Chillax the mind!!

Am I very idealistic when I call for the right kind of efforts at the right time and preferably every time from people?

I see Kiran (my wife) at her workplace, not obsessed with all the above but yet getting the right kind of responses from her people effortlessly, is that because she is of the fairer sex. Her being my wife, I can safely say that the sex does not matter. Actually, it never matters at all in any situation.

It is all about how much control we are able to achieve between our mind space and our environment, people and controlling factors.

I, after seeing my wife, have started to learn these small nuances of enjoying what I do without being obsessive. She calls me senile for what I am and that is a term I do not want linked to myself.

So, I am trying the path of Chillax!!

Movies - 2006

Friends, it was a great year for Indian movies. Movies did well at the box office and there were some gems. I would like to put them up here as I feel is best.

Dor – This is for the thought process of the director. The sweep of the film truly left me a little breathless. Nagesh has not worked with a rural canvas (a little of Iqbal notwithstanding) before. But the modern sensibility of the hinterland woman was exceptionally brought to screen. Bravo!
Omkara – A story needs to be told only in this manner. Gripping, with all the right colours, props and dialogues in place. The acting was of a high grade and there was no compromise on sensibility. Shakespeare himself would have been really impressed. Note the first scene, Saif and Dobriyal; and the climax, fitting props to great story telling!!
Khosla ka Ghosla – Boman, Boman and Boman!!! Just Amazing with Pravin Dabas and Ranveer Sheroy throwing in their weight too!
Lago Raho… - Just for the Chutzpah of the lead pair and the funky storyline, all the crowds that day in the plex came out with a smile!! That says a lot for Hirani’s scrpt and direction!
Gangster – Shiny’s restraint in some scenes were just superb. Anurag is a nice director and actually it was hard to find fault in the movie. Pritam put up some great numbers…typical Bollywood but good!!
Rang de… - Caps off the list….great team…wonderful camera work. The lead team were suited to the roles like purring Rolls in motion. Surprises – Siddharth Narayan – this man is sure to go places…and Sharman Joshi, if he handles his career well, he could do a great deal of nice work!
That’s it…yeah..I could have added Krissh, Pyar ke side effects, Taxi No. 9211, etc. but this was a good list..I feel so!

Fail to plan, Plan to fail

It is absolutely essential to understand India to understand Indian Cricket. Yesterday, half way through the Indian Innings, I found that the communication between the two batsmen, Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh had ceased. There was no reason really. Just……..

Immediately, my antennae had propped up and I knew there was a wicket for the Englishmen here. An over later Harmison got Sachin out. You’d ask me how I figured that out. Simple….check out the calm before the mayhem in any household, mohalla, office, city or wherever that you would see a group of Indians…..

We simply are not used to living on the edge and fall into a comfort zone after a little while or some modest success and that is not really good for the body or the soul.

We invite trouble by not preparing for eventualities. We do not have back up plans. We just fail to realize that the opposition has a better plan in place.

We go through the motions and are thoroughly surprised with bad results…c’mon!!!!!

'Great Job Done!' pat

'GREAT JOB DONE!!' is something that I like to tell my people even when the going is not too great. Yes, it sometimes sounds downright funny but telling ' I love you' to your mate is also funny most of the time. If the lover gets this big compliment without doing much most of the time, then why would I refrain from complimenting my colleagues during tough times. Actually, it is something that we do not do even when our lives depend on it. Complimenting does not come easily to humans. Notice dogs, they are grateful for small gestures that we do towards them. Humans need these gestures far more often than dogs!!

KK manages facilities at our workplace. KK comes from MP and is a MSc in Botany. KK deserves more recognition than he gets as he is from a semi-rural background and he has made it to some extent in the rat race. But he is the butt of all jokes in the office. I compliment him more than the others, but he has not been able to be completely self confident and even after doing a good day's work does not feel good about himself. There are a million KKs in this country who deserve better gestures than they recieve at work, work that is not so much in the eye but needs to be done by someone and properly at that.

I live for the KKs. I strive to get them their place in the sun. In fact, I like the low profiles as they consistently deliver more for each buck!!!

EQ for life bettered!!

I am back to blogging again. I desisted from clobbering my keyboard all these months as I felt that I had nothing to contribute to the blogosphere. I plodded my way through life and tried to give my self esteem a new high by succeeding at work. A job change on the way did its best to get things right for me. Ah!! looks like I am succeeding at last at what I thought what was only for dreams.

Actually, I am running an organization that I had decided should not be run by typical management rules and by the book. I decided that I had to invest in my EQ (Emotional Quotient) to get things done here as I am now heading a very young group of boys and girls who can move earth with the right pats and gurgles. I explained to everyone in the team that work is fun and life needs to be full of fun. The only serious fun was the bottomlines at the end of the month and that would be absolutely right if the fun quotient at work was in place. Fun has been a major contributor to EQ through the ages and I am seeing these aspects being taken up by HR managers all over India in some format or the other.

Coming from the staid old Hotel Industry with a stiff upper lip, it was difficult for me to do this in the beginning. I had never related fun with work. The advent of the sunrise industries in India like the IT, ITES and Entertainment Industries in India rapidly changed my beliefs and psyche. Here I was with all the experience in guiding Hospitality companies to profits and I did not even have the first idea as to how I could start to provide a better life to my colleagues.

Quite a daunting thought it was! I joined a leading corporate in Eastern India headquartered in Kolkata last year to try out my ideas and see whether they were workable. Of course, Indian corporates still do have a bureaucracy that is difficult to tackle. I also had my difficult times during the whole of last year but my colleagues had begun to understand what I was babbling about. The teams started to appreciate what was being done. The winds of change was on the anvil.

Then, I had an opportunity to join this new upstart Leisure company in Pune and head its Operations and marketing. Bingo! I had the field to myself and I let go of my IQ and selected my teams on the basis of EQ. During the first month with them on board, I told stories, shared experiences, gave in to their silly demands, made nice friends, talked visions, understood their views, listened to each and every member for all his worth. Today, they are pulling off one of the most amazing success I have seen in my entire work life and I did not have to do much except exhort them to prove themselves.

I now truly believe that man searches for recognition and esteem. When provided a medium, he is bound to succeed beyond his dreams.

I know now that we do need management mumbo jumbo to succeed all the while. Old fashioned hand holding is as or more great!!!!