Anmol Sagar
Myriad thoughts on a million things
Mumbai under attack!
7A bunch of crazy terrorists have taken our city to siege and we don’t even know why!! They’re holding hostages in Taj and Oberoi, going on shooting rampage, killing innocent people who’re going about their normal business and creating the biggest show down that Mumbai has ever seen.
Police, Army, NSG, Navy commandos have been battling them for over 20 hours and we still don’t know what the hell do these people want!! Over 101 people randomly killed! This is so freaking insane…!!! All this pointless killing and scaring people… Why?? What are they going to get out this all?
Sorry… this is hardly a blog… I just feel like venting. AAAAAAaarrrrrrgggghhhh!!! @$#%#^&#^#%^!!
Engagement studies: The challenge of keeping them alive & useful
1Almost all organizations do employee engagement/ satisfaction studies. Some design it internally and some outsource it to third party vendors. The objective is of course to know how engaged and satisfied your workforce is on a variety of parameters and take appropriate actions based on their feedback. I’ve been part of enough studies now to know that most employers love to do these studies but struggle with what to do with them.
The challenge then is not really doing these studies, but going beyond the results and actioning on them. Without the required action implementation the relevance of such studies die. Then they are only seen as numbers to be looked upon once a year and for the mgt and HR to include in their annual reports.
How does one then ensure these studies are effective in their action and kept alive during the year? Here are some ideas that I feel could help organizations.
1) Ensure action implementation is a top recall item for all teams. In most Organsiation, there is a general lull that settles in after the first flurry of activity when results are declared. The challenge is to ensure that action implementation and reviews happen in a cyclic manner throughout the year. Having a process that ensures managers need to look at Team scores and engagement issues once a quarter can help. We have designed a process wherein Managers/Team Leaders get rated on the Engagement Action plans and the status of their implementation atleast once a quarter. This kind of a focus will ensure action of scores is a top recall item for all employees.
2) Creating a live reference point for action as and when needed. A huge challenge that one usually faces is that scores for studies are generated usually once a year. When managers are asked to keep going back to that score and identify plans they usually come back with feedback that old scores are usually not a good reference point. To counter this, one can make a simple tool that will enable managers to do a dip stick check on engagement levels of their team as and when they want, as often as they want. We have made a local poll tool which enables managers to activate it, send it to his/her team members, get their feedback on key parameters of engagement and generate an anonymous report all on his own. This allows for a manager to have a live reference point for action as and when he needs. He can action plan based on the feedback, implement plans and then do a dip stick again to see how his efforts are translating into positive movement in engagement levels. It is a great way to keep the momentum up through the year. It keeps up their enthusiasm and Managers tend to keep doing something if they can see some tangible numbers showing the effect of their efforts. Our teams have found this to be an extremely useful tool.
3) Need to create activity and focus around Engagement throughout the year: It is very important for employees and Managers to see that the Organsiation is also making effort throughout the year to ensure improved engagement scores. Giving Organizational action updates, sharing best practices from teams who are doing well, sharing engagement related literature, having awards around team engagement and best managers are some ways we can keep the focus on this activity throughout the year
A new era of Indian Politics?
3As Indians, I am sure all of us are quite used to watching the babu type politicians that we have for leaders, shout, fight and generally create ruckus over everything. It’s quite a common sight watching them lift their dhoti in annoyance, bang tables, chairs and throw books at anything that appears like opposition. They give long fiery speeches in their regional languages, labour through their English and try their best from refraining from spitting their pans during a TV interview. They rave and rant and wave their arms as if the world will come down if the merest change is to affect their vote bank in any way. Their immediate concerns are usually how they can hold onto to their position, make the most for themselves from public money and appear like they are actually doing something good without really doing anything. Well that’s Indians politics and as an average Indian citizen I have gotten used to the way things are. We go about our usual business, make our money, pay our taxes and generally try and keep way from any activities that would involve us interacting with any government / political official.
There have been many times, when frustrated with the way things are in India, thoughts of actually doing something about it have entered my mind… but then I come back to reality and realize that there is really no point. Politics is a quagmire and anyways how can one person make a difference? Also how can one go to work, and yet be involved in something like politics? I recently got my answer…. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet Mr. R V Krishnan, the founder of the Professionals Party of India!
Krishnan, an engineer-entrepreneur, who runs a market research Bureau, was also disillusioned with Indian governance and he decided to actually do something about it. He had some unique thoughts on how educated professionals can contribute towards running the country which he put down in his manuscript, ‘Manifesto in Search of a Party’. He waited after his publication hoping someone would sit up and decide to do something about the solutions he had proposed for the country… but nothing really happened.
Saddened but not deterred, he then decided to implement some of his ideas. He called 15 of his friends (mostly professionals raging from 30 to 60 years of age) and mooted the idea of a political party. Thus started the journey of this Pune based Professional Party of India. After 11 months of working in local areas, this party finally got an official acknowledgement when the Election Commission of India registered it as a political party. That’s a step that has formally equipped them to start working towards their aim – of changing the way the country is governed through the active participation of educated professionals. Their belief is that they can bring honest, professional & progressive governance in our country.
The unique thing about this party many members are working professionals who contribute to the party and its goals while keeping their regular jobs! The party has grown quite rapidly and now has chapters and members in most big cities. As one would expect the party is quite tech savvy and uses technology to propagate its cause. Email campaigns, Blogs, seminars at corporate are some of these. Check out one such blog by them
http://professionalspartyofindia.blog.co.in/about/
In his talk to us, Mr. Krishnan made a moving speech to the young professionals of India. He highlighted how young talented Indian professionals are leading large conglomerates across the world successfully. Then why if we got together can we not lead our country to success?
Listening to and meeting him really made me re-think my inertia. We need to make an effort and do something other than complain. I think it is commendable that Krishnan and PPI have taken this positive step towards doing something. So what can we do? One doesn’t have to join politics to make a difference…. One can start with getting on a voters list and vote for the right people!
Letters from Iwo Jima
0I recently saw the movie ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’. It’s a movie about the US invasion of the Japanese Island Iwo Jima during the 2nd world war. The movie is in Japanese and shares the story from the Japanese view of events. The story of a small helpless section of the Japanese army fighting against all odds and keeping the enemy at bay is tragic, desolate, yet heartwarming.
The story shares how the Japanese fleet is destroyed and there are no back up ammo or resources that Japan can send to the troops on the island. Yet, the soldiers on the island, do all that they can to fight for their island, knowing fully well that they can do nothing much else except delay the inevitable invasion. It is interesting to see how soldiers sway between valour and self preservation at various points of time during the movie. Seeing a young baker, forcefully enlisted in the Imperial army, digging trenches and asking himself ‘are we digging our graves?’ makes one wonder about the futility of war. With a deep belief in honour, Japanese soldiers prefer to kill themselves than fall into enemy hands. The scenes of soldiers killing themselves with hand grenades and the reluctance of some overridden by collective pressure are quite the tear jerkers.
I think the movie is done brilliantly, in a simple, realistic manner while exhibiting a deep understanding of the Japanese psyche. Clint Eastwood has indeed done an outstanding job!
Saguna Baug – A Rural Retreat
5When we had to pick a day picnic destination for an office outing, we were looking for a place that would be within 2-3 hours of Mumbai and would give our group multiple options for fun activities. Someone suggested Saguna Baug and we were quite excited when we saw its website (www.sagunabaug.com) … A farming and fishing outfit, it promised to be a escape to nature. For the urbanized like us, it sounded like the perfect retreat.
It took us over 3 hours to get to the place. It might be a good option to take the train for people travelling from the central suburbs as it is a mere 30 mins from the Neral station. The place is quite rustic and if it weren’t for the uncharacteristic heat of early October, we would have had a good time trekking up the stony paths to our huts –cum – dorms. The dorms, a tad basic, were clean (that’s if you don’t take having frogs on the bed as a sign of uncleanliness!) Lolz… Apparently the place has many and we had quite a time watching the farm boys chasing the frogs all over the room and having to deal with a bunch of terrified loud women!
The owner of the place is a young foren returned types who inherited the farm and was really enthu to down load our large group with all the fun things his place had to offer. Fishing, swimming in the river, taking a tour of the rice fields, riding buffalos, milking cows, watching locals make wood products, he had a full day planned for his… but the heat was already getting the better of us and we decided to head for the bliss of cool waters.
Fishing and the river bathing were our choices and anything that required us to walk in the sun was straight out! Having never done fishing before, I was apprehensive about having to hook worms to lure the fish. But hey, these fish were vegetarian and were happy to be hooked for some wheat dough. The fishing lines were simple cane rods with a thin wire attached to them, at the end of which a small hook hung. One had to wrap some dough around the hook and throw in the line and watch intensively to spot the slightest tug on the wire, which indicated that the fish were nibbling on the dough. And wham, you jerked the line out and there, dangling and withering was the poor fish. The first and the only one I caught gave me quite a scare! I yanked the wire out and all the wriggling just scared the hell out of me! I couldn’t bear to watch and kept dipping it into the water until one of the farm boys rescued the poor fish, unhooked it and asked me whether I wanted to eat it. Jeez, after that show I was ready to become a vegetarian… so obviously I asked him to throw the fish back into the water.
After everyone had tried their hand at fishing…and surprisingly, almost everyone got a catch, we were happy to head to the river to cool off. The river was a narrow one and they had cordoned off a little area of the river for the bathing pleasures of the visitors. It was a weekend and there were multiple other groups at the baug, so it felt more like standing in a pool full of people. None the less, the water was cold and we could have stood in it for hours just to cool off. We actually did have a good time, until the buffalo decided to join us. Apparently the buffalo rides we were promised were to be with the buffalo in the water. The buffalo clearly was not a happy one… all the crowds and the happy shrieking was clearly pissing the poor chap off… so were asked the helpers to take him to dry land to save us the scare and him the pain.
Hunger finally got the better of the heat and we decided to head back to our dorms for a bit. Bathed in clean water, dressed and voraciously hungry, we were happy to sit in the sweltering heat to eat the simple village food. Dal, chawal, Sabzi, roti…the food was tasty and wholesome. A quick snooze and some group games later we were ready to leave for the long drive back home at 5.
All in all the place is worth a visit if you’re looking for a fun day out. It would be even better if you plan to do this during some pleasant weather. Also if you book in advance, you can book the beautiful lake house for your stay (it’s bang in the middle of a small lake and looked like fun to stay in).
Goa – beyond the beaches!
1Everyone who has ever been to/heard of someone who has been to Goa knows that it is an awesome beach holiday destination. From Mexico to Taiwan, from Norway to South Africa, all tourists coming to India have Goa as a holiday destination in their list of places to see. So what makes Goa so special? It’s not just the beautiful beaches, cosy shacks, mid night bazaars, rave parties, easily accessible crack, cheap booze that make it so popular. This popularity also a lot to do with the inherent beauty of this state, , the exquisite buildings, the hospitable people, the laid back life, the unbelievably mouthwatering Goan food…no wonder the world loves Goa.
I’ve been to Goa a number of times…. Done the regular beach things one would expect…. But this time round when we got chance to go to Goa in the monsoon season when most beaches are closed, I was wondering what we would really land up doing. I needn’t have worried… we had the most awesome time!! From visiting the basilica of Bom Jesus wherein lies the almost intact body of saint Francis Xaviers after 400 years to lazily walking the corridors of the portrait gallery, Goa and its architectural heritage has a lot to offer. Walking through old Goa with a beautifully exquisite church around every corner, one has the feeling of stepping over atleast a hundred years backwards. The baroque architecture, the handsome gargoyles on the gates of old rustic houses, small winding paths shaded in more than history, one cannot experience Goa without someone local to show you the all the state has to offer. We luckily had, a dear ole friends working in Goa to show us all and more. Our friend, a historian turned sales man, had a Goan History fun fact always ready to be presented where ever we went!
So here were the 5 best things we did on our trip
1. Drove around in Old Goa…and walked into the numerous beautiful churches.
2. Visited Basilica of Bom Jesus & the Cathedral – Principal Chapel
3. Ate authentic Goan cuisine at O Coqueiro (The place besides its brilliant food, flaunts its celebrity status as the place where Charles Shobraj was arrested. Their menu highlights that Charles could not resist their Chicken Cafreal and risked arrested to be able to eat it!! The place even has a statue of him with details of all his gory history. BTW did you know he escaped from jails in 4 different countries? Wow. He could have written a book and given Shantaram a run for his money!)
4. Drove down to the northern most beach of Goa – Arombol. The drive is so refreshingly, that getting to the destination was a little bit dampner. But the beach is beautiful and free of the maddening crowds. Drinking beer and eating French fries as the rain came down on the withering Ocean… it was a moment I wish I could capture in its entire splendor.
5. Played ‘The Game of Life’ (yes, the board game) till late into the night. Ok I know, you don’t have to be in Goa to do this… but we did and it was crazy fun!
The Real Moment of truth: People will do anything for Money
7As you might have gathered by now the three things I enjoy and write most about is going places, reading & TV shows!! So here’s a second blog on a TV show that is airing currently on star world. It’s called the Moment of truth and it runs with a tag line – ‘is there an Honest American left?’
For those unfamiliar with the show, let me lay out the format….The premise of the show basically is that Participants are asked to take a polygraphic test of 50 personal questions before the show. They don’t know if their answers to those questions are true or false and during the show 21 of those 50 are picked and they are asked to answer them as true/ false. If they get correct answers for each of their questions they can win up to half a million US dollars.
I’ve seen some episodes of the show and have realized that its popularity is hinged on the fact that participants are washing their dirty laundry in public and who doesn’t love some gory details of personal indiscretions?! It’s not so much of the viewer greed for gossip and need to pry into the personal lives of individuals they don’t know that bothers me so… it’s the readiness with which participants, for the greed of Money, answer questions that undoubtedly scar their relationships with their loved ones.
They are shows in which participants have agreed to cheating on their spouses, regretting marrying their spouse, hating their parents, stealing money, peddling drugs, Sleeping with over 100 partners and what not. It surprises me that people would be ready to hurt their families and friends through their gory disclosures on national television in order to make some easy money.
It’s not as if these people don’t know that they would b expected to answer these questions. They’ve already been asked the questions…! They come with full knowledge of what they are going to have to reveal and they are ok with it!! And this show is wildy successful in the US. People who have been shared the dirtiest secrets have become like celebrities…. Not only have they won money, they’ve become household names… chat show hosts are asking them to come over and share their dirty secrets in more details. Jeez. It saddens me that people support this kind of thing. Are these lessons we want to propagate to masses and to our kids? It’s ok to say whatever, hurt who ever, as long as you make lots of money!
I cannot think of another prime time show that destroys our social fabric more and yet no one seems to be saying anything/doing anything about it.
Mumbai: Culturally diverse or inherently Racist?
1So many cultures, religions, regions… Mumbai would call itself proudly a city with many hues. There are allegiances to faiths, religions, regions, states, casts, and god know what not and yet we manage to live in relative harmony. Most of the time, that is…
The preamble to the Indian constitution states that we promise to ensure equality in status and in opportunity and yet on a daily basis our politicians pass out decisions and make speeches that are against equality. If Raj Thackeray’s rant on about ‘Me Mumbaikars’ and ‘outsiders go back home!’ is not a racist outlook then nothing is!
We are all part of one country and we should be able to live and earn livelihood in any part of this country no matter where we are from. Then why is it ok for Raj Thackery and his flunkies to go about creating mayhem and attacking successful north Indians in Mumbai? Why hasn’t anyone from the legal community / central government reined these people in and charged them with racism? Why it is that Amitabh Bacchan has had to apologize for something innocuous that Jaya Bacchan had said? Damn it… she is from UP, so what is the big deal if she made a comment saying that she is from UP and she will prefer to speak in Hindi? I don’t get it.
Raj Thackery goes on about the lack of opportunities for the ‘Marathi Manush’ and the lack of focus on the Marathi language. What they don’t get is that if Mumbai belonged to and was built only by the Marathis, then it would not been the commercial capital it is today. The opportunities that exist today in Mumbai, would probably not have existed if the UPites, Gujratis, Marwaris, Punjabis, North Indians had not come to the state and contributed to it as they have. If it’s not reservations, they go on about the Marathi language. They rant on about how it’s important and all the legal and government documents should be in Marathi only and shops should all have their names written in Marathi so that the poor Marathi speaking Manush can get around his own city. If all this raving and ranting about Mumbai for the Marathis isn’t targeted racism against Indians from other states then nothing is.
More than 50 years of having a constitution that believes in Equality and do we have it? Nah…I don’t think so.