What else ails a typical Indian IT/ BPO firm? Jan 1 - 15, 2015

As a part of my new year resolution, I am gonna pen down 1 post (min 500 words) every fortnight.

There are a number of reasons why I chose this as a topic for this very first fortnight of 2015. Increasing rate of attrition, increasing number of behavior related issues, decreasing professionalism at the workplace, decreasing pool of worthy leaders, and forget about leaders, across businesses it is increasingly becoming difficult to have focused contenders for first level of supervision - and these are just some of the issues which the Indian Human Resource teams are facing.

India and most of Asian countries were intended to be the places where part of the business was supposed to be outsourced. Cost usually plays the most important role in deciding to outsource (others being time zone advantage, technical expertise, easier to focus on core business, etc.)

Now imagine an Mnc. comes to India (read outsources) and starts IT and BPO work with the help of local resources. They also hire local managers with the right cultural background to hire- negotiate- maximise the output from the local employees.

This is where I would like to introduce you to first of my two hypothesis - 

1. When cost is a factor (huge one) the work can be highly compartmentalized making it easier for the right match of employees to be found.

Now when these (local) managers are tasked with the goal of minimizing the cost, they look for right fit of resources and fulfill the short term goals of the organization. Meanwhile in this process they create a monster for the HR to handle. I don't mean to say that HR is not party in creating this mess at the first place. Their goal sheets like any other business part aligns itself fully with the 'so called' business requirement - which is only this and not that. ('This' is mostly technical/ process, 'That' is mostly character/ attitude)

Having said that, companies all around the world are struggling to become 'Great' and not just good, but the limitations of hiring based on character/ attitude has become a major deterrent. The argument of lack of fair assessments which are scalable to judge a character/ attitude, is a valid one. But for the scope of the ailment which I am proposing here, I should limit the cause to a very simple one - Language.

This would be the right time to share my second hypothesis -
2. Most of the challenges we are referring to (HR Policy violations) have been started to get recognized as a violation in Asian ( and hence Indian) context pretty recently. Terms like professionalism, sexual harassment, attitude issues were never the highlights of businesses in Asia. The policies have been imported from the western world. Second part of  my hypothesis is that in order to understand the underlying meaning and fulfillment of such policies, we need to have the exposure to the western world. The only way to take that first step toward that exposure is through getting exposed to English (for Asia).

Whatever is being written here are the personal views of the author and are subjected to agreement or disagreement. And a request to all members, Please share your views !!

What's your True Character?

They say your true character is formed and revealed when you in trouble, but what if you never find yourself in trouble. Is it a classic case of playing it ('LIFE') safe. And that brings me to my question - I have never been in real trouble, how to build my character and reveal the real me?

Whatever is being written here are the personal views of the author, and are subjected to agreement or disagreement. And a request to all members, Please share your views !!

'Bengaluru', 'Business Sutra' , 'Fitness', 'Audio Books', 'Opera'

So what is common between the words mentioned above? I will tell you. ME.

Having been in Mysuru for almost half a decade, a place which is just
100 miles from the fastest growing city in the country - Bengaluru, I
feel different. Bengaluru is a class apart when you compare it with
Mysuru, or for that matter most of the cities of this growing nation.
There is something in this air, its aura, its people, its approach.
It's dynamic; it's like a river which knows nothing but to flow, time
and again flowing beyond its boundaries.

I just completed 6 months in this IT-capital and the most frequently
asked question to me has been, 'How's Bengaluru treating you?'

'How's Bengaluru treating me?'  I wonder. Work at Xerox has put me on
the next orbit of learning and development.  My own exposure to
entrepreneurship has taken a back seat at this moment because this
city has given me a new perspective. And then it's my weekend
experiences with my brother in law. He is quite a guy. One of the most
extraordinary entrepreneurs I have had in my family. In fact, he is
the only one. All these years I have heard stories about him, trying
out luck in different fields- agriculture, fisheries, poultry,
multiplex, real estate and even politics. Last few months I have the
opportunity to work closely with him. Not work as work, more accurate
definition would be 'observing' him closely. He is a personification
of the classic book on personal financial success - 'Rich Dad, Poor
Dad'.

The best thing which has happened to me in Bengaluru is that I walk to
my office and back. So the famous traffic issue is out of my equation
in this vast city. This gives me a fantastic prospect of spending time
in the gym and the swimming pool. It feels good. I feel light, fit and
ready for more.

So all in all I have some decent time to spend on myself and I have
filled it with my latest found fascination of 'audio books'. Some of
my ideas are inspired by the need for squeezing time out of busy
lives, multitasking during exercising. It serves me well in multiple
ways-

1.       I am able to keep track of the time I spend in the gym,

2.       I am able to keep track of the books I have been reading, For
eg. The whole audio book by Walter Issacson - Steve Jobs was of 24
hours. So it was easy for me to set a target to complete the book in a
month with a moderate amount of time spent in gyms, jogging in parks.

3.       I have multiple reasons of motivating myself to exercise. My
love for the books is a primary one.

And finally, my new found love in the music field - Opera. From the
days of 'Bajao-Bismillah-Bajao' in college with Arun-Basu-PD, I have
been fond of classical instrumentals coupled with dim lighting and ....
Searching for new adventures in the same field has brought me closer
to one of the world's best genre of music. The soothing spell which
Opera casts on you is distinctive and it is helping me focus more on
what I am doing at this moment.

Of course, these are a few things which have been part of my diary in
the past 8-10 months. A rekindled LOC is a cherry on the cake. Rai
hits the bulls eye when he says that one of the most remarkable
positives which has come out from this ideal group (LOC founded some 6
years back) has been that it has inspired us to write. Some of us do
it better than the others; some of us find it more challenging than
the other, but it helped us nonetheless. That was the core and the
most beautiful idea of this group. Let's share friends, it's
remarkable, it's enlightening. It's beautiful.

Whatever is being written here are the personal views of the author him/her self and are subjected to agreement or disagreement. And a request to all members, Please share your views !!

02 Days from now, it will be 4 years that we left that almamater of ours.Lot of water has flown since then. Lot of us have moved from strength to strength to forge new identities for ourselves. we have been meeting new people. In the process, would have made friends and follies alike. However, nothing comes close to the feeling of catching up on guys you grew up with. This is precisely how i feel. so much so that 'Elated'/'excited' seems brilliant understatements. i checked in slightly early and not knowing what to do, was roaming around the airport doing what has been my favorite time pass of years- Babe watching. When suddenly i thought of passing the valuable time in terms of worthy investment of Facebook. But alas, the Facebook is barred here. Aren't our airports turning anti social too? I could have kept pondering over this question or moved ahead with babe watching. however,in this moment of immense emotional turmoil and indecisiveness, i realized there used to be something called LOC once. I searched in Google not sure of the name that reverberated in our hearts a few years ago. And as pleasant as it gets, i saw this man, who i always thought has the ability and will to carry the world with us. World call him Kumar Saurav, i call him anything as it pleases me. And then i saw the man who has the ability to put to shame even the shine of diamonds- sachin kashyap, the star among superstars. Allokojwal, who i would always rever as a man of such integrity and honor, that he will put to shame the greatest. Furthermore, and i realized most of us have forgotten this beautiful venture. But not the feelings that formed this union.Am i not looking forward to catching up with you all.. The answer to this can only be YES ABHI

Vellore Trip dec2012

It's an unmatched feeling to be able to attend the most important day of your friend. And if you have the venue as beautiful as Vellore the effort seems to be completely worth it. Add to it some wonderful accommodation arrangements and some friends to spend time with, you have a memorable trip at hand. It won't be surprising to people who know me that it takes a lot to get me out of my comfort zone, but the same people also know that once am out, it takes a lot to stop me as well. 

Was having second thoughts about attending this marriage function but how on earth could have I missed this. The beautiful bride and an impeccably dressed groom gave a warm welcome as I managed to reach moments before the engagement. The journey was long but not tiring in any sense. Rain in Bangalore cooled down the unexpected warm weather and the wet vellore was ready to receive me with open arms. 

Met some new people, new talents I should say. I will certainly make it a point to keep meeting new people from varied backgrounds and understand the nature of their work. 

And then the Golden Temple was planned....

I can now comfortably pen down for the first time that I am not the most religious people you will meet, nor do I believe in the supernatural power which most believes governs us. But the Golden temple and more than just the temple made of gold, the management of the whole place didn't fail to amaze me.

I don't want to be critical and all but the 'holy' feeling inside the temple was artificial for me. I know the feeling has to come from within but when you go to a temple you expect some divine or serene environment to support your spiritual feelings. The whole place was beautiful, exceptionally clean as well, but, it was artificial to me. More than a temple it can actually win the award of the most profitable and best manageable business on any management criteria. I know this is India. I know a lot of what I am writing is inspired from the movie- OMG, but a part of it comes from the god's own book- Bhagwad Geetha.

Coming back to vellore, it's a city situated in middle of a lot of mountains. Wherever you go in the city the pleasant views of the hills will soothe  the slightly humid condition. The city is like a typical south Indian city, or shall I say any other Indian city. Roads are patched up with a lot of coal tar which tends to make the ride bumpy but then who cares for all that if the people of the city know how to make good tea. This is my second trip to Tamilnadu for two weddings and one impressive thing that has struck me is how passionately people make tea here. I am humbled every time I taste such good tea, I thought my lazy way of boiling the tea powder for making strong tea was the best recipe. 

The wedding was dot on time, as planned, and full of energy, technology and comfort. I am not used to attending Indian weddings which start exactly as mentioned in the card. The dj night witnessed a splendid dance performance by my friend Akshatha. Hearing all about the practices had increased my expectations and when I saw it finally live, it went beyond that. The couple dance saw the most important couple of the week shake their leg on stage as well. The look in their eyes said it all. They are made for each other.

I have no detailed idea about the Sindhi traditions but among other things they should be famous for their spicy food (though most of the catering staff was from Bihar). How do I know that? Well I was eavesdropping for some part of the time when I was standing the queue for those hot and crisp delicious jalebies. Some beautiful ladies with me in the evening and time just passed in clicking pics. Some of them actually surprised me as I have long doubted my abilities to impress the camera. 

Talking about traditions I have to mention that I have never witnessed a hindu wedding where the bride and the groom; the pundit and the family are seated comfortably on chairs and sofas while the table wore the burden of the Havan.  But it was comfortable as one of my new friend claimed.

Reached the kathpadi junction much before time but the surprising part is the fare. I had a reasonably comfortable bus drive from Bangalore to vellore for 160/- but coming from officers line to kathpadi junction in the same city costs 150/-. The first thing which will strike you when you enter this junction is the lack of facilities. I mean you are in India but I had better expectations from a historic south Indian city. They are very well managed in general but you know something is wrong when the very screen which is supposed to guide you to different platforms is not working. Now if you are from up north and are challenged when it comes to a third language, you are in trouble. Thank god they have good English speaking people at the help desks. Hoping the train ride to be smooth for most of its path. I have gone through the trip with ease. 

Whatever is being written here are the personal views of the author him/her self and are subjected to agreement or disagreement. And a request to all members, Please share your views !!

New year and old friends- deadly combo welcome 2013

New year & Old friends - (deadly combination)

After a long time on January 2nd we got together. It was a night with Basu, PD, Meenakshi, Arun and Bed and it was like old times. Personally I wasn't in touch with a lot of them but that's the beauty of friendship. A small talk about the well being of everyone and things were back on track.

Talking about dadu's tea and nana's food, love-bites, cricket gup-shup and marriages. Some of the concerns of talking on conference calls is to negate the background noise. 

It started to sizzle when Bed joined with the only downside that Mnx slept in between. PD and I tried to settle everything for them. Often we were short of topics but we persisted and came up with new ones. NERIST was always a hot topic and we talked about the classes, how simply difficult were the practical classes and how things have changed now. How we skipped the quiz, how getting all reds in Physics lab notebooks and it came to an interesting point where we had to use a life-line of calling Bhola to get the answer to an all important question. We forgot the venue of the famous quiz in which none of the EC guys attempted even a single question. Finally PD realized that he was outnumbered and that the venue was the seminar hall. The unity of the EC-2k3 is something which is still talked about.  MA-51, Sharan Sir's classes to the recent cars by the batch of 2k3. 

The call started at around 9pm lasted till around 1:45am with people coming in and logging off for different* reasons. Basu had to try the all time favorite dish -'dry fish' while Mnx just dozed off. Appreciate the extremes as Bed had come out in the open for better network and Bhola was very cozily conversing from the warmth of his bed, while almost everyone was fighting with the cold weather I had my fan on.

Whatever is being written here are the personal views of the author him/her self and are subjected to agreement or disagreement. And a request to all members, Please share your views !!

Sweet Sixty

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Who would have thought about a double ton in an ODI

What happened in Indore today will go down in the cricketing history, and hence in India's fame book in golden letters. This guy called 'Viru', who resembles the 'God' of Cricket, makes this games look so easy. He is a guy who is hardly bothered about what is going on the other side. He just goes about his business peacefully. Did I just now used the word 'peacefully'? Because neither his batting, nor his strike rate will give you any indication about him being peaceful while scoring runs.

I am not sure how I was feeling when Sehwag was at 175 or round about there (as he didn't stay at any particular score for long enough for me to reflect), but as a mortal fan of the God of cricket, somewhere I knew that if someone is going to break the 200 mark in ODI, he has to have the nick name 'Viru'.Hats off to Sehwag for this fantastic achievement. Cricket, (for me) after the greats like Kumble, Ganguly, Sachin, Laxman, Dravid will still be a game to be followed.

Watch this movie if you get time!

Dear All,

It's been so long. Very long. It seems I haven't written anything for the past decade. :)
Just wanted to share this movie : "Pay it Forward".

Watch it when you get time. Fantastic movie, and more than the picturization where I think could have been better, but thats not the point. The point is the idea of the movie. See it to feel it.

I have also uploaded the trailer.



Have fun watching it!

Regards,
Saurav

A tribute to the Mastero!

Beautiful Mysore

Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice | Video on TED.com

Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice | Video on TED.com

Mysore Dasara 2011

Anna vs Mantry

Whatever is being written here are the personal views of the author him/her self and are subjected to agreement or disagreement.And a request to all members, Please share your views !!

After 1 year

In simple words, I am having a refreshing tour of NERIST from 27^th Aug to 31^st Aug’11 as I have got a continuous 5 days holiday including one CL. The tour started from ISBT, Guwahati in a Blue Hill (Night Rider) bus. Beside me, there was a reporter from doordarshan who was going to take an interview at Itanagar. The journey was good, watching the film “Aankhein”– a nice comedy by govinda and chunkey pandey, in the bus LCD TV.

Then again at the entry to Arunachal at Banderdewa, all boarders had to climb down for “pass checking”. A nice beauty of bounded mountains was refreshed while heading towards NERIST. The Bus stopped at NERIST stoppage and I was In-front of Nana’s restaurant.

At the NERIST gate, security guards were staring at me – most them are locals now. Saw many staffs busy in morning walk and some students in morning run inside the campus greenery.

I am staying at type-II Mary mam’s quarter. I think Mary mam is known to all. She is one of the most prominent nurses of NERIST medical.

In the evening, I had a visit to NERIST hostels. At first, I went to my room (Block-F#38). I saw one sikkimese and one from duliajan residing at the room. The fellow from duliajan is none but the cousin of Bed Prakash Pokhrel. I had a chat with them for minutes. Then went to meet the cooks and helpers (remembered: doubles in the chicken days).

After that I went towards Block-B, there I have seen a change: a huge tall light tower (a height of around 6  storeyed building) just like the railway light towers in-front of Block-B. But, the interesting part is: it’s not working.

One thing I found in the Hostel is the net-connectivity. It is in very good condition now. The internet is very fast now. Some says "1 GB can be downloaded within half an hour".

Then I went to Network counter for return journey booking. There I saw Swanirbhar Sir boarding in the Network AC bus heading towards Kolkata for PhD works - had a chat with him for a while.

On the following day:

Outside NERIST gate, I saw many shops were renovated.

Whatever it is, but how can one forget dadu. Had 2 cups of tea (remembered: half chai) and two pakora plates.

Next day (working Day):

Had a visit to Dept.: Very first meeting was with George (still rotating the Key in fingers) – had a nice conversation with him on the dept. condition. Then, went to TV lab, it is same as 2004, nothing changed-no extra equipments. Pan-dukan at C & M lab is same as earlier. Had a nice conversation with the assistant of Pillai. Then, on the way to dept. office, had a nice conversation on Anna Hazare with Thencheri (Instumentation Lab – da…..u). Dept. office staffs are changed and also the HOD. Subedar Sir is the new HOD. Had a nice conversation with Hussain Sir. He said about the recent problems faced by NERIST. Seat capacities are increased from 30 to 40 per dept. but, no such development is in progress. Then I found our beloved Madhusudan Sir, and had a beautiful chat for more than his precious 15 min. Next had a visit to the workshop – our small projects of 2^nd year is still on the walls (I could find mine (accompanied by Sudip das)). Then had a small conversation with Dinamani Sir as he had a class. Then a very useful chat with PKD Sir. PKD Sir will be out of NERIST for QIP-PhD from next year.

In this whole visit, I should not forget some juniors whom I met and they gave me a warm welcome at NERIST.

The poorest part is empty playground and fields of NERIST. Most of the students are busy in playing only computer games rather than outdoor games.

I feel I have not bored you people with this story. I should acknowledge the inspiration made by Sachin Kashyap for uploading my trip to NERIST.

I have more 30 hours in Arunachal. Let’s see how I can enjoy this remaining 30 hours trip at Arunachal Pradesh.

hAppY FrNdsHiP DAy to AlL My fRndS......

Time!

Time moves forwards. Time gives us memories- irreversible and unforgettable memories. Time is ever-moving...unstoppable.
Time is rude. It is emotionless. Time is colorless. Time has no identity of its own. What we do at a particular point of time is what we
associate with that part of time. It is we who feel in colors. It is our actions that become memories for the time to come. Time doesn't wait for us
but its makes us wait and wait long. Time tests our patience, stretches us, makes us cry. But in your loneliness, it is time only which tells you to keep calm; tells you that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Time is mystery. St. Augustine said, "I know what time is until you ask me for a definition about it, and then I can’t give it to you."
In search for a moment of time where everything is static, I have realized that time is ever-changing...it is so dynamic that it will not let anything under its regime to be static.
But it is time only which will tell us what actually it is.

Finally, I could blog

Hi LOCians,
It as been a long time since I blogged. Sorry for the long absence. Right now I am in cubicle number 334, Tejas Networks, JNR, Banerghatta road, Bangalore. I joined Tejas on the 20th of last month. First fifteen days went off getting the first hand knwoledge on the products and the technology on which Tejas works. On 2nd July, me alongwith two guys(one from IIT guwahati itself and the other one from Aligarh Muslim University) shifted to our home in Bomanhalli on Hosur road. I have been simply bowled over by the weather of Bangalore. It is so windy out here. You hardly sweat.

My M.Tech thesis got over on 27th May. I left for muzaffapur on 4th june. Stayed there for fifteen days and then left for Bangalore o 17th june. I stayed with Bhaiya for two days before shifting to the company's guest house on 19th june.

So far so good. Looking towards the future with hope and determination. Training is going on. Learning a lot. Corporate world has so much to offer. I have been take for the EPG-FPGA group. (EPG stands for ethernet packet group). Training will go on till august end. Right now learning xilinx+Verilog+ ethernet fundamentals+ ethernet over SDH+ethernet over PDH+ Linux. The system that I have been given does not have Windows installed. I am blogging through an Ubuntu 10.04 system.

Will keep you all posted with all the works I will be learning.
Take care guys.
Love you all.
tata

They,their and themselves....

Watched Memories in March tonight...plunged in thoughts after that...i have not watched any other movie on homosexuality till now...its my first...it was sad...rather very sad.. i felt like crying when arnav was sobbing badly in the car for sid when he was passing that gate...i felt the same when he was wiping out the blood from sid's body in the ambulance...
I m in a relationship now..i can understand what it feels when your loved one is not with you...when you miss that person so terribly that everything else seems to be meaningless for you...they also go through the same pain...the same agony...on the top of that they are not accepted in the society...not even by their parents...what worse can it be...
I am always sympathetic to them...its not their fault..its not intentional..but will only sympathy help? What if my son or my daughter is borne to be one of them? Will i accept? Will my family accept?
I dont know...i really dont know...i have no answers..its easy to write..its easy to say...its easy to think..but its not easy to face..there is a long way to go...but onething i can definitely do...i wont be differentiating them saying "they"..they are "us"...simply "us"..................