Training is over and as a happy surprise I'm going to be paid just for warming my seat (better say bench :)) in my office, atleast for the next 2 weeks.
Enjoying the SARKARI feel in the PRIVATE NAUKRY, a sweet memory from my training period at Mysore came to my mind. Here it is..
Stream training was over and we were free to enjoy, to be happy, to do whatever we felt like doing or to not to do any damn thing (the last one being the most popular thought). But as the weekend next to our Stream Compre Exam passed, I found an unpleasant, and a completely unexpected, emptiness surrounding me. In this emptiness came the realisation that quite contrary to my frustu beleif that the only role we played during the training was that of some fortunate under-privileged students being paid by the company for OUR learning, all of us were playing some very small but an important role in each others' lives. These roleplays were overlooked because of the immense workload, but, through this post, i just dont want them to go unnoticed. Now when i look back at these roleplays, and their players, a nice little smile comes on my face & that makes this memory very pleasant. These roles helped me sail through the EXTREME training and also helped me learn a lot of things apart from the usual # include and other such freaking stuff.. Here i mention a few of those very lovable roles:
The Stand Up Comedian, who presented some very serious facts about "how our asses gonna be brutally beaten up during the training" in the most comical way possible. The laziest leech and a hardcore Sachin fan, and the one who definitely knew how to make his friends smile.. A natural leader, and a man with a tremendous respect for women.
The tea-time critic of Infosys, govt policies and GALS. A walking encyclopaedia of current affairs. HARYANVI aur CHAI are the perfect combination for a stress-bursting afternoon break.
The 5-pointer devil who simply enjoyed telling us about the vastness of the assignments and the projects lying ahead. Also, the most cunning DEALER when it came to MONOPOLY (a flash game we played during the training).
The most irritating OSHO, whom I called DADA, who was at the receiving end of the regular beating by his peers, constantly abused, but still had all of us as his followers. The most hated but still the most accepted Project Leader of our POST project.
The coolest and the most tension-free SLEEPING SHEEP (with a smile ;)), who just didnt have any idea about what was happening throughout our project, but still managed to complete the training comfortably.
The semi-HARYANVI fan of historical leaders, who always had his "flying high" experiences of "drugs" and other such "far-from-our-thinking-domain" stuff for all of us.
It was a nice little experience of life with all these fellows, and getting posted to Chandigarh DC with a few of them promises another pleasant experience ahead. I do hope that I also played some role in their lives, so they remember me the same way they all will be remembered by me.. :)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
beauty and the circle of influence..
Stepping into the corporate world, and going through the training process, as a preliminary requirement for being "industry-ready", I've had a handful of joyful experiences, joyful coz they helped me get a better insight of myself and gave me an idea of how I can use my capabilities to make a difference to this rather indifferent world.
In one of my ILI(Industrial Leadership Institute) training sessions, I was introduced to the concept of "The Circles of Concern and Influence". Quite self-explanatory in their names, the "Circle of Concern" binds inside its boundaries the things, or the people around us, who affect us & our action. The "Circle of Influence", on the other hand, is a relatively smaller circle inside the "Circle of Concern" which contains the people who can actually be affected by our action. And the "affect" here means changing the way the people think and thus changing the way people act.
Leaving aside the rest of the "gyan" associated with these circles, I started to think about the factors that would help people grow their "Circle of Influence" because that's the area that defines the boundaries of "Personal Effectiveness" (yet another session which is a part of my training ;)). Just into the thought I had a feeling that beauty or glamour may be one very important or, I would say, the most powerful tool for expanding the boundaries of this
"Circle of Influence".
Moving further in this thought process, I started finding the things i get attracted towards, apart from girls (who, again, have to be "BEAUTIFUL ;)"). A list of quite illogical, wierd, but true, things and activities came to my mind - acting (being a hero and all that bollywood stuff), getting fairer and (thus) smarter, to be a part of some hacking community (having chicks like Angelina Jolie), to earn money and party around, to visit places like Austria, Switzerland and on and on. All these things, and all this thinking, were somehow and somewhere driven by an influence of style or glamour and the excitement that is attributed to these things. Then began the analysis, why did these things come first to my mind and not the things like - doing something to provide a nice home to the family of a "javan"(soldier) guarding the Chandigarh airport standing under the scorching summer sun, teaching children in rural areas, telling them about banking and all to manage their money and other awarenesses. And even if these things are there in my mind, am I actually acting on them the same way I am acting on the stylish things that first came to my mind ? May be I would have converted the better part of my thoughts into action if I'd often seen some beautiful and very smart people (SRK or Katrina) doing the stuff like that on telvision, may be that would have associated more excitement and style with those, definitely better, ideas. Yes, I am capable of doing all these things and I am to some extent doing that, but that's not going to create a difference on a larger scale. What i need at the moment is to try and make people around me think in this direction. But can I do that? May Be. Can SRK do that, Yes?
Many people may question the appropriateness of this, but i would still like to put forward a question: Who do you think can bring about a positive change, in the way "COMMON" Indian population think, on a larger scale - Dr.Abdul Kalam or Mr.Amitabh Bachchan ? Both the above mentioned personalities have experience and capability, and are comparable, but what if we take the comparison to be between Dr.Amartya Sen, or say Arundhati Roy, and Hrithik Roshan. The answers, as obvious to me are, Mr.Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan.
Taking the things into my domain, although the company I'm working for is a pool of around 1 lakh potentially great engineers and they all are being trained to be personally effective and "industry-ready", but still out of these 1 lakh engineers I can find a very less percentage to have a personality (which is not defined just by how beautiful you look) that can create an impact, that can bring about a positive change in the way the Indian society thinks. And whatever amount of training, to be personally effective, they may be given, their roots have already been grounded as such. I mean no company can train you to be fit and keep your body in shape, no company can train its female employees to vax the unwanted hair off their face, no company can, and
also should not, teach its men not to wear those "painter's" jeans or t-shirts, no company can teach its employees how to carry themselves in their own style and not look like a "WANNABE" and all. Its just that no emphasis is laid on these aspects in the earlier years of our education. And apart from not helping to bring about any positive change, such dismal personality of the intellectual working class of India gives the outside world an impression that India is a factory of "intellectual labourers" and no potential leaders or managers.
It may be theoretically wrong, but if you have the intellectual assets to bring about a positive change in the way people THINK, you can't do that until and unless you are able to draw the attention of people and make them listen to you, which can be done only if they see that "X-factor" in you. And again, ASSETS like PROSPERITY (ref my last post) has two constituents- Intellectual Assets and ;)...
In one of my ILI(Industrial Leadership Institute) training sessions, I was introduced to the concept of "The Circles of Concern and Influence". Quite self-explanatory in their names, the "Circle of Concern" binds inside its boundaries the things, or the people around us, who affect us & our action. The "Circle of Influence", on the other hand, is a relatively smaller circle inside the "Circle of Concern" which contains the people who can actually be affected by our action. And the "affect" here means changing the way the people think and thus changing the way people act.
Leaving aside the rest of the "gyan" associated with these circles, I started to think about the factors that would help people grow their "Circle of Influence" because that's the area that defines the boundaries of "Personal Effectiveness" (yet another session which is a part of my training ;)). Just into the thought I had a feeling that beauty or glamour may be one very important or, I would say, the most powerful tool for expanding the boundaries of this
"Circle of Influence".
Moving further in this thought process, I started finding the things i get attracted towards, apart from girls (who, again, have to be "BEAUTIFUL ;)"). A list of quite illogical, wierd, but true, things and activities came to my mind - acting (being a hero and all that bollywood stuff), getting fairer and (thus) smarter, to be a part of some hacking community (having chicks like Angelina Jolie), to earn money and party around, to visit places like Austria, Switzerland and on and on. All these things, and all this thinking, were somehow and somewhere driven by an influence of style or glamour and the excitement that is attributed to these things. Then began the analysis, why did these things come first to my mind and not the things like - doing something to provide a nice home to the family of a "javan"(soldier) guarding the Chandigarh airport standing under the scorching summer sun, teaching children in rural areas, telling them about banking and all to manage their money and other awarenesses. And even if these things are there in my mind, am I actually acting on them the same way I am acting on the stylish things that first came to my mind ? May be I would have converted the better part of my thoughts into action if I'd often seen some beautiful and very smart people (SRK or Katrina) doing the stuff like that on telvision, may be that would have associated more excitement and style with those, definitely better, ideas. Yes, I am capable of doing all these things and I am to some extent doing that, but that's not going to create a difference on a larger scale. What i need at the moment is to try and make people around me think in this direction. But can I do that? May Be. Can SRK do that, Yes?
Many people may question the appropriateness of this, but i would still like to put forward a question: Who do you think can bring about a positive change, in the way "COMMON" Indian population think, on a larger scale - Dr.Abdul Kalam or Mr.Amitabh Bachchan ? Both the above mentioned personalities have experience and capability, and are comparable, but what if we take the comparison to be between Dr.Amartya Sen, or say Arundhati Roy, and Hrithik Roshan. The answers, as obvious to me are, Mr.Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan.
Taking the things into my domain, although the company I'm working for is a pool of around 1 lakh potentially great engineers and they all are being trained to be personally effective and "industry-ready", but still out of these 1 lakh engineers I can find a very less percentage to have a personality (which is not defined just by how beautiful you look) that can create an impact, that can bring about a positive change in the way the Indian society thinks. And whatever amount of training, to be personally effective, they may be given, their roots have already been grounded as such. I mean no company can train you to be fit and keep your body in shape, no company can train its female employees to vax the unwanted hair off their face, no company can, and
also should not, teach its men not to wear those "painter's" jeans or t-shirts, no company can teach its employees how to carry themselves in their own style and not look like a "WANNABE" and all. Its just that no emphasis is laid on these aspects in the earlier years of our education. And apart from not helping to bring about any positive change, such dismal personality of the intellectual working class of India gives the outside world an impression that India is a factory of "intellectual labourers" and no potential leaders or managers.
It may be theoretically wrong, but if you have the intellectual assets to bring about a positive change in the way people THINK, you can't do that until and unless you are able to draw the attention of people and make them listen to you, which can be done only if they see that "X-factor" in you. And again, ASSETS like PROSPERITY (ref my last post) has two constituents- Intellectual Assets and ;)...
Sunday, June 14, 2009
What's with this word "paiyya" ..
Hey friends... having lived in chandigarh for the past 4 years, apart from learning punjabi and its very sweet n love shedding abuses on 'maas' and 'behans', a word that i have come across very frequently is "paiyya" (pronounced as bhaiya with the 'bh' replaced by the sound of 'p').
People here use this word for the people of UP and Bihar. When I asked some of my friends about what do they actually intent at saying when they call these people 'paiyya', the answer i got form them was something like -- these are like low-standard people, who dont have as good an etiquette as we have, and their way of carrying themselves and the style of talking is so backward and funny.
I dont know why these Chandigarh people brag so much about their English speaking and lavish style of living, when they actually dont have any sense of carrying themslves. Imagine a "non-paiyya" jatt wearing Tommy Hilfiger Clothes, Ray Ban goggles, getting out of his Skoda at Stu-C, taking his Apple I-phone out from his pocket, dialling a number and saying -- "Hor payi kiddaan.." (Hey bro! Hw r u??)
Why do the people here judge a person from his physical appearance? Everyone cant be rich enough to wear only branded underwears. I have met a lot of so-called "paiyyas" and have observed that their level of thinking, the smartness and aptitude with which they can handle even extremely difficult situations is much more superior than many of those "self-acclaimed" smart Chandigarh people.
What i want to say is that we (the Chandigarh people) may be blessed with prosperity in terms of money, but we must learn to respect the fact that prosperity has two components -- money and brain. Having just one of them doesn't make us prosperous, and even if we have both it does not give us the right to criticise or abuse others. We must stop such discrimination n stop using such words against our own countrymen, because before belonging to UP, Bihar or Chandigarh we belong to India and we must respect each other to gain respect for our country, first from within itself and then from the outside world..
People here use this word for the people of UP and Bihar. When I asked some of my friends about what do they actually intent at saying when they call these people 'paiyya', the answer i got form them was something like -- these are like low-standard people, who dont have as good an etiquette as we have, and their way of carrying themselves and the style of talking is so backward and funny.
I dont know why these Chandigarh people brag so much about their English speaking and lavish style of living, when they actually dont have any sense of carrying themslves. Imagine a "non-paiyya" jatt wearing Tommy Hilfiger Clothes, Ray Ban goggles, getting out of his Skoda at Stu-C, taking his Apple I-phone out from his pocket, dialling a number and saying -- "Hor payi kiddaan.." (Hey bro! Hw r u??)
Why do the people here judge a person from his physical appearance? Everyone cant be rich enough to wear only branded underwears. I have met a lot of so-called "paiyyas" and have observed that their level of thinking, the smartness and aptitude with which they can handle even extremely difficult situations is much more superior than many of those "self-acclaimed" smart Chandigarh people.
What i want to say is that we (the Chandigarh people) may be blessed with prosperity in terms of money, but we must learn to respect the fact that prosperity has two components -- money and brain. Having just one of them doesn't make us prosperous, and even if we have both it does not give us the right to criticise or abuse others. We must stop such discrimination n stop using such words against our own countrymen, because before belonging to UP, Bihar or Chandigarh we belong to India and we must respect each other to gain respect for our country, first from within itself and then from the outside world..
Monday, May 25, 2009
Globalisation -- Attack in Austria, riots in India
Once again, there's only one story airing on all news channels - "Riots in Punjab, again".
When i heard the news, the first feeling I had was that of sorrow, but when i got to know the cause of the riots i felt disgusted.
The verdict of this year's elections clearly shows that the people of India have voted for a govt that can take our country to a very respectable place on the global map in terms of development and globalisation. But, will the govt be able to work on this agenda of development if the very first thing that it has to handle, after being elected, is this unwanted and ever-concluding internal violence?
I don't think that India can climb up the ladder of global recognition, in terms of development, if it continues to be involved in such incidents. These incidents are happening very frequently in our country - be it in the form of a protest over some 'Dera' chief's public act, or the beating up of girls in Karnataka, or the gujjar-meena conflict, or the amarnath land row, or the injustice done to the people from UP and Bihar in Maharashtra. And now this..
All these people, who are involved in the violence, call themselves to be the beleivers of God and the followers of the His teachings given to them by one of His messengers. But did their God convey any such message of destruction and hatred against the common innocent people? Did Guru Nanak preach to burn the buses in anger, or did Sri Ram tell his people to beat girls?
What do the buses and trains in Punjab have to do with the killing of a man in Vienna ? Why burning trains and damaging public properties, and harming innocent people, when they have got nothing to do with the incident?
When is all this meaningless fighting going to come to an end? The peole of India, be of any cast or religion, must try and move towards a broader and a more tolerant way of thinking and acting. People have to start thinking practically and more 'nationally' than 'regionally'. If a step is not taken in this direction, a better India is far from being even at the horizon..
When i heard the news, the first feeling I had was that of sorrow, but when i got to know the cause of the riots i felt disgusted.
The verdict of this year's elections clearly shows that the people of India have voted for a govt that can take our country to a very respectable place on the global map in terms of development and globalisation. But, will the govt be able to work on this agenda of development if the very first thing that it has to handle, after being elected, is this unwanted and ever-concluding internal violence?
I don't think that India can climb up the ladder of global recognition, in terms of development, if it continues to be involved in such incidents. These incidents are happening very frequently in our country - be it in the form of a protest over some 'Dera' chief's public act, or the beating up of girls in Karnataka, or the gujjar-meena conflict, or the amarnath land row, or the injustice done to the people from UP and Bihar in Maharashtra. And now this..
All these people, who are involved in the violence, call themselves to be the beleivers of God and the followers of the His teachings given to them by one of His messengers. But did their God convey any such message of destruction and hatred against the common innocent people? Did Guru Nanak preach to burn the buses in anger, or did Sri Ram tell his people to beat girls?
What do the buses and trains in Punjab have to do with the killing of a man in Vienna ? Why burning trains and damaging public properties, and harming innocent people, when they have got nothing to do with the incident?
When is all this meaningless fighting going to come to an end? The peole of India, be of any cast or religion, must try and move towards a broader and a more tolerant way of thinking and acting. People have to start thinking practically and more 'nationally' than 'regionally'. If a step is not taken in this direction, a better India is far from being even at the horizon..
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Dil Chahata Hai Fort, Panaji - Goa..
Here i quote one of the best experiences of my life in the past 4 years...
After getting free from the CAT and other MBA entrance exmas, I and my friends planned a trip to Goa in Jan this year. Here is an account of one of the days on the trip..
After spending the day at Vegator and Miramar beaches, we ended up at the Chapora Fort (more commonly known as the "Dil Chahata Hai" fort). Having been tired of the entire days travel and the heat, at first I was irresolute in deciding whether to walk up the hill to reach the fort or to go back to our guest house and rest. But then, because of the insistance of some friends and also because of some unknown desire I decided to go ahead.
As soon as I reached the hill top I realised that the decision I took was the best one I had taken on the entire trip. We reached the fort at around sunset time. Sea breeze was blowing and the entire city of Goa could be seen from the top. It was only us and the "mother nature" around us, earth in its crude form. The cooling breeze vanquished all our tiredness. I could feel a sense of purity & spirituality in each and every breath I took.
Although we were six friends, but fortunatley I got some time to spend with one of my friends whose thoughts in the field of spiritual and rational thinking I respect the most. The association of the movie tag "Dil Chahata Hai" with the fort made the atmosphere around that of true friendship. As the movie had 3 friends, I very strongly missed Kakkar(Ankur) over there,who was not there because of some freaking "family function" of his in Delhi. However, coming back to the fort, when I told my friend about how I wanted the serenity of that moment to continue throughout my life, he told me some very nice things. He told me that feeling that sense of purity is what spirituality is all about. He made a very good point -- if sea had no waves i.e. if the sea was not active then it would have lost its essence. It is its duty to keep itself turbulent and if it does not comply to this duty, which is assigned to it by 'nature', then its existence is meaningless. Similarly, if you are not doing what you are supposed to do, which is again decided by the 'nature', then you are existing without any meaning.
Aim of a person should be to work towards attaining that sense of purity & serenity (which is what actually 'spirituality' is), and the duty of every person is to work towards attaining that aim.
With that small conversation coming to an end, the Sun was set and my other friends returned, and we started our journey back to the guest house. Those 20 mins spend with my friend, at the place attributed to true friendship, form one of the best memories of my engineering life..
After getting free from the CAT and other MBA entrance exmas, I and my friends planned a trip to Goa in Jan this year. Here is an account of one of the days on the trip..
After spending the day at Vegator and Miramar beaches, we ended up at the Chapora Fort (more commonly known as the "Dil Chahata Hai" fort). Having been tired of the entire days travel and the heat, at first I was irresolute in deciding whether to walk up the hill to reach the fort or to go back to our guest house and rest. But then, because of the insistance of some friends and also because of some unknown desire I decided to go ahead.
As soon as I reached the hill top I realised that the decision I took was the best one I had taken on the entire trip. We reached the fort at around sunset time. Sea breeze was blowing and the entire city of Goa could be seen from the top. It was only us and the "mother nature" around us, earth in its crude form. The cooling breeze vanquished all our tiredness. I could feel a sense of purity & spirituality in each and every breath I took.
Although we were six friends, but fortunatley I got some time to spend with one of my friends whose thoughts in the field of spiritual and rational thinking I respect the most. The association of the movie tag "Dil Chahata Hai" with the fort made the atmosphere around that of true friendship. As the movie had 3 friends, I very strongly missed Kakkar(Ankur) over there,who was not there because of some freaking "family function" of his in Delhi. However, coming back to the fort, when I told my friend about how I wanted the serenity of that moment to continue throughout my life, he told me some very nice things. He told me that feeling that sense of purity is what spirituality is all about. He made a very good point -- if sea had no waves i.e. if the sea was not active then it would have lost its essence. It is its duty to keep itself turbulent and if it does not comply to this duty, which is assigned to it by 'nature', then its existence is meaningless. Similarly, if you are not doing what you are supposed to do, which is again decided by the 'nature', then you are existing without any meaning.
Aim of a person should be to work towards attaining that sense of purity & serenity (which is what actually 'spirituality' is), and the duty of every person is to work towards attaining that aim.
With that small conversation coming to an end, the Sun was set and my other friends returned, and we started our journey back to the guest house. Those 20 mins spend with my friend, at the place attributed to true friendship, form one of the best memories of my engineering life..
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Hi friends.. welcome to my blog..
Here i am...I have long been willing to maintain a blog and now its being done. My college is just over and the only happy thing about it is that i have successfully become an engineer, with a secured job, for the time being ;). Now that many of the people, who had become an important part of my life in these 4 years of engineering, will be moving away from me, here comes my blog where i will share some of the most amazing experiences of my college-cum-hostel life : some fun moments, some ever-lasting memories, some learning experiences and some insight gained into the meaning of life and its various aspects..
Also there will be an exchange of thoughts on various other topics like politics, sports etc but those will be subdued until I get over this "leaving the college" thing ..:)
Also there will be an exchange of thoughts on various other topics like politics, sports etc but those will be subdued until I get over this "leaving the college" thing ..:)
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