Turning it Around
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Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Just Do It!
I have always been a fan of the concept - "Here and Now". Well, How much am I being 'Here and Now'? ...Eh... I am not sure. But i do sincerely attempt.
I was browsing on the topic 'procrastination' and I cahnced upon this lovely video-ad of Nike. Worth watching it.
Here you go!
I was browsing on the topic 'procrastination' and I cahnced upon this lovely video-ad of Nike. Worth watching it.
Here you go!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Meditative Vignettes
It was a Monday morning, yet Tina got up with a palpable sense of excitement. Yes, another exhilarating week ahead!
Hardly can she now recollect a day she was cheerless thinking of going to work. Well, not that she did not have dull days at all….
Marcus Buckingham* is right – people work for their managers; not companies or for themselves! When she read it, she wanted to disagree; but those gloomy days whooshed in front of her, like a film roll.
Work, boss, pressure, stress, silence, violence…
MUTE.
Silence.
She turned the imaginary knob; lightened the colour and brightness – yes, now it is black and white!
Silent dumb figures acted nonsensically!
She chuckled… No one heard!
Well, it works – who said that the recurring past cannot be controlled? She tried to paste the scene on to a fantasy Microsoft Paint window.
Erase… erase…
At least one scene is erased.
She felt stronger having accomplished something like that on a Monday morning!
Great!
M.S. Subbulakshmi** sang in the background. She thought about the funeral she attended the day before while getting ready to go to office. She suddenly felt cold; though the January zephyr has become much warmer.
Her son waved at her from the balcony. “Will you come early today to take me to the park?”
“Of course, I will.”
Many a times, she has learnt quite a few things observing her son. The greatest challenge for her has always been to be a mother and yet to be objective about him.
She thought of her colleagues who sometimes share how difficult they find to manage various roles they play in their lives – wife, daughter, daughter-in-law, mother, sister… the end-less list… and yet be working!
Lamentation of a ‘working’ woman!
She empathized with them and wondered if men are perplexed how to handle and manage their varied roles. Her husband never seemed to have mentioned any such complexities!
She could almost hear her ‘feminist’ colleague asking her, “But are men aware of their roles? I know now why ignorance is bliss!”
She giggled and looked around her cubicle. Her ‘feminist’ colleague is yet to come to office.
‘Working’ woman… a 20th century concept.
Were those women who existed before the 20th century not working? Tina wondered. Perhaps the awareness just dawned on women recently!
“Working women” – One of the ‘corporate wonders!’
‘Working’ men?... eh… No; not as charming…!
Now, stop being a cynic! She glanced through being conscious of her sarcastic smile.
She wondered, what does she work for?
For Any ‘thing’? Any ‘one’?
Has she asked this question to herself before?
Perhaps, she just heard it.
She didn’t know where the answer is.
Very uncomfortable – when you come to know what you don’t know.
She opened the cupboard to search for one of the files and a few sheets of paper fell down. Feedback forms dated 19th February 2007. Trainer’s guide V.1.1.
It is almost 4 years since she joined this company. She felt as if those days were a part of some distant past.
She felt glad realizing that she does not work for ‘anyone’ now; and that her passion and profession are the same – luckily!
She browsed through the trainer’s guide.
Her thoughts – 3 years before. A little amateurish!
It could have been designed differently. She noticed that she felt little defensive about her own oversights. She has grown, she realized. Perhaps years hence she may look at her work and feel the same!
She saw, heard and felt the Tina of those years. She saw a graph – growing. Endlessly.
She closed her eyes, and she knew what she did not know.
She knew that she was better Yesterday than The Day Before.
And, Today Better than Yesterday.
She saw herself Tomorrow.
She saw herself, somewhere in Future…
The graph merged with a distant horizon.
A scene*** appeared in front of her:
Master Kan: Quickly as you can, snatch the pebble from my hand.
(Young Caine tries to do so and fails)
Master Kan: When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.
On her way back home, she hummed her favourite tune. She loves the resonance when she listens to herself with the helmet on her head.
Milestones on the way…
Traffic flowed like an unruly river.
She heard Yanni – Santorini****.
She saw the bright Sun far away, yet to touch the horizon.
Where is the Horizon?
Is there any?
She smiled.
Notes:
* A Montana motivational speaker, trainer, public leader, researcher and author.
** A renowned Carnatic vocalist.
*** A scene from Kung Fu a popular American TV series of 1970s
**** Yanni – A Greek pianist, keyboardist, and composer; Santorini is one of his popular compositions
Hardly can she now recollect a day she was cheerless thinking of going to work. Well, not that she did not have dull days at all….
Marcus Buckingham* is right – people work for their managers; not companies or for themselves! When she read it, she wanted to disagree; but those gloomy days whooshed in front of her, like a film roll.
Work, boss, pressure, stress, silence, violence…
MUTE.
Silence.
She turned the imaginary knob; lightened the colour and brightness – yes, now it is black and white!
Silent dumb figures acted nonsensically!
She chuckled… No one heard!
Well, it works – who said that the recurring past cannot be controlled? She tried to paste the scene on to a fantasy Microsoft Paint window.
Erase… erase…
At least one scene is erased.
She felt stronger having accomplished something like that on a Monday morning!
Great!
M.S. Subbulakshmi** sang in the background. She thought about the funeral she attended the day before while getting ready to go to office. She suddenly felt cold; though the January zephyr has become much warmer.
Her son waved at her from the balcony. “Will you come early today to take me to the park?”
“Of course, I will.”
Many a times, she has learnt quite a few things observing her son. The greatest challenge for her has always been to be a mother and yet to be objective about him.
She thought of her colleagues who sometimes share how difficult they find to manage various roles they play in their lives – wife, daughter, daughter-in-law, mother, sister… the end-less list… and yet be working!
Lamentation of a ‘working’ woman!
She empathized with them and wondered if men are perplexed how to handle and manage their varied roles. Her husband never seemed to have mentioned any such complexities!
She could almost hear her ‘feminist’ colleague asking her, “But are men aware of their roles? I know now why ignorance is bliss!”
She giggled and looked around her cubicle. Her ‘feminist’ colleague is yet to come to office.
‘Working’ woman… a 20th century concept.
Were those women who existed before the 20th century not working? Tina wondered. Perhaps the awareness just dawned on women recently!
“Working women” – One of the ‘corporate wonders!’
‘Working’ men?... eh… No; not as charming…!
Now, stop being a cynic! She glanced through being conscious of her sarcastic smile.
She wondered, what does she work for?
For Any ‘thing’? Any ‘one’?
Has she asked this question to herself before?
Perhaps, she just heard it.
She didn’t know where the answer is.
Very uncomfortable – when you come to know what you don’t know.
She opened the cupboard to search for one of the files and a few sheets of paper fell down. Feedback forms dated 19th February 2007. Trainer’s guide V.1.1.
It is almost 4 years since she joined this company. She felt as if those days were a part of some distant past.
She felt glad realizing that she does not work for ‘anyone’ now; and that her passion and profession are the same – luckily!
She browsed through the trainer’s guide.
Her thoughts – 3 years before. A little amateurish!
It could have been designed differently. She noticed that she felt little defensive about her own oversights. She has grown, she realized. Perhaps years hence she may look at her work and feel the same!
She saw, heard and felt the Tina of those years. She saw a graph – growing. Endlessly.
She closed her eyes, and she knew what she did not know.
She knew that she was better Yesterday than The Day Before.
And, Today Better than Yesterday.
She saw herself Tomorrow.
She saw herself, somewhere in Future…
The graph merged with a distant horizon.
A scene*** appeared in front of her:
Master Kan: Quickly as you can, snatch the pebble from my hand.
(Young Caine tries to do so and fails)
Master Kan: When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.
On her way back home, she hummed her favourite tune. She loves the resonance when she listens to herself with the helmet on her head.
Milestones on the way…
Traffic flowed like an unruly river.
She heard Yanni – Santorini****.
She saw the bright Sun far away, yet to touch the horizon.
Where is the Horizon?
Is there any?
She smiled.
Notes:
* A Montana motivational speaker, trainer, public leader, researcher and author.
** A renowned Carnatic vocalist.
*** A scene from Kung Fu a popular American TV series of 1970s
**** Yanni – A Greek pianist, keyboardist, and composer; Santorini is one of his popular compositions
Participation in TBLA 2010
“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” – Don Williams Jr., American Novelist & Poet.
TBLA 2010 – Yes; it was truly a very adventurous, fun filled, and fruitful journey. We indeed believe that in this quest for A Billion Touch-Point Business Idea, it was the journey that mattered and not the destination, perse.
The journey began with the formation of our 4 member team – Triveni Nanjappa (Subscription Operations), Jeevan Kumar (Business Analysis) Amit Purohit (Customer Care) and Suma K. Gopal (Training) and registering ourselves with the team name, ‘Ecopreneurs’.
With as diversely skilled as possible, we utilised our core domain knowledge and skills to compliment each other and identify the ‘billion touch-point business idea’.
The area that we chose was e-commerce and our topic for the business case was “Online Tata Mall”.
We presented this business case highlighting the opportunity; industry study; how well this can fit with the current businesses of Tata group; SWOT analysis of this case; recommended strategy and approach; financials and tangible benefits to the Tata group.
Our business case was short listed for the Case Defence round from 62 over all entries in TBLA 2010. We knew, our journey took a fresh twist and we eagerly awaited the next exhilarating phase.
The next round was equally thrilling, where we defended our case with a panel of senior Tata leaders. More than presenting and defending, we consider that we spent those couple hours learning what we had not, during our entire research. We thank the panel for their sincere guidance and warm approach.
The next phase was a little painful, for we had to wait for weeks dreaming our presenting the case to the judges and of course, Mr. Tata. And, you know, it is hard to rein your ‘dream-horses’!
While we were not short listed for the final round, we still relish all that we experienced till this last phase. This experience is the reward in itself and it cannot be substituted by any other materialistic one.
For, the thrills of this unpredictable journey will linger on forever in our memories; for, the learning will lead to new productive ideas; for, the impact will create many new businesses; for, the inspiration will make many more leaders.
Let me repeat my thoughts – in this quest, it was the journey that mattered and not the destination.
TBLA 2010 – Yes; it was truly a very adventurous, fun filled, and fruitful journey. We indeed believe that in this quest for A Billion Touch-Point Business Idea, it was the journey that mattered and not the destination, perse.
The journey began with the formation of our 4 member team – Triveni Nanjappa (Subscription Operations), Jeevan Kumar (Business Analysis) Amit Purohit (Customer Care) and Suma K. Gopal (Training) and registering ourselves with the team name, ‘Ecopreneurs’.
With as diversely skilled as possible, we utilised our core domain knowledge and skills to compliment each other and identify the ‘billion touch-point business idea’.
The area that we chose was e-commerce and our topic for the business case was “Online Tata Mall”.
We presented this business case highlighting the opportunity; industry study; how well this can fit with the current businesses of Tata group; SWOT analysis of this case; recommended strategy and approach; financials and tangible benefits to the Tata group.
Our business case was short listed for the Case Defence round from 62 over all entries in TBLA 2010. We knew, our journey took a fresh twist and we eagerly awaited the next exhilarating phase.
The next round was equally thrilling, where we defended our case with a panel of senior Tata leaders. More than presenting and defending, we consider that we spent those couple hours learning what we had not, during our entire research. We thank the panel for their sincere guidance and warm approach.
The next phase was a little painful, for we had to wait for weeks dreaming our presenting the case to the judges and of course, Mr. Tata. And, you know, it is hard to rein your ‘dream-horses’!
While we were not short listed for the final round, we still relish all that we experienced till this last phase. This experience is the reward in itself and it cannot be substituted by any other materialistic one.
For, the thrills of this unpredictable journey will linger on forever in our memories; for, the learning will lead to new productive ideas; for, the impact will create many new businesses; for, the inspiration will make many more leaders.
Let me repeat my thoughts – in this quest, it was the journey that mattered and not the destination.
Monday, January 18, 2010
TBLA Semi Finals
It was a very exciting experience.
Wednesday, 13th January 2010
I woke up in the morning thinking and feeling differently. We were all a little anxious and continued our research till the last hour. Amazingly, I discovered and learnt quite a number of things in that last hour!
Time seemed to be 'snailing' till 10:30 when we received a call... At last ...
All of us and the panel sounded so positive that we were quite glad at the end of our presentation. I almost felt that I did win! (Well, I don't know why!)
Infact, I would rather call it a learning session than a presentation!
I continue to wait... TBLA Finals... and, our team in the list... And, we meet Mr. Ratan Tata... A dream come true...!
Yes! If that be the reality, it certainly is an accomplishment for this year, this decade, actually, my life lived so far...!
Sigh!
Waiting...!
..!
.!
!
Wednesday, 13th January 2010
I woke up in the morning thinking and feeling differently. We were all a little anxious and continued our research till the last hour. Amazingly, I discovered and learnt quite a number of things in that last hour!
Time seemed to be 'snailing' till 10:30 when we received a call... At last ...
All of us and the panel sounded so positive that we were quite glad at the end of our presentation. I almost felt that I did win! (Well, I don't know why!)
Infact, I would rather call it a learning session than a presentation!
I continue to wait... TBLA Finals... and, our team in the list... And, we meet Mr. Ratan Tata... A dream come true...!
Yes! If that be the reality, it certainly is an accomplishment for this year, this decade, actually, my life lived so far...!
Sigh!
Waiting...!
..!
.!
!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Only the Soul Knows How to Sing! *
I am too ignorant to technically analyse each raga and its swara sancharas – here is a rasika sharing her experience of Sri. Sakethraman’s concert organized by Hamsanadam Academy of Music.
If bliss is what one wanted to experience, you should have been there at the concert by Saketharaman on 9th Jan 2010.
I felt as if poised, floating ecstatically in another world;
I heard nothing but the deep resonance of swaras;
I saw nothing but the heavenly light that music created;
His rendering of all the ragas and kritis was so endearing that I was disappointed and regretted as he concluded each raga. I was almost enchanted by this magician’s surprises as he delved deep into raga Bhairavi; the swaraprastaras were equally enthralling.
As I re-live the whole experience, which was so soulful, expressive, animated, dramatic and emotional, I recollect and realize a phrase that has always lingered in my heart forever – “Only the Soul Knows How to Sing”*.
(*the title of the one of the verse collections of the great poetess Kamala Das)
If bliss is what one wanted to experience, you should have been there at the concert by Saketharaman on 9th Jan 2010.
I felt as if poised, floating ecstatically in another world;
I heard nothing but the deep resonance of swaras;
I saw nothing but the heavenly light that music created;
His rendering of all the ragas and kritis was so endearing that I was disappointed and regretted as he concluded each raga. I was almost enchanted by this magician’s surprises as he delved deep into raga Bhairavi; the swaraprastaras were equally enthralling.
As I re-live the whole experience, which was so soulful, expressive, animated, dramatic and emotional, I recollect and realize a phrase that has always lingered in my heart forever – “Only the Soul Knows How to Sing”*.
(*the title of the one of the verse collections of the great poetess Kamala Das)
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