I hear that one major business school sent an elite team to the Taj hotel in Mumbai of 26/11 terrorist attack. They were on a mission to understand, how a month old trainee in the banquette hall decided that I will wait in the hotel until all guests are safely escorted out. How did hundreds of employees put their lives in the line of fire to serve their guests, help their guests, when they were well versed with the escape routes themselves? What gave a senior employee the strength to stand by, help other employees in cleaning up the mess, knowing he had just lost his family at the hands of the very same terrorist?
I don’t know what the findings of their study are. But I think, if you are living in India, you probably know why. There are some values that TATAs stand for, which keeps them head and shoulder above the rest.
Post the 26/11 episode, there were some steps that the TATAs took, which is not known to a lot of us. Even if you are aware, reading this again will only fill you with pride that we have an organization, a head of an organization who behaves in such fashion.
When an organization which has been struck by such a devastating occurrence, some desperate measures are sure to take place. TATAs have done a whole lot for the employees and that is understandable and probably expected from a TATA company. Things like full last salary for life for the family and dependents. Complete responsibility of education of children and dependents - anywhere in the world, full Medical facility for the whole family and dependents for rest of their life, all loans and advances were waived off - irrespective of the amount, counselor for life for each person were some of the many steps taken.
They did not stop with this. In a record time of 20 days, a new trust was created by the TATAs for the purpose of relief of employees. What is unique is that even the other people, the railway employees, the police staff, the pedestrians who had nothing to do with TATAs were covered by compensation. Each one of them was provided subsistence allowance of Rs. 10K per month for all these people for 6 months. New hand carts were provided to several vendors who lost their carts. Tata will take responsibility of life education of 46 children of the victims of the terror.
A 4 year old girl, granddaughter of a vendor at a station, had 4 bullets in her when she was brought to the Government hospital. The doctors were able to remove only one bullet and she was battling for her life. She was taken to Bombay hospital and several lacs were spent by the TATAs on her, until she fully recovered. I am sure this is one of the many stories that have never been discussed in television shows, as it lacks ‘sensationalism factor’.
It’s said, that the Group HR head went with a pretty beefed up budget for the plans laid out wondering if the chairman would approve of such a huge cost outflow. The chairman remarked – do you think we are doing enough? When crores are being spent on rebuilding our hotel to make it ready for business, why can’t we spent an equal amount to ensure we support as many people within and outside our family to get back on their feet, after what has hit us.
Time in and time out, it’s been the TATAs who have come to the fore front and done a difference to a situation of misery. And they do it without anyone knowing. There is no PR team which trumpets on what is done.
One of the most important leadership traits is the ability to create people who think like you, who behave like you, whose values are your own. When you have an organization which can empathize and have a deep sense of helping, it’s any ones guess what a month old trainee would do when thrown into a situation like that.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
The circus called India
There has been an unprecedented situation in India during the last fortnight or so. I am confused and I am sure most of us are.
There is a 73 year old man, who has spent a large part of his life for helping others in the midst of a battle with the government and largely succeeding in embarrassing them day after day. Is he right or wrong? I don’t know.
There is a 73 year old man who is fasting from last 10 days to ensure there is a strong law against corruption in India. 10 days of no food! There are thousands of people who are coming out in his support and I am sure the weekend may see a lot more support as it does not inconvenience anyone too much.
There are a lot of people who are taking mileage out of it. Political statements, asking for resignations, mud-slinging, dramatic news reports, corporate sponsorships, National flag sales figures and so on. You have to be on this bus, else you are pretty close to being branded less patriotic than some others.
There are a lot of people who are coming out with their own version of the bill Mr Anna wants to push through. The government has one, the Team Anna has one, and some other intellectuals have come up with their suggestions. If he fasts any longer we may get drafts from the US as well.
I am just left with a question. What the hell is happening? I am not Anna. But my sentiments are surely with him. I support a strong bill against corruption.
But then, whatever is happening now is some sort of a circus. The trapezium stunt from Anna and team has every one enthralled, but there are some stiff competitions from people who are waiting to jump in. There are some government spokespersons who are hell bent up on doing the human cannon balls. I can’t make out if the sardar manager of this circus is speechless or plain mute. The owner of this circus, is not in town when its falling apart and her apparent heir is reading incoherent statements from a piece of paper in their arena. The background scores are from media – some sing for the owners, some for the performers.
I can bet a hundred that if our media reach and arrogance of free thought was to this level in 1947, somewhere an Arundhathi Roy could have written a blog and subverted the swaraj movements by mahatma.
Free India did not get the meaning of freedom too well I guess.
What could be a solution? I am with team Anna, and the strong bill. I don’t really care if this is the perfect bill. Perfecting this bill is a long process, let’s start with one. And personally the movement should start within. I have never paid a bribe. When I am caught by a traffic cop, I pay the fine and ask for a receipt. I am sure I would do the same even if it’s a land registration or starting my own business. If we can be sure of ourselves, we are in the movement to eradicate corruption at all level.
There is a 73 year old man, who has spent a large part of his life for helping others in the midst of a battle with the government and largely succeeding in embarrassing them day after day. Is he right or wrong? I don’t know.
There is a 73 year old man who is fasting from last 10 days to ensure there is a strong law against corruption in India. 10 days of no food! There are thousands of people who are coming out in his support and I am sure the weekend may see a lot more support as it does not inconvenience anyone too much.
There are a lot of people who are taking mileage out of it. Political statements, asking for resignations, mud-slinging, dramatic news reports, corporate sponsorships, National flag sales figures and so on. You have to be on this bus, else you are pretty close to being branded less patriotic than some others.
There are a lot of people who are coming out with their own version of the bill Mr Anna wants to push through. The government has one, the Team Anna has one, and some other intellectuals have come up with their suggestions. If he fasts any longer we may get drafts from the US as well.
I am just left with a question. What the hell is happening? I am not Anna. But my sentiments are surely with him. I support a strong bill against corruption.
But then, whatever is happening now is some sort of a circus. The trapezium stunt from Anna and team has every one enthralled, but there are some stiff competitions from people who are waiting to jump in. There are some government spokespersons who are hell bent up on doing the human cannon balls. I can’t make out if the sardar manager of this circus is speechless or plain mute. The owner of this circus, is not in town when its falling apart and her apparent heir is reading incoherent statements from a piece of paper in their arena. The background scores are from media – some sing for the owners, some for the performers.
I can bet a hundred that if our media reach and arrogance of free thought was to this level in 1947, somewhere an Arundhathi Roy could have written a blog and subverted the swaraj movements by mahatma.
Free India did not get the meaning of freedom too well I guess.
What could be a solution? I am with team Anna, and the strong bill. I don’t really care if this is the perfect bill. Perfecting this bill is a long process, let’s start with one. And personally the movement should start within. I have never paid a bribe. When I am caught by a traffic cop, I pay the fine and ask for a receipt. I am sure I would do the same even if it’s a land registration or starting my own business. If we can be sure of ourselves, we are in the movement to eradicate corruption at all level.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Revival
As far as blogging is concerned, I did fall asleep. Well, I guess b’lore weather was much more conducive for my vocal side of the brain. Or was it plain time management. Either way, I wanted to say hello….
Nothing inspired me to write now… neither did anything force me to stop earlier. So I guess its business as usual.
I am hoping this is a revival and it stays longer this time. I am gonna write and most importantly post it. Maybe long time from now, there might be ‘virtual archeologists’ and they may dig my blog and read ‘em… lemme etch something for them.
Nothing inspired me to write now… neither did anything force me to stop earlier. So I guess its business as usual.
I am hoping this is a revival and it stays longer this time. I am gonna write and most importantly post it. Maybe long time from now, there might be ‘virtual archeologists’ and they may dig my blog and read ‘em… lemme etch something for them.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Digging for gold
I read a nice little story the other day… read on.
“Andrew Carnegie came to America from Scotland as a young boy. He started out by doing odd jobs and ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in United States. At one time, he had 43 millionaires working for him. A million dollars is a lot of money today, but in the 1920s it was worth much more.
Someone once asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people. Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is a lot like digging for gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold you have to move tons of dirt. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold."
Andrew Carnegie's reply has a very important message. Though sometimes it may not be apparent there is something positive in every person and every situation. We have to dig deep to look for the positive.”
Nice story. But does it work this way?
I am not a pessimist. But then, I think there are good people and then there are bad people. There are good times and there are times you are absolutely screwed. The positive is not sometimes in digging more and more, but just letting go.
Maybe there is no gold, let’s go dig some other place.
“Andrew Carnegie came to America from Scotland as a young boy. He started out by doing odd jobs and ended up as one of the largest steel manufacturers in United States. At one time, he had 43 millionaires working for him. A million dollars is a lot of money today, but in the 1920s it was worth much more.
Someone once asked Mr. Carnegie how he dealt with people. Andrew Carnegie replied, "Dealing with people is a lot like digging for gold: When you go digging for an ounce of gold you have to move tons of dirt. But when you go digging, you don't go looking for the dirt, you go looking for the gold."
Andrew Carnegie's reply has a very important message. Though sometimes it may not be apparent there is something positive in every person and every situation. We have to dig deep to look for the positive.”
Nice story. But does it work this way?
I am not a pessimist. But then, I think there are good people and then there are bad people. There are good times and there are times you are absolutely screwed. The positive is not sometimes in digging more and more, but just letting go.
Maybe there is no gold, let’s go dig some other place.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The Uninvited
Last few days have been a very different experience for me. One that has made me think of all the things I have missed out on life and all of that I never told anyone.
Death is inevitable for all of us. But as life passes by and you have lived your life, not just you, but some of your loved ones also expect death to be round the corner. Not that you want it to, but you just know it. Maybe we even prepare ourselves. The hard one to handle is the blind turn. When you least expect.
In my 30 yrs of life, I have not seen death this close. What it does and how it impacts. A son who suddenly feels he is not the boy of the house anymore. A daughter who tells me there was so much to tell her dad and he left without hearing anything. A wife who has not know a life without him in over 36 years.
Personally, for me it was a big loss, cos I could never ever express my gratitude to him. It used to be a celebration whenever I visited their house. And yet I used to avoid the visits, since I could not find time. I was in the same city a week ago and yet I avoided meeting him, thought to myself, next time I will make it up. I am heartbroken cos I know there is no next time now.
I wept when we took him through to the funeral. The bellowing smoke was burning our eyes, but none of us turned away for even a moment. And in some time, the about 6 foot tall uncle of mine was nothing at all…May his soul rest in peace.
Life has to move on. But one thought anchored in my mind is that, death often is uninvited, unexpected. And there are no second chances here. Keep your heart free and don’t have anything left to be told, done or experienced. Sound clichéd, I know. But it sounds a lot different when you say it while walking back from a funeral.
Death is inevitable for all of us. But as life passes by and you have lived your life, not just you, but some of your loved ones also expect death to be round the corner. Not that you want it to, but you just know it. Maybe we even prepare ourselves. The hard one to handle is the blind turn. When you least expect.
In my 30 yrs of life, I have not seen death this close. What it does and how it impacts. A son who suddenly feels he is not the boy of the house anymore. A daughter who tells me there was so much to tell her dad and he left without hearing anything. A wife who has not know a life without him in over 36 years.
Personally, for me it was a big loss, cos I could never ever express my gratitude to him. It used to be a celebration whenever I visited their house. And yet I used to avoid the visits, since I could not find time. I was in the same city a week ago and yet I avoided meeting him, thought to myself, next time I will make it up. I am heartbroken cos I know there is no next time now.
I wept when we took him through to the funeral. The bellowing smoke was burning our eyes, but none of us turned away for even a moment. And in some time, the about 6 foot tall uncle of mine was nothing at all…May his soul rest in peace.
Life has to move on. But one thought anchored in my mind is that, death often is uninvited, unexpected. And there are no second chances here. Keep your heart free and don’t have anything left to be told, done or experienced. Sound clichéd, I know. But it sounds a lot different when you say it while walking back from a funeral.
Grave Security Threat!
I am not one of those people who read every single news bit out of a news paper. But pictures, sports pages and certain words do grab my eyes. I happened to read a small column news on a grave security threat that is looming over our governmental offices.
“New Delhi: The Union home ministry, in a recent advisory to all officials, has warned government officials that watching porn at the workplace could pose a risk to the nation’s security. Sources said nearly 2 lakh hacking cases were being reported every day. Though the advisory does not specifically mention pornography, officials said porn surfing was common in various ministries. “Despite repeated warnings by the home ministry, officials of many vital wings of the government keep surfing pornographic sites during office hours using official computers, resulting in penetration of spyware from foreign hackers,’’ a ministry official said.”
They are advised to be cautious while doing so from now on. Pick and choose your porn source.
I like this circular. I mean its prob pretty tough on these guys. They are working very ‘hard’ and they also need to stretch out and enjoy their life a little. A very considerate circular.
I wonder if there was some annexure which spoke about safe sources and the one that could be avoided. Our intelligence services might have to be put on a high alert, just so that our govt officers are not going to unsafe porn sites. Its worth the effort, atleast we will not be hacked.
And you guessed it right; security threat is not the word that got my attention.
“New Delhi: The Union home ministry, in a recent advisory to all officials, has warned government officials that watching porn at the workplace could pose a risk to the nation’s security. Sources said nearly 2 lakh hacking cases were being reported every day. Though the advisory does not specifically mention pornography, officials said porn surfing was common in various ministries. “Despite repeated warnings by the home ministry, officials of many vital wings of the government keep surfing pornographic sites during office hours using official computers, resulting in penetration of spyware from foreign hackers,’’ a ministry official said.”
They are advised to be cautious while doing so from now on. Pick and choose your porn source.
I like this circular. I mean its prob pretty tough on these guys. They are working very ‘hard’ and they also need to stretch out and enjoy their life a little. A very considerate circular.
I wonder if there was some annexure which spoke about safe sources and the one that could be avoided. Our intelligence services might have to be put on a high alert, just so that our govt officers are not going to unsafe porn sites. Its worth the effort, atleast we will not be hacked.
And you guessed it right; security threat is not the word that got my attention.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Eat Pray & Love
Just the other day, I was very strongly recommended to watch this movie. I am generally not a very cruel critic of any movie, and my comments are not directed only at this movie, but a very general observation.
Eat is Italy, pray is India and love is Bali. For those of you have not seen the movie. The shot where in Liz arrives in India is anything but deplorable. She is in a dingy rickety ambassador taxi, the driver is in full throttle with no sense of driving etiquettes, there are children on the street who are narrowly missed, there is a cow in the middle, a biker who almost knocks over. All this is familiar to us, of-course. But is that it?!
What’s itching me here is the shallow imagination of an American who probably is having a blind eye to any sort of developed canvas in a country like India. I will not fault him, he probably does not know where it is on the globe. When you look out from a well, often the world seems to be a lot smaller. And then you got to use your limited competence to imagine, how a world would be.
Let me go back to how Kolkata looked in the movie. I am not saying all this is not present in India. There are places which will resemble exactly like how they showed. But then, the scene depicts what India is through the below average screenplay. Italy – for ‘eat’ part of Liz’s journey was a treat to the eye. Why should the meaning of India be poverty? There was a lot of scope for the author / director – whoever was the one who decided the sequence to showcase a changing landscape. From the airport to the ashram. That would have been a lot more realistic.
Why I am voicing it out here is not cos I am craving for any acknowledgement from the western society on how India is changing. But as an Indian, I would urge people who are here to take photographs, make documentaries, make movies – open your eyes and tell the truth. India is spread across spectrums, be in nature, be it wealth. With over 24 Hollywood movies pending permission to be filmed in India, I hope someone is coming here for a more realistic setting and not an ego massage for the American public on how much ahead they are.
Since we are talking about the movie, it’s an absolute treat to the eye – the Italian landscape, the food and the Bali sceneries. It’s a treat to the eye as long as you can avoid looking at Julia.
Eat is Italy, pray is India and love is Bali. For those of you have not seen the movie. The shot where in Liz arrives in India is anything but deplorable. She is in a dingy rickety ambassador taxi, the driver is in full throttle with no sense of driving etiquettes, there are children on the street who are narrowly missed, there is a cow in the middle, a biker who almost knocks over. All this is familiar to us, of-course. But is that it?!
What’s itching me here is the shallow imagination of an American who probably is having a blind eye to any sort of developed canvas in a country like India. I will not fault him, he probably does not know where it is on the globe. When you look out from a well, often the world seems to be a lot smaller. And then you got to use your limited competence to imagine, how a world would be.
Let me go back to how Kolkata looked in the movie. I am not saying all this is not present in India. There are places which will resemble exactly like how they showed. But then, the scene depicts what India is through the below average screenplay. Italy – for ‘eat’ part of Liz’s journey was a treat to the eye. Why should the meaning of India be poverty? There was a lot of scope for the author / director – whoever was the one who decided the sequence to showcase a changing landscape. From the airport to the ashram. That would have been a lot more realistic.
Why I am voicing it out here is not cos I am craving for any acknowledgement from the western society on how India is changing. But as an Indian, I would urge people who are here to take photographs, make documentaries, make movies – open your eyes and tell the truth. India is spread across spectrums, be in nature, be it wealth. With over 24 Hollywood movies pending permission to be filmed in India, I hope someone is coming here for a more realistic setting and not an ego massage for the American public on how much ahead they are.
Since we are talking about the movie, it’s an absolute treat to the eye – the Italian landscape, the food and the Bali sceneries. It’s a treat to the eye as long as you can avoid looking at Julia.
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