Experience with Diversity

I had a good experience in working in an truly international environment at a client location here in Sydney.And I am still having a it.While Sydney is a melting pot of various cultures and ethinicity I was fortunate enough to be working at a client organisation which promotes diversity in a very big way.The first project team that I was interacting with comprised of a Kiwi (Client Director),British,Scot,Zimbabwean,Phillipino and an Aussie.While most of them had migrated to Australia for a few years now but you still get to experience of the personality traits that a particular ethnic background brings in your social and professional interactions.Aussies are most open and upfront people and they are very professional in their dealings.They seemed to have a non-serious but sincere approach towards work.They are naturally very good communicators and take things in good humor.On a Friday evening its time to hit the bar at 4pm with mates.A beer with a mate is never a 'NO' scenario.Beer,mates & wine (BMW) is what Aussies love.They are also very passionate about their sports be it Rugby (they call football) or cricket.They also love the friendly banter.They take their sports very seriously and passionately love any game they follow.

A passing fancy

A year has gone by since I posted my last one.Thats quite tells about my passion for writing.Its not that life was at a standstill all this while or I was working on a secret mission.I was busy with the mundane stuff,spending time with family and friends (more friends than family would be more specific) and having those odd bad days at office.
Let me tell you about my current whereabouts.I am back in Sydney.The city hasn't changed much since I left a couple of years back except that you get to see a few more chinese and a double the Indians since.And yes the apartment rents have nearly doubled as well.And winter are chilly and windy.Its 4 degree today !!!
There are quite a few things that have not changed...I still love to dine out,I still hate exercise and I still don't know I love or hate my job.
My recent recollection of important world events are IPL2 & Indian Election.While I started passionately following the IPL2 but lost interest half way.The India Election fever took over.What a exciting few days.I was glued to CNN-IBN for a couple of days as the results poured in and post election analysis coverage was aired.Elections wouldn't have been half as exciting without controversies and with the emergence of heroes and anti-heroes.While I was drawn by Rahul Gandhi's charisma I was equally impressed by Varun Gandhi's guts.If 2004 results were surprising the 2009 was shocking !! Hope we get to see some good governance and the 9-10% growth story.
Another exciting milestone in my life was recent Roger Federer's French Open win.I have been a Fedex fan since he took over the top spot.While others have caught up Federer still remains the only magician on a tennis court.
One thing I must share with you...its not a secret but kinda of personality thing..I get this passing fancies when I get hooked on to something for a few days or months until something else takes over,,and then some other things and so on.
My recent ones have been Russell Peters shows in Youtube (there is this Chinese vs Indian act)Its hilarious. I am also watching the Ellen Degeneres show.I find her extremely funny !

JAM...

I woke up to JAM (just another morning) and was lazily meandering in my house clueless what I am going to do in the next hour.I have always dreamt about this busy organised disciplined day in which every minute is packed with action like those corporate honchos.Haven't got a chance yet.So this one is up there in my wish list (at least for today !!) along with a few more.

A Monday holiday is a dream start to a week,and with a Friday one,possibly makes the best working week.I guess anyone wouldn't mind slogging 13.33 hrs/ day for a 3-day week.Today is Ugadi - New year's day for the Telugus and Kannadigas.Festivals do remind me of home and this is one time when I definitely miss being with my family.For most of us,the upwardly mobile middle class without many strings attached to customs or traditions,its just another holiday.

I called up home,spoke to my dad and found he too had a holiday.Well it wasn't for Ugadi but for a bandh called by ULFA.I have to admit the one common good thing between democracy and militancy is a bandh - the most convenient and peaceful expression of protest.And these days you get unflinching support from the public not becoz we believe in any of the ideological crap or support any of the irrational cause but we get another paid holiday.Is anyone complaining ??

I was about to hung up when my mom quickly reminded me of Poila Boishak (Bengali New Year) just a week from now.My formative years has been a very cherished one.I come from a traditional Bengali family and we had a 'big' (both in number and size) joint family.I was lucky and privileged in some sense to have such an upbringing with my uncles and aunts,cousins,grandpa,grandma all under a single roof.It was a less dramatised version of an Ekkkkkta Kkkkapoor soap saga with similar sounding names of characters but with slightly less intelligence and beauty but realistically loving and love-worthy.Today in the 28th year the bond might appear to have weakened in the conflict of individual interests & aspirations and dwindling ethical values but we still are a close knit family.

I have always wondered and still do isn't it paradoxical that we all are working towards a better future in our own arguably right ways but most of us have left our best days behind.Those moments which can now be only sweet little memories of bygone times;some captured as Kodak moments or some in (auto)biographies or some in Blogs and some simply etched in mind for us to treasure and get solace in moments of recluse.

Conventional wisdom vs Out-of-Box Thinking: Pre-paid SF&B card

I had invited some of my friends for lunch and as one discussion led to another, we inevitably started a thread on the increasing no. of frequent & random checks of two-wheeler drivers in Bangalore.While any sensible citizen would argue what's wrong in that.If it helps avert terrorists threats, improves traffic discipline,ensures deployment of safety rules,brings in responsibility among citizens and dozen other benefits so we should support the system.I completely agree.
My friend then went on to narrate this anecdote of a harrowing experience of a two wheeler driver in Bangalore.This not-so-proactive citizen got caught in one of such proactive checks.Now as luck can run out anytime and anywhere,when he showed his insurance papers he was told that his insurance had expired 3 days back.And he had to pay a spot fine of a few hundreds bucks and also on top of that he had not done a mandated emission test.Add a few more hundreds.
As always there is a second option which was to pay a spot bribe and "get away".My friend's friend did some quick cost benefit analysis and realised he might have to pay a few more spot bribes due to the frequent randoms checks he might potentially encounter towards his 15 km travail to office.Even then he won't make his boss any happier since he'll be late by an hr.Using all his experience and conventional wisdom he renegotiated the fine amount and got a challan (like any responsible citizen should do) of few lesser hundred rupees.He was naturally relieved to make an exit from the first pit stop.As anticipated he did bump into two other check posts and the rest of the story probably is as mundane as hassles of Bangalore traffic.
I kept thinking what can I do to reduce the agony of myself and my fellow 2-wheeler's from such experiences.I started working on this card product.It will be India's first Spot Fine and Bribe card (SF&B) .Sorry what did I just say - a card !!
Well it might appear madness but hear me out there is method in my madness.

1. It will be a pre-paid card issued to every two wheeler driver.


2. A monthly amount will be loaded into the card.


3. Whenever a card holder has to pay a spot fine he needs to pay it through his/her SF&B Prepaid card.


4. There would be a monthly statement send to the card-holder and a copy to the traffic dept to track a person's fines history.


5. If a person exceeds the monthly fine limit his vehicle will be confiscated.


6. In case of a residual balance (if any) it will carry forward to the next month.


7. If a person has shown good track record the traffic police can incentivize the driver with awards (Best Driver of the year) or rewards (progressively lesser fine amounts).


8. Also the spot check traffic personnel would have wireless PoS terminal to enable them to make a real-time transaction.


9. Also if the driver decided to pay the bribe instead of the fine the traffic personnel can select the relevant option and the bribe amount will debited to his bank account. ( I assume some amount of bribing will be legalized by the time this product hits the market !!).

There is a huge benefit in terms of convenience in payment,better customer experience (both driver and traffic personnel) and also intangible benefits to the overall society by improving traffic discipline and minimising red-tapism.

If you can't beat the Bangalore traffic or traffic police At least what I can you assure is an excellent experience in paying the fine or taking the bribe and a quicker transaction time.May be next time the boss might be happy to see you reach office half and hour late instead of an hour !

Cute Indian Accent

I picked the movie "Love Actually" a couple of days back and as I watching it the nth time my attention was grabbed by this particular character.The guy who thought he could impress the American girls with his cute British accent.Infact he does "exceedingly well" to impress the American gals (if you have seen the movie you know what I mean).

That led me to think,unfortunately we can't take pride of a cute Indian accent.Well hereby by accent I mean the mastery over the elocution of the English language.Interestingly enough,our cute Indian accent on one hand symbolises our diversity and on the other easy identification of which community we belong too.Tell me.. how many times have you listened to a person's Indian accent and had confidently concluded he must be a Bong or jumped at joy and retorted "Are you a Mallu ?" or "Su Gujrati che" ....

Well cute or not it does give us '2' things

a) Our regional identify

b) Lots of laughter (MTV Lolla Kutty)

However today if I look around,accent neutralization has become a key to improving one's communication skills and thereby succeeding in the global business environment.

And in our frenzy to neutralize our accent and improve our communication skill (Definition:How fluently and correctly you speak the English language),I fear our generation would fail to pass on this funny British legacy.

Let me tell you the Britishers ruled our country for centuries but never bothered to get a cute Indian accent to impress us.Kolkata gave way to Calcutta....Mumbai to Bombay and Dilli to Delhi...So if colonial imperialism can succeed so can economic imperilism.
why bother what accent we have as long we are talking sense !!

So for me London should give way to Lawndawn.Atleast I can impress my mum ;-)
Wonder what Liz Hurley thinks of Aroon Nair's cute Indian accent.

Chetan Bhagat fan

"Back to back posts..not bad... in the past couple of years the frequency of posting was yearly.But creativity isn't timebound so why bother.Let the thoughts flow naturally.But its 3 am in the morning...need to reach office early tomorrow..."

While I was having this soliloquy I leaped back a couple of weeks.I picked up this book called "One Night @ Call Centre" by Chetan Bhagat.Well I have been hearing about this book for over a year now but didn't actually get a chance until recently.When I started reading the first few chapters and the thing that stuck me was the author's casual style.Its very non-literary and conversational.I instantly liked it and at no point in time did I feel the author was trying to drag a subject.Pretty fast paced.Honestly down the years I have somehow have lost a bit of patience.Thats reflects also in my reading habits.Probably becoz our falling attention span under the impact of gravity.What do you think having 100 channel in your TV does to you ? Shortens your attention span.
Coming back to the book lot of us (IT/BPO) connect to the context since it revolves around the BPO life.But the way he has potrayed the emotional sides of the characters and evolves the touchy moments without sacrificing the casual writing style was a refreshing change.I was so impressed I bought the other book by Chetan "Five point someone". Admittedly I wasn't disapointed at all.Infact I liked it more than the first one.Having been through a similar kinds of experience in Engg. was able to connect to the characters.

Nice one Chetan..Add one more to your fan list.

A passion for a game.....lost and found

As a typical Bengali boy growing up in an unassuming neighbourhood the first game I inadvertently got introduced to was cricket.How predictable !! My formative years didn't have the luxury of TV so it was not by providence of watching the game and liking it but you are left with no choice but get "hooked" onto the game.Well I started playing cricket with a rubber ball in the "gully" of my 'para' (locality) and the only shot you learn to employ is the straight drive(not that you have too many shots to play on the sides).I used to wait for the usual Sunday morning like my other childhood buddies when we got a chance to rub our shoulders with the big guys of the para.

My first memory of watching a cricket game was the 1992 WC (in Down under).Never thought at that point in time I would get a chance to watch a live match exactly 11 years later in Melbourne.(Witnessed Sehwag's brilliant 195....we still lost the match )
Around the same time I was hearing stories of a young school boy creating a buzz in the cricketing world.The next decade would just belong to this legend by the name Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.Well what can anyone say.If we are a cricket crazy nation blame it on this man.If we are passionate about the game its partly becoz of the heroics of Sachin.
While the rest of the world was still trying Bradmanise this mortal,India discovered two more talents which was to form the Holy Trinity of Indian cricket.Lords test ..1995 ...two Indian debutants against England created history.One got a century and the other nearly got one.
In years to come Sachin's flamboyance,Sourav's elegance and Dravid's grit enchanted the cricketing world across nations.They created records only to break themselves.We loved them,we cursed them,we just wanted more and they kept raising the bar;of their game and our expectations.Well in a country where we have so many Gods three more wouldn't harm.
While they carry the burden of expectations of a billion even today their legacy is going to last a lifetime.For our generation has been the luckiest one,atleast from a cricketing sense.

The Dhoni's and Yuvraj's are the future stars but can't imagine the day when the Indian middle order will be devoid of the Holy Trinity.

Well my passion for the game might be not as strong as it was a few years back but I still read the sports page first when I get the morning newspaper...First thing first.

After the break....

Well I have always wanted to share anecdotal experiences from my stint in Sydney. As I assimilate those unforgettable moments and edit them into a few episodes (trashing the forgettable ones), let me share a few thoughts on the eve of the T20 final between Indian and Pakistan.

I have started to believe that two things that an Indian unwillingly inherits are 1) a passion for cricket & 2) the skill of "jugaad". While the former gives 50% of Indians a reason to survive their lifespan; the latter actually helps 100% of Indians to make their way through any challenge.

Today India Inc. is shining and we attribute a lot of reasons to it like investor friendly environment, available talent pool, improved infrastructure, strong education system, macroeconomic support etc. Rightly so but if we were to think deep, the key differentiating factors are derived from the above inheritance.
In corporate terms the first one is called the passion & zeal to excel and the second, art of innovation.

To be contd…

Murphy's law - My tribute

Thought I should pay my tribute to eponymous Mr. Edward Murphy.Why ?
Have you ever tried defying gravity? You might still succeed.
Try defying Murphy's law.It defies even the law of gravity.

Murphy's law states -"Whatever can go wrong,will go wrong and at the most inopportune moment."

Believing in it doesn't make life any easier but it does give a fresh perspective.

Enough said....

Will India win the T20 world cup ? What say Mr Murphy.

MKG:My Experiments with Truth...A missing chapter

A couple of days back I came across an article on Gandhi in Outlook India Bapu's Human Tryst
It made interesting reading for two reasons,one it's based on a revelation by his grandson Rajmohan Gandhi in his forthcoming book MOHANDAS: A TRUE STORY OF A MAN, HIS PEOPLE AND AN EMPIRE and two it had a Bengali connection !!!

It reveals a clandestine relationship that Gandhi had with this dazzling and feisty Bengali lady Saraladevi which rocked the boat his marriage to Kasturba.The first spontaneous thought that sprung into my mind was that even Bapu couldn't resist the temptation of a Bong beauty & intelligence.Being an ardent Bong,I felt a sense of pride....mind you very briefly though !!!

My first tryst with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (MKG) was probably in my fourth or fifth standard. We had a Supplementary paper in English language wherein we had to go through a few chapters from MKG autobiography “My Experiments with truth”.One thing that I distinctly reminisce was the candid confessions that MKG made in his book.As much his entire autobiography gives insight into the vision that would change the history of an entire nation,it was also a public ‘mea culpa’ of an ordinary man’s struggle to overcome his inner demons.
We all know and venerate Gandhi as a visionary and an astute political leader.As a visionary he was almost flawless in what he envisaged in free India viz society devoid of Untouchability,nation liberated of its socio-economic prejudices and Hindu-Muslim peaceful co-existence.However as a political leader he did not entirely give us the best history and the brightest future (read 1947 Partition).Let me not digress here becoz my original intent was not to dissect his political career but to try and understand why MKG chose not to mention this event in his autobiography.

Well as they say every man has to go through a mid-life crisis at some point.So if we were to believe that theory this must have been MKG’s.However it had come at such a stage of his life that too much was at stake even to make an eventual disclosure albeit it meant “My Experiments with Truth” would have a missing chapter.

Does this present an opportunity to vilify the Mahatma? May be for some.But not me…
Rather I put him on a higher pedestal.Becoz it goes to show the man failed to tug away from the greatest temptation and defy the laws of fatal attraction….or simply he was just an ordinary man who went through his trials and tribulations on the journey to liberate a nation.If every saint has a past so does a sinner …a future which can lead to greatness.

Whilst I wait for my turn to grab a copy of the forthcoming book I wonder what Munnabhai has to say about all this....

My opening lines......

Howdy ppl...Welcome to my blog..
Writing doesn't come to me very naturally but thinking does (No,I'm serious !!!)
In brevity Cogito,Ergo Sum which means I think,therefore I am.

Well as another year is about to unfold its mystery,happiness,moments of glorious uncertainties,share of nature's wrath,desire to conquer the unconquered; one thing that binds the human race is hope..hope for anything and everything..hope to survive the so-called mundane and trivial pursuits of the daily grind or to resolve the issues of greater concern like the war against terror or the planet's survival....So as the new year dawns tonight and we prepare ourselves to face the unforeseen challenges and plan carefully to light the next 12 months,lets all hope and wish the best year is just ahead of us.....

¡Felíz año nuevo! .....Happy New Year to all !!!

And for all those who don't believe in hope here a few lines from the famous 1994 Wet Wet Wet song....(my version) ...hope it inspires one and all..:)

I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
Hope is all around me
And so the feeling grows.........