My Younger Brother....Prasoon

People who know me closely also know that i can go at length talking about someone really special to me. He happens to be my younger brother. Ours a special relation for its of a friend, philosopher and guide. Am a philosopher to him and he is a guide to me... Needless to mention that i dont know since when we have grown way above the relationship of a brother and have become friends. :)

You might be astonished to see that i rate friend above a brother, yes its there in my life for self defined situations and rules. Nonetheless, there is a story that i would like to share in here.

I was quiet naughty when was young. All sorts of mischiefs used to come to me like a flash. Be it stealing mangoes from neighbourhood or get my Grandmas things and run away. You name it and i had a specialization in it. One fine day i got hold of medicines that my grandma used to take. I had always seen her take a special pill and then she used to doze off almost immediately. My kid brain used to always think as to how amazing it is... most certainly not knowing the impact, i got hold of a tablet and in a flsh swalowed it. Since i was a kid and had a small throat for a considerably big sized tablet, it got stuck in my throat.

The pill started showing its effects and i was admitted to ICU for a while and under 24 hr observation for a critical condition. When i opened my eyes something somewhere had gone wrong without my knowledge... my vocal chords had suffered a near fatal blow. Not knowing i returned my regular schedule of shouting, yelling and doing what i was good at...load of mischiefs.

Before i could realise i was finding it tough to speak, my throat used to pain and i needed extra effort to speak something hence i couldnt speak anything in a low tone...i had to be loud. People got a point, started making fun of me, used to ask me to sing and when i sang like a crow they used to laugh...called me all sorts of name. I thought it was normal and went ahead, but yes not
liking what was happening to me.

In came my bro... one fine winter morning mom returned to home with this pink baby, extremly cute and very soft. Though i do not too many memories of it but whenever i see those photographs i see myself basking into glory of being an elder brother to someone. We named him Munnu (mine is tunnu and my sis is named Cheenu...so the sequence continued).Out of nowhere he grew up with immense knowledge of music. He picked up his first instrument at the age of 4 and started learning indian classical music. He sounded like a canary. Often when he used to practice we used to sit on dinning table and listen to him. It used to be magical, i often used to thank God with my silence prayers to have sent him. For all those who made fun
of me were mesmerised by his singing.

Call it unintentional or magical his first song on stage was my all time favorite "Kabhie Kabhie merey dil mein khayal aata hai". This was just the begining. He did everything that i dreamt of doing in life, he achieved all those things where i wanted to be...be it being a fast bowler to achieve A grade in school, to be almost 6ft tall..to be having those long locks of hair...everything.

More to come when i get some time...as i have said in the begining he is one person i can go on talking about even for rest of my life.. :) i strongly believe he came in to take my pains away so that i can rejoice in life in whatever little abilities i have with me.

Marriage and the Lady..

Marriage is a word of 8 alphabets but has almost whole of two lives being directly affected, while atleast a dozen being affected at the second level. If you wouldve asked me about it, about three years back, i wouldve promptly told you that being married is getting more problems in life. Actually i was scared, i was scared of being married.

My childhood was quiet a turbulent phase, where in i saw families drifting apart after the boy in the family got married. Am sure there couldve been other reasons but to my simple brain marriage became a villian. I decided not to marry ever in life. There were further impact of a broken heart sometime in my mid 20s and that just added to the firm determination about not getting married. Even till early this year, i wasnt interested in talking about my marriage.

But as they say, there is someone up there admist blue skies who wants you to be happy and takes care of you in his own special way, i was in for a fantastic meeting. Astonishingly i decided to travel to bangalore for a friends wedding, am sure i wasnt an important entity in her wedding and even if i havent come in, the marriage wouldve been as grand as it was. Nonetheless, i came down to bangalore for a day, that was independence day. And decided to meet this lady, she appeared cool by her pic, and more so i was coming in with the mindset of "Dad told me, i'll go... big deal".

We deicided to meet at Barista in Jaynagar. We met, we chatted and we walked away. Something had already gone wrong for good. I had found myself struggling to say no for her, coz she appeared near perfect image of what i had dreamt in life. For her, family was top most priority and she gave me a good shock, she appeared so un-bangalorian despite being in the city for 3 long years. I was scared again!!!

I went back to mumbai, somehow couldnt resist sending a few cranky smses to her. I got back in software, quiet a good offer and one that i had never thought about. I was all set to come back to bangalore, i was confused, i was scared and i was at loss of words. How can my life take a turn for good? was a question that was constantly nagging me.

I reached bangalore, initial smses had already being transformed into online chat, and the moment i reached in here i found myself quiet eager to meet her. We met, we again met, and then we started meeting again and again. Finding reasons that could be as silly as i going to purchse fruits from Fab mall closer to her house!!.

Nidhi, the lady, came up in my life with immense amount of maturity. She not only got my life on way back to the track but restored my faith in the institution of marriage. She became a friend first and then my love interest. She patiently used to hear my fears out, never tried to make me believe by words. But, instead she did by her acts, acts that spoke much louder then words. She took her own sweet time to get comfortable with me, infact i never came to know when she had become an inseperable part of my thoughts.

Those small things like making matar paneer and paranthas, to wishing my bro on his promotion, then those small smses or giving me a name "laddooramji". She slowly and gradually made me enter a whole new world of immense love, a world of responsibility, a world where life has a totally different meaning. And after a span of half of my lifetime, i smiled again.

I still wasnt sure, coz i had this inherent belief that god is hell bent over taking away all that i love, this lady stood tall. She cried, fought and did all thats possible to make me realise her love for me. I coulve never imagined anyone to have stood her ground for me despite all the pressures that she was getting under from her parents. Respect for her grew taller each passing day.

So readers, its a faith restored that made me compose this piece of blog. I feel lucky to have Nidhi in life, i feel happy to have her close to me. Am yet to meet her friends, am told to be the only of the people that she had met, who is not being talked about amongst her friends, another part that made me believe that someone up there wants something to happen and ensures that those happen just the way they should.

Nidhi... thanks for being there in life.. :-) am sure without u it wouldnt have even half as pretty as it is now.. :)

Educated Vs Wise

I have kind of created a war with the educated lot of the world. Its a self created self destructive excercise, but it is something out of what i see, feel, and bear each passing day. I would with all the limited intellect that i posses, try to put forward my points. The issues that have made me believe that the educated lot is making this world a horrifying place to be at.

I neither understand the complexities of finance, politics nor of business,so i would not indulge in those. I would keep myself to very low lying yet quiet important facts of life. Things that we come across each day and our approach towards all these.

1) Traffic woes: - Each morning when i get up and get ready to drive to office the thing that keeps knocking my head is "what kind of traffic will i get today". My observation of about 20k kms of driving has made me realise a few things.

• All, yes all traffic jam is caused by educated people. Now u can create a seperate category for these. These are educated without patience. But didnt we all have read that education makes a man humble and hence full of patience.

• All those who break traffic signal are educated people. Yes, all, coz probably they think its cool to break traffic signals. I think they do so coz they think they can get away from traffic police personal. Which means that there is an inherent feeling that so long as you are caught, its ok to break the law. Again, a deviation from what we are "educated". We all told to respect the law.

2) Bribe: - Here its an absolutely educated world. Both parties involved, i mean, the giver and the taker are educated. And in most case often well read too. But how does that matter at all, right, so what if we are told about the goods and the bads in school. So what, i mean we would have read Moral science as one of the "subjects". And am sure all of us wouldve "cleared" the examination. I have often laughed at the concept itself, moral science being a subject and then an examination for the same.

3) Nepotism: - I agree this had been a subject of study for a long time. It started with people who were not educated trying to get their sons or nephews in their place so that the family continues to earn. However, in recent times this whole concept has become applicable to very well educated industry. I cant believe people at middle management struggle for words while presenting their thoughts to team. I mean, its just not possible.

There are 100s of such examples around you, and all these make me feel sad each passing day that i belong to such group. What we dont understand is its easy to be educated, but what is tough is, to get wisdom.

I seek wisdom, good lord, else i know this earth would soon be one hell of a place to be at. All educated yet all breaking rules, all creating havoc on streets, in towns, in shops. I dont think in such a situation i can live peacefully, forget living happlily.

Piracy and Education

On one of those lazy weekends,i pushed myself out of bed in search of some real worthy time pass movies. My thought, as I was trying to search through a pile of cds at a library, was broken when i heard a boy asking the counter boy "Is this CD original". I could muster some thoughts and decided to rather take a lazy stroll while the statement kept banging my head for some reason.

I was wondering, how big is this pirated CD market? is it organized or unorganized? where do these people create CDs? 100 others. While walking i happen to cross one of the landmarks of Bangalore, an engineering marvel and quiet sensational "teen" hot hang out spot, called forum. My eyes for some reason was searching something in particular, and bang i saw it. A small "teenager" trying to sell pirated DVDs.

There were three "facts" that caught my mind: -
1) The small shop was set up right outside prime place of people wanting to enjoy their weekend, The Forum. It was located at such a place that anyone walking, driving, or merely standing couldn't have missed.
2) It was right next to a crossing which was manned by traffic police personal. To the astonishment, the guy who was selling the CDs/DVDs was calling for people to come and buy as if he is selling some vegetables.
3) Most of his buyers were educated lot.

Now while the first two points in here show how easy it is to handle the law in here and all those anti-piracy drives are a mere "namesake", it was the third one that made me feel sorry. The educated lot buying pirated CDs, and poor me thought education impart wisdom. So far as my understanding goes, its this educated lot that has access to TV and the programs that show the ill effects of piracy. I also hope that these people have wisdom to understand what all those mean to some. And i know a few of the pirated CD buyers who feel sorry every time a theater in their locality is brought down for a shopping complex.

What do they do... they buy pirated CDs..So next time u read STOP PIRACY buy only original, i atleast expect u to buy/rent only original CDs. For if u can read i hope you have a grown up matured mind that understands what PIRACY means...if not then read further i shall explain it as per dictionary.

"the unauthorized reproduction or use of a copyrighted book, recording, television program, patented invention, trademarked product, etc."

And under law of any country, this is illegal. So if u think that only the guys who sell pirated cds are doing illegal activity, rest be assured that if you buy it, u too are a part of this illegal drive.

Cheers!!

Grow up aussies...please for heaven sake!! grow up...

lot of learned people will tell that u need to be mentally strong to be a good cricketer, that u not be perturbed by a comment or two, and that any assault on you is sure sign that you are doing good. I would like to have a different opinion. Tell me why is it only Australia that despite being the world champion for most number of times resorts under the rug of words when it comes to get a batsman out...we are talking about a team that has giant like Lee, symonds, ponting, gilchrist, hayden.

Or is it that these are giants coz they disrupt the concentration of opponents by a war of words. Then, if its later, how different is aussie cricket then a school level game. or let me dwell a little deeper, how different is an aussie cricketor then a kid who needs something, upon not handed over willingly he starts crying and throwing tantrums. Grow up ponting and side, u really need to prove the world that u are are bunch of men, and not mere school boys who cry, shout and sledge for being hit on one ball.

Cricket is game of character, its high time that these people start realizing it. Already cricket is loosing its charm after being dragged into a controversy of match fixing and nature, dont de grade it by behaving like school boys and acting kiddish..I dont understand the need of use of the "F" word, coz in my opinion you would still need to bowl the batsman out, yeah i agree it would be different if ICC can allow someone being called out just by calling names to him...:-)

Freedom of Media…a boon or a curse

India is a free country, there are fundamental rights given to each individual and am sure we all are aware of them. A few years back, media used to be controlled by government and anything going into public used to have a confirmation from government body. Out came the reforms and media proved the world that its now in matured state and can handle things on its own. Hence, the term “Freedom of media” not only came into existence but also practiced.

All of a sudden channels emerged out with all sorts of names and correspondents. The thing that made me compose this piece of blog is something to do with the harassment that the media is doing in the name of news.

Its sometime now, since I got to get a fair view of things that are happening around me. These days almost all channels are sowing “breaking news” through out the day. If I ask you to think for a while about when you first saw the term “breaking news” on your television sets, am sure you would remember 9/11. But whats happening in todays day to day thing is that almost any happening around is shown as breaking news. Be it someone getting bashed up in hospital or a person being dragged on the road by police, or a CM not being recognized by his subordinates.

This not only sounds ridiculous but also gets the term “Breaking news” de-valued. Above all of this is a bigger issue of what to show and what not to show. When I return from office and switch on TV I get baffled by seeing someone riding a motorcycle while eating his food on it. I mean how can this be news, this is a stunt which should be shown separately. Again, when a husband leaves his wife and kids, its not the responsibility of media to get the punishment but rather it’s the duty of the judiciary. The only thing that media does in these cases is: -
They try to buy public sentiments for the deceased
They try to get a “biased” view on the topic and
Often the correspondents are seen talking almost the same thing over and over again.

I am a staunch believer of the fact that freedom should only be given to someone who is capable enough of handling it the right way. In a slightly different tone it would mean that freedom should be given to people who have maturity to handle it.

We all remember our fundamental rights but I don’t think even one of us remembers our fundamental duties. We always have believed in freedom of speech but what we forget is essentially the thing that our speech should not be derogatory or offensive.

Nonetheless, I was happy when I got all the private channels for I thought I would get a fair view of public sentiments over what the government shows on DD. But if I now have to look back upon, I think I was happy in the days of DD news. At least I didn’t had to see things as ridiculous as they show now.

About me....

Once upon a time, quiet some time back, I was born some where in India and no it isn’t important to know where I hail from to read this piece of blog. Nonetheless, Hi, am Deepak, Dee-Fuck, Dee-pok, Uncle D or Deepak Sir as called by several people around me. It not only ensures my faith in diversity of human mind but also enforces my thoughts of amazing ability of human brains. Am about 28 yrs of age and by I can actually boast of knowledge about 20 plus cities and about 5 different careers?

Now if I tell you that am a confused personality who has no idea about what he wants to do in life, u won’t be surprised. I have no idea why I did engineering and more so no clue why I picked up Instrumentation as my subject of study. Then tried making a career in Software development, testing, consulting, market research and sales. Not to mention failed in almost everything I did, for I never waited to reach at a level in anything.

Out of all the above mentioned fields i stayed longest with testing. Testing got me most out of life, it gave me pleasure, satisfaction, and a slight amount of fame. I loved the job for if I happen to relate any other field of work to testing, the first and last thing that comes to my mind is “fishing”. Am sure all those who enjoy beer, boat ride and sites of sea would also agree with me on this, that fishing is most certainly the best thing to do. So why not testing, it pays you well enough, it is certainly pleasurable and above all, it gets you known amongst developers, though in almost all cases its bad name that you earn in here.

Nevertheless, I have had lot of fun, came across some real amazing creations of god. Few stuck together while the most, left me alone. Met a few who took me on the face value and are still bearing with me. While the most people came up with an excuse to leave me and go. Few came with most astonishing reasons to leave me while it was simple reasons for a lot of others.

The journey so far sets a standard for forth coming things. Now, its quiet clear for me that am not an entrepreneur, am not a visionary. Am a simple human being, like most of us, and will try and make my life as simple as possible. If this means that I should be associated with a big name with average designation, I should vouch for the same.

This section with keep on growing as I continue to live and continue to err in life. Till then….

Sanjay Convicted

Guys and gals of this immortal country, sanjay has been convicted, he shouldve been so, i mean he is found guilty in the arms possesion case and if the sentence is of miin of 5 yrs, and he has got 6 yrs, thats a fair trial.But, i was listening yesterday, that the Don himself, our lord Mr. Abu Salem had come to his place to hand him the arms to be kept at his place. Now lets go back a little, 93 was the time when Bollywood was ruled by D Company, and no one had the courage to say no to them. Imagine, sanjay dutt, poor guy, could he had said no to the lord himself. Am sure had Abu salem gone to Mr. Bacchan, we would be hearing the same for Mr. Bacchan.

But yeah. Sanjay is guilty, and he should be convicted, for he being a mortal follwed what abu salem-the lord told him to do, he shouldve gone to police, shouldve gone to amazingly pure politicians for support. And am sure for one thing, he wouldve been dead long time ago. So he should be convicted for being selfish to save his life, he should be convicted for being a mere mortal.

Sanjay, am sure, u would atleast be happy dude, u still alive, so what i will have to wait for 6 years to see u again on the canvas...i shall wait...

Coming back to life

Am sure all music lovers have at one point in time or the other wouldve come across this song. A wonderful creation or as we used to say it, "An anthem". Amazing lyrics and am putting them down in here. And for all those who havent heard Pink flyod so far, write to me with your address and i shall get you your copy. No charges, all out of love for the amazing music created by these people....

Lyrics: -
Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching
Where were you when I was hurt and I was helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone elses words
Dying to believe in what you heard
I was staring straight into the shining sun

Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of live and the seeds of change were planted

Outside the rain fell dark and slow
While I pondered on this dangerous but
I took a heavenly ride through one silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life

I took a heavenly ride trough our silence
I knew the waiting had begin
And headed straight... into the shining sun

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AWESOME isnt it...!!!

Love life and good bye

The topic might sound a little sentimental and a little emotional but as i write this piece of blog in here, to me that all are connected. Few days, back life was amazingly pretty, i was in love, i was aiming to get on top of the world all for her. At that point in time, there was nothing that couldve stopped me from reaching the top. Blistering with tremendous energy and ozing with confidence that was never before seen, i came to mumbai.

Before i start about what happened next, let me just go back a little in those most amazing moments of my life. She was cute, people called me her "Balcony love", for we had balconys facing each other. From proposition to good morning kisses everything happened right there. She used to wake me up, i used to see her as the first thing in morning. All beautiful, we walked together, played together, ate together. Life wasnt preetier then this.

She is an MBA and so she understood the importance of the studies, i kept saying no to any such thing. For i was a techie and was quiet happy with the things, i had decent money, a car, and a good lifestyle. But as all of other guys i was adamant not to get into anymore studies. She continued trying and i continued denying.

Cut to present, since i had taken up for not to be an MBA, she sold the idea of my elder brother to me. It was a consulting organisation that was being planned. I got a call from my brother and he told me that if am willing i can join him. I told this to her, my fear was that i would have leave bangalore, she convinced me that nothing would change and i can go ahead and realise my dream.

I packed my stuff and left bangalore-Good bye 01. Came to mumbai and lost all touch with all friends-Good bye 02. She and i broke for some astonishing reasons- Good bye 03. I lost my life and life styles- Good bye 04. Finally i decided to leave the company, the venture of my dreams- Good bye-05.

Love, life and good byes have amazing relationship, became clear only after this adventure in life.

A Flight with IC

The work can’t get weirder, more astonishing that it is already by now. Office politics, back stabbing and above all passing the buck is reaching a level from where the whole world becomes visible. Amidst all this, and much more, I was due to travel to Chennai for an official reason.

Chennai as an amazing importance in my life. Not that I was born in here, nor that its of any historical/mythological significance but for some real personal reasons I feel at home in here. Believe me, I do understand tamil, I don’t know from where I got so much of courage to learn a language as distinguished as tamil. And so, it goes natural that I do not want to miss any chance to visit the city.

It was a fine morning, another one of those, oh-let-me-sleep types, where in I pushed myself to board an IC flight to Chennai. Now, IC has a peculiarity that despite the comfortable cushions and smooth lift you are not allowed to sleep. My first “cool” nap was broken by a lady that most certainly had an overdose of a face pack. With a broad smile she offered me a tray with four, yes four, candies. It would have been a real hunger-struck-eat-it-all to have taken them all, I out of my shyness could only take one. Time for another nap!!

Just as I was dreaming about the life after I would have a lot of money, I was woken up by another one of those Oh-God-i-missed-being-miss-india-coz-am-fat!! Lady. She had another set of junk to be gulped down my throat. I did as told!!! Time for another nap!!!

This time I could sleep for a while before I heard the captain speak “All stations alert for landing”. Often, I'm made to think, why pilots are made to speak certain things. “Close and arm all doors”, is one of the first statement that we all hear instead of “Welcome on board”. Every time I hear it I feel as if I am being kidnapped. Next is “All stations alert for a take off!!” which stations is the pilot talking about, Railway stations don’t make sense in here, Radio stations- why do they need to be alert, you want to take off, take it., or police stations-ha ha ha, what makes you think they would even listen what’s being said inside an aircraft while they don’t bother about what being said across their table., etc. You bet these people are most professional of all, as they talk only that much, that they are paid for. They are paid to fly, and they just fly, yeah speaking is necessary to tell passengers that you are not sleeping in the cockpit so just ensure that you speak just about the quantity that is required to gain the faith of the travelers that they are in safe hands.

Nonetheless, the flight took off, and landed at Chennai, all by God’s grace was fine. Here I would like to mention one more habit widely seen-and-hated-but-I-do types. The moment the aircraft lands and does a ceremonial run towards the parking lot, people start getting up from their chairs and start taking out their luggage from the top shelves. I do not blame them for this habit, as its only now that we Indians have started traveling in an “airbus” as often as we were traveling in a bus some time back. Now if you try to build up a differentiation logically between an airbus and a bus then am sure u would come down saying this, “The only difference between the two is of the word Air”. So as typical of us, when the bus reaches its destination we have to rush to pick up our luggage from the top rack and jump off. I slept for another 15 mins!!!

The time that I hate the most had come, I had to get off one more airbus, I hate it because of several reasons: - 1) The phones are switched off, so no one can bother you, 2) You are served by ladies unlike in real life where u are only “asked” by men, 3) You get to feel a zero gravity for free. Etc!!

The journey of life is pretty interesting; it gets you so many experiences that one can narrate anything and make people smile from it. Keep writing, am sure you guys are also traveling, and am sure you would also be having good-bad-ugly experiences, the need is to keep penning it down.

Cheers!!!

(The author is working as a Project Manager at INI Consulting P. Ltd., Mumbai)

Which is more difficult??

I was sitting with a friend of mine and sipping through the piping hot tea made by one of the family members and glancing through the most scintillating and fascinating product of modern times "Television". Often i had wondered how could this small piece can make you such a dull human being that you even forget that you have to complete a lot of stuff.

Nonetheless, i was watching Amitabh bachchan on the opening ceremony of IIFA awards 2007 at the Yorkshire county in UK. And a thought passed by my mind, that thought is the reason for this blog. The thought was "Which is more difficult, the process to attain perfection or to continue carry that perfection for as long as you can".

Now, almost immediately we(my friend and i) stopped talking and went in a deep thought, as if to find an answer of almost anything lies in deep thoughts!!!. but yeah almost after a day, i could ponder a little deep and see if i can compare tangible things. And my friend and i found it out. We compared, process of quality checks with the continuous production of A-class quality product.

Now we since we were two and even, we drew lines with each one being on one side. We need more thoughts on the matter. Please throw in...........

(The author and his friend-Vishwajeet are both working as Project Managers with INI Consulting P Ltd, Mumbai)

A Road

Ask a group to put its point of view on the above mentioned word and 95% shall jump off their chair to tell you that the state of affairs of this country’s governance is extremely poor. Now often I am made a part of this kind of communication, though I play a role of a mere listener, as my brain is a small piece of flesh that doesn’t reacts to issues relating to something as complex as quality of governance, but every time am exposed to such predicament I resort to sublime thoughts about the state of affairs of negativity in people.

How a mere road could be related to the government being a bunch of non performers? Ok let’s try and make it a little more complex. How could a mere road be related to the state of affairs of the country’s tax money being flushed down the drain? Now as u can see, when I tried making things a little complex I floundered.

For the ease of brains which can’t withstand complexities, let’s start by defining “Road”. A Road, technically, is an identifiable route, way or path between two or more places. Roads are typically smoothed, paved, or otherwise prepared to allow easy travel; though they need not be, and historically many roads were simply recognizable routes without any formal construction or maintenance. In urban areas roads may pass through a city or village and be named as streets, serving a dual function as urban space easement and route. Economics and society depend heavily on efficient roads.

Now if you have a re-look at the definition you would find that “historically” roads were “simply recognizable routes”. This means that roads were constructed to facilitate the movement of men, material and machines. Its actually a “dry” piece of land cleaned from all smooth covers of grass, being colored in a depressing color of “black” rather then being a green colored patch (had it not been a road!!). While we often relate the road to the state of affairs in government. Actually, we all need to understand, its not the Road that is bad, its material that its constructed with, which was a bad quality material.

If it’s on me then according to my understanding of the subject, in more then one ways I relate “A Road” to “Way of being alive”. To me a road is the best depiction of ones doings and happenings in life. Let me elaborate on my thought, quiet similar to road all of have a “free way” of living for a time, and then we hit may be a “curve” or two before getting into a “single” lane from a “multi directional lane”. Often we all come across “breakers” or barriers (as we call them!!) in life, and just before the final halt in front of the house we all feel delighted.

As you go through the above paragraph am sure you would like to sit back and relate to it. I agree that state of a road often tells you the way of governance but, “A Road” tells you much more than that, and often we, by virtue of our single directional negativity, forget to try and learn things out of a piece of land that chose to be facilitator in our life over being dressed up in the most beautiful way.

(The Author is working as a Project Manager in INI Consulting P. Ltd, Mumbai)

Team Dynamics

Team: - As per the definition, it’s a group of people who aspire to successfully complete an assigned task. Obviously, a team comprises of people with varied backgrounds and hence by virtue of their basic difference in nature, they tend to act or react on each other based upon their inter-personal interactions. In broader terms it’s this action and/or reaction on each other that is defined as “Team Dynamics”. Now, I being an optimist by nature can write at length about the good aspects of team dynamics and what every one involved learns out of this, but here I shall only deal with the negative aspects of the so called Team Dynamics.

I happen to be a part of two distinct teams. I call them distinct as one of them is a set of highly educated and matured individuals while another one is a set of technicians who barely have completed their basic education. And hence there exists a considerable difference in the level of complexity at which these dynamics operate. Also, in one of the teams I am taken in as a member/partner in thought process, while the same myself happens to be a leader of the other. So, I am a part of two separate scenarios and hence have the privilege to be a part of two separate kinds of dynamics.

First, let me tell you about the team that comprises of highly educated and matured individuals. As far as my understanding goes, the level that includes people with high education backgrounds, team dynamics have key element as “Power” (Here money may or may not be important- This is a hypothesis and holds no claim.). I say this particular statement for my understanding says that in the set of highly educated people, everyone is equally experienced in the work arena. Everyone is earning more or less the same “figure” salary. Everyone has more or less same “amount” of work. Everyone has more or less same “comforts” of life. Now if you have a close look at the words that are mentioned in double quotes, you would agree with me that its these that makes a person aspire for more. But despite all these parameters being same team dynamics still do come into picture. For educated people are often found to have key interest as the “Leadership”. I don’t blame people for this, for it’s got to do something with the history.

History tells us that in almost all the cases, it’s the leader that gets the medal for the victory while the war is primarily fought by the soldiers. It’s the leader that is most charming, most dynamic and obviously most intelligent of the people around. Now, most of us presume that intelligence is a by product of perseverance and effort, and since I am educated, intelligence is something that I obviously have. And then, the result is that each one of us presumes that I happen to be the best one for the post of leader. Hence, we try to work “Hard” towards that achievement.

Most often that not, creating your way up to the corporate hierarchy, in the most honest way is quiet demanding and requires a lot of patience. Easy way is to “prove” that I am the best “frog” amongst all the frogs. Now I compare people to frogs for a self defined situation. I have always seen frogs hopping with other frogs to prove that they can hop more length. Often all they end up is in a pool of mud, nevertheless.

So, what do I do in such a situation? I start doing two things, one I create an “aura” around me by spending more time with my boss. By keeping him pleased at all cost!!! And by making him believe that I can get him the best of all the worlds. At the same time, I keep telling him in the most humble way that the team considers him nothing more then a buffoon and then slip in a few names who happen to be my neared competitors.

Also, if I am decent enough then I shall wait for the “right time”. By virtue of Jack Welch’s feedback system, every company has now decided to have a feedback (they call it 360 degree!! Something, I am often left to wonder what would happen if it’s only a 180 degree or may be a meager 90 degree…nonetheless….). In this feedback system it’s essentially grading on some scale, it can be a scale of 5 or 10 based on the convenience of the capacity of the brains of the final score keeper. Here everyone sends grading for the piers and hence can decide on “valuation” of them. So, what do I do if I want to prove that am the best amongst all, I simply de-grade others in terms of the grades? Often people who collect the grades and make the final assessment forget to check the trends in a sheet.

Things are totally different when the same term “Team Dynamics” is to be defined and explained for less educated people or the technicians in our case. Here no form of feedback works except for a monetary loss I am yet to find a more saddening factor for them. Am also sure the GEs and HPs of the world have not believed that Team Dynamics can exist at this level for am yet to come across some work done for these technicians and their problems. I guess people aren’t interested in knowing what goes in the minds of the people below a certain level. This can be a reason as am yet to come across a fat technician and a slim and fit manager. Now you might be wondering from where this concept of a fat technician being compared to a slim manager. Our managers are presumed to be best brains and hence are a pampered lot; there by being fat is something that is inevitable. While our technicians are kept on a whip, poor guy can’t be fat for with every stroke the whip keeps taking fat off him.

Nevertheless coming back to the dynamics factor. In case of technicians or people with lesser amount of education, as per my understanding, the sole motivation factor is money that comes in their pocket. My experiences have given me enough samples on which I can place my theories. They have a few simple definitions, e.g. Team Lead according to them is someone who is most experienced “and” earns maximum in the team. Here “cash” determines the dynamics. Amount of cash determines complexity of the dynamics, more cash most certainly makes things more complex. My project makes me work in areas where regular interaction with the hi-tech banks is not possible, so we carry for a day or two along. The person who has the cash (other then me!!) is default taken to be the “leader”. And based on the personal chemistry, the dynamics to prove that he is gambling with company’s money begins.

Also, one more findings with the team of technicians is that the dynamics are only important when the work is not happening and team is idle. So long as work is happening they aren’t bothered about anything.

Now, if you go through the above debate, its quiet clear that people with lesser amount of education are easy to handle then people with decent amount of education. We tend to “believe” that education imparts wisdom. I agree that it does impart wisdom but at the same time it also does impart selfishness, hunger for power and greed to be on top. People in corporate world are rather funny; they call this greed, selfishness and hunger for power as “Competitiveness”. And my small brain refuses to understand, but do I make any difference? I don’t think so, for me people who are poor and believe that work is the only source of their bread, are way too comfortable to work with and are the people who impart you indefinite peace of mind.

(The Author is working as a Project Manager in INI Consulting P. Ltd, Mumbai)

What say ya!!!

they say "whatever happens..happens for our own good"

i say

"..God only makes happy endings.. so if it isnt happy then it isnt the end.."

Any connection between these two statements??
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ur views!!

Stop-or-i-will-call-the-police

Suppose... in life someone puts you to above question how will u react!! i was put into this situation sometime back when a "special self" told me not to visit her profile on orkut, not to sms her, not to wish her on her birthday...and a lot of "Not tooos"

I wondered what can i do in such a situation? The possibilities: -
1) Ok...do that..- Arrogant self
2) No please dont i beg u...-Sissy self
3) argh!!..even i shall call the police-Angry self
4) hmmm-I dont get bothered by what u said self
5)....

But the important point here is..can u actually stop someone from wishing you on your birthday? or sending u a good morning sms that has nothing but true wish/prayer for your day being good..or the best thing...can u stop someone from visiting your profile on orkut..??

I agree that when u hate someone badly then just at the sight of his/her name gets u out of your mind, but then seldom u can do anything about a few things. Am sure police would also be made to wonder under which law to bring the person.

any views.. for i am petrified horrified by that above statement. for i am way too scared of police... ;-)

Define success!!

Often i wonder, how to define "success"?
Is it 1 st rank in class, but then i wonder if all would have decided to come first in class then am sure it wouldnt be considered of any importance, just coz anyone and everyone could get it. But doesnt that mean the coming second is equally important. If thats so, then coming first is no important and hence cant be termed successful...

Or... passing an exam...now the same holds true in this case as well, for if no body flunked passing wouldnt be important...

Hence i wonder if i ever can associate being a winner with being successful? for according to me a loser is equal to a winner and hence if a winner is successful then a loser also is...but this is a huge contradication to what we follow....

Till now whenever i have heard "He/She is a successful person" it often relates to that person having either of these..1) Money...huge amount.. 2) Good position at work place...3) Achiever by being first amongst all...4) Big name..

But then i wonder..whether a looser can ever be a successful person...if not.. then how am i..
I never came first in class...infact never passed 3 exams in a row...idont have money...and i have lost almost everything that i thought of having... but people still call me successful.. how??