THE THIN LINE

I just finished reading ‘The Professional’ by Mr.Subroto Bagchi. Must say it’s an amazing book and I loved it. No words to describe how wonderful the reading has been. Mr Bagchi differentiates between a professionally qualified and a professional person. Though these two terms seems almost the same, they are actually poles apart. A professionally qualified person is one who has the necessary degrees and skills needed for a particular job. He may or may not have the right attitude and other qualities that make up a true professional, like integrity, professional honesty, ethics, timeliness and right sense of dressing, to name a few.

Also, a true professional may or may not be having formal qualifications required for a particular profession. That means these are basically two separate things. Mr. Bagchi has given a few relevant examples, his own experiences, to make the reader understand the thin line of distinction between the two terms. Here, I’ll too share four such experiences (two for good and bad each).

1) Once I was traveling to Delhi via Railways. When I reached Delhi, I called a coolie. As we came out of the railway station, I offered him the pre-decided amount. He remained silent and asked me where exactly my car was parked. He then unloaded the stuff near the rear of my car and said ‘ab poora kaam hua hai’ (now the job has been fully done) and then only took the amount.

2) I once went to a clothing retail chain called Globus. After browsing a bit I selected a black knee length dress. I found it beautiful and classy thus selected it in an impulse. That day I was in a bit hurry so I didn’t try it for the actual fitting. Suddenly a salesman came forward and asked me to try that dress, but I declined and proceeded to pay. He again requested me and tried to show the fitting and size. He told me that the dress was of a smaller size and that the next size was not available that time, and requested me to pick it up after three days. That salesman, whether professionally qualified or not, was a true professional.

And on the other hand, there is no dearth of unprofessional people who are highly qualified.

1) Once a guest faculty from a highly reputed management institute was invited to give us lectures. She was supposed to take a session of 10 lectures and we were asked to do a small study of the sales promotion schemes (after third or fourth lecture only) across the various retail stores. My team and other teams like us, tried our best. We roamed through the markets in hot summers to collect the data, applied our analysis gyan, compiled the results and finally submitted the reports. Three days later we came to know that this highly qualified and much decorated professor had written a paper and claimed all the studies as hers without giving us any credit or even a casual reference. So cheap! Our HOD pointed this out to her and requested her to collect her full and final payment right then.

2) I once took a connection from a leading mobile service provider. But after a few days I came to know that my number earlier belonged to a man who had defaulted on a bank loan and hence was on run. Thus, I started receiving many calls everyday from that bank. Some even threatening ones. I called the company that claims to follow their customer wherever they go, to look into my problem. No response came even after repeated pleas. Finally, I decided to surrender that number. As I told the sales rep he simply said “do as you wish” and gave a bored look. I immediately changed the service provider company.

There is a thin line between these two things that can create life-long impressions.

PS : Thank you Prashant for referring this book :)

FICTION 55 no. 4

As he sat there, drops of tear fell from his eyes. He whispered sorry and said “please, please forgive me darling” again and again.

He apologized for all that she had gone through: loneliness, depression, trauma, poverty.

He again came forward and requested her to come back. But she didn’t reply,

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for graves don’t speak.

YE SHADI KYON NAHIN HO SAKTI????

While discussing random things with one of my close friends, we were struck on a point that got us into a thinking mode. We really could not find an exact explanation for it.

We Indians are world famous for adapting to changes and moving on with life. Although our crisis management system literally sucks big time, still we have that spirit to keep the show going on and on. We adapt beautifully to the culture and the customs of other countries. We have inbuilt shock absorbers, whenever we have to adapt to something new. We quickly adapt to a new country, tastes, habits, customs and climate, we are willing to mould our generations according to that place and honestly that’s commendable. But the point is, while we are so very good at welcoming change, why do we detest inter-caste, inter-region and inter-religion marriages within our own country? NRI show off their foreigner wives like a gold medal, but why do we hesitate in supporting inter-region or inter-caste couples who want to marry?

We still kill lovers in the name of honor just because they eloped to get married but suddenly get selective dementia and heartily welcome a bahu (daughter-in-law) from a free and forward western society. We use, ‘jati’, ‘gotra’, ‘nakshatras’ and all that jargon for denying approval to a girl from another region but same religion or vice versa. I have seen ladies cribbing about how they are living on antidepressants, for their bahus come from other regions of India; in fact the same aunties would have been glowing out of joy like a 1000 watt bulb if that very bahu happened to be a foreigner. We have many problems adjusting to an Indian bahu but feel innate satisfaction in moulding our habits and lifestyle according to a firangi.

One of my distant cousins married an American girl years ago but still their whole family is so proud of this fact as if their son has got a noble prize. The very same family treats another bahu from different Indian caste as a complete outsider. That is indeed sad.

Why do we still bow down to gori chamdi?????

A LUNCH TO REMEMBER

I once had an opportunity to visit a village deep inside Gujarat, with 3 of my team mates as a part of my rural dissertation project. I would call visiting a village an opportunity because what I felt there was a peculiar feeling of purity and rawness that’s always absent in metros. That village was quite unapproachable and we had to walk a lot and also take local modes like makeshift autos and carts.

The serenity and tranquility there was capable enough to cast its spell on anyone; I too fell in love with the pristine nature. The view was quite scenic and very beautiful. We interviewed a farmer as a part of our project. That old farmer and his wife were very courteous and requested four of us to stay back for lunch.

The food was freshly prepared. The chapattis were made on an earthen tava (hot plate), the menu consisted of baingan ka bhurta, kacche chane ki sabzi, bajre ki roti, achar (pickle), gur (jaggery) and chhachh (thin salted curd). The taste was as wonderful as that village itself. Flavor coupled with loving hosts made that lunch truly memorable. No cuisine in this entire world could match that taste and flavor. I still long for that tadka! The spices were far more aromatic than all those packaged ones available in the cities.

Also, there was a cotton tree in their backyard. With their permission I collected lots of pure cotton in a plastic bag; I still use that for my puja-path.

I LOVE MY SOLITUDE :)

I am writing this based on the personal experiences I had, not once but many times. Not just with me, I have seen this happening with other people as well, irrespective of genders.

This has to do with a psychic conditioning of people: that if a person is sitting alone, he/she is sad for sure! Many a time when I would sit and enjoy the natural beauty in solitude and lost in my dreams, some ‘well-wishers’ would come and bug me for being alone, about what was ‘bothering’ me and would go on giving sympathy and advice absolutely uncalled for, like a radio without controls. It becomes difficult for me to ask them to leave and let me enjoy my time alone. Often, such people think they are doing me a huge favor by sharing my ‘depression’ and are worthy of special respect. It really becomes difficult for me to convince them that I am actually enjoying!

More I stress on this fact, more ‘sentimental’ they become and more sympathy they give. I’m grateful to them for showing such concern, but anyway, why can’t they just leave me alone when I want and let me enjoy the natural scenery or ponder over other important things! I am sure you all too must have faced such a situation at sometime or the other.

Why a person sitting alone is perceived by default to be depressed or sad. Why do we love to poke our noses in the private time of other people???

Fiction 55 no. 3

Since poor and illiterate, they wondered why their anemic teenage daughter fainted frequently.

Thus they went to a famous ‘tantrik baba’ who announced she was possessed.Baba took their semi-conscious daughter to a dark room for ‘treatment’. They were relieved that the evil spirit was gone.

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But only she knew what else she had lost.....

Fiction 55 -no.2

That day kitty party was in her posh penthouse.

They raised a toast for the hapless children, spoke highly on how child labor must be stopped at all costs and that such kids desperately need love, education and care.

When done, hungry Chhotu rushed to clean the mess with his tiny hands and hopeful eyes.

Fiction 55

That hall was clumsy. Elderly people everywhere, like discarded and rusted tools that were once sharp and shiny. Son again convinced the father about their shifting together to village for which the father sold off his property. Outside, with cool breath and a fat cheque, son passionately kissed the letter which read ‘permanent immigration granted’.

Angelina Jolie

I miss you :(

I stare at you with goggle eyes

Your guts, courage and zest towards life

You smile at me with twinkling eyes

I try to hold your hand that slowly fades

What remains are our moist memories

Like moon in the clouds you come and disappear

Although like a star you shine even in the darkest of the nights

Your memories are as precious as you are

For they still light up my paths

You set me free like wind unleashed

But still I hold on to you for you only rule my thoughts

As I take next step with an aching heart

You come again and hug me tight

That jolts me and I awake to this real world

Where you are just another memory for all

But I still need your hand even to stand let alone walk.........

DESERT GIRL

26/11/2008: A BLACK DAY

Last year this date was written in black. Not just the people of Mumbai but the entire nation finds it difficult to forget the macabre incident that happened in the Taj hotel in Mumbai. But the question is what have we learnt from that? The Leopold cafe was reconstructed and opened soon after and the hotel started functioning as well. The crisis management team of the Tata group is amazingly strong but, what about the crisis management of the Indian government. We still have no preventive measures worth the name; no solid steps against terrorism, only loud noise.

It is shameful on the part of the government that in the very first place the terrorists could enter so easily with loads of arms and ammunitions inside the country. Secondly even a year after the terror attacks, nothing substantial has been done yet to prevent such incidents further. The much trumpeted anti-terrorism measures remain till date largely on paper only. The families of the slain policemen are living on pavements; this is indeed a big slap on the system’s face. After the operation, the commandoes were huddled off in local buses, how disgusting it is!

SRI HEMANT KARKARE (IPS) Joint Commissioner Of Police, Anti Terrorist Squad, Mumbai.

Thirdly, the role of media was rather destructive. To gain the TRPs the channels continuously showed the current details live which updated the terrorists and their mentors more than the public. If media had acted in a mature manner, fatalities would perhaps be much less. But we have a strong tendency of not learning anything from the past tragedies. Every time and everywhere we turn to our ‘chalta hai’ mode. Now a day the news channels are more in grabbing TRP than showing something useful. Dedication of prime time slots to Shilpa Shetty’s wedding appeared to them more important than the sufferings of the attack victims. Her mehandiwali’s interview held a priority over what the attack victims’ families cried for.

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan

NSG Commando

The CM of Kerala openly insulted the slain Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s parents in their own house. The families of other slain heroes are still awaiting action by the sleepy and indifferent government machinery on the promises doled out to them. Shame on such a system! And I think because of such a treatment to our forces, youngsters are thinking twice before joining defense services, and that’s again a big slap on the government’s face.

But then, the government’s apathy and slumber are nothing new. At least for Mumbai, be it terror attack or repeated flooding of the city, the government has invented an easy shelter to hide behind- ‘the spirit of Mumbaikar’. True, the Mumbaikars have shown a remarkable resolve in coping up with the miseries that have struck their city, but the government has exploited it to cover up its inefficiency to such an extent that now it appears to be more of a commoners’ compulsion to keep the life going.

Is somebody listening?

(http://ibnlive.in.com/mumbaimemories/heroesofmumbai.php)

Bicycle memoirs

After a long gap I’m here again today; missed something badly (on which this post is based), and really I was wishing if only I could go back to those good old days, if only I could reverse the time…but now I can only try to hold those memories and write such crazy posts based on them!!

Cutting my long story short, actually I am missing my bicycle, my cute bicycle I rode for years. Now it is not here, it was sold off to kabadi-walla bhaiyya two years back (who gave it as a rakhi gift to his sister) because I did not have time and also, neither the traffic nor my mom allowed me to ride it as freely I used to. And I have also noticed that kids are no longer titillated by a bicycle but yearn for bikes. Boys long for bikes and consider themselves next only to John Abraham and gals prefer stylish scooty. Poor old cycle is out of fashion. Also, there is no cycling space left.

The roads are already congested and rash drivers are a menace. And the cyclists are considered by default to belong to the lower middle or poor class, and are expected to make way for the roaring automobiles. Kids no longer have time and the stamina as well to cycle.

I really miss my old cycle and still remember how I much elated I was the day I got it, how fondly I used to clean it every day and etc etc.

The honest tag!

Here is the second tag, I was tagged by Rammy. as per the tag, given below are the 10 honest facts about me!

1. I am a cleanliness freak…….and I hate dirty washrooms and sinks in particular. I can get irritated even at the sight of a dirty and smelling washbasin.
2. I hate getting up early in winters L
3. I love junk food. And the Indian street food in particular (but only vegetarian).
4. I love animals esp dogs J
5. I want to spend the rest of my life in a natural area like HP.
6. I literally hate cricket and all the related stuff like cricket magazines, news etc. I can get irritated and switch my TV off if the news channels are showing only cricket related news.
7. I dislike being with people who are unprofessional, throw unnecessary attitude and have a poor sense of personal hygiene and dressing up.
8. I love vegetarian food and I am proud to say that I am a pure vegetarian.
9. I love Indian classical dances esp. Kathak.
10. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

Tagged again!!

Hii!

I am tagged and awarded by friend Rammy :D

Thanks dearrie for passing this fundu thing to me !! here are my answers.. I'll do the honest award tag few days later. :)

1.What is your current obsession?

My publishing company

2. What are you wearing today?
A red and brown Salwaar Suit

3. What’s for dinner?
No idea :P

4. What’s the last thing you bought? A head massager

5. What are you listening to right now?'lets work it out' by Raghav..it seems I am addicted to this song :P

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Rammyzz! One of my dearest friends :)

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Somewhere high in Himachal Pradesh

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Nibupani (lemonade)

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
To some beautiful sea shore

10. Which language do you want to learn?
Sanskrit

11. What’s your favourite quote?
"Its a greater compliment to be trusted than to be loved!"

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
My grandpa

13. What is your favourite colour?
Brown and all the shades of it

14. What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?
One white top with beautiful and exquisite embroidery done

15. What is your dream job?
A veterinary doctor

16. What’s your favourite magazine?
Currently its Femina.

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
I’ll invest somewhere.. don’t know exactly but I’ll invest

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Bell-bottoms ... phew!!

19. Who according to you is the most over-rated style icon?
Maliaka Arora Khan.. I just don’t understand her clothes ???

20. What kind of haircut do you prefer?
Formal

21. What are you going to do after this?
Watch TV

22. What are your favorite movies?
I am not much into movies but some of them are mughal e azam, 300, gone with the wind, herapheri, mausam (old) and a few more.

23. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?
Perfume, talcum powder and facewash

24. What inspires you?
My mom’s courage and ‘come what may’ attitude and yes one of my dearest friend Megha because of similar qualities.

25. Give us three styling tips that always work for you:
Be Yourself, be confident and take extra care of your personal hygiene.

26. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?
Randomly pick one dress!

27. Coffee or tea?
Coffee

28. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
I meditate and try to connect myself to god or speak to a friend.

30. Which other blogs do you love visiting?
I love blog surfing.. lots of them.

31. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Custard

32. Favorite Season?
Spring

33. If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
Maggi

34. What is the right way to avoid people who purposefully hurt you?
Simply Ignore them yaar, who’s got time to quarrel with those wierdos.

35. What are you afraid of the most?
Heatstroke

37: My question: What brings a smile on your face instantly?

Puppies :P

Rules for those who are tagged:Respond and rework – answer these questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own, and add one more question to the list. Then tag eight or ten other new set of people.

I would love to pass on the tag and award:

Prashant

Shakti

Hary

Abhinav

Amal

Sunil