blogs2read

Checklist for myself:
1. http://calnewport.com/blog/
2. Ramit Sethi's article
3. http://chrisguillebeau.com

Some things to ensure you are in a kick-ass mood all the time :)

Before we start-
From YourDictionary.com kick-ass :
kick·-ass (kik′as′) adjective: having a strong effect on someone or something; forceful; powerfulexceptionally good; spectacular, impressive, etc.

Here is my list of things:

1. Listen to a good Indian Classical vocal/instrumental track.
2. Set achievable targets for yourself - and achieve those daily!
3. Connect with people (relatives, friends)
4. Read everyday (newspaper, book, magazine)
5. Write regularly...
6. Devote some time of the day to any hobby that you have!
7. Once in a while, don't do something which you terribly, badly want to do at that moment. You can always do that later, but believe me, the victory feeling is awesome :)
8. Set long term objectives for yourself and make sure you have a clear plan of dividing time on all activities. That way you can be assured that you will systematically devote time to everything and yet be able to multitask. Crucial for eliminating that my-life-is-in-a-chaos feeling!!
9. Think positive, do positive and talk positive.
10. Never, ever be hell bent on coming up with a perfect 10 ;-)

Another link...

http://entrepreneurs.about.com/b/2005/10/24/top-10-most-practical-blogs-for-entrepreneurs.htm

And yeah, its been exactly two years from my previous post :-)

On entrepreneurship...

Of late, I have been following some of the websites/blogs listed below...
1. Small Business Trends - Great articles, blogs: http://smallbiztrends.com/
2. Scott Allen on http://entrepreneurs.about.com/ - Excellent articles, great links, must see for every aspiring entrepreneur!
3. Guy Kawasaki - http://www.guykawasaki.com/ Make sure you read his blog - 'How to change the world'
4. INC.com - resourceful! http://inc.com/
5. Another good website - but I think this is not updated regularly - http://startupjunkies.org/
6. Akhil Sahani's http://www.thesmartentrepreneur.com/ This site is not updated regularly.

I will keep on posting more stuff on this topic in future!

कुणी तरी!

कधी कधी वाटतं करुन दाखवावं काही तरी,
सारखेपणाच्या दुनियेत बनावं वेगळं कुणी तरी!

कधी कधी वाटतं मी म्हणजे फ़ार हुशार!
प्रत्येक परिक्षेत नाही का मार्क मिळालेत फ़ार?
मार्कांचा जोर तरी कुठवर म्हणा चालणार!
प्रत्यक्ष मैदानावर लढणार, तोच नाही का श्रेष्ठ ठरणार?

कधी कधी वाटतं मग मी का नाही लढावं?
'Executive Club' मध्ये आपणही का नाही शामिल व्हावं?
आतून आवाज येतो, 'बाळा, त्यासाठी मन घट्ट हवं,
कितीही वादळं आली, तरी सोसायचं बळ हवं'!

कधी कधी वाटतं, कशाला डोक्याला ताप तरी?
चाललय व्यवस्थित, तर कर की मजा थोडी तरी!
असं वाटता वाटता वाटतं, सालं बस्स झालं,
अत्ता नाही केलं तर... कोण जाणे, होणारही नाही नंतर कधी!

कधी कधी वाटतं, अशा एखद्या क्षणीच होणार आहे सुरुवात खरी.
कधी कधी वाटतं, नक्कीच होऊन दाखवीन कोणी तरी!!

Another day...

Here is an old thing which I wrote when I was in a particularly boring assignment. I will call this poetry :-) (apologies to all you great poets out there)

==
What a wonderful morning!
But here I am, sitting in my chair,
Wondering if life, to everyone, is fair?

I check my mails in the two accounts,
as usual, nothing significant; only extractions and check-outs!
I do some enthusiastic work, dream of the finished jobs.
Full of energy, I punch keys and click buttons!

At the back of my mind, I know something is catching up..
try as hard as I can, I know I cant escape the drudgery of this work!
I fight to keep my thoughts focussed, as I at the monitor gaze,
its 10 am, time for a walk around the maze.

I do some pitty pattying on the keyboard till its time for lunch,
at the canteen, stand in the salad line or wait for the pizza brunch.
some chit chat, and back I am - in my chair,
As usual, no one else, but the monitor, keyboard and mouse to my despair.

Consciousness, after some time - becomes very rare.
What am I doing? To this job I am supposed to be fair!!
I borrow some enthusiasm, this task is almost over,
Why not finish it and then do some leftover?

I still fight my sleep back, is it time for coffee?
half asleep, I find my way to the machine,
As I insert some quarters, I can almost see my fav espresso down there,
back I am, sipping the last bit in my same old chair.

I am now fully awake, and rush to complete the tasks for the day,
I do it, but I know I am tired of doing this everyday!
I think - after all, if everything is going to be almost like this,
I decide - why bother? this is my day which I dont want to miss.

I wonder as I awake in my bed lay,
Who knows, tomorrow might as well be my day!
Who knows, I would be in some other chair.
I should not repent then; that I lost my golden time in such despair!

Here I am, a changed person,
Knowing - that all this is ephemeral.
I decide I shall enjoy to the most,
Keeping every single bad thought out of the host :-)
I shall take life as it comes,
And enjoy every moment as it goes!

Hello there!

Read the book "Blink" recently. That has influenced me to do some 'snap judgements' and 'thin slicing' about people and their nature. So here goes - my first attempt!

For this exercise, I chose to take up the single word "Hello" which the whole world uses to answer a phone call! To be frank, I did not analyze many people with this, but based on some observatons, I came up with a list.

There are some people whom you call up and there is this curt "Helo..." at the other end. Who-cares-a-damn attitude! Typical of people who consider themselves as superior human beings (in terms of god-knows-what) on this planet.

Then there is the other "Heloooo"! Full of surprise. You-called-after-so-long types! Most likely to be followed by some friendly swearing at you; and scolding you for calling after so long, but in a friendly manner!

There is also a perfect "Hello!" said in the perfect tone. I-am-composed types! Cool, composed and mature people. Good to talk with about serious subjects ;-)

Another one (and especially if the person at the other end has a caller ID) is "Heeeelooooww" Oh-I-am-so-happy-that-you-called type! Typical with cheerful people, people with whom you would generally enjoy talking with about any subject under the sun.

Lastly, the one which I hate the most is "..." or "hmmm..." and a pause waiting for you(!) to start the conversation. This is the category of people who think they are the living examples of ultimate perfection. One step ahead of the curt "helo.."'s. Like WTH! I mean you use your phone, you are the one who is being charged for your telephone bill, and the person at the other end would not even want to give away a decent "Hello" which does not cost them anything at all? :-) I would prefer to bang the phone down on such "hellos" oops "hmmm"'s :-)

Just a single word "Hello". Tells you so much about the person saying it. His mood, his attitude at the moment and a multitude other things!

Got to keep this thing going! Anybody got more examples?

आग का क्या है...

आग का क्या है, पल दो पल में लगती है।
बुझते बुझते एक जमाना गुजर जाता है!

-From the song: तेरा चेहरा कितना सुहाना लगता है|

After a long time!

I am back. Changed the display name to my real name! I had decided earlier that I would be using a pen-name for blogging, but somehow, of late, I have begun to feel that using the real name is much better! I think it is not worth the effort of maintaining dual identities - in whatever you do. I feel using the real name somehow creates a belonging, a sense of attachment towards the activity that is being done. Ones own name, for any human, must be surely the most heard word in his lifetime.

There is surely something in a name!!!

Let me see if this change motivates me to write here more often.

पाहिजे

चांगली शाळा पाहिजे.
कॉलेज एकदम best पाहिजे.
Engineering / Medical degree पाहिजे.
लठ्ठ पगाराची नोकरी मिळालीच पाहिजे!


पैसा पाहिजे.
ऑफ़िस World Class पाहिजे.
Latest technology वर काम पाहिजे.
Resume ला वजन आलं पाहिजे.


I-Pod पाहिजे.
Digi-Cam पाहिजे.
Laptop पाहिजे.
लेटेस्ट Mobile तर पहिजेच पाहिजे!


Status पाहिजे.
Symbol पण पाहिजे.
गाडी पाहिजे.
गाडी मध्ये petrol टाकायला भरपूर पैसा कमवलाच पाहिजे!


चहा पाहिजे, पेप्सी पाहिजे.
चायनीझ पाहिजे.
तंदूरी चिकन बरोबर बटर रोटी पाहिजे.
वीकएन्ड ला पिक्चर तर टाकायलाच पाहिजे!


कंपनी तर्फ़े US ला जायला पाहिजे.
परत पाठवत असतील तर तिकडेच नोकरी पाहिजे.
डॉलरर्स मध्ये पगार पाहिजे.
दर महिन्याला Bank Account थोडं तरी वाढलच पाहिजे!


हे पाहिजे व ते सुद्धा पाहिजे.
असं पाहिजे, व जमलं तर तसं सुद्धा पाहिजे.
इछ्छा पूर्ण झालिच पाहिजे!
एक संपली, की दुसरी मनात आलीच पाहिजे!!

Lessons in Excellence!

This was the title of a program I accidentaly hit upon yesterday night!
Kevin Frieberg was being interviewed on CNBC TV18 by Govindraj Ethiraj.

Frieberg explained the concept of being 'radically different' as the golden path to success.

According to him, no one can be in the 'sea of sameness' all the time. We live in a society today which has tons of 'surplus' material. There are surplus people with same education with the same good quality, there are surplus organizations offering the same kind of service at the same competitive rates. Each organization/business unit/individual needs to do something 'radically different' in this 'sea of sameness' and create an everlasting experience on others.

Frieberg went on to give some examples of stores like 'Planet Honda' and 'Whole Foods' chain of stores, which have done something radically different from the crowd, and have added value to their customers, and have made shopping there a memorable experience for its customers.

So how do you do something radically different?

• The first and foremost thing is be passionate about whatever you do.
• Think on how more value can be added to the existing proposition that you have on offer.
• Do not be afraid to try out a new idea, which is radically different from the traditional way business is conducted.

If you are the boss,

• Make it a point to 'reward intelligent failure' in your department!
• Create an atmosphere conducive to generation of new ideas from the team!

To sum it all up, he said "Fast success is often foreshadowed by failure"!

- Comments welcome! -

Raincoat and 'पिया तोरा कैसा अभिमान!'

I heard this song from 'Raincoat' the other day. Ever since, I have been fascinated by this one. I havent seen this in the actual movie yet. But I think this is a real gem of a poem. I tried searching the lyricist of this poem, and found out that it is Rituparno Ghosh, the director of the movie himself. Rituparno also happens to be the maker of the Bengali 'Chokher Bali'. I am going to pen down the lyrics of the poem which is interwoven, but seperate from the song 'पिया तोरा कैसा अभिमान!' which is beautifully sung by Shubha Mudgal.

So here goes:

किसी मौसम का झोंका था -

जो इस दीवार पर लटकी हुई तस्वीर तिरछी कर के गया है।

गये सावन में ये दीवरे युं सीली नही थी।

नजाने इस दफ़ा क्यों इन में सीलन आ गयी है, दरारे पड गयी है।

और सीलन इस तरह बेहती है जैसे खुश्क रुक्सारो पे गीले आन्सु चलते है।

यह बारिश गुनगुनाती थी इसि छत के मुन्डेरों पर।

यह बारिश गुनगुनाती थी इसि छत के मुन्डेरों पर,

यह घर की खिडकियों के कांच पर उंग्ली से लिख जती थी सन्देसे।

बिलगती रेहती है बैठी हुई अब बंद रोशन दारों के पीछे।

दोपेहरे ऐसे लगती है जैसे बिना मोहोरों के खाली खाने।

न कोई खेलने वाला है बाज़ी, ना कोई चाल चलता है।

ना दिन होता है ना रात होती है, सभी रुक गया है।

वह क्या मौसम का झोंका था -

जो इस दीवार पर लटकी हुई तस्वीर तिरछी कर के गया है?

Wonderful, isn't it?

I just loved this one which appears line by line in the song, and conveys a sad undertone depicting the life of seperated lovers!

मराठीत लिहिण्याविषयी थोडेसे!

नमस्कार मंडळी!

विकिपीडिया संकेत स्थळा च्या ह्या पानाला भेट द्या.

बरह ही एक चांगली व विनामूल्य प्रणाली आहे. ह्याचा वापर करून संगणकावर मराठी लेखन आता सहज शक्य आहे.

बऱ्याच लोकांनी इंटरनेट वर मरठीत लिहायला सुरुवात केलेली देखील आहे.

चला तर मग. शक्य असल्यास आपण ही बरह ला भेट द्या व बरह चा वापर सुरु करा!

'नव्या जगाची सुरुवात स्वतः पासुन होते!'

- सोहम !

जय महाराष्ट्र!

मराठी मधून लिहिण्याचा हा माझा पहिलाच प्रयत्न! मला वाटत थोडी सवय झली की लिहिण सोप्प होइल. काय?

जय महाराष्ट्र!

Bosses at work!

I was having this on my mind since a long time now, and I think I will dedicate this to the species called ‘bosses’ at work. I am a great Dilbert fan, and thanks to some of my experiences at work, I know from the bottom of my heart that some bosses can be a real pain. This post, in fact, would be recounting some of my experiences I have had during the four years at work!

To begin with, in my first company, an automotive giant (but does not have a significant presence in India due to its focus on the high end luxury car segment), I had a good manager. He was a good mentor, and understood what work should be given to whom, which made everyone feel happy and worthwhile to the organization. His best quality was that he was very vocal about the problems his team faced, and got things done from other teams whenever needed!

In the same team, my immediate boss, Mr. D, used to come to office wearing a sweater, (and would keep it on till the end of the day) however hot it may be, on the prior day of any important audit! Naturally, the day of the audit used to be his sick leave!! After a while, I could predict with 99.99 percent accuracy (!) the sweater day and the sick leave day of Mr D.

We had a client visit once in our office. A colleague of Mr D, Mr T was supposed to be the host and the guide for the international guests for his department (a section of the assembly line). As all trainees do, I used to stay late in the office doing some of Mr D’s work which was given to me, most likely at the very end of the shift, and after Mr D had happily left for the day. (After all how is a trainee supposed to learn new things? He is getting exposure you see! Anyways I did not have any complaints against this) So here I was, on the assembly line on a typical ‘sweater-day’ doing some preparations for an audit. I saw Mr T at a distance, waving in the air, as if he was showing somebody some section on the assembly line. I was amused, as there was no one on the line except me and Mr T. I chose to stand at a distance, behind some material shelf, acting busy. Mr T then went to the next station on his line, again waved in the air and spoke something loudly (I could hear him this time). Stopped, went to the next station, indicating his ‘international guests’ to accompany him, and again explained them something there!!! Well this might seem to some as a good rehearsal, but believe me, this was totally hilarious at that point of time on the empty assembly line! One more thing that I can recollect of Mr. T is that whenever he had to discuss something or give work to someone, he would tell you when you met him on the line (that is where most of the managers are during the shift, since there is no fixed desk as such). After everything was told, he used to continue on his way. After going a couple of steps in that direction, he would turn back, “Did you understand what I told you? What I meant was….” After I became used to this, I used to wait at the same place after he continued on his way, for him to turn back and perform the rituals of the second iteration!

A big boss of mine, Mr. K used to stand on the line with hands on his waist. He had this typical style and used to be in the same posture each and every time he was on the line. Mr K had a bit of a dark complexion, not his fault anyway, but had this habit of maintaining an expression-less face, whatever you told him. At times, I used to wonder if I was able to get through my point to him! Mr K was often called “Vitthal” by many operators on the line (and later on, I learnt that this name was popular amongst many middle level managers as well!!!)

After about a year in this industry, I decided to join the software bandwagon, and I switched my job from the mechanical industry to software. After the completion of my first appraisal where I got grades less than my expectations, I went to my Project Manager, and asked him sincerely about areas and scope of improvement for the next cycle. Mr. Manager became very serious. He mentioned me to come over to his desk, offered me a chair. By now, I was feeling that something had gone wrong awfully. Mr. Manager said “See, it’s all a game of chance!” … “Someone gets good grades, someone, in spite of being good, does not”. (And I thought it was your performance on the job which mattered) I smiled. Mr. Manager smiled. The meeting ended.

This same Mr. Manager used to come over to our desk every Friday before lunch time, if someone was busy, he would rap the chair like a policeman, and shout “submit your timesheet for the week”. This ‘gentle’ reminder was over and above a reminder which was sent out every Thursday. He was aptly christened “Hawaldar”.

I once had a Team Lead who used to ask for updates every 15 minutes. God, that was irritating. As if this was not enough, he used to open a conversation on the internal messenger every morning and keep it open till the end of the day, and ask there “Hey, what’s the status on test case number 2? Have we completed it? When are we starting test case number 3? We have to complete the testing in this week!” I chose not signing into the messenger one fine day. Mr. Team Lead came over, “Hey – is your messenger not working? You are not online!” We used to have three meetings a day with this team lead at one point of time during the project. J

Once, I got a feedback “Can do better” in a particular task in some appraisal. I asked the manager as to what went wrong; I was prepared to hear the ‘game-of-chance’ answer this time, but something different happened. When I called up, the first response was “Don’t worry we will change the feedback!” I did not know just calling up can make such a tremendous difference to the feedback!! Anyways I had a short discussion; and the ‘new and improved’ feedback was “Good work done!” Well.

I got back a particular appraisal with grades less than my expectations (again). When I had a meeting with Mr. Team Lead, I was questioned “So, just by looking at these tasks, how do I know what work you have done for what request?” I just clicked a link corresponding to that task in the internal application that we have, and it opened up the comments area where I had mentioned all the details. The conversation went something like this
Manager : “Oh…”
Me : “What are we going to do now?”
Manager : “I overlooked the task details, I will go through and re-evaluate”!!
(I don’t know how the evaluation was done in the first place though.)

I have had some very good managers. I have had managers who maintain very good relations with each and every member of the team. I know managers who have maintained a very good and a positive team spirit. I have had managers, working with whom was a pleasure and one actually felt like coming to office every day!

To wind this up, I remember someone having this signature: “Dilbert is not a cartoon strip, its real!”

The eternal conflict!

A question that has been haunting me for quite some time now is: “Should one be content with what he has right now?” simple as it may seem, this question has been at the back of my mind for a very long time and I have not been able to find a satisfactory answer for myself.

If an individual decides he is happy with his existing condition, wouldn’t it be that he or she is being complacent and lazy? Why isn’t he or she trying out better prospects in terms of a good job with a better salary than the current one, so that he can afford all those luxuries that ‘were not meant for him’? Isn’t it that he is under utilizing his potential when he has the capacity to do much more than what he is doing currently? But then, how far should one go in terms of want for material things? Supporters of this way of thinking argue that mental peace is also equally important in life, and one needs a boundary somewhere between work and life; work-life balance in other words.

On the other hand; say someone thinks he is not happy with the existing situation, and needs to do more in order to utilize his full potential and bring home more money. Nothing wrong in that! Going by Kiyosaki’s philosophy, one should not say that “I cannot afford that”; instead, one should find ways as to “how he or she can afford that”! But then, how far must one stretch himself? This would cause him to think constantly about his goals, strategies to achieve those and his performance in the daily game of life. How ambitious must one be while setting goals for himself? Would he be able to handle the stress and dejection he would suffer if his goals are not realized? I personally feel that there is a very thin line between being ambitious in terms of money and being greedy. There is every possibility that this ambition might turn itself over to greed, and there is no saying as to where this vice can take you!

All said and done, unfortunately (or fortunately?), our society today judges the individual in terms of the money he earns, the title or the designation he holds in his company and his material possessions like his house or clothes or jewelry! What should the common man like me and you go after: mental peace or the metal piece? The question continues to haunt me…