i met him on the first day of my third job... he too had joined the same company in its pr department a few day before me... his employee number was 1482, mine 1495... we were the same age, same academic batch, came from the same city, spoke the same language and lingo... so the bonding was quite close... what intrigued me about him was that he was a total misfit for the job... he did not remember tasks assigned, lost papers with impunity, made no excuses for not working late, or coming on holidays, went for comparative mythlogy classes at Mumbai University on saturdays afternoons, while i slogged away with one publication after another...in a word he hated all routine work and took interest only when we had to meet the chairman/MD for ghost writing their speeches... he did these well... but amongst 10 jobs assigned, he completed 4... so he was moved departments and locations... we maintained touch... then he went west... that was the last we met sometime in 2001...
some months back, googled him and now he is a CEO coach... wow! what a fanciful occupation, he hobnobs with the brightest minds, hops business schools across continents, sent him a mail... pat came the reply and i knew that despite being the coach of CEOs, he was his old self... my friend, simple, still a misfit in routine, now of course it does not matter since he has secys to do them... wish you all the best in life...
Jul 31, 2008
a daily report card
preposterous it may seem, but every day beginning yesterday, as the parting shot, B and i are getting an assessment scores from R which she showed privately to me since she is not talking to B.
yesterday's read like this: "Ma: very nice throughout the day. suddenly in the evening, became a tattling looooooser. Pa: haven't seen him thorughout the day. came home and started criticising me. so tomorrow i will be talking to Ma, though will not be friendly with her; with Pa, no interaction whatsover." notice the lingo, was my first impulse, though i managed to put a brave front in front of the umpire.
and all this because, we tried to tell her that she needs to sit straight while reading and that she needs to have more water.
i haven't as yet told B since that is what i have agreed not to... but i am not sure whether i should be worried about this one or not...
one person who would be genuinely happy about the treatment from our projeny is my late Dad... screw them tighter, he would have told his pet, whom he saw all of two and a half years, no more...
yesterday's read like this: "Ma: very nice throughout the day. suddenly in the evening, became a tattling looooooser. Pa: haven't seen him thorughout the day. came home and started criticising me. so tomorrow i will be talking to Ma, though will not be friendly with her; with Pa, no interaction whatsover." notice the lingo, was my first impulse, though i managed to put a brave front in front of the umpire.
and all this because, we tried to tell her that she needs to sit straight while reading and that she needs to have more water.
i haven't as yet told B since that is what i have agreed not to... but i am not sure whether i should be worried about this one or not...
one person who would be genuinely happy about the treatment from our projeny is my late Dad... screw them tighter, he would have told his pet, whom he saw all of two and a half years, no more...
Jul 30, 2008
why i hate PROs
though i was one for a good number of years, why do i hate them? let me go experientially first. as a pro, one is just supposed to be doing what one is told (as a beginner)... it is always the business that dictates the necessitities and the pro has to go on churning out the orders. this is digestible, may be, when one is younger... but with time, with exposure and experience, one develops a mind of one's own and it gets increasingly difficult to carry out orders... that is clear indication that time has come to pack up...
this is autobiographical, so i am so pretty sure, since many a times the orders that come do not match with internal calling... like relations with journos... told to cultivate them, the direction changes the day that journo has written what he/she feels is correct and the pro is told to just dump that journo. how is this possible?
so the pro is expected to change with the business, sweet talk with all and sundry (not knowing who might be of help when), use and throw people and do all this very very effortlessly... while the first few years were ok, i got sick of this soon and left the day i found something different... while i stepped from the frying pan to the fire (of that some other time)... i was out of just pleasing people...
this is autobiographical, so i am so pretty sure, since many a times the orders that come do not match with internal calling... like relations with journos... told to cultivate them, the direction changes the day that journo has written what he/she feels is correct and the pro is told to just dump that journo. how is this possible?
so the pro is expected to change with the business, sweet talk with all and sundry (not knowing who might be of help when), use and throw people and do all this very very effortlessly... while the first few years were ok, i got sick of this soon and left the day i found something different... while i stepped from the frying pan to the fire (of that some other time)... i was out of just pleasing people...
Jul 28, 2008
once a mom, always a mom
how true... even in this day and age, when communication is all about being net savvy, mine prefers to write letters... she feels it is more personal, calls for more involvement and most importantly, bears the touch (both of the mind and the hand)... and this when letters take aeons to come.
she writes a letter one month, posts it herself and right after that, calls me to say that she has sent a letter... when the post is on the way, whenever i call or she calls, one question definitely is: have you got my letter?
all this to say small details of her life, things which many a times, seem very trivial, but she needs to tell me, without bothering for a reply...
most of the questions in her letters go unanswered since how much information can one pack into a call (i have gone out of the habit of writing letters) and right after one letter has recahed me, there is always a promise of the next...
so the days when i come to office to find the pink envelope on my table, with the familiar handwriting, that same one which taught me my first alphabets, my day is made... feel i am on cloud nine.
she writes a letter one month, posts it herself and right after that, calls me to say that she has sent a letter... when the post is on the way, whenever i call or she calls, one question definitely is: have you got my letter?
all this to say small details of her life, things which many a times, seem very trivial, but she needs to tell me, without bothering for a reply...
most of the questions in her letters go unanswered since how much information can one pack into a call (i have gone out of the habit of writing letters) and right after one letter has recahed me, there is always a promise of the next...
so the days when i come to office to find the pink envelope on my table, with the familiar handwriting, that same one which taught me my first alphabets, my day is made... feel i am on cloud nine.
colour, colour... no colour, no colour
there was a time when all my lip colours were dark reds, shining pinks...
then there were only browns... plain browns, frosted browns (some dubbed them as horror show colours), pale browns...
now i have made that simpler on the eye... only colourless frosts, with a pencil to define the edges... understated, it looks good, to my eyes, of course.
then there were only browns... plain browns, frosted browns (some dubbed them as horror show colours), pale browns...
now i have made that simpler on the eye... only colourless frosts, with a pencil to define the edges... understated, it looks good, to my eyes, of course.
attitude & success
which breeds which? i mean, is it success that brings in attitude, or is it attitude that brings in success?
i feel, it is attitude that paves the way to success... so if one has the right attitude, one can not only be successful, but also handle that success in a sedate manner.
i feel, it is attitude that paves the way to success... so if one has the right attitude, one can not only be successful, but also handle that success in a sedate manner.
Jul 27, 2008
my wish list
Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
-- John Lennon, in the 1971 hit "Imagine"
... if this strikes as idealism, so be it. that is why i am putting it up here 37 years after it was sung first.
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
-- John Lennon, in the 1971 hit "Imagine"
... if this strikes as idealism, so be it. that is why i am putting it up here 37 years after it was sung first.
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