Category Archives: General

The face of opportunity! #WillYouShave activity

General, Just about it, ,

gillette-will-you-shave-blogadda

 

It’s perhaps an awkward way we started our college days but it has helped the personal grooming habits for a fresher. On the second day at College, we were self introduced by the seniors that they were seniors.

Well those were days when ragging is an offence board wasn’t in vogue. Nevertheless the ragging as a culture was more aimed at better relationship building and give a sense of security to the younger lots. It might have been that some stray incidents and stories would have a negative impact on the same.

So in the course of the conversation they introduced us to the basic ten commandments to be followed, while coming to college.

One of them was being clean shaven. You will laugh at the list they set, some of them include wearing rubber slippers to college, no proper bags only the yellow bag that is sort of used to carry cash by the rural folks et al.

But this actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, so much so that we had started a daily habit of allotting the time to shave though unconsciously.

The other reward was the side glances that were obviously directed at some of us from the opposite sex at times. Cloud nine was on earth those times literally, thanking those seniors for these unintended moments.

Soon it became a habit and as the days passed it was the mode of presentation that mattered with a clean shave for an intercollegiate or a dramatics session.

So looking back they have been of great use I mean the diktat of my seniors in the early days.

There would be no reason to think about what to do since we had already got into the habit of being a presentable men without any stubble or a bit of unshaven cheeks!

These came in handy especially during my days at NCC. Your turnout should be the best espcially the shining shoes, the well ironed uniform, and a may I add a shining and clean shaven face. That would be the yardstick for your turnout. The shoes brushed and polished under the candle light glare and morning getting into a nice clean shave. The confidence is overwhelming to say the least. A look into the mirror, and the confidence rises and sets you confident like the flag fluttering high on the mast.

I have been lucky to be a Cultural Officer in all the three years of my NCC camps and when I look back its been the turnout that stand apart. Sometimes it has helped me to be in the limelight to be a part of historic occasion to be leading the charge on the parade grounds and sometimes on stage sharing the wonderful moments.

The best I would say was yet to come, when I got a call for the Combined Defence Services Exam Interviews at 22 SSB Bhopal.

A wash out at the recommendation isnt a great surprise but then our batch went on to get a whooping 12 recommendations that included me!

You look at all those wonderful gentlemen cadets and you know the shine and gleam of the face after a clean shave.

Yes its the best part of being the Gentleman and that was the time they aired the TVC which said, “Officer for 5 years and Gentleman for the rest of the life!”

I didnt make it medically fit, nevertheless it for sure that a clean shaven face brings you the best of the opportunities. 

“This post is a part of #WillYouShave activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette”

 

An over confident Duryodhana! Bhagavad Gita – A Management Perspective Ch.1 V.2&3

Bhagavad Gita, General, Motivation, Politics, Spirituality, Training, , , , , ,

Duryodhana_showing_his_army_to_Drona

Ch.1 V.2

sañjaya uvāca
dṛṣṭvā tu pāṇḍavānīkam
vyūḍham duryodhanas tadā
ācāryam upasańgamya
rājā vacanam abravīt

Ch.1 V.3

paśyaitām pāṇḍu-putrāṇām
ācārya mahatīm camūm
vyūḍhām drupada-putreṇa
tava śiṣyeṇa dhīmatā

Before I continue, this chapter in Bhagavad Gita is called as Arjuna Vishada Yoga – translated as the Distress of Arjuna.

Doesn’t it sound pretty relative term – distress. The greatest song has a psychological tendency to it, perhaps. Every one of us go through the same set of emotions and distress therefore is a default.

Now to the translation of the shloka 2:

“Sanjaya said: O King, after looking over the army arranged in military formation by the sons of Pandu, King Duryodhana went to his teacher and spoke the following words.”

The best part of any negotiation is to let the opponent lower the guard. We should also know when to do it and the strategy should be to have a winning mind game. Towards that goal, its imperative that we are confident of ourselves and be sure there are chinks in our armour.

The reason we are talking this is because, we see Duryodhana, the King seeing his cousins arraigned against him, went to his guru and spoke the following words thats the next sholka:

“O my teacher, behold the great army of the sons of Pandu, so expertly arranged by your intelligent disciple the son of Drupada.”

Look at the words, you dont give in easily, do you? Expertly arranged against him actually. And its by the intelligent disciple, and then great army of the sons of Pandu.

Unless you are not confident you dont give out so much to your opponents. Nevertheless in another stance its always good to respect your opponent or competition in the sense that it will help you understand them better in a way but not to the extent that it starts a fear in you.

The internal dynamics of a management will be at full display in the next set of shlokas as Duryodhana goes on a full fledged war on his own men.

Simple reason that you should not demoralize the unit, when you need them the most. The worst of all this leads to as you will see, Bhishma blowing his conch, thereby making the call for the war or the war cry in simple terms and that would change the course of the battle in history. The fact is Pandavas are supposed to start the war but Duryodhana manages to do the impossible.

See how the words can affect and effect undesired responses, esp coming from a not so learned manager.

Only goes to show that lineage is not a qualification.

Lets see in the coming days what he says which led to Bhishma doing the clarion war cry inviting Pandavas to the war!

Pic Courtesy: Wikipedia

Blogsters – Round 2 – Game of Blogs!

General, Just about it, Stories/storification
BlogAdda’s newest initiative is to #CelebrateBlogging with a series of contests, starting with one called a Game of Blogs. Teams of bloggers take turns creating a round robin story of sorts that they post to their individual blogs.

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It would have made for a perfect picture. He thought.

He was watching Rhea and Jennifer play in the park. He was also thinking how she would react on his presence.

‘It could have been’ those words weighed on him adding a ‘What if’ to his world of probabilities.

If only they didn’t take those roads and now that they have traveled so far, can they start again.

Those days would have made Rhea’s life much better, as a child she was deprived of things that a normal child would have yearned for, instead was caught in the middle of the ego bashing trouble of the parents. For a moment he just wondered how he would feel if he were in Rhea’s shoes. A gleaming kid is all he was seeing, an innocent carefree approach to little friends and school much later days.

Shekhar in a moment of realisation thought about how the parents make the world look just awesome or fearsome as they portrayed it for their children.

And one nagging question he has always been asked, was all that worth the effort that they took to fight and did they ever think what Rhea wanted. May be that was a question unasked.

Moments lost forever, and the thought of losing them at will was the worst infliction of pain on each other.

Rhea meanwhile was playing with a ball with her friends around. She was carefree young girl, and her face would not show the depth of her longings or the sadness anytime.

Life was always playing it fair and it was upto us to take charge, he thought.

That one thought was lingering on to him, what if they were back again as a family and the memories would be there in front of him. Those early days of courtship and the days when they got married, the time they spent to gether.  Those days of their career, the day when Rhea was born. All those images flashed in a moment.

He was living the past, when suddenly a ball hit him on the head. A young five year old boy came near him and said ‘Sorry uncle’ and ran towards taking the ball which was lying infront of him.

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Part of #CelebrateBlogging! #BlogAdda #Gameofblogs

The life’s senseless humour!

General

I am back with my post today, in between shocking revelations of a dear friends’s sudden demise and coming to terms with it, the last post yesterday was not justified in real terms. I just wanted to do it for the sake of it, after a bit of travel and the news sinking in, it was just unbelievable what had happened.

Whenever he has been around, it was being live wire and full of josh! Jokes, mimicking and time goes on and hearty laughs unbound, expressions of a free heart that goes on and on.

The news has left everyone stunned and life has played on one of the worst jokes on us.

Dear Suresh Etta, you will be missed and memories will linger on forever.

 

 

 

Ambassador and the car!

Auto Reviews, Branding (personal), General, Just about it, Politics, , , ,

Hindustan_Ambassador

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday while driving near the Race course, I saw a Ford Figo with a board of Central Income Tax Commissioner or whatever in the red board that you are so used to being seen as a sign of those powerful Central Bureaucrat.

But I wasnt amused. the car was so tiny that it fails to evoke the respect forget the fear which would come out later. The charm of a white Ambassador cannot be equaled by any car for sure, its is a sad ending for the car that they will no longer be producing them anytime from now.  But the loss is not just ornamental, its a culture that we will soon see vanishing.

The Ambassador or the amby as it was called was a sign of prosperity those days and people have told me that they had waited anywhere between 8 months and 2 years to own one. I remember only a doctor owning a car in our new locality and that was a white Ambassador some 30 years ago.

The Ambassador was a delight to watch in a convoy and every politician worth his name would have had this car for sure. It gives you the smell of power especially if you happen to have a car with a red beacon on top.

This was the national car if you call it, imagine the Rajpath morning on an Independence day or the Republic Day, the convoy of white red beacon lit ambys make for such a great sight. It was also touted to be one of the safest cars around. If you have any doubt, you should check with Chandrababu Naidu, the present chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, whose car escaped a land mine explosion and he was unhurt too some years ago.

These days no one talks high of bucket seats, those were standard in Ambys.

Some of the trivia on Amby include it being exported to Japan and UK for being a taxi. On the other hand it won hands down in the clash of Indian and world taxis in a shoot out video for Top Gear programme in BBC.

I believe Rajinikanth the superstar and Mammooty the malayalam star use Amby as their regular car. The car which was a part of heritage and history will no longer be around after few years, but the memories it evokes could quite be an emotional one. It was a part of growing up for me.

Big cars, no redesign for over 50 years and ruled the roost as a taxi on some metros and then some cities, now will see them as a nostalgic piece on road.

We will be seeing them on movies in the future if someone is making them in retro, where we can see the collector getting down from a white Ambassador car. Then it will be travelling back in time!

(By the way the title was one I had used earlier and I liked it and so I thought will go with the same.)

One post a day! 27/30

Blogsters – Submission #celebrateblogging – Game of Blogs

General, Stories/storification, , ,

Blogsters – Submission #celebrateblogging

Read the previous chapter here: http://ponderingtwo.blogspot.in/2014/09/game-of-blogs_22.html#.VBlziPmSz-g

Chapter 7

ACP Sanjay Arora was not his usual self. A little extra thoughtful, is what his colleagues would say if they could see him now. Maybe he had some personal issues to handle—or maybe he was just exercising his mind by going over old cases.

Sanjay had a reputation to keep, one that went beyond the confines of his khakhi shirt. His was a family built on tradition, and his work had taken him to more places than he could ever imagine.

A doting dad, a loving husband, and the cynosure of quite a few of his senior officers, Sanjay did a clean balancing act of his professional and personal lives. He knew where to draw a line, which was unpoliceman-like behavior, if you asked his friends.

As he sat in deep thought, the phone rang, shattering the silence.

He picked up the phone and held it to his ear, then took a pen and started fidgeting with it as he listened to the person on the other end.

Sanjay listened intently, and replaced the receiver without uttering a single word. It was a call from one of his seniors.

This morning, they’d gotten news of the kidnapping of a child. Looking at the available information, it seemed like an open and shut case of parents not in tandem, and looked as if it was the handiwork of either of them.

There were several similar cases that Sanjay had been tracking since last year. Many times these were dirty tricks resorted to by the parents and also helped in a way by the relatives.

Sanjay sometimes thought that, bad enough that these people behaved irresponsibly, but worse was that they acted as if the police force were also happily lazing around without much work to do. There was an acute resource crunch and Sanjay knew the police was doing its best without much ado. It was always they who had to bear the brunt of the politicians, the media, the people at large and then these frivolous complaints to add to it all.

This case was becoming an important one, the custody of the kid was always going to be a court decision, but what was at stake is also very important.

All the characters were really looking to get off their responsibilities. He would have to get to them to ensure the safe release of the child. And he would do it, come what may. After all, this isn’t the first time he’s doing something like this.

But time and circumstances had different plans for him, and he would be surprised to know that.

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Read the next part of the story here: http://reigningwanderer.blogspot.in/2014/09/game-of-blogs-cyrus-lawyerround-1.html

Me and my team are participating in ‘Game Of Blogs’ at BlogAdda.com. #CelebrateBlogging with us.

Onepostday 24/30

The Public Servant…

General, Just about it, Motivation, Stories/storification, , ,

chennai3-1024x768

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I was riding my bike in the night at around 9.30 pm through the main roads in the city, was surprised to see every signal had a policeman on duty. Fully dressed and with the reflector overalls, cool and gracious looking how the traffic was flowing smooth. IN between I could see them directing those who otherwise would not know the signal in their line of sight.

I wanted to stop and thank them profusely, but practical reason pulled me back. Atleast I should have taken a pic, may be a selfie and post it here on Facebook. Title it as a great service for the people from your own Police force.

We always have had this negative things about the police, not the mention the way they portray them in movies. Imagine Singham with all goody goody policeman, there will be no villain only.

The movies have taught us that police can never be good or kind hearted. Today I was forced to think some very basic questions on those in the line of duty at odd hours.

What time does he go home?
Does he have time to play with his kids?
How far is his home from where he is now directing the traffic.?
Worse how will he react if some moron lost control or if there was a driver who was drunk?

We have been lucky that we can go home at an appointed time. We have the habit of cursing the traffic, never one to help anyone ease it. As I am typing, I was surprised once day sometime back in Mumbai it was a civilian who took charge of an traffic bottle neck and eased the flow with a smile that was around 8.30 in the morning.

Take some time in a day to randomly thank people. Say thanks to everyone who helps you thought it might be their job! You will share a joy that will be remembered for long.

For a change walk down from your car, (please park them on the side of the road) say hello to the cops, shake hands and wish them a great day! Look how you would have enthused an otherwise mundane day for someone  who risks his life so that the traffic goes smooth.

Thank atleast 3 people a day and I am sure those thank you’s will come back to you making you feel elated and happy !

Let me know in case you do any special act of kindness and how it was reciprocated with a smile and how the day was a better day for you.

Cheers!

Senthil

One post a day 21/30

The importance of a deadline!

General, Motivation, Training, ,

Well that was the easiest I could relate to at this hour. With just 33 minutes left for me to type a post that should be readable, and worth reading, mind you both are two different things in a way, I thought it best to write about the deadline.

Suppose if there was no deadline to any action the word project management would become redundant. Simply because if there is an action it would necessarily be bound by time otherwise the work will never be complete.

Having been in agency where the client wanted every creative or artwork yesterday when the brief is actually given today, I know how important deadline is to any action.

But the best part is how you could use deadline to manage time and make it more productive is your way of working it out. Quite often the deadline has given some of the best works of some of the great writers and journalists we know.

There are some who will wait for deadline so they can finish it off. There is a beautiful saying about time management and how we need to work on Urgent and IMportant and distinguish between them.

4Quadrant_TimeManagementMatrix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just look at the chart and you will know how to do things and how to prioritize them.

This also gives a glimpse of how we waste time and more so how we do things which are apparently escape activities. Half the battle is won if we get to slash the Time wasters to something important.

So you can check the first quadrant – Urgent / Important that in itself is self explanatory. You can see the word deadline in there. The second is important / not urgent! The third one is Not Important / urgent like a phone call or an email that you are checking.

The last one is Not Important / Not urgent.  Just imagine how we have scrambled this four quadrants in our life and how the not important and not urgent things have changed quadrants without our knowing.

Just try this quadrant and it should be working fine slowly change the activities from a quadrant to the quadrant where it should belong. That will help working against deadlines may be!

Cheers

Senthilkumar

One post a day – 19/30

The Guru & Mahabali…and Onam

General, Internet, Just about it, Management, Politics, Spirituality, ,

Lord Vamana

With the Teacher’s day and Onam together I thought what better way than share the story of the great Mahabali.

Mahabali was a great ruler, and with the penance and the yagna that he performed, it was going to be sure that he would rule the world. The word ‘Tathasthu’ is the most easily abused word when it came to granting wishes left, right and centre.

So getting back to the story, Mahabali was performing one of the biggest Yagna or sacrifice on earth the Ashwamedha Yagna. Along side was his Guru Sukracharya – the mentor for the asuras as they are known, guiding him and making the rituals all a success.

Whenever these yagnas are held, Indra the king of Gods always has a problem, he knows his time will be limited if the rituals are complete and he would lose Indraloka for sure not to forget the beautiful dancing ladies – Apsara, Menaka and the troupe.

It is also believed that Mahabali was one of the most sincerest of the kings ever on earth. To take you back on history, Mahabali is the grandson of King Prahlada, whose father was Hiranayakasipu! Prahlada is supposed to the one of the greatest devotees of Lord VIshnu.

As the ritual was getting over, it was time for Maha Vishnu to act and so he takes the form of Vamana the dwarfed brahmin. He comes calling on Mahabali at the site of the yagna.

Mahabali has been generous and a bit of pride was evident the way he did his charity, ofcourse that would be the cause of his undoing.

Mahabali welcomed Vamana and told him “Ask oh brahmana!  and that shall be given!” That very moment Sukracharya could sense this Vamana was not an ordinary being. 

Vamana also saluted and said, “Oh the ruler of this earth, I just need three steps of land and that is all I need!”

Mahabali felt odd and said “Is that all oh brahmana, you shall have the three steps as you wish.” This probably was one of the Tathasthu that Mahabali made a mistake.

Sukracharya now knew the game was up and went near Mahabali and told him “Oh Mahabali, please don’t give your word. You would not be able to fulfill them, you can have the luxury of not having to go by your word now.”

Mahabali was a bit taken aback. For the first time he decided to disobey his guru. Probably its there in the bloodline, his grand father Prahlada was the one who disobeyed the father and now here is another person disobeying his guru. Whatever happened to “Mata Pita Guru Deivam” and “Matru Devo Bhava, Pitru Devo Bhava, Guru Devo bhava, Athithi Devo Bhava!”

Then he turned to Vamana and said, “Please take your three steps of land. I shall stand by my word!”

Sukracharya was aghast at this audacity and left the venue. A classic instance of disobeying the teacher!

Well then it was the time for Maha Vishnu to take his form and covered the earth and the sky with two steps and was wondering where would he make his next move.

Mahabali also knew there was only one place. It was his head. So Maha Vishnu, the Vamana placed his feet on Mahabali and pushed him into the kingdom below the earth.

It was then Mahabali felt odd, he loved his people so much and he was going to miss them forever and he asked Maha Vishnu for a boon that he would love to visit his people once a year.

The occasion happens to be Onam! With the onset of Chingam the malayalam month this festivities hold a great significance in the Kerala and for the malayalees worldwide!

PS: Happy Teachers Day! In other words, Mahabali should have listened to his guru! 😛

One post a day! 15/30

The Karna the best of the giver!

General, Motivation, ,

KarnaArjuna despite his best efforts after having got the choicest of weapons was always agitated and felt bad when people spoke highly of his opponent Karna. The one quality people would talk days and days would be how charitable Karna was. People would swear they can’t stop talking about it.

This often irritated Arjuna so much that one day in the course of conversation asked his dear friend Krishna.

‘Tell me my  Krishna, why do people talk of Karna as the  best when it comes to charity?’

Krishna could see the fire of doubt raging in his cousin’s mind and decided that he should be shown the truth and so Krishna diverted the topic and told Arjuna to give away a small mountain of gold dust in charity. Arjuna was so happy, this was his chance that he could now equal Karna in his charity.

Arjuna called his staff and told him to announce that Arjuna the warrior would be doing charity and the people are welcome to receive it.

And after the drums man had done his rounds in the city, when he returned there was a serpentine queue in front of Arjuna’s palace and he also saw Arjuna was giving each of the citizens a handful of gold dust. It continued for the first day, then went on to the second day and the third…

Arjuna saw that the gold dust wasn’t going to get over at the rate he was doing charity.

Even after a week of giving it to everyone he knew, Arjuna called Krishna and told him see how much I have given in charity. There was almost 80 percent of the gold dust.

Then Krishna said ‘My dear Arjuna,  the work is not over yet and for a change why don’t you come in a costume where people cannot identify you.’

‘Why do you want to do that? Krishna! ‘ asked Arjuna,

‘Just come over I shall show you something.’ and led form the front.

So both of them walked to the periphery of the town and they saw Karna was in some action.

Krishna asked Arjuna to stay back and watch what is happening.

Krishna then went to Karna and told him the same thing ‘Karna you have the chance to give a mountain of gold dust in charity.’

Karna hearing this said’ Oh Krishna, I am so delighted I have this opportunity to do it, so where is the mountain of gold?’

Krishna took him to the other side and showed him the small mountain of gold dust. Karna looked around and then called two laborers working in the field and asked them to come near him.

When they came near he pointed to the mountain of gold dust and told them, ‘Please share this between both of you.’ and walked off.

Arjuna was astonished beyond words and felt shameful, and for once he believed what he has been hearing: Karna was the best of the giver the world ever had.

Moral of the story its the way you look at things and the attitude that make the individual! You can make life simple or complex that’s left to you!

Cheers

One post a day 13/30