sphere of life. The ‘agony aunt/uncle’ bosses have loads of sympathetic stories to share.

Warning: Don’t mistake them to be an easy boss to manage as they may look easy on the surface. They are all ears for your miseries but when it comes to work they are stricter than your school headmaster.  

Hawk: They are bosses who focus on work. They are the best. Period. The only mantra to work with them and succeed is to be the best. The second best is something they don’t understand. If you are not confident about yourself and your work stay way from them. They don’t believe in second chance.

Warning: Best is what they expect but if you fail to deliver the best then make sure you have plan B. There is no room for mistakes and if there is one then they won’t shy from saying, ‘I have to re-plan’.

Ha Ha Ha: They are real misery if you want some direction in work. They lack vision and hardly know anything worthwhile. They climb the corporate ladder not on merit but to fill void. A void created when the best leaves the organisation all of a sudden. They are also like chewing gum sticking to the position. They are never a threat to the top as they never challenge the status quo. Their only response is ‘yes’ to what ever is asked to them or a broad smile if they don’t understand what is being asked.

Warning: It is a real pain to have them as boss. They lack insight and common sense. Stay as far away as possible from them. But if you are lazy lad then they can turn out to be god-sent.

Thank you or no thank you: They mean business. They have no-nonsense approach to life and work. The only thing they expect in the status reports is ‘task completed’. They are delight to work with as they bring in lot of clarity and discipline.

Warning: They only want results and can turn frustrating if you fail to deliver because of dependency on others. 

Go ahead: They are rarest of the rare to find. They are eager to give you control of the task. They not only give you free hand but also act like a mentor. You need to work with one to understand what I am talking about.

Warning: If you are not ready to lead then it may turn out to be a lost opportunity to have them as your boss.

Run for cover: These bosses are never sure as what they are doing and always cover themselves from a potential disaster. They never take ownership and are first to point fingers. They always take cover for whatever they do.

Warning: Not an inspiring boss to have but yes they will always teach you a lesson or two on organisational politics. If you work with then for long thier is a high chance that your risk taking ability will be lost for ever. 

It goes with out saying that I have been blessed to work with some great bosses. This article is written with zest and in a light hearted mood. 

s'times
I wonder
how come with
same eyes, nose, lips
we are so different and unique

It is not quite often that you go back to your childhood. It takes special moments to teleport you to your childhood. Very recently I had witnessed one such moment. While walking towards the train station after office I saw some school students walking in a line of two. Travelling back in time I remember during my school days when we used to go out for a city visit or excursions we were made to walk in a line of two. We were made to remember our partners so that we could report their missing or help each other if in trouble.

That was 1990s and now it is the 21st century. I know things have changed. The word ‘partner’ has altogether different connotation. Children are now no more kids but young adults. I don’t want to sound like a cribbing old generation and it is just a point to note.

Once again I was teleported to my childhood when one of my colleague asked, ‘what would you like to do if you had a choice’. In simple words I think she wanted to know my dream job or ideal work. When I was a kid I dreamt of being a movie star. I was really inspired by Amitabh Bachhan, a leading Bollywood star. I wanted to be like him. I don’t know when and how that fantasy got washed off from my mind and I got drawn into the real world chores and the ‘rat race’.

Now once again I am made to think about my fantasy. Being grown up I just can’t have a fantasy and do nothing about it. All of a sudden having a fantasy becomes so burdensome. Can I have a fantasy just for the sake of it? No moral compulsion to work towards it. Each morning I get up and I have a different fantasy. A fantasy that is original, honest and beautiful like walking on the moon, being a king or being castaway in an island of ecstasy. 

Surprisingly my rational mind does not let me have one of these ‘real’ fantasies. It forces me to have a fantasy and justify its possibility of happening with rationality and logics. What a misery!!! I guess having an Indian brain has its side effect too.

I have dream of writing a book. A novel that gets published and sold in the leading book stores around the world. I go promoting it, signing autographs on the cover. I am being called an author. Ah! What a fantasy J

Do you have one? A dream that is pure and personal. If you have one, I bet go and make an announcement. Let the world know what you desire and as it is said, ‘the whole world will conspire to help you achieve it’. Cheers.

One of my British colleagues inquired, ‘do you believe in after-life’? Being a practising Hindu I had to be careful with my reply. For I knew his next question would be ‘why’?

Hinduism preaches the concept of after-life. But then the Hinduism I have been bought up with lets me ask questions and seek answers. It is not bonded in dogmas. It shows me a path to inner peace and growth. There is enough flexibility in Hinduism to pick and choose my own set of beliefs until the broader framework of love, respect and oneness to God is not broken.

I have questioned many beliefs of Hinduism and it has been an interesting phase of learning, un-learning and re-learning so far. In the quest of knowing myself and my surrounding I have evolved my religion. Thanks to some good books and enlightening discussions I have an enriched religion. I don’t force my religion on to others nor do I easily accept anything that’s said or written about it. They say, ‘journey for knowing oneself is never ending’, and so shall it be.

Believing in after-life gives us an excuse not to live the present life to the fullest. It works as a perfect alibi for every misery we face in this life. I know many who accept whatever is thrown at them as a consequence of actions from previous life. It’s an easy way out. For challenging the status quo and swimming against the tide needs more then strong believe system.

I don’t know if there is after-life or not. Like nobody knew if gravitation existed before Newton proved it. I don’t know if the new Newton would come in this life time to tell us how and why after-life exists. But I am comfortable in not believing in after-life. It gives me the strength to challenge the situation I am in. I don’t take anything for granted or as given.

Everything starts and ends with myself. My god resides in myself. And so does everybody else’s. As the corollary to this believe: 

Ø       I take each day as it comes. For I don’t know how many more days are to come.

Ø       I never take things for granted or given. For I don’t know how long it will last.

Ø       I don’t believe in impossibility. For I don’t know who dictates what is possible and not.

I will be honest in saying that not always does this work. Sometimes I feel like giving up all to destiny / unknown / consequence of after-life. But then that’s how it is suppose to be. Some days are rainy and some are not. Sun may be hidden but is never lost even in the sky with the darkest clouds.       

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Couple of weeks back I had watched the 1995 Hollywood blockbuster ‘Seven’. The movie is about seven sins of human life. The seven sins according to the movie are:

Greed

Gluttony

Sloth

Lust

Pride

Envy

Wrath

The protagonist chooses gruesome ways to tell his moral story. It seems the strong message of the movie gets lost in the brutality of the crime scenes. But on omitting all the bloodshed and cruelty, the movie gives us enough food for thought. Invariably, knowingly or unknowingly we end up committing on of the seven sins at some point or the other. And most of the times we get away after committing these sins. It’s only when these sins pile up that we feel the brunt of it.

Taking hint from the movie here are my seven sins that we may commit in a human relationship.

Infidelity:

Infidelity is disloyalty in a relationship. It is well understood sin needs no further explanation. It is better not to enter into a relationship then being disloyal in it.

Miscommunication:

The first victim of a fight in a relationship is communication. We stop talking. I guess that’s the easy way out to avoid further fight. If talking can avoid further fights cann't it avoid fight in the first place? Having clear and upfront communication can save lot of time we spent fighting and then patching up. Also not communicating enougt leads to assumptions and then misunderstanding. 

Compromising Integrity:

Sometimes brutal honesty can be fatal. But then integrity in a relationship is must and at no time that can be compromised.

Taking for granted:

Lot of my friends say that in friendship there is no 'sorry' and 'thank you'. I wonder why? If we ever have to be thankful to soembody then we should be towards people we share a relationship with. They stand by us during our thick and thin. Never ever take any relationship for granted. You may loose the relationship even before realising it.

Disrespect for contradictory idea:

Not always will others have similar ideas as your own. Respect for contradictory ideas is must. Sometimes it becomes difficult but then sincere effort should be put in to respect ideas that may not be pleasing.

Walking out:

One of the easy solutions to a confrontation in a relationship is to walk out of it. In this world of internet and fast food, quick romance takes precedence over old ripped relationship. In a bitter argument walking out always plays in the back of our mind. And thus we don’t put in efforts to make the relationship work. Relationships don’t happen on their own we make them happen.  

Staleness:

This is an unusual kind of sin which most of us unknowingly commit. A plant as soon as it enters into a relationship with sun begins to grow. And so should we in a relationship. Refusing to grow is stopping to learn. And this creates staleness. You cannot be happy if you are stale. Can you?

Keep these seven sins in mind and have a happy relationship. May be someday I will make a sequel to the original ‘Seven’.

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Email me your comments at vickyagarwal.blog@googlemail.com

No time in the history have the words “yes we can” been said, written or thought as they have been in the last couple of months. I wonder is it just said because we fancy saying it or there is some meaning to it. Let’s pause for a minute and analyse what the phrase ‘actually’ means.

Yes – is a word that stands for hope, clarity and confidence. I bet you cannot say ‘yes’ without the ray of hope, without the clarity of speech and without the confidence in self.

We – stand for collectiveness. We is a collection of Is. It stands for collective intellectual, strength and dream. In no way it means shunning responsibility or passing the buck.

Can – means ability to deliver. The ability accompanied with a sense of certainty and not just wishful thinking.

So to summarise, ‘yes we can’ to me means, ‘with hope, clarity and confidence, with collective intellectual, strength and dream I will deliver’.

Words have meaning when they can be used in sentences that become examples. Examples that are real, examples that give hope to those who have been deprived of any. ‘Yes we can’ will have meaning for me only when I can create an example; an example where I use this phrase in letter and spirit.

I am a man of hope and optimism. I have always denied myself the luxury of being in so-called ‘comfort zone’. I have taken path less travelled by many around me. I write this because I need to. I need to remind myself that I had broken away from stereotype once. And I need to do it again.

It is on the cross-road where I stand. One road is comfortable and clear while the other is foggy. The mundane world looks attractive. I know the rules and also I can take liberty in breaking some. The foggy road is uncertain and frightening. I am not sure what is there on that road just a mile ahead. But then I will never know until I walk that road. With audacity of hope I have chosen my path.

I will come back to this blog to reflect on my decision. The decision I have take on the day when the US and the rest of the world welcomes a new president. President who gifted the world hope in his words, “Yes we can”.

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Email me your comments at vickyagarwal.blog@googlemail.com

For the uninitiated Satyam is one of the leading IT Company in India. It employees close to 50,000 people and has her operations across the globe. What makes things interesting is the fact that yesterday on 7th Jan the chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed of a scam to the tune of 500 Million Crores to his employees and offered his resignation. India has seen frauds and scams before. Difference this time is the company and the person involved. Satyam was a respected organisation and Mr. Raju an institution of success in modern IT India.

Raju had an idea of creating a world class organisation. In the mad rush to make his dream come true, too soon, he blotted the financial results. He had to project a strong image of his company to the outside world to make it grow bigger. So quarter after quarter he added fictitious figures to his profits. Then one day it grew out of proportion and like a pack of cards the house of Satyam fall apart.

Like Raju we all intend to hide things. Sit quiet and blind to things we should have objected in the first place. I don't believe in tell-all policy. Sometimes timing and quantity of information is important. For example it is probably okay to hide information of injured son from the hospitalised father. Or may be hide news of a still born in the neighbourhood from a soon-to-be-in-labour mother.

Satyam saga does not mean hiding tit-bit of information. Satyam saga means not acting with total responsibility. Raju's love for Satyam can not be questioned. He was one of the founders and like his baby had nurtured the Satyam dream. In this journey there came along lot of customers, partners, employs and shareholders. Raju’s love for Satyam lacked 'responsibility'. Responsibility towards his customers who loved Satyam for her services, partners who loved Satyam for her strength, employees who loved Satyam for her working environment and shareholders who loved Satyam as an asset.

Love is the most over rated expression. I don’t understand what people mean when they say that they are in true love. For me love means trust, respect, peace and responsibility.

Trust: integrity and faith in the person/thing you love.
Respect: for the person/ thing you love.
Peace: within the inner self for being in love.
Responsibility: towards person/things you have been in love for ever even if you have been in love once.

Raju loved Satyam but did not have a sense of responsibility towards others who also loved Satyam like customer, employees and partners.

If someone shows love without any of the above expressions believe me you don’t get fooled. It is better not to be in love then to be fooled in love.

 

Winters have set in and the winds make it worst. I am advised to be fully covered. Head to toe, as they say. Discretion is better than chivalry. And so I keep myself protected against the wintry winds of London. ‘Even the palms should be covered’, reprimanded my sister. ‘Yes’, I agree ‘otherwise the fingers may get numbed’. Thus I bought a pair of gloves from one of the superstores. A giant store that has everything an ordinary person needs in their ordinary lives. 

Wearing gloves is little uneasy for me. I had never worn any. Coming from a tropical country my closest encounter with freezing winters had been during my school days. Being surrounded by hills the winters were very chilly in that town.  And to make matters worst we used to get up early in the morning for a PT drill. But strict school rules never allowed us to wear gloves.

Now I am in London and that too during the winters. Everywhere I go I see people wearing gloves. In tube or in the pier or while taking a walk along the riverside I see people with gloves. Some gloves are colourful and some single-colour. Some are for the fingers and some not for the fingers. Some are just gloves while others extension of the pullover one is wearing.

As a kid I use to think that the only time someone wears gloves is while doing something wrong or dirty. Gloves gave them the convenience of keeping their hands ‘clean’. The murder mysteries added an extra layer of mysticism to the act of wearing gloves. Every crime scene in the movie exaggerated the act of wearing and removing gloves. 

While leaving for office in the morning I wear gloves. It seems surreal as if I am acting in a movie. Reassuring myself that I need to give a best shot I stylishly wear my gloves in front of the mirror like a Bond movie hero. It is only to realise later that I have to remove them to lock the door.  

 

Before the new year kicks in here is my memoir for year gone by.

JANUARY 2008
The assignment I was working in for the last year had came to an end. It was a great experience. We had a great team and an inspiring boss. She was more of a mentor. She liked my work but had reservation in recommending my name for a client facing role. Or ‘onsite’ as it’s popularly know in IT industry.

Her reservation had helped me set my goal. Being in the consulting division my daily rates are much higher. And so justifying my skills to my peers for ‘onsite’ role was difficult. But I was determined. I knew I just needed one opportunity to prove myself.

I spent the January setting my goals, firming my resolution and searching inner peace.
In midst of these personal hullabaloos I had my share of fun. The company had organised salsa classes for her associates. Having two left legs in dancing I grabbed this opportunity to push myself out of my comfort zones. Also it was to let somebody know that I wouldn’t be a bad choice as her partner for ‘strictly come dancing’. But a bad dancer is a bad dancer and nothing can be done about it.

FEBRUARY
The winters had set in. Thanks to my comfortable flat and great flat mates, life was easy in Delhi winters. Our helper was a great cook. He cooked delicious food for us. I always used to end up eating little more because of his love in serving food and insisting on eating one more bread or some more lentils. I had documented my New Year resolution and took it seriously. One of them was being in shape and so had started gyming. The salsa teacher had organised a small event for us and it was participating in that event.

Around mid February I was selected for an ‘onsite’ assignment. It filled me with a desire to excel. I wanted to thank God for it. With one of my old pals I went to pay homage to the Hindu shrine known as ‘Vaisho Devi’. It was snow led walk of 12 kilometres to the hill top to be completed either on foot or horse back. I decided to walk bare foot. It was my way of saying thank you. The whole trip was fabulous except for the fact that I had serious blisters at the end of the trip. The condition of my feet was pretty serious. Serious enough to impact my onsite travel. I had lived in constant agony. At one point it seemed as if a great opportunity was slipping from my hand. It was in these dark moments I learnt one of the biggest lessons of life. The lesson of treating my body as an abode of God or as it’s said ‘body is temple’. I can not respect God by mistreating something He has created i.e. my body.

MARCH, APRIL & MAY
I was in London working for an insurance client. My supervisor was a great guy. He taught me lot of things both technical and soft skills. The assignment went well. My contract kept getting extended. I was asked to stay the longest with my supervisor. The last day of the assignment was interesting. We had decided to pilot the processes we had designed. But given the limited budget and time it wasn’t possible to pilot it on real users. So we decide to pilot it on the group leaders who were involved in defining the process in the first place. We had selected them as champions who would sell the ‘new way’ of working to others in the organisation.
We got hats for various types of users in the pilot. Like one for project manger, PMO, Finance board, etc. It was taking the phrase ‘wearing the hat’ literary.

JUNE
The assignment got over and I left for India; Kolkata to be accurate with a couple of hours stop at Delhi. Friends had come over to meet me at the Delhi airport. One of my friends was getting married. His engagement was in a week’s time. I had promised him that I would surely come back to the city for his engagement. A big social gathering is something I don’t look forward to attend but then I had to change my ways. A big social gathering for me may be the most important event in somebody’s life. But in this case it was as big an event for my friend as it was for me. I remember during our MBA days we used to spent nights discussing girls. And now finally he was getting hitched.

Kolkata was as usual. It seems time freezes in this 'city of joy'. Nothing changes here. Absolutely nothing. Meeting parents as always was great.

JULY to DECEMBER
The new assignment bought me back to London. It is a Bank this time with new boss and new set of challenges. Work wise it has been great working here. I am still living the experience. The boss and colleagues are wonderful. They have inspired me. Being aware of the length of this blog I would write about them in a different blog.

Good bye 2008. Thank you for being such a good year.

Welcome 2009.

Being born and spent most of my years in Bengal I have been greatly influenced by Bengali culture. One of the early foods for thought shared by a Bengali with me was - ‘a word is mightier than a sword’. I don’t remember who said this, but am pretty sure he was somebody in his mid-seventies at that time, somebody who had seen India in the pre-independence era. The era when India had great scholars who picked their words like workers picking up diamonds in a diamond mine.

The world has moved on since then. And so has India. Recently I observed an interesting phenomenon. The phenomenon came to my attention post Mumbai 26/11 carnage. Celebrities sharing their thoughts on important social events; something I call ‘celebrity wisdom’.

Celebrity wisdom isn’t a new phenomenon but in this age of internet/blog it becomes more interesting. It gives us an opportunity to know what goes on in a celebrity’s mind, first hand without any edits.

Post Mumbai carnage many celebrities have written their views on it. A few of them which are interesting are as follows:-

Note: My idea is not to ridicule anybody in particular. More than any particular person my comments are directed to the ideas articulated.

1. One celebrity wrote that he slept with a gun under his pillow the night he heard about the incident.
2. Second one complained that not many celebrities have come out in public to make a statement against the incident.
3. The third said that there are two sides of society. Side A and side B. In A the fanatics become terrorist and in B the government.
4. The fourth celebrity had his response well orchestrated and polished. Being an actor he executed the TV interview as if it was an impromptu show.

What was the first celebrity thinking when he wrote that he slept with a gun under his pillow. Does that mean he had lost all faith in police and country’s security forces that keeping a gun made him feel safe? Many years back all the villagers in Bihar (an Indian state) were massacred in their sleep by a local gang. I wonder how did the neighbouring villagers react to this incident. Taking cue from this celebrity, I bet they would have asked for the whole gallantry to be at their bedside.

If this celebrity had his way the Mumbaikars would have lived in boats post Mumbai floods. What was the celebrity thinking when he kept the gun under his pillow. Probably he would have said “Maa kasam, tera khun pi jayuga. Kutte chun chun kar marunga” (Swear in mother’s name I would drink your (terrorist) blood. Dog I would kill each one of you).

The point is that one should act judiciously and not get carried away with emotions. And even if they get carried way with emotions, one must present the thoughts in a way that convey the meaning. If fine literature or figure of speech is the argument in favour of using the phrase then why was the celebrity caught with a gun at an airport few days later? Word is mightier than sword.

The second celebrity complained that not many of her contemporaries have responded to the carnage. What is this? Is it some sort of cricket match were anybody who is somebody needs to make a comment on how the players played or which way the ball swung? In the world of electronic media and 2 minutes of fame, we have more celebrities than history has ever witnessed. I wonder what happens if all the celebrities come out and make public speeches on any social event that occurs. Word would cease to be mightier than sword.

The third celebrity thinks either it’s A or B. In side A, fanatics are terrorists and in side B the social figures infuse riots and social disturbance. She argues creators of both the society are well respected in their own domain. I guess the celebrity wanted to draw a parallel between two societies. She wanted to draw home the point that terrorism exists in various forms; one created by terrorist and others by political and social figures.

I think its plain play of words. I don’t advocate either of the two societies to be correct. But then we cannot confuse terrorism with riots. They both are enemies of societies in general. But in riots the commoner is equally responsible as the rioters. The general public plays puppet in hand of rioter. In terrorism, the terrorist spreads terror all across. Nobody gets mercy. If there own people protest then they themselves become the victim in the name of sacrifice.

The fourth celebrity gave a well edited interview. Every word finely picked and delivered with ease. Something you would probably expect from a seasoned actor like him. I wonder why he gave this interview. The society had just been beaten down. It needed leadership and direction, not a repeat of political rhetoric. I wonder to keep the TRPs and eye balls glued, the media had nothing else to do but to catch each celebrity and ask them how they feel. After a scarp one feels relaxed, after a joke is cracked one laughs and after such brazen carnage one feels disgusted, helpless, insecure and in deep pain. It is a known feeling/expression where there is nothing new.

If a word is mightier than a sword then why can’t people refrain from using words just because it exists in a dictionary? Literature is not a grammatical arrangement of words. It is a dance of ideas that plays on the tunes of the writer.