Now and Then...

Dosas and paranthas made the breakfast surreal,
Now the entire focus is on the cereal;
Chai was drunk with glass or tumbler,
Latte has transformed it to cup and saucer;

All that came with the meal was a pickle,
Now a missing salad deems you fickle;
A sumptuous dessert followed the meal,
Calorie counting now just gives the look-and-feel.

The scooter of choice was a Bajaj,
Now everyone's thinking of a two-car garage;
The whole household had one telephone,
Cell phones are now being handed down.

Sharing photos was by showing the picture,
Now it's all done using the Flickr;
Letters used to be mailed from the post office,
Using the e-mail will now suffice.

Fashion and style were last on the mind,
Now ignoring it won't even make the wife kind;
Bermuda was only known as an island,
Not owning one will banish you to no man's land.

Buying a TV was a big discussion,
Now the size of LCD is the main contention;
How did you buy it was never a question?
The credit crisis has changed the equation.

Life in the fast lane: Urban living

India or America, it is true in every country,
People wake up in the morning, in a hurry;
Grab a quick breakfast, for it is time to exit fast,
Where no one in the street wants to be last!

Get to work, grab a coffee,
Look forward to the day being sweet as toffee;
End up in meetings, and what’s the catch?
Everyone’s busy, looking at the watch.

Before you realize, it’s time for lunch,
Hunger pangs remind you, of the morning crunch;
You dream of a day that’s more relaxed,
Coming back to reality, you realize how much you are taxed.

It’s late afternoon, you want to get something done,
And you realize, tasks are by the dozen;
You plough through the maze,
By the time you are done, it is time to gaze!

It’s a beautiful night, the stars are shining bright,
And the city is well alive and alight;
The drive home is less stressful,
And soon after, you end up with a tummy that is too full.

You get to bed, hoping tomorrow’s better,
For it is the hope that is dear;
Wishing your family sweet dreams,
You get lost in your own dreams.

Pride & Prejudice

My grandmother used to say that in her times, when they made a charitable contribution, the right hand didn't know what the left one did. I understood it then to mean that they were magnanimous enough that they didn't count the value of the giving, for the thing that mattered was the thought. Little did I realize (many years on) that there was more to it than meets the eye – the real significance of what she really meant was highlighting a specific human quality: humility, that showed through even the giving aspect of life.

These days it is seen as important for one to highlight one's contributions in a competitive workspace - in avenues like the performance reviews, there is a specific opportunity for the individual (by way of what's referred to as self appraisals) to highlight one's own contribution. The highlighting of performance I am referring to is beyond this – something that I have come to understand in various high-performance coaching and mentoring classes that I was recently exposed to. Delving into leading high-performing teams, the instructors encourage the leadership to actually start pushing the teams to exhibit the "be in your face" attitude to visibility. This is being spoken of as the mantra for being aggressive at work and thereby successful at being visible. As with any quality, anything that is overdone becomes its own detriment. It’s a thin line to tread between being humble about one’s contributions versus a public display of one’s achievements. Where exactly do we draw this line?

I don’t have the specific answers or possess the unique judgmental ability to distinguish a specific case that borders on either side of this. But I do know one thing – as with other such erstwhile adages, there cannot be a fire without the spark. There’s got to be a reason why humility was favored all along. To me, this is a non-negotiable aspect that I am not willing to change. For, in my view, humility is not black and white, as in you cannot practice it in certain areas like charity or social life and ignore it at work. Also, I believe it is ingrained in one’s upbringing and defines the level of self-confidence to a certain extent. This is a controversial topic for sure, and I am sure there will be equal arguments to both sides of the story. Maybe I am prejudiced about pride after all!

An ode to Bengaluru

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Idli & Vada was the main fare;
It used to get cold in December,
And we all had to use a sweater.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Doordarshan was the only channel on offer;
The evening buzz was unmistakable in Jayanagar,
The scent of fresh flowers filling the evening air.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Kempegowda was the folklore;
BTM-Layout was the southern end of the city,
The horizon was too far to see Electronics City.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When MTR was the most popular;
The roads were free of traffic,
With the trees that lined the streets making it idyllic.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
When Lalbagh was the attraction on tour;
The VidhanSoudha glistened in the dark,
Not too far away was the Cubbon Park.

Those were the days in Bangalore,
I miss it all for sure;
Shanghai, Geneva, Boston, Montreal - I have seen it all;
But none that satisfies the Bangalore call!

Democracy (in)action

All of last week, the news making waves around the world was the size of the stimulus bill that Obama & co are putting out in the US. This is being discussed fervently, for the common and expert belief is that it will be the turning point to the downside the world markets are experiencing. The actual number tag on the stimulus package was filled in the previous Friday when it garnered enough votes through the House of Representatives and the Senate. Curiously enough, it garnered the very minimum number (60, also referred to as the Filibuster number) to pass through the Senate. The news headlines all of the ensuing weekend overshadowed the $787B, which is the value that the future generations of Americans have to repay for getting out of the current crisis. The news instead was the reactions of the Republicans in the House and the Senate crying out loud over the death of the so-called democracy. The Democrats, which make up the majority, claim this is the mandate given to them by the people, and given the need to do something urgently they do not see this as the time to debate the details now. The Republicans, in their own rights, claim they were bypassed by virtue of their mere numbers in the vote and weren't sought after for crucial decision-making. Whilst both sides have logic in their arguments, for a bystander, this is at some level seen as a failure of democracy.
This isn't restricted to the largest economy of the world. In India, the ruling Congress party has made some decisions of national interest that haven't gone down well with the opposition parties. For example, the public fiasco that was the nuclear cooperation treaty last year isn't that long ago. The December saga in Canada where the government would surely have lost the no confidence vote had it been pushed through by the Governor-General isn't forgotten by the masses. So, what's changed significantly since the wonderful people that coined Democracy to stand for "for the people, to the people, by the people" made it up.
Nothing; zilch; nada! No matter where you look, the idealisms of the politicians have evolved from leading to governing. We have come to an era of politics where even the most capable person in power becomes the laughing stock if he doesn't toe the party line, hasn't ensured appeasement within his/her cabinets, etc. Long gone are the days of charismatic people leading a nation. This is the era of high-power teams, like we are seeing in the new administration. With that, the democratic ideologies and values are also probably long gone because its now decision-making by just individual party consensus. I see a new definition on the horizon – restrict democracy definitions to abstract things like countries and not to people, politicians, etc. Democracy is probably going to be seen as outward exhibition of being tolerant as a nation; not pertinent to specific decision-making. As long as we are being clear in our distinction of what democracy stands for in today's age, we would be doing future generations and ourselves a great service.

A satire on Stanford

Until about a couple of weeks ago, Stanford (to most people across the world) was synonymous for purely academic reasons. The prestigious educational institution in California took in proud students and churned out distinguished alumni, for they occupy an arguably equal level in the esteemed echelons of the industry as say the Harvard graduates.
The law of averages, or karma (however one wishes to look at it), had to strike back at the Stanford name - it was too long for it to go on without an untarnished image! The Harvard had its fair share of recent criticism if the news coverage of the background and education that the instigators of the biggest financial turmoils in recent times had, was anything to go by. Now it was the other hand's turn to face the music - ladies and gentlemen, enter RA Stanford.
What took most people by surprise was the quarters the name's sacrilege came from. A relatively less well known state side until recently, Robert Allen Stanford came into spotlight more or less in the same fashion of his entry into the Mecca of world cricket - Lord's stadium in England - amidst much fanfare, he descended in a helicopter. Much has been written about, and some even criticized it very early on, the England and Wales cricket board's hand-in-glove extravagance with Stanford but it was all attributed to just a public display of wealth then. There's also been more than enough coverage as to what happened on the sidelines of the Stanford 20/20 game with the WAG's of English cricket. Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation charge sheeted Stanford after a movie-like chase across the continent with reports that his attempt to flee the country on a private jet failed miserably for his accounts had been frozen the previous day. I am not about to draw conclusions as to whether RA Stanford is a sinner or a saint - there's many paid folks whose day job it is to make that determination.
Where I find this amusing, or even cynical at some levels, is the quick disassociation of the very same people who were seen closely by his side all along. I am sure there must have been some red flags raised last year, especially when the investigating agencies say they've been on his trail for 3+ years now trying to gather all the evidence. The pictures of the helicopter arrival in London make a mighty and stark contrast to the long lines outside the Stanford bank in Antigua this week ensuring the hard earned money isn't lost. I wonder whether the same people knew where the $20M 4-hour game was being funded from. The positives from this - another lesson on financial misrepresentations. On a lighter note, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is!!

The saving grace

Whenever people have asked me, or I’ve spoken of the “Indian culture”, I have always wondered to myself as to the single most important thing that defines my upbringing. I was looking too deep, trying to read too much into every part of my life, while it lay there all along – it was too simple to miss, and yet it was the quality that had the most profound impact on me. The differentiating attribute was the one I am grateful to my grandmother for ingraining in me.

While growing up in the Bangalore (Bengaluru just to the locals, then) of the 80’s, I had a penchant for fountain pens. There were various brands then – Chelpark, Bril, Luxor, etc at the lower end with Hero, Parker, etc making up the higher end price points. I had such a fetish that I was keeping track of every brand and model that came out – in hindsight, a very materialistic obsession with buying newer fountain pens. It was affordable enough for my parents and granny to buy me a few every year, but it wasn’t keeping up with the pace at which newer models were coming out! To inculcate a lesson that would hold me in good stead for life, my grandmother seemingly came up with a plan: if I came in within the top-3 ranks in my class (the much berated Indian schooling system then, of monthly evaluations followed by a top-to-bottom ranking within the student populace!!), she would give me 10 rupees every month, as a reward. I could use this to fund my hobby, but it came with a rider – I could only take up to 5 rupees every month from her, for she would deposit the rest into my bank account for future use. I was too naïve then to be made to understand the benefits of saving, so this was her way of helping me understand and inculcate the saving habit. Her reasoning for stashing away half of the money was to enable me to upgrade to the next level of fountain pen collections i.e. the more expensive ones, but fortunately or unfortunately, I outgrew the hobby before I got to that stage.
For what its worth, if I remember correctly, her educational qualifications till date remain as having completed 3rd grade of schooling. That had no bearing on her attitude in life, or what she has passed on to the next generations (that’s a new post altogether). She’s probably handed me by biggest lesson in life, and one that very likely defines a good part of the Indian / Asian cultures. People may argue that the Asian economies are no different today when compared to the Western ones; my counter to that would be that we live in too small a world economy today that its hard to be isolated from international influences. Dug deeper, the saving mechanisms would probably be the grace factor or the deterministic index of how wide the schisms are, or in simpler and more common terms: how big a bail out we need!

MBA: the ponzi curriculum

I recently had a conversation with a well read and well traveled friend of mine about an article we came across in a leading electrical engineering publication: “Common design mistakes.” Moving beyond the initial cynicism around how this was the time of pessimistic news headlines all around, we started seriously pondering over how engineering and product development have evolved. Gone are the days when a design specification sheet for a product carried instructions on how to build something right; now it’s all about how to avoid common errors around it. The wise man had a good analogy: the most recent electronic component that we sourced from a leading consumer electronics manufacturer, had its errata sheets multiple pages longer than the product guide in itself. Not withstanding the pressure to ship something in whatever state, so as to gain the “early bird” advantage in this consumer era, there is a level of responsibility each one of us has as professionals, to product design and the associated disciplines. I wonder 20 years ago if the engineers had the same mindset if we would have made all the rapid advancements we have made today. It is the onus of every individual to make sure there is a balance between delivering to short-term materialistic commitments and preserving long-term value for the efforts. No wonder this led to the term: “technical debt”. A lot of the high-tech companies are putting in serious efforts today, to address this debt they’ve accumulated over the years, for varying reasons – internal and external.
I am not sure who coined this kind of “debt” term specifically but I can see a lot of value in equating this to the financial markets and the general world economic situation we face today. If the financial curriculum of the Harvards and Stanfords of the world had included how not to do certain things, maybe the thought of severe repercussions would have played a role in reducing the magnitude of bad decisions taken. I was privy to a recent airing of a documentary on this very subject: titled “House of Cards” aptly, this focused on the collapse of the market led by the decisions around mortgage securities and lending institutions. What they did not address was, to me, a critical step of righting the wrong: capturing specific lessons and mistakes of today, so they aren’t repeated in the future. It feels like we have come to a point in society today where knowing the wrongs are more important, so that we can avoid those perils, and thereby be on the right track. As a fifth grader attending a special course on preparing for a Math Olympiad, the instructor said the best way to approach solutions to complex problems was to eliminate the choices – to think that we all laughed back, then!
I am sure “The Bernie Madoff” will be a crucial case study in the not too distant future (or maybe even a postulation), but does it take what it did to actually learn from it? In a way, I am thankful to the likes of Madoff for without them, we would have lost a valuable lesson. If we can predict and work around common “design mistakes” for replaceable materialistic objects, I am sure that we intellectuals of the 21st century can learn from regulatory mistakes (or lack thereof, of sufficient regulations) to avert large-scale global situations like the ones we currently face...what say?

Dial C for coach

This is the coach era, period! It all started gaining prominence with sport. Be it soccer, basketball, baseball, cricket - name the sport - the "coach" today has a very high profile and visible role; even seen as the public face of the team or franchise. John Buchanan, the erstwhile coach of the Australian national cricket team, was a big hit amongst the newer generations for his introduction of technology and out of the box thinking. He brought in practices from rugby to fielding sessions in cricket, he considered getting hitting coaches from baseball to train cricket batsmen in hitting over the top, etc. One of the old school blokes who played in John's era, Shane Warne, once famously said "Coach is something that gets you from the hotel to the match venue". He could not have better articulated his disregard for the coach's influence in the scheme of things. This week, while covering the English national team's ongoing visit to the West Indian islands, an outspoken commentator by the name of Geoff Boycott got into the news with his observation that there were more support staff seen out on the field, than players. Unlike a few sports like soccer or the American football where there's a lot of strategy formulations and alternations in game situations, sports like cricket provide very little powers to the coaches in the midst of a game (if you will, for a moment, forget the Cronje-Woolmer mic experiment episodes!).
It is very common to find analogies between sports and businesses. I, for one, am a big fan of using buzz words from sporting worlds in the corporate life. For, after all, where else could you look for better equivalents to team work, leadership, commitment, bonding, etc than look at sports teams. More importantly, it helps a lot of us sports fanatics connect to some of these situations better. No wonder then, to see management coaches and consultants being the order of the day - be it helping in new strategy formulations, bringing in radical transformation to business strategies, or determining newer synergies for organizations. The list goes on and the clan's purview seems expanding by the day...Where I find the freshly "coached" organizations struggling is in the aftermath of the consultants' or coaches' study of the organization: i.e. implementing the report's suggestions (forget the pressure of trying to do some meaningful changes to justify the cost of the fancy report!). The engagement with consulting firms has become a fancy term to the point where the grass roots within the organizations look at these external coaches and consultants cynically. I've had strong opinions in the past, on these very lines, until having had a chance personally to work hand-in-glove with some management consultants and coming away with valuable insights. I think the essence to a successful coach-team or consultant-client relationship is in managing expectations upfront. The likes of Bain & Co., which have made huge reputations in being positive and successful change agents, have succeeded purely because they came in clearly setting expectations and roles on both sides. Coaches or Consultants do not provide magic answers; they don't even wave magic wands! Rather, because they do not the have the vested interests and the associated baggage, they are able to bring in a balanced and objective view to the problem on hand. This is putting it bluntly, but in reality their suggestions (again, not answers) are most likely to be painful transformations to undergo; hence they aren't thought of beforehand, or kept as the last resort, by organizations themselves. I am, not for a moment, trying to belittle the role of external consultants or management coaches. I have had a positive experience, and, as a take away: stressing on the mindset one needs to go with, before dialing "C" for a coach!

The many faces of change

Change is a much commonly spoken about term, especially when there are problems on hand. Change is now looked at as the new management mantra on the block, even seen as solving the world's pain. The online and print media seem to love gloomy stories so much, because the 'depicted' far-reaching effects of it catches the eye much more than reality does. But, when looked at closely, Change is not only about gloom and doom; it really isn't all that bad!

I had a pleasant surprise happen to me this past week: It was one of those rare times when the in-flight reading material provided by the airline ended up relevant and up to date! I had recently heard someone talk about the advancements in the field of medical surgery, and this article delved into the modus operandi (I make it sound like daytime robbery, but I didn't bring any names or occupations!) of alternative ways for treating complicated illnesses, which required a major surgery of some form. The beauty of the innovation spoken about here was that it did not involve any incisions using advanced technology of sorts, but rather making use of the advancements in genetic engineering. These gene-focused innovations would then be utilized to alter the genes in the human body via oral medications. Imagine someone undergoing a major bypass surgery, without the "surgery" being a part of it! This isn't a science fiction anymore, so wake up – the scientific community already has a basic understanding of the various pieces to the genetic foundation that make up the human body. The remaining aspect of this true innovation is finding the right strains to alter the inherent genes to an "ideal" form.

Lest this turns into an article about the complicated machinery the human body is, let me back off to say that this is just an example to illustrate the positive transformation, the society at large is undergoing. With this advancement, the medical professionals and the associated experts worldwide predict life expectancy to rapidly improve to the 130's (age) instead of the current 70's / 80's / 90's (depending on which part of the world one is in). In the Western culture of today, where it is about being independent and taking care of oneself in retirement, we have folks that work their entire prime years with the sole aim of building up their wealth portfolio so that "they can retire in peace". For some, this might mean buying a beach condo in ever-sunny Florida, a lodge in the vast lands of the Aussie wilderness, or a Mediterranean-style villa in the beautiful south coast of France (especially the Nice region of the French Riviera - yeah, how I would love to retire there!)

With the current expectancy levels, most people save up enough to last them 20-25 years of comfortable living in retirement without any additional external support. If the expectancy levels rise to a level where people find the need to support themselves for another 60+ years after retirement, what do you think is going to happen? Make no mistake; people will no longer retire at 60. What does this mean? No slam dunk answer; it's much more than that! Put simply: one cannot continue down the rat hole of the so-called specialization. There is going to be a "generalization of the specialists" at some level. I am not saying being good at something doesn't count for anything; people will be expected to bring in more than one area of expertise. People will be forced to look at reinventing themselves, be multi-faceted. The upside – one has multiple opportunities, to make it big in life. Think about it – if one career doesn't cut it for you (note I didn't say fail because you still learn from that experience), how nice would it be if you have 25 years of it to look back on for experience, and start afresh? Yes, beginning a second career at the second stage of your life might look daunting and even be too big a hurdle for some, but those who embrace the change quickly will thrive.

Change is good; we need more of it coming our way, and quickly at that…after all, isn't change the only constant in life??

Defying Newton

If Newton were to live in the current times, I am not so sure he would have a third law of physics associated to his name. Put differently, I would like to believe that at some level, most people today wish to defy Newton by trying to disprove his third law. For those that don't find Newton's laws appealing enough to remember it, the 3^rd law goes like this: "for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction"!

Think of every single action in our daily lives and you'll find that there's some less-written about rule associated with each of it – be it obeying a traffic regulation on the streets, practicing basic etiquette when in public, or be it even the small little things that may border on the tedious for one individual but done for the betterment of others. I am not the saint that obeys it all either: for e.g., I don't shut off my phone when in public places, for I have the "crackberry" addiction of wanting to check e-mail; so I just put it on 'vibrate' unless that is too loud as well! I don't wait the mandated full 3-seconds at four-way stop signs unless I spot a cop around the corner! The list goes on…

Now, if I were to be penalized for each of the infractions I mention above, I probably wouldn't do it if the penalty bites me. I was talking to someone who had moved stateside recently, from India. He was talking about the 'affordability' of traffic tickets in India compared to here, and therefore being that extra bit careful not to be ticketed. How nice it is to talk about 'affording' not just material things, but traffic fines!!! It immediately struck a cord with me and pointed out a human trait – I am sure each of us has a disobedient side at some level. For most folks, that are law abiding citizens, I am sure that it isn't really a desire to disobey something in the first place, but we do it as long as there isn't a downside, or negative repercussions associated with it. More importantly we tend to disobey only when there's a fair chance of not getting caught at it!
This is equally applicable to individuals and conflicts: if Jack knows that there's only a 50% chance of him succeeding in a fight against Jill, he would think twice before doing it.

So, if there were to be an equal reaction to every "disobedient" action of ours, with an opposite effect, would we still knowingly incur the opposite effect? No! I wonder what Newton would say…