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MA’s AWAKENING

May 31, 2012 by ashokbhatia

The night was yet to come to an end

It was the hour before even the Gods awake.

 

As people of myriad races across the world

Obeyed the unforeseeing instant’s urge,

Ma also gradually awoke among these tribes

To lift up the burden of her fate.

 

Her spirit opened to the spirit in all

Her nature felt all Nature as its own,

A solitary mind, a world-wide heart

The lone Divine’s unshared work she rose.

 

At first life grieved not in her burdened breast

Inert, released into forgetfulness,

Prone it reposed, unconscious on mind’s verge

She lay remote from grief, unsawn by care.

 

Then a slow faint remembrance shadow like moved

The Power that kindles mind was still withdrawn;

Sullen, the torch of sense refused to burn

The unassisted brain found not its past.

 

But now she stirred, her life shared the cosmic load,

Her strong spirit traveled back;

Back to the yoke of ignorance and fate

Back to the labour and stress of mortal days.

 

Her house of Nature felt an unseen sway,

Illumined swiftly were life’s darkened rooms;

Memory’s casements opened on the hours

And the tired feet of thought approached her doors.

 

She finally awoke to struggle and the pang divine

Saw the soft sunbeams playing on leaves swaying gently in the wind,

Heard the chirping of the birds outside her window

Mixed with the harsh clang of utensils vying for her attention.

 

Her senses quivered at the faint aroma of fresh tea wafting in

Her soul prodded her out of her slumber,

She arose confronting Time and Fate,

Immobile in herself, she gathered force.

 

This was the day when the new kitchen amma was supposed to report to work!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted in A Vibrant Life! | Leave a Comment »

WITH A BENEVOLENT GOVERNMENT AROUND, WHERE IS THE NEED TO WORK?!

May 15, 2012 by ashokbhatia

To all those hapless salaried persons who have crossed the age of 50 and are biting their nails trying to figure out how to manage their finances post-retirement, I would say – quit your job now!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I know that you are not a billionaire with tons of the green stuff lying in some Swiss bank account; nor were you born with a silver spoon in your mouth. You have come up the hard way in your life, based on merit and networking. After discharging your obligations towards parents and children, you have somehow managed to create a modest corpus. Inflation and cost of living has eroded your economic self-confidence. You are obviously concerned as to how to maintain a decent standard of living once you are given the heave-ho at your retirement age.

Well, not to worry. Given the virtual a-la-carte of numerous schemes the government has on offer, all you need to do is to relax and look forward to a peaceful retirement which would be well provided for.

Let us look at the food scenario. Thanks to the generosity of the government as well as that of political parties who play a round-robin every five years, sitting at home, you can get substantial quantity of rice and sugar to enable your wife to continue honing her culinary skills for all times to come. To top all this, our benevolent government is already working on The Right to Food Bill. Once implemented, the onus of worrying about your next meal will be on the government, not on you. In due course, as political parties come to power by rotation, the definition of food itself may get expanded to include your favorite chocolates and free coupons for a black forest pastry at the nearby fast food joint.

You also need some cash to spare for your clothing and other requirements. Here is the solution. If you enroll yourself as a worker under the MGNREGA, at the end of each day, you will bring home a tax-free amount of Rs. 155. So, by working for the guaranteed 100 days in a year, you will rake in at least Rs. 15,500, tax-free. Since the Planning Commission has already decided that you can eke out a living for as little as Rs. 32 per day, you would be free to spend your annual savings of Rs. 3,820 the way you like.

Moreover, as time passes by, the MGNREGA wages will continue to get revised upwards. Unlike your corporate working days when you had to either crack impossible targets or beg a slimy boss for getting a miserly annual increment, the government’s flagship scheme will make an annual increment happen automatically!

How about entertainment and other needs? To enable you to easily forget the hardships of queuing up at any public facility, the government has already provided you with a color TV set. Also, who spends on bicycles, saris, grinders, fans, washing machines, laptops and tablets these days? You just wait for the next elections, vote for the party which is offering a gizmo you do not own, and your patience would be well rewarded.

To run the gadgets you get, where is the power, you ask. First of all, get this right – the lesser these gadgets are put to work, the longer they would last. Also, absence of power is a blessing indeed. Follow the old age dictum – early to bed, early to rise, and be healthy, wealthy and wise. The government expects you to remain physically fit; hence, frequent power cuts. In the absence of power, you watch less TV and therefore communicate better with other family members. Then there is the added perk of having candle light dinners with your loved ones!

If you are worried about your health, help is round the corner. There are government dispensaries and hospitals where you can find state of the art equipment, eagerly waiting to diagnose whatever disease you suspect you suffer from. Fine, there is a risk that the doctors or the staff may be on a strike, but surely you can go the next day, now that you no longer report to a boss who is fed up of your excuses of reaching the office late. Sure enough, by the time you have survived the serpentine queues at all counters, you would be fit enough to fight a war!

Education is on your mind? Well, the RTE Act is there to help you. Also, to encourage enrolment, you have a noon meal scheme. Students also get footwear, stationery and school bags! To compensate for the woefully inadequate public transport system, they also get bicycles!! Given the dismal scenario in road development projects, some political mandarins could soon be initiating schemes offering Nano cars at highly subsidized rates to all students who wish to pursue higher studies.

With so much on offer from the government, why do you have to undergo the trauma of making and attending inane power point presentations? Where is the need to sit through utterly boring and endless meetings backed by a steady inflow of caffeine into the system? Or, facing the annual corporate ritual called appraisal and undergoing the trauma of wondering if you are getting the next promotion?

Chuck the drudgery of corporate life, I say. Be done with those deadlines, KRAs and ulcers which are the perks of a manager’s life. Look forward to enjoying your post-retirement days. Rather than cursing politicians of all hues, appreciate the highly benevolent scenario created in India by now. There is really no need for you to work any longer!

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The ‘E’ of Management

April 28, 2012 by ashokbhatia

EDUCATION

Higher education is a good launching pad, but no guarantee of a better performance on the job. You need core skills to meet the demands of a job; you also need good people management skills to be able to get the desired output.

Often companies make the mistake of hiring highly qualified people for menial jobs. In the end, management ends up getting a disgruntled workforce, which is not excited about achieving key results.

ENVIRONMENT

Respect the environment. Be pro-active in implementing environment friendly measures like power savings, diversification of power sources, increasing the green cover in your EXCUSESsurroundings, adapting good waste handling measures and rain water harvesting.  In short, giving back to Mother Nature more than what we continue to receive.

EXCUSES

How many times can I kill my mother-in-law to avail leave?! Excuses for being late to work and for excessive leaves are a sign of weakness of will power and character.

Offering excuses for a fouled up job is just not done. Be bold, accept your share of the blame and make amends. To help your team to grow and zoom, get out of your ivory tower, try to redress their difficulties and demonstrate your leadership qualities.

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THE POWER OF BEING POWER-LESS!

April 4, 2012 by ashokbhatia

Right across India, power cuts are an essential part of living. Getting regular power supply remains a utopia. Every time the government of the day announces an ambitious scheme to assure the hapless citizens that the 24 by 7 power days are just around the corner, there is a sense of severe skepticism and déjà vu.

I propose that we look at the positive side to the present power crisis that we face. I am not only referring to all the entrepreneurs who have shifted to manufacturing inverters of all sizes and shapes and are raking in handsome profits these days! Even ordinary laymen like you and I would also ruefully look back at this period. Let me put across some highlights of the unique experience of the “dark ages” we live in at present!

Just like the advent of the Internal Combustion engine ruined our lifestyles, making us forget to walk, electricity has also played havoc with our lives. We have lost touch with the primordial cycle of the Sun. We tend to live a life which is unhealthy. Within a family, various members live in greater isolation, sometimes depriving the younger generation of our rich cultural heritage and value systems.

In the presence of power, we sleep when we get tired watching the idiot box. We get up when we feel like. If the birds chirp too noisily in the mornings, or early sunlight starts disturbing our slumber, we merely draw the curtains tighter and doze off to catch a few winks more. Most of us have come to believe in the adage that “it is the early worm which gets caught!”

Thanks to electricity, we have lost close touch with our near and dear ones. Like elsewhere, life in a semi-urban environment is heavily dependent on the availability of power. Enter my house on any lucky evening these days – when power is available – and you will find that while the lady of the house is busy watching a cultural program on the telly, I would be fooling around with my desktop in another room. Son would pop up late from work, and get busy with his laptop in his bedroom. Daughter-in-law would be operating either a microwave or a grinder in the kitchen, whereas the granddaughter would be busy watching some inane channel on another TV in the bedroom.

Poof… goes the power. Another unscheduled power cut! Since repeated cuts have drained out the battery, our inverter is not in an obliging mood. With a sense of resignation, the whole family assembles in the outer courtyard of the house. A soothing silence pervades the house. We enjoy a gentle breeze under a clear star-lit sky. A soft moonlight is lovingly caressing all of us. My granddaughter is enjoying the cosmic scenery and starts chasing a bemused firefly in the lawn.

Slowly, as we get accustomed to the natural surroundings, conversation gets around to some key problems being faced by the family. My son’s impending transfer comes up for discussion; so does the need to minimize granddaughter’s exposure to the multitude of TV channels which profess to be meant for kids but are brazenly violent in their content.

The quality of family bonding we get by virtue of being power-less for a few hours is priceless. We end up eating an early dinner. After some more chit-chat, the family gets to sleep rather early. The result is a good night’s rest. Next morning, we wake up early, fully refreshed. I go for my constitutional, whereas son and daughter-in-law go off to a gym nearby. Since there is a feeling that power may go off any time, wife gets busy with her breakfast preparations rather early. Overall, the day starts on a positive note.

Imagine having uninterrupted supply of power – 24 by 7. Shall we not end up losing the power of being power-less? Would we be able to enjoy the same feeling of togetherness within the family then?! Surely, all the family members would need to exercise much greater self-control on their daily habits to be able to live a healthy, harmonious and well-knit life together!

 


Posted in A Vibrant Life!, Living Sustainably | 4 Comments »

THE MIRACLE OF ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES

March 31, 2012 by ashokbhatia

Allopathic vs. Other Treatments – The Choices Today

In the hurried and harried times that we live in, allopathic treatment rules the roost. Popping a pill appears to be a panacea for all ills. My experience has taught me that the diagnostic tools available in the allopathic realm are invaluable; so is its support in case a surgery becomes necessary. However, in most other cases, alternative systems of medicine offer not only a better cure, but also a better probability of prevention of a disease. As a layman, I feel that an ideal treatment is one which uses allopathic diagnosis, but follows an alternative route for treatment!

Amongst the alternative streams, I find that each one has its own unique advantages. Ayurvedic stream offers a treatment based on herbs and minerals, linked to a diagnosis of the patient’s vaata-pitta-kapha mix. Homeopathic system is primarily based on the type of personality a patient has, and the basic premise that like kills like. Homeopathic treatment could either be constitution based or symptom based.

A unique feature of both these systems is that they tend to treat the patient holistically. This is in sharp contrast to the allopathic system which has by now become so super-specialized and fragmented that a hapless patient has to run from one expert to the next to get a health issue addressed.

I have no knowledge of other systems like Siddha or Unani, but I am sure they have their own unique way of looking at a patient or disease.

Of all the alternate systems, Naturopathy stands apart. The human body is made up of five elements, and this stream offers a treatment which is based on the same. Controlled exposure to all the elements by rotation, as prescribed by an experienced naturopath, put the physical body on a path of regeneration and restoration. Coupled with yoga, which relaxes the mind and also the muscles, one gets a truly refreshing experience.

 

Health Challenges Faced by Me

As a senior manager in the Indian private sector, till the age of 55 years, keeping fit and healthy had never been the uppermost concern in my mind. Career concerns were centre stage, and so were the needs to see children getting settled in their respective lives. The body was taken for granted, as a lowly instrument of fulfilling one’s materialistic ambitions. Mind was supreme – controlling all the body’s actions and coaxing it into living a life which was mentally challenging but sedentary.

However, Mother Nature has a way of tapping one on the shoulders and reminding that one’s physical body was not designed to last forever! Some reminders are gentle, and some are abrupt. The abrupt signals come up because more often than not, one is not in the habit of reading the body’s early signals when it starts creaking up in protest. This is more so in cases where one leads a sedentary life style, spending at least 12 working hours on one’s desk, followed by being a couch potato in front of the idiot box at home.

Possibly around five thousand years back, Yudhishtira told the Yaksha that the most surprising thing in life was people seeing death all around them but still chugging along with their lives as if they were immortal! True to form, I was under a delusion that my body will continue to take commands from my mind!! Until one day, when I was advised complete rest by my doctor. Some tests later, a cardiac bye pass surgery was declared to be the only route to survival. Within a few weeks, my life was in disarray and I was facing the surgeon’s scalpel!

I picked up the threads of my life, moved onto a less stressful working environment and got back to an office routine, enjoying the comfort of the familiar hassles which come to one as perks of being a senior manager.

Four years later, my body came up with another surprise. Within three months, I lost my appetite – even the sight of food became revolting. My weight was down from 70 kgs to 57 kgs, and hemoglobin from 12 to 7.7. I had no strength left in me and even simple tasks like shaving became arduous.

Several doctors and tests later, it was found that there was a patch of cysts in my pancreas. It could have been responsible for my health problem, though nothing could be said conclusively. Doctors advised me to go for a surgery, so the growth could be examined to check if it was malignant. I was told that pancreatic surgery is pretty complicated, as the organ to be operated upon is not easily accessible. The result could be loss of some vital tissues in the abdominal region, reduction in the size of the stomach, and possibly a worsening of my diabetes.

 

The Miracle of Alternative Streams of Treatment

This was the time when I had to take recourse to the alternative streams of medicine. Much against the advice of prominent surgeons, my family decided to take the  homeopathic route. We were lucky to come in touch with an experienced Homeopath, who literally reversed the decline in my vital parameters and put me back on the path of recovery. Prodded by my wife, I also went in for naturopathic treatment.

When I started looking out for hospitals which offer a naturopathic treatment, I discovered Arogyadham. It is located at Sewagram, near Wardha in Maharshtra. It is managed by the Kasturaba Gandhi Trust, with a professionally qualified doctor heading the outfit. Along with family, I enjoyed two sessions of (ten days each) residential treatment at Arogyadham, and found it to be a useful experience. The campus is designed well, with independent cottages which are functionally furnished. Staff is well behaved, courteous and efficient, taking personal care of residents.

Arogyadham is located in the vicinity of Mahatma Gandhi’s abode during the penultimate phase of India’s independence struggle. Vinoba Bhave’s ashram at Pavanar is also nearby, and so is an imposing Bouddha Vihar at Wardha. Overall, the vibrations are pretty positive and invigorating.

Over a period of nine months, my health was restored to normality. Thanks to a combination of homeopathy and naturopathy, I am back to enjoying life, living it to the hilt.

Sir William Osler once said: “One of the first duties of the physician is to educate the masses not to take medicines.” Surely, if one has time and some patience, alternative therapies can do wonders!

Posted in A Vibrant Life! | Tagged | 3 Comments »

CAN WE HAVE SOME DECENCY, PLEASE?

March 18, 2012 by ashokbhatia

The Bollywood awards season in 2012 is finally over! Every year, it is a good time to analyse and wonder at the direction Hindi cinema is taking. At a time when there are raging debates about gagging obscene content on social networking sites, cinema – a powerful medium in the society – appears to be getting away with a great deal of sleaze. With each passing year, it has pushed the frontiers of obscenity further and wider. Hemlines are only getting pushed northwards, and so are the box office collections!

Cinematic content these days has made a self-professed movie buff like me rather immune to all the dare-to-bare acts. One only gets a feeling of contempt and disgust. Show of skin has become a necessary evil, the language has become expletive-laden and the lyrics somewhat soul-less, provided of course one is able to hear them over the cacophony of sounds touted as music these days!

It is perhaps a sign of our times that the most obscenely crafted and inane movies end up collecting major awards. It is surprising to see movies like “Ishqia”, “Rockstar” and “The Dirty Picture” winning all kinds of accolades and awards (even National!) without any consideration to the sense and sensibility of the contents for the masses. Titillation leading to commercial success is surely the name of the game today; art can always take a back seat!

This is not to belittle the artistes who do a commendable job and bring complex characters to life on the screen. It is the content and Movie Mughal-e-Azamthe overt manner of presentation that leaves one yearning for some cultural decency. My mind goes back to that eternal classic “Mughal-e-Azam”. We have Dilip Kumar and Madhubala romancing in the royal gardens late at night, with Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb singing in the background. Just a gentle swish of the feather across Madhubala’s beautiful face, and my heart still races up. There is no touch of vulgarity or obscenity of any kind; just an artistic expression of the romance, leaving much to the viewers’ imagination.

Think of another classic: “Guide”. It is still a pleasure to see Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman enacting their roles with much aplomb on the screen. The songs are as mellifluous as ever, the dialogues as evergreen as Dev sahib himself was, the music soothing to the ears and the lyrics pregnant with meaning. Towards the end of a romantic song, “Gata rahe mera dil….”, the camera pans out, leaving the hero and the heroine alone in their moment of solitude and privacy. A subtle depiction of romance, to say the least.

In “Sholay”, the delicate relationship between Amitabh and Jaya is captured with sensitivity, without the need for even a single dialogue, let alone any physical contact. Smita Patil’s portrayal of a hapless and exploited actress in “Bhumika” came as a whiff of fresh air then.

However, in 1970s and 80s, with the success of movies like “Bobby” and “Ram Teri Ganga Maili”, display of flesh perhaps became an essential ingredient of success in Hindi cinema.

During the 1990s, we became even more liberal. “Dil” legitimized the threat of rape, whereas “Hum” eulogized the desirability of kissing in public. We saw an Urmila Matondkar swaying to orgasmic beats in “Rangeela” and lesbianism being brought out in the open in “Fire”.

Cut to the next decade. We saw “Kal Ho Na Ho” coming up with a homosexuality based comic sequence between the two Khans – Shahrukh and Saif. The envelope was pushed further in “Dostana” a couple of years later, with Abhishek and John Abraham being made to smooch in public with gay abandon.

If a Rani Mukherjee astounded us with expletive laden dialogues in “No One Killed Jessica”, Vidya Balan went a step further while Movie The_Dirty_Picture2mouthing obscenities in “Ishqia” and “The Dirty Picture”.

Meaningful lyrics in mainstream cinema also got drowned in metallic orchestras quite some time back. While watching “Rockstar”, I was wondering as to when lyrics would also be shown as sub-titles on the screen! Contrast this with “Masoom” and “Prem Pujari”, where we were treated with soulful poetry on celluloid.

These days, we seldom appear to have the luxury of either soothing music or good lyrics.  Market dynamics demands that the hero and the heroine should necessarily be shown in bed, in close embrace, with suggestive gestures and movements. May be, twenty years down the road, XXX rated films would be shown under a U/A certificate!

(Related Post: https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/women-through-the-bollywood-lens-part-1-of-2)

Posted in The Magic of Movies! | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments »

A Potato Protests

February 29, 2012 by ashokbhatia

I am a very humble potato. I write this to protest the treatment meted out to me by the homo-sapiens. Despite making sacrifices and doing good for humanity in general, I get derided for no valid reason. Mine is a kind and obliging soul, but I am not treated well by human beings.

Derogatory references are made to me while referring to lazy bums watching TV endlessly as being “couch potatoes”. I am not capable of commenting upon the value of what is shown on TVs these days (only humans can suffer the content, though, for some strange reason, they refer to it as entertainment). But I would like to point out that referring to an avid watcher of TV as someone being a potato of any kind is an outright insult to my species.

I have very noble and humble origins. I have been serving mankind for around 10,000 years. I originated from Peru and Bolivia. Thanks to ancient mariners, I have made my presence felt on all the continents of our planet Earth. I can justifiably boast of as many as 1,000 varieties the world over. I myself have lost track of the number of dishes of which I am an active ingredient. The dishes which can get made using me range from fish and chips in Minnesota and Copenhagen to aloo sabji  in Mathura and Varanasi.

Other than being eaten directly, very many industries use me as a raw material. They process me further (and how!), ending with products which are quite different in nature.  Vodka gets made only because I happen to be around. Potato wafers and quite a few snacks would not be there if I had not been there. Life would have been pretty dull in my absence, no?

Let me say with confidence that it is no fun to be a tuber crop and to grow underground; think of all the worms and insects which surround me when I grow as a baby. It is like living in hell. Once I ripen and get picked up, my suffering only increases. So as to be able to make myself presentable and delicious, I often undergo a harsh treatment. I get boiled, baked, chopped, fried, roasted, mashed or cut up, so all humans would be able to enjoy what they eat.

If you ever visit a wafer manufacturing factory and imagine yourself to be a potato like I am, you would realize the kind of suffering which is in store – you get graded, bounded about on metallic conveyers, washed in steam, mashed, made into a paste, get extruded in the form of thin wafers and eventually get sprinkled with all kinds of spices, before being bundled off in a pouch packed with a dash of Nitrogen; yuck – I just hate it!

I provide good carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals to mankind, but still get blamed for obesity. This is patently unfair. If people consume me with relish and then lead sedentary life styles leading to health problems, how can I be blamed? I provide a good diet which makes one feel full at the least possible cost. People who eat me can do some physical work and benefit from the fiber content I provide to their digestive systems.

Before you call a friend of yours a “couch potato” next time, please consider this plea of mine. Think of using me more wisely. Mix me up with other vegetables – like spinach, beans or cauliflower – and relish the tasty dishes that your Mom comes up with. If you have me as your staple diet, I am happy. But then think of jogging, brisk walking or join a gym, so I may help you to become more active and develop six-pack-abs in a shorter duration. This way, your friends would wonder what magic potion you have found in me. And yes, girls may just drool over you also when you offer them an aaloo tikki burger next time round.

Related Posts:

https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/a-new-year-resolution-for-couch-potatoes/
https://ashokbhatia.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/an-ass-ass-erts-itself/

Posted in A Vibrant Life! | Tagged | 8 Comments »

The “D” of Management

February 27, 2012 by ashokbhatia

DECISION MAKING
Strategic decisions made in a jiffy on a sudden impulse could lead to disasters. The company could end up having a wrong plant location, an outdated product, or a service of which the time is yet to come. Changing such a decision would invariably be an expensive affair.
Run of the mill decisions, like which brand of Xerox paper to buy for the office, or whether the car parking positions of officers should depend on hierarchy or time of arrival, are best delegated and left to be made at the operational level, where the executives are closer to the ground realities.

DELEGATION
When you can’t do something as well as the other person can, a smart choice you can make is that of delegating the task; that is, moving from doing it yourself to getting it done through others. If you do not learn to delegate, you could suffocate.
Trust, instinct, communication and control are the pre-requisites of delegation. Delegation without benchmarking and monitoring of targets is abdication!

DESIGNATIONS
Designations are not important in cases where the external exposure of the employee is minimal. They form the psychological part of an employee’s compensation package.DESIGNATIONS
For those whose role demands an external exposure, a higher sounding designation would improve the canvas of opportunities, enabling a faster realization of company’s goals.
For employees who have outlived their core utility in companies which believe in firing people only when there is a disaster of a nuclear nature, an improvement in designation would be a valuable tool in the HR arsenal.

DETACHMENT
Beware of managements which exhort you to follow the much misunderstood principle of detachment expounded in the Gita – you should continue to slog all year long but do not expect that elusive overdue promotion. Do a reality check – are you repeating your own past performance? Is there a way you can improve the quality of your targets? Upgrade your work plans and actions accordingly.
If you can follow the principle of detachment, though, mental peace is guaranteed.

DIRECTOR, BEING ONE
Invited to be a director on the board of a company? Accept the offer only after a due diligence at your own risk and peril. You may earn a modest fee and some handsome privileges, but would have little control over the kind of legal and procedural misadventures taking place across the company. Unless, of course, getting served with a notice or landing in a jail is your idea of having fun in life.

DISCRETION
If you wish to start a relationship with the receptionist, better give the idea skip. There is not much difference between a manager rooting for an executive and a cashier having his hands in the till. Managements need to handle such cases with discretion; if the manager concerned is otherwise a good performer, he can be helped to get transferred to a temptation free location and kept under watch. Another misdemeanor, just throw him out.
Complex businesses require discretion in handling information of a sensitive nature – could be related to pay packets, new products and services or long term business plans. Judge the pros and cons and be discreet wherever necessary.

DRAUPADI SYNDROME
In what are euphemistically known as “matrix” organizations, reporting to several bosses at the same time could be a challenging experience. One has to learn to balance each one’s expectations against those of others. Much depends on their relative seniority or clout in the company, based on which one could handle the situation. Of course, it does not pay to pitch one of your bosses against the other, whether directly or indirectly.

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The “C” of Management

February 27, 2012 by ashokbhatia

CALLING BACK
If you head an outfit, try calling yourself up once in a while. You may be surprised by the defenses you have built for yourself and your managers. The young women attending to incoming calls in your office may need to be counseled at frequent intervals.

COMPROMISES
When asked to mediate between two colleagues of yours, seek the areas of agreement first. Take clear sides with one, so the responsibility to win rests squarely on the winner, without losing the cooperation of the loser.
When involved in a warring situation, learn to bow out and lose gracefully, if need be. The apparent winner would dread you while your superior could end up appreciating you.

COMPLACENCY
This is a malaise every workplace is stricken with. You may have a set of intelligent, obedient and relevant people working for you. COMPLACENCYBut it is quite likely that half of them would have fallen into the trap of complacency. They would have become critical of the company/department, would be working in a comfort zone, and would be displaying a singular lack of initiative. They would no longer have the shine in their eyes, and would surely not be operating on all four cylinders.
Your HR honchos would be neglecting this lot at the company’s long term peril. An anti-dote package could comprise a sustained program of employee engagement, elaborate mentorship, job rotation, sponsorships for advanced educational courses (either on-line or in the distance mode), recreational breaks and by simply spicing up their work life.
At the individual level, keep watching for signs of falling into the trap of complacency. Analyze, introspect and then speak to your seniors the moment you notice the zeal gone. Or, become a rolling stone and gather no moss!

CONFLICTS, RESOLVING
Executives fighting their bosses when they feel the top dog is wrong is a good sign. Executives fighting between themselves in the boss’ presence is also the sure sign of a healthy work culture. Seniors airing their difference of opinion or berating their colleagues is an unhealthy sign.

CONSULTANTS
Hire only a specialist, preferably a loner, to solve a specific well-defined problem for which an internal solution is not being found.
To win over internal dissent in the short run, it might help to hire a consultant who, being a rank outsider, might have a better acceptability and credibility with your own team.

CREATIVE ACCOUNTING
Joined a company which strongly believes in creative accounting practices? Stick around there only at your own risk and peril. If it is a closely held outfit, the management may just manage to swing it for some time. If it is in the public domain, investors will eventually lose trust. If that happens, your pink slip can not to be too far behind.

CREATIVE DISSATISFACTION
The art of creative dissatisfaction keeps you expanding your frontiers of knowledge and thereby casting your influence net wider. Keep at it – you would never regret it in your career.

Posted in Management Lessons | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Living on Another Planet: A 2112 Fantasy

December 25, 2011 by ashokbhatia

The way we have been mistreating Mother Earth, plundering its precious resources, the day is not far off when we shall be making wide-eyed touristy visits to Earth II, one of the new discoveries by astronomers of planets which imitate the climatic comfort zone of our Earth. Such planets offer our species a second chance to learn to rein in its greed, behave more responsibly and live in a more sustainable fashion! Some of us may even decide to settle down there, in relative calm and repose, devoid of slogan mongering crowds, chaotic traffic conditions and garbage laden habitations.

Even if Earth II is said to be 600 light years away, a small distance by galactic standards, at our current space travel capabilities it might take us 22 million years to cover the 9.4 trillion km to Kepler-22b, the current hot favorite amongst strong contenders for the title of Earth II. Sure enough, our scientists would soon find ways and means of not only making us travel closer to the speed of light but also of extending our life spans, so a successful trip could be made. Even if this were not to come about, our future generations, born and brought up on space shuttles, could surely end up colonizing Earth II.

Since the trip would be frightfully expensive, only a collaborative effort by all the major economies of Earth would be able to pull it off. So, there will be a single planet administered by an UN-like body, and no countries at all! To put it simply, no passports, no visas and no currency exchange blues. Possibly, only an Aadhar no. to identify its habitants!

Kepler-22b is said to have a year of around 290 days. This would imply that the number of government holidays would need to be rigorously pruned down, so the official machinery may deliver some results. The number of sessions of our legislative bodies would get curtailed, providing much relief to our elected representatives who could possibly utilize the extra time for developing their constituencies in right earnest. This would imply their becoming more pro-active, bringing in policy measures designed to address such mundane issues as farmers’ suicides, etc.

The private sector, already a stickler to 24x7x365 working, would have to re-engineer its processes to ensure that the same amount of work would get done in 290 days. In other words, higher productivity norms would follow, thereby giving the original earthlings a run for their money. Management institutes advocating the mantras of higher efficiency and productivity would sprout all over. Since the executive compensation packages will be more lucrative, employees would be queuing up for promotions to a branch on Earth II. As a result, HR honchos would be breathing easy.

The weather on Kepler-22b is said to be moderate all over, so burnt out executives would no longer feel like venturing out to fancy locales on exotic vacations. With little diversity in climatic conditions at the poles and at the equator of Earth II, tour operators would shut shop and instead take up more serious vocations which would boost the economy of the entire planet. There will be no reason to take off from work, leaving managements laughing all the way to the bank.

As to hapless employees, having no avenues for leisure related expenditure, savings would multiply, resulting into funds getting ploughed back to Mother Earth, thereby resolving the crunch being experienced by most of our developed economies. Bankers and financial consultants handling inter-stellar transfer of funds would have a field day.

Another advantage of having moderate climate all over the planet would be to do away with such carbon generating gadgets as air-conditioners. Power requirements would be a fraction of what they are on Mother Earth. Earth II is said to be mostly water bound. So hydro-energy would be the mainstay of civilization. There would be no need to grapple with the cost benefit analysis of power from other sources like thermal or nuclear.

With valuable lessons learnt from over-drawing on the resources of Earth I, our future generations may adopt a more eco-friendly and sustainable style of living on Earth II. Come New Year 2112, and this could well be a real prospect. Amen!

 

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