Goa - The Good Life

Vivek and I holidayed in Goa for 3 days last week. A much needed break from our run-of-the-mill jobs and a vacation that exceeded all our expectations.Sun, sand, sea, great food, feni and beautiful women on the private beach ? This is the good life. What more can one ask for!

We are back with our minds filled with wonderful sights, a 256 MB card full of our Kodak moments and a bag full of pebbles. I will revisit our 4 days over the next few posts....

REC, Trichy to NIT, Trichy

August 2005, Vivek and I (from the Class of '99) went on a maiden trip to REC, Trichy. It took a lot of convincing on my part to ask Vivek to be a guest blogger and post this entry. For I could have never done justice to this entry. Over to the RECTian..

Trichy Central Bus Stand.

"REC Trichy nikkuma?" (read: will you stop at REC Trichy?). I asked the conductor, with a knapsack hanging over my shoulders, dressed in an attire befitting a RECTian. Purani jeans, fati chappal and well, 6 years of work experience :)
The same old dirty harry look, frown on his face and finally a statement "last la eru". (read:"Board in the end"). Well, what were you expecting!

But things have changed. The dinchuk dinchuk music is now complemented with the tall dark fat hero gyrating to an equally plump heroine. Now, was it my lucky day! I just felt transported to midnight 12 'o clock SUN TV. Rain rain don't go away. Come again tomorrow night ;)

Sure, you must be wondering 6 years out of college, making a trip AGAAAIN? Ok, before you all jump, I cleared all my exams long back :) Bigger and better things have happened. I went to get a DAMNED reco and transcripts (and the priceless look on my HOD's face). Yeah yeah my next leap to fame.

Tanjore Road. Take me Home. To the place I belong...
Crossing the "grass-y" patches of Thiruverumbur, training centre of BHEL (reminiscent of the Ice Cream), 1st year's escape route of TREC-STEP,
Association of Genius And Talented Engineers, standing magnificently in the distance reminding me of the golden years, alas! which have passed by...and lo! there stood the "chathurmukhi" ..ClockTower..

The tolling of the iron bells
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic( yeah sure) spells of the great RECTian illuminati (read: my profs)

An event has passed, I have managed a "ceremonious" exit from the already hurrying bus and the conductor and well, THE TIME HAS COME to enter the MAGICAL KINGDOM.
BUT...OH MY LORD

What have they done Maggie(in this case my wife Lakshmi) what have they done
What have they done to RECT
Should I shout should I scream


A Kingdom has been lost. Once where stood the mighty REC, with all its ruggedness, non-chalance and a no-care attitude, now stands a spic and span NIT - smooth, polished and almost feminine.

I stood there glued with half a mind to cross the road, grab a quick tea from Sam Fox (boys, she is still out there getting her young, but more nubile and enchanting) and waive down a passing 128 to get out and get away. I AM STONED IMMACULATE !!!

With lead for my feet, a lump in my throat I chose to take the steps that open up to the infamous A23 Exam Hall. Oh come on! We all have been there. But I am sure you couldn't have even dreamt of this ..."CELL PHONES ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THIS EXAM HALL".


People are crazy and times are strange
I'm locked in tight, I'm out of range
I used to care but - things have changed.


Almost like a man on fire, I finished the paper work that would get me the coveted transcripts. Now, started the journey to my bete noir - a walk to the Instrumentation and Control Engineering Department. To lay my hands on the piece of paper, for which men and women have toiled and burnt the midnight oil studying - the recommendation letter.

Spent 4 years getting out of this place and his gaze, 6 years later back to where it all started. He was a genius who said, "beta, life is a full circle". Wish, this wise man existed jab main chota bachcha tha, badi shararat kartha tha...

Time to meet the man himself, KK AK(nothing short than the head of KKK for me), who always encouraged me to "stop wasting my dad's money". And here I stood all humbled to ask him to sign my recommendation letter. With a soft knock on his door, I entered where the angels fear to tread. The look on his face, admitting recognition, but his grey cells forcing "Do I know you?".



The ensuing conversation ----

"Sir, Vivek Nath. Roll No. IC...38. Batch of '99".
(Man O Man. It was a KODAK moment.)

The first words .."Have you still not cleared REC?"
Sure..learnt one thing today..."Old fame dies hard".

"Sirrr, I have cleared it all and I am here for something else."

His next words, "Are you gainfully employed?"

Coming from the world of CTCs, Incentives and Performance Bonuses, it sure was a shocker when he asked "What is your scale?"

Trying to make sense of the question, it took a few seconds to process what he meant. Seeing the puzzled look on my face, he muttered hesitantly, "How much do you earn?"

"Sir, enough to sustain myself." (though I felt like saing I've stopped wasting my dad's money. I waste my own)

<>>

Not to break your hearts..REC still exists.





This was more than a mere name change from REC to NIT. On a closing note,

The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

The time is gone
The song is over
Thought I'd something more to say

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Mom Dad! Today is their 29th Wedding Anniversary. If I'm able to even do 1% of what they did for us with the limited resources of their times, bring a smile to their faces and never cause them misery again, I would consider myself very successful. What I am today is a result of all that they had given up, to bring us up comfortably and live their dreams through us! Thank you Mom and Dad for everything!

A Makeover

The boldest thing I've done in a while. Got a haircut this Sunday - the shortest I've ever had. For years, my long hair was neatly plaited and tucked under a colorful ribbon while at school only to give way to a oily ponytail later. Now, it is a lil longer than a bob cut. As the salon lady ran the scissors deftly through my hair and the long black strands began to fall, I felt like asking her to stop. Well, I'm glad I didn't and I gues she did a good job.

Movie Review - Zinda

If you liked Kaante and Musafir, you are going to love Zinda. Zinda, starring Sanjay Dutt, John Abraham, Lara Dutta among others, is the latest from Sanjay Gupta's stable.

For Indian Cinema, copyright means the right to copy. And Sanjay Gupta is a master of this art. Kaante was a remake of Reservoir Dogs and Musafir adapted from U-Turn. This time, for a change, he turned East. Apparently, Zinda is based on the Korean Classic OLD BOY (2003).

The movie is about a software engineer named Balajit Roy (played by Sanjay Dutt) who lives in Bangkok with his wife (played by Celina Jaitley). One fine day, Bala is abducted and remains in custody in a room for 14 long years for reasons unknown. His window to the outside world is a television in his room where sees the gory images of Sept 11, Tsunami and his beheaded wife on TV. He survives on 3 times a day wanton meal without going insane. All that he sees of his abductors is a white shoe through a hole when he is handed over food. Regularly, he is given a dose of valium during which his room is cleaned.

When he escapes or is released 14 years, he is handed over a cell phone and money. His struggle is far from over. Infact this is the beginning. In search of his abductors, he meets a cab driver Jenny (played by Lara Dutta) to show him around Bangkok and every place that makes wanton. A nice strategy to identify his abductors. One thing leads to another and he finally meets a businessman name Rohit Chopra
(played by John Abraham - his abductor), through Raj Zutshi, who abducts people.

As they put the pieces of the puzzle together, Bala comes to understand why he was abducted, why 14 years of captivity followed by a release and the shocking revelation that his wife was pregnant and delivered a kid when he was abducted. The end is too abrupt and you gotta to see the movie for the rest of the story.

Honestly, I could feel a lump in my throat when Sanjay Dutt plucks Raj Zutshi's teeth one by one with a hammer. Drilling the hands of his abductors was not that bad.

This movie will not be a commercial hit as it will not find any acceptance from Indian Cinema goers with a major section comprising of families. It is a concept too advanced lacking mushy content and high on violence. There are no item numbers. Only 2 songs throughout the movie that play in the background. Interestingly, the film is devoid of flashy colors too which is very appealing. All you get to see is a
black and bluish tint.

To sum it up, ZINDA is depicts the epitome of negativity and the heights of revenge, like no other Hindi movie has ever done. Sanjay Dutt, as usual is at his classy best. John Abraham did just about fine. You can either love it or hate it. There is nothing like "ok" with this movie. So if you have it in you, go see it.

Mergers and Acquisitions - The Untold Story

In conversation with an ex-co-worker of mine, this morning, I realized the psychological impact a merger can cause on its employees.

In 2005, a 4000 people strong Indian organization I worked at for 6 years got merged with a renowned 55,000 people strong Services Firm. Now that's the union of a rat and an elephant. Goes without saying that the Elephant will make the rat dance to its tunes. This is a numbers game and in such a merger it becomes imperative that the policies, rules and regulations set by the stronger side are enforced as it makes logical sense. Here's my take on the untold story of what effect mergers have on the employees of the weaker side - the receiving end (weaker not to be taken literally):

Read more

Advantages :

1. Career Opportunities : The pipeline just got longer and wider. As a result, a sea of opportunities open up providing avenues to get into greener pastures (read :lines of businesses).



2. Brand Value : Being an employee of a larger entity has its advantages. Industry-wide Recognition and the Brand Value works for good in the longer run.

What can (or does) go wrong becomes the disadvantages:

1. Communication : It is very important to over-communicate and keep all channels of communication open. Fear, anxiety and insecurity is at its peak during the merger process. Fear of the unknown can have adverse effects on the employees and in turn on the organization. Productivity would be hit as employees would spend more time discussing the unknown (creativity at play). Voices have to be real. We like listening to the story from people with authority. So townhall meetings should focus on that to alleviate fears.
   
   Listening to people is as important as the above to keep the psychological impact low. Fears related to compensation, recognition should be addressed in the initial stages. And this is what most mergers are found to lack.



2. Cultures : When two companies merge, their people are expected to unite transcending cultures. Culture determines how people adapt to changes and how they process information, so it is critical to keep the cultures in mind during the merger process. It could be as trivial as the tendency of a developer to get up and shout to his colleague 3 cubicles away or as serious as the flowdown of information across the rungs of the org. Now after the merger, imagine putting this developer in a glass cube with a talking time quota. Only two things will happen - either he quits or earns himself a place in the mental asylum.
   



3. Duration of the merger: This is by far the most critical one. The longer the duration of the merger process, the higher the pain in all the allied areas. Too much time means increasing uncertainties.



4. Mapping of Roles, Restaffing and Transitions : This must be done with utmost care. Designations is one thing and role another. The visibility and respect you command in a smaller organization wanes when you enter a larger entity. Transitioning top talent into a less significant role will only result in a spike in the attrition rate. Discussions are best here for key people. Keeping the top talent in confidence and letting them be aware of what plans you have in store for them is vital.
   



5. Relocation : A few of my former co-workers have had to give up their offices with plush interiors and relocate to a new mediocre facility. I know not many of us care so much about the interiors but the "feel-good-about-work" factor has now suddenly gone. A step-motherly treatment perhaps? Or not? (depends on whose side you take)



6. Best Practices and Integration Teams: However small an organization is, it has its won best practices. So it would be a worthwhile exercise to identify and seamlessly integrate the best practices during the merger. Forming integration teams to implement policies is healthy. Policies such as restricted Internet access, physical access restrictions due to security reasons at workplace is something everyone understands if done the right way.



7. Training : training employees on the new policies and keeping them abreast of the changes will facilitate the integration process.



8. Ownership : It is a team effort. The onus of making every employee feel he/she is a part of this integration falls on the management.



9. Controlling Attrition : Failure in any of the above leads to attrition. Attrition ins such circumstances is mainly a ripple effect and should be controlled at the grassroots level.

Phew..that was long and I had some more on the list but I'm going to stop.

Change is constant. And it is a human instinct to fear change. It is overwhelming at times. I hope the process will be easier for you all.........

Categories: business, management, employee, workplace, merger

A Stop at the Shopper’s Stop

Shopper's Stop is a retail chain in India with outlets in most metropolitan cities. Much before any of the present day malls made a foray and changed the landscape of the retail industry, Shopper's Stop has been in existence catering and adapting itself to the upscale designer and fashion conscious generation of today.

Sunday was our day out. V and I took a bus to the city to get a first hand experience of the other public transportation systems in Pune. Taking a bus is any day better than hanging out from the train with the hand rails standing between life and death, though not so much good as the Baleno :). The frequency of buses is good and we reached within 30 mins which was incredible.

Vivek was famished by the time we entered Shopper's Stop and found his way directly to the top floor that houses a restaurant called Maiche. Maiche is a very small restaurant with a seating capacity of about 30 people meant mainly for the shoppers. The ambience is modern, delightful and very modest, as it is surrounded by the home store featuring colourful coffee mugs, rugs, bedsheets, pot pourri and such.

The food ranges from classic Italian to Thai to desi dishes like Paratha. While I enjoyed the Pad Thai, Vivek treated himself to the Pennae Pasta with Bolognese Sauce topped with his favourite olives and bell peppers. The service was efficient and quick. I have to admit that I've had better Pad Thai at the Star of Siam and Big Bowl in Chicago. There's something about peanuts ..as kids Indians don't grow up eating peanut butter so it is difficult to develop a taste for anything peanutsy..

After the sumptuous meal, we went on the long awaited shopping spree. The highlight of our shopping was the Tantra T-Shirt section. These T-shirts are hilarious sporting funky slogans and are amazingly cheap. Here are a few slogans that I liked --

God is too big to fit in to one religion

#%&!
The next guy who asks me what it means gets a punch in the face.

Definition of a dhobi – the only man who can say this to your wife –
"bhabhi kapde nikhal kar rakiye, main aaata hoon".

Stoned immaculate – chill out or die

One billion people cannot be wrong

Beer makes you smarter.
IT made Bud Wiser


All good things come to an end and so did our indulgence. It was a day well spent.

Billboard Hiring

"IBM IS HIRING. GET ON BOARD" reads a huge Billboard enroute (just a hundred meters before) the IT tech Park at Hinjewadi, Pune. This is what I call Billboard hiring. Not a new hiring practice.

Have you seen these eye-catcher billboard ads placed by Google in the US in 2003? But they were challenging and aimed at recruiting the best talent in the country…stimulating and enticing only the geeks who cared enough to solve the problem. This kind of recruitment is fun for both the parties and will work for only specific product companies like Google.

The IBM ad lists just about every technology and product on earth – SAP, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards, Siebel, CRM, Web Technologies, Portals, Testing. In short, if you are into Software you can apply. The only strategic thing about the ad is its location. Considering that IBM does not have a office in this tech park that houses scores of IT, IT-enabled services (ITES) and business process outsourcing (BPO) units including some industry giants such as Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant, it was a good way to woo the 1000s of commuters to this facility everyday! I'm wondering if they are targetting only average talent?

Yet another year...

So 2006 is here. For me, New Years's eve has always been a time for celebration, not retrospection. No resolutions for sure.

This day meant more than any other - be it my birthday or Diwali. A strange sense of achievement. The excitement so high that I would wait eagerly for the 31st Dec. Newspaper every year and flip through the pages to the section that read "The world this year" - a quick reminiscence of all the events that year. The paper would eventually find its way into my clippings folder that I had maintained for almost 10 years. Was exciting to watch the celebration in Sydney first on TV, then India and finally culminating in the US. It felt like an extended festival only celebrated worldwide...

As a kid, I have fond memories of New Year's eve when we would spend the evening watching a live performance of some local bands at the school grounds and return home by midnight. As we grew a lil older, it was New Year with Doordarshan (India's National TV and the only one, before the cable TV era). Like a friend said yesterday, those days were good when you didn't have too many choices. This year it was very quiet, pretty much an indoorsy event staying home and watching TV. What was however surprising is that with hundreds of channels not one was worth watching for more than a few mins. It is at such times that one appreciates the quality and variety of the programs that DD churned out in the 80's and 90's which appealed to the audiences universally transcending generations.

Times have changed and so has the ways we usher in the New Year.