Experiences in Life

Anticipation is broken

2009-04-17T18:19:00.001-07:00

While travelling through US i had some aniticpations as follows

(a) Corruption would be less at higher level
(b) Media (new channel would be better)
(c) Work would be worshipped

After a stay couple of months ..... some facts....

(a) Indicted governor set free......
(b) CNN qaulity is equal to Aaj Tak (I believe Aaj tak is pathetic)
(c) Workers would be workers where you go...... Level of worship depends on the industry and liking towards the job....

Lesson 11: Who is SMART?

2009-03-15T19:17:00.000-07:00

After the turmoil in financial industry, i sit an wonder who is smart

(a) An IIT grad (any specalization), works for industry that needs only good analytical skills.

(b) An IIM grad (any specalization), works for industry for which he is not trained for (reason: good analytical skills)

So much for indian brands, now lets look at others

(a) MIT, Purdue, Stern, USC etc college passout working but sales falling in the company

(b) CFA, CPA, Financial Engineers who made products that they themselves cannot clean

(c) Economist, PhDs who did not see this coming....

All the jobs that need "GOOD ANALYTICAL" skills should not go after brands....
The systems are designed as that we go after brand IIM recruits an IIM, MIT recruits a MIT....

The really smart employee is make shot plans that benefit in the short time and make everyone is happy... collect bonuses and find a new job :-) ha ha

Lesson 10: In US its I all they way

2009-03-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

Everything is US starts with I

It starts with the president: President says I would fix the economy, health care and not WE (means he and his team)

The CEO says I made the profit goes high (its not US). Every CEO writes an autobiography

The whole family works and the Husband says I run the house

And when someone comes back from US he says I did something in US

So it all start with I

Lesson 9: What matters is the brand name

2009-02-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

As a child i had heard this story.... while the "Vanar Sena" was building the bridge in sea, the confidence of Ravana's soldiers had hit rock bottom. They were terrified that their openents leader name was so powerful that, rocks would float in his name. Ravana came and announced that in his name the whole mountain can float. He called all his soldiers and then went near a mountain. By hiding from everyone he wrote a small name on the mountain "Ram". Then lifted the mountain and threw it in water. The mountain floated. The soldiers confidence was restored.

Similar to that is the current economics crisis. There are couple of folks who predicted the current crisis but no one heard them. Reason they were talking correctly but were not a brand. I heard those guys and tried to spread the message around but no one heard me. Reason i was no one. Today the same things are repeated over Bloomberg, CNN, WSJ etc and everyone reads it.

The moral of the story is ...bigger the brand ...easier to sell. In short bigger the brand ...bigger the lie

Lesson 8: Do not bring office to home

2009-02-15T13:22:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows about bringing office to home is not such a nice thing. I am talking about other behaviour, the behaviour of superior or inferiority complex.

The behaviour of superior complex is preached by certain organization. A couple of examples to prove my case

At my first job, the HR told the following story

We are engineering, manufacturing and constructing company.
We believe in our policy of GET (Graduate Engineer Trainee) produce leaders and the reason is:

When all the GET is in 10th standard there were approximately 10 Lakh students appearing for it and only 50-60% cleared it. That means the size is reduced to 5-6 lakhs students. Out of these 50-60% clear 12 science. So it is 2.5 Lakh students. Out of 2.5 lakhs around 1 lakh makes to engineering colleges. Out of those one lakh engineers we go through around 10-20% we feel are good. Out of those you 235 are the selected GET and hence you are best of the best.

In certain Investment banks, IT companies the employees are told that they are best in the industry. Their selection procedure include multiple interviews. Hence they are best of the best.

I do not doubt the HR policies. This is their way of selection but if an employee forgets that he is best of the best for the organization and not for the industry then trouble starts. Moreover if this attitude filter to their personal lives then it affects all.

Simple behaviour changes can be

(a) At the end of the day chat with their friends they feel like they have done best work.
(b) They consider they know all and starts arguing in all
(c) They tend to pursue their office life with friends and that might hurt

I do not know much about human behaviour but I tend to learn from observations. Hope readers would help me out at this

Lesson 7: Everything is hyped by marketing in US

2009-02-02T20:02:00.000-08:00

This article of mine would irate many people. I would be asked questions what am I doing in US? I am here as a part of my job assignment. Coming back to the topic, I like to travel. Travelling through US I realized that everything is hyped.

- A couple of days back I saw Super Bowl, I was promised by my friends that new terrific ads would come. I watched the whole game but nothing of the hype was there. My friend did not saw a single game but we were glued to TV for 4 hours.

- Travel destinations are more hyped then anything else. The country was founded for not more than 200-250 years but every state has historic places. Then I realized it is historic with respect to origin of that place. Places need to be marketed well in India.

- Shopping, there are so many brands and we all love this brand. But when you pick up the clothes all are market Made in China, Made in Vietnam, Made in Bangladesh, Made in India, Made in Pakistan….my knowledge about south east Asian countries improved after coming to US. So do not know what shopping needs to be done during US visit.

- Indians when they are in India are lazy lot. They travel but not as extensive as when they are in US. The concept of activities on weekend is something interesting. We need to adopt this in India with roads getting good.

A Sample Grand Canyon valley resemble to valley of Matheran

Sedona is beautiful but Coorg is better

Bombay Dying/Raymond/Vimal is better or comparable to all clothes available in US

Memory Sticks/flowers/travel is cheaper in India (apply the conversion rate please as these are things of luxury)

This is just the scratching of the top

Lesson 6: Some ways of Time Pass

2009-01-27T12:00:00.001-08:00

(a) Read all the mail forwarded to you and forward the mails that you like to other. It is your moral duty to help other have some time pass

(b) Talk elaborately about what you did last weekend or planning to do next weekend. Also ask your friends to do so. This would be considered a good team work by management

(c) Pantry. Take a job only the companies whose offices have pantry serving free tea/coffee. 9 am when you go to office you deserve a tea or coffee. Then another just after lunch around 1 PM you deserve a it. Then one around 3:30/4 would do no harm.

(d) Lunch time: chewing your food properly is the good for digestion. This is what my doctor has said. So i utilize complete half hour / one hour to do it. Depends on the mood. Sometimes do not bring food from home so that you can go out and stretch your hour

(e) Information is power: Read all the news sites possible. Make yourself aware of all the current happenings around. This would help you a lot

(f) Online Shopping (applicable in US): Go to various sites that offers good deals. Do not buy something expensive. $5 a day is not harm

(g) Orkut and Facebook: Work for only those companies where Orkut and Facebook are accessible. This helps you keeps you updated about your friends as well whats going on

(h) Work: If you get time from the above the do some work

lastly do not forget to have blog. Blogging also helps and it also creates a nice impression

Lesson 5: No news is Good News

2009-01-23T07:02:00.000-08:00

In this information age I am hooked to bloomberg.com, timesofindia.com, economictimes.com for news and information. I thought being on top of information and news and analyzing that would help me. So i always wanted the latest NEWS (North East West South).

Yesterday there was layoff day in my company. All were eagerly waiting to know what is going to happen next. But the only news were about layoffs (whether you are fired or not). The whole day passed and me and my colleagues did not got any NEWS.

I was so happy. I realised that no news can also be good news.

Lesson 4: Offering Help inviting trouble

2009-01-21T11:44:00.001-08:00

Sometimes offering help can lend you in trouble. I have a friend who was looking to buy something on Internet. I did not knew about the product. I was given the product information. I out of curiosity (lack of work) went to the website and read the details for the product. Incidentally my friend has that product and we discussed about it. My nature of helping others (lack of work) prompted me to write a mail to my friend. I mentioned in the mail that the product is good and my friend has it. The return reply was series of questions which i was asked to administer my friend.

This incident reminds me of one more incident. When i was in college. We had to do a book review every semester. My friend had to review a book "Why elephant can't dance". During those days my schedule use to be tight. Out my way I just asked how can i help. I was handed over the book and asked to read it. I thought the lady wanted to know my thoughts on the book. After reading 90 pages I called the lady and told that i had reached 90th page and the book is not interesting. I asked her would the book get interesting later... I was shocked to know that she had stopped reading after 40/45th page. I was suppose to read it as i had offered help and help her understand the reviews she had copied from the net.

I corporate life... approach to boss with an idea then you have to implement it without getting any resources..... Am trying to find out a way to over come this situation.....

Lesson 3: Standard of Living

2009-01-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

When one moves to US it is said that the standard of living would improve. I am still grappling with the definition of Standard of Living

I am a professional working for an IT firm and have a decent salary compared to other fellow indian (110 crore) i have a great salary. I live in city of Bangalore. My way of life is Monday to Firday work. Saturday and Sunday : Lunch/Dinner/Shopping/Movies. This is how i spent time living away from my parents. I have a laundry guy who takes care of my clothes. I have a maid who takes care of cleaning in my room. The house is decently furnsihed. I am insured. I take auto to go to office in India. Whenever I want i would FLY back home meet my parents. More importantly I need not take apporitment on weekdays/weekends to meet my friends.

I moved to US six months back. I have started to cook on my own. Clean my house and utnesils. Do my laundry. Iron my shirts and fix everything on own because even after earning more then double the US average salary I cannot afford it. Weekdays goes into commute (in bangalore you stay near office and you take one hour to commute because of traffic, I US you stay far away from office and it takes one hour to commute so nothing improves).

So still i am confused what is the defination of standard of living ........

The only good thing about working in US is if you save something and go back to India it multplies by 40 -- 50 depending on your luck.

Lesson 2: You are good once you resign

2008-12-23T13:35:00.001-08:00

My personal experience is there are two kinds of wroking people (after joining IT i came to know that to survive one does not need to work ;-) ) (a) Who joins the organization with a definate plan but end up doing the work and (b) Who joins an organization to do a definate work but end up doing all the other works.

Both the kind of people does not get satisfied becasue their goals are not achieved. But they are liked because firstly they are working people and they are good at their work. These kind of people are not recognized by the company because they are doing their work. Hence these kind of people get more dissatisifed.

When these People resign they get all the appreciation. Good things are said to them. There are couple of reasons behind it (a) It does not have any cost (all verbal) and (b) If they stay back they would be ignored again (their basic quality is working and they would work).

Hence these people get honest feedback and appreciation when they resign. So people who fall under this category should resign a couple of times to enjoy the appreciation. They should not be afraid of anything because they are going to get work as they are working type.

Lesson 1: Its okay to Cry

2008-12-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

Emotions are always hard part to control. Especially for guys. They are suppose to be strong and seen always to check their emotions. During the childhood when a falls down and he cries, he is told not to cry only girl cries. This puts lots of pressure on the boy. Frustration starts building within him as he is not able express himself. This frustration leads to anger. This spoils everything. Somehow the boy learns and copes up with hiding the emotion of pain.

The boy grows up, goes to college. He and his girlfriend/boyfriend goes for a movie. Sees his favourite Hero cry on screen. The girlfriend/boyfriend think that's cute and the guy is confused. He is in a moral dilemma whether he should cry or not?

Things are changing and everyone is accepting expression of emotions. Hence we should also change the rhetoric and say "Its okay to cry".