Bahot Shukriya…

A colleague took his girlfriend to lunch, and forgot his wallet in the office. When realisation dawned upon him in the restaurant, he went to the washroom and tried calling his team-mates, but they were in a meeting. So he called me up to get his wallet.
The whole thing was so funny, it inspired me to do a satire of an old Hindi song sung by Asha Bhonsle – Mohd Rafi : Bahot shurkriya badi meherbaani, meri zindagi mein huzoor aap aaye…

Here it is…

लडका:
बहोत प्रोब्लेम हुवा, बडी परेशानी
इस होटेल में क्यों हम आये
घडी बेच दूं, या कपडे निकालू
करु क्या ये मेरी समझ में ना आये

करु पेश किसको नजराना बिल का
ना बन जाये कोई फलूदा इज्जत का
खुदा जाने मेरी सोनेरी घडी फिर
मेरी जिंदगी मे कब मिल जाये

बिल तो बहोत है, और पैसे कम है
सब दोस्तों के फोन भी बंद है
आज ये मुसाफिर दुवा मांगता है
खुदा इन सबको जल्द ही उठाये

लडकी:
मुझे डर है मुझपे, नजर आ ना जाये
लगुं भागने मैं, वो पिछे आ ना जाये
कही ये मेरी पर्स ना खोलकर
बिल पे करे और फिर भूल जाये

Passion & Emotion

Are you passionate? Or are you emotional? Does it mean the same?
No… on the surface of it, you are passionate about something; you get emotional about someone.

But there’s a more fundamental difference between the two.
Passion involves mind; emotion, by definition, excludes mental judgments.

Passion drives you to action. A passionate gardener; for example, would study his plants, read up about how best he can take care of them, he wouldn’t mind getting his hands dirty with soil – on the contrary, he would just love it. On the other hand, someone who just gets emotional about plants and trees would keep on complaining about loss of forest cover without ever setting out his foot to do something about it.

It is alright, in fact essential, to be emotional about someone. But emotions block critical analysis; you can hardly bring yourself about to criticize the object of your affection. But, being passionate about the relationship will make you strive for giving your best, and bringing out the best from the other person.
Emotions are self-centric… one may pine away for someone without ever thinking of ways to improve the other person. Passion is all about making its subject better.

Passion is often backed by a vast knowledge about the subject. If you are passionate about computers, you are likely to read more about them, study them in detail. If you are just emotional about movies of the past, all you are likely to do is whine about how such classics are no longer made.

More often than not, emotions are abstract feelings about generic subjects. It is rather difficult to describe why you feel the way you feel. A passionate person is more likely to give you the specific reasons for why he or she rooting for a particular cause.

Emotions are important…. they distinguish us from animals, and bring in some beautiful moments in one’s life. One can’t help being emotional; but it would help to bring in more of passion to everything, be it your work or your relationships.

Two years at Infospectrum… Retrospection

Today is a Saturday, and yet I am at my desk in the office; for today happens to be the 10th of May, the date I joined Infospectrum India Pvt Ltd two years ago.

When compared to the 35 years each spent by my parents in their respective government offices before retiring last year, my two years would seem too short a time-span to indulge in nostalgic thoughts, and yet it is difficult not to get into a retrospective reverie.

I vividly remember my first day in the Nagpur office. Coming from a small start-up firm in Pune, Infospectrum was the first big company I had joined. Looking at the lines & lines of desktops and smart-looking people talking about latest technologies and platforms, I was getting more & more nervous about how I would survive.

One of the prime reasons for my worry was that I had just switched my profile, from a .NET programmer to a technical writer. The decision had come after a lot of brooding over my strengths and weaknesses, and though I was feeling confident about myself, there was feeling of worry gnawing at the back of my mind.

I needn’t have worried so much, especially since I had joined such a friendly lot.

In last two years at Infospectrum, I have worked on a wide variety of projects. My project has been one of the biggest in the company, and the opportunity to work in a big team has honed my skills as a team-player. With lots of pressure-cooker situations and challenging deadlines to beat, there has never been a dull day at work!

(My project team, after achieving the Best Project award)

Though my prime responsibility has been towards marine logistics and maritime surveillance projects, from time to time I have also done documentation for projects related to finance, HR and space domain. Each one has been a learning experience in its own.

It’s been a pleasure working under different project managers, Pankaj Khorgade, Vijay Phulwadhwa & Vinaykant Shukla, Vishal Kulkarni, Harshawardhan Pandit, Shishir Dani (Account Manager)… each one of these has a unique style, and I have learnt quite a few things from them.

(Shishir sir, Vijay sir, Vinaykant sir)

At Infospectrum, we experience a truly flat organizational hierarchy. I have been able to write to and talk to the top management without being conscious of any divide of position or grade.

Sangeeta Ma’am and her HR team, as well as Admin & Finance departments have been a source of continuous support all these years. Whenever I have had any problem, I didn’t feel a moment’s hesitation in approaching them and they have always been very co-operative.

Some of my best moments have been the as a member of editorial board of Pulse, monthly newsletter of Infospectrum. The debates and discussions (and occasional fights) that go into making each edition of newsletter would need a separate blog post of their own!

(Team Pulse)

Many of my colleagues have become life-time buddies... Sandeep Sinha, Manjusha Singh, Amit Joshi, Ashay Kulkarni, Snehal Kawale, Chandrakant Raju…

There are two people of whom I must make a special mention…

Jay Chopde, CEO - Infospectrum… He has been a real, live example of the dynamic CEO that I had only read in business magazines so far. I always wonder how he takes time to manage such a heavy workload and yet pay attention to every minute detail that crosses his eyes. His regular column in Pulse, Random Thoughts has been a source of inspiration and ideas.

Tushar Joshi… my friend, philosopher & guide, who was instrumental in bringing me to Infospectrum. Thanks Tushar, it’s been a wonderful journey so far!

As I look back upon the path traveled by me till now, I can’t but help feeling a tinge of dissatisfaction…I did a few things right, but I could have done better... Last year saw me traveling to Norway, to work on a documentation project that concerned radars. It was an immensely learning experience, yet I seem to have failed to capitalize upon it. I am now working hard to get the things back on track.

Today, Infospectrum is a CMMI Level 3 Company, aiming for more peaks of success in future. To know more about it, visit the company website. If you want a personal perspective, I would strongly recommend Tushar Joshi’s Infospectrum blog.

[Disclaimer: This is a personal blog-post. The opinions expressed here are my own and not those of my employer. ]

The Art of Listening

The other day,

I was talking on phone to RVP, a friend of mine. Things were heating up a bit, as they usually do when we talk longer than a certain threshold time-period. In the course of quarrel, she snapped, “You never pay attention to what I am saying!” This was the 455th time she’s said this - 455 being the number of days since we started talking to each other. So it wouldn’t have come as a surprise, if it wasn’t for the angst.

That made me sit up and take notice.

Listening is a prime requirement for my profession. As a technical writer, I have to interview the Subject Matter Experts for information. Going by the peer reviews and feedback received over the last two years, I seem to be doing a fairly good job of it.

Furthermore, as a senior editor of Pulse, our company’s monthly newsletter, I often interview the top management, and senior project managers/team leaders. Since we have not yet begun with the practice of using a tape-recorder during these interviews, I note down the salient points and then expand upon it, mostly from the memory. The drafts are sent to the interviewees and they invariably come back with minor changes, if any.

The point I am trying to make here is:

When it comes to office work, not many are complaining about my listening skills. Is talking to our family-members, friends, and relatives any different, in terms of communication?

Apparently,

... there does seem to be a difference. Ever since this realization has dawned, I have started to pay attention to the way I listen or interrupt during talks. Hope the improvement is perceptible to those whom it concerns!

Tushar – A friend par excellence

Today is the birthday of the man whom I consider as my friend, philosopher, guide and guru – Tushar Joshi. I wish him a very long and fulfilling life, full of accomplishments and happy moments.

We “met” in rather unusual circumstances – through the Yahoo! Group, Marathi.Net. He had exposed me before the world at large, of doing something which I could only justify as a gross failure of judgment on my part. But unlike rest of my detractors, who chose to leave for good, Tushar stood by me. “You have realized your mistake, just promise me not to repeat it,” said he. And together we started Marathi.Net all over again. Over the last 4 years, it has grown to be one of the biggest Marathi groups.

That was when I got drawn towards the phenomenon called Tushar Joshi.

Over the years, he has helped me in more ways than anyone else could have ever done. Be it professionally (He encouraged me to make the shift to technical writing and was instrumental in getting me to Infospectrum, the company I work for); or in a personal way (he knows each of my little troubles and his advice counts a lot).

Our talks are never about weather and sports and politics. Talking to him is always an intellectually enriching experience. He might tell you about a software tool that he has tried, or recommend a highly influential book (such as Winning), or might just share an interesting line of thought he came across. You always go away with a feeling of having learned something new.

A hardcore techie, and yet a sensitive poet; a prolific blogger and a prolific photographer; there’s always something more to him than meets the surface. He has a vast collection of books and equally vast collection of songs. He has multiple international certifications to his credit and he is proficient in more technologies and software platforms than I even know about. A teacher at heart ( his students would attest to that), he consider himself a perenial student.

Last month, I had an opportunity to interview him for Pulse, our company’s newsletter. And even after four years of being in touch, I was amazed with the range and depth of his versatile personality. Perhaps, therein lies the secret of his charisma!

One of the many things I admire about Tushar is, he never pushes his thoughts on you, instead he just recommends what he likes and lets it go at that. But very soon you realize to pay heed to his ideas and suggestions. In this regard, I think he justifies his name, Tushar… the droplets from a fountain… Just like those, he spreads his knowledge all around; it is up to you to pick up those pearls.

Today, on his birthday, I wish him the best and simply the best the world has to offer.

Bus driver & school kids

It was morning time, around 9-9:30 AM.
Volvo was rushing towards Nagpur. I sat just behind the driver, and out through the windshield, saw a group of kids on their way to school. They were perspiring from the heat.

Suddenly the bus stopped.
Driver motioned for the kids to get in. About half a dozen chirpy birds crowded the cabin. On the way, driver asked them a few questions. The kids were a talkative lot and informed that they were on their way to give the final exams, they had English paper that day and that it was “layi bhaari paper”.
It was clear they had found themselves in an air-conditioned bus like Volvo for the first time and were greatly enamoured. I had an unopened pack of biscuits, which I gave them. They distributed it among themselves and ate it heartily.

A couple of kilometers later,
... we reached their destination, the school. As they got down, the driver told them, “Study well. If you don’t, you will become a driver like me… but if you study hard now, one day you will become (he pointed at me) a sahib like him and get to travel in big buses like this.”

They waved at us, said “Thank you” in a chorus, and waved at us.
We waved back and resumed our journey.

I casually asked the driver if he knew these kids. He said no, he had just seen them walking on the road and decided to give them a free ride.

“I too used to walk to school along this same road. By the time I got back home, the legs pained horribly. I studied till seventh standard before giving up. But had I persisted then, I wouldn’t have still been on the road.”

Three Cheers to Team India!!!

As one of the millions of people who had to be in front of their laptops, desktops and other tools of work, instead of their TV screens, I kicked myself the whole day yesterday. Nevertheless, we did follow the second final of Commonwealth Cup thru CricInfo, with an occasional glance at all the bickering on the Rediff message boards.

What an interesting series this has been and what a final it was! After all the controversies, incompetent umpiring, racial abuses and everything else that could went wrong, India deserved to win, and win it did in style. Sachin gave a befitting reply to his detractors, by practically slapping his bat (a heavy one, that too!) across their collective faces. His scores of 63/117/91 took India through the semi-finals and were the pillars around which Indian innings in both the finals were built. It is a lesson how to answers one's critics with deeds rather than words.

It was thrilling to watch Harbhajan scalp off Hayden and particularly, Symonds twice in a row! Praveen Kumar got crucial wickets in both his opening spells. Although it would be too early to comment on whether he would turn out to be a great bowler, he was instrumental in two matches, and that should add to his confidence.

After Twenty20 World Cup win and beating Aussies twice in their own backyard, India has now emerged as a strong contender to the top spot in Cricket. To achieve that, we need to make wins like this a habit, not a sporadic event now and then. The young members seem on a roll, and with proper training and mentoring, we can have a World Cup-winning combination in our hands.

Three Cheers to Team India!!