The 'i-Pod' Syndrome

How many times do we see joggers putting on their i-Pods to their ears and running in a park unmindful of things happening in their surroundings? Don't we see pedestrians walking on the road with their i-Pods or headsets from their mobiles in their ears, not responding to deafening horns ('Horn'y guys eh!) ?

Is this i-Pod syndrome applicable in the Corporate world?

My answer to this question would be 'YES'. The leaderships in organizations wear i-Pods (not literally) and tend to lose touch with the environment. The environment constitutes not just the organization and its employees, but also includes the customers, partners, resellers, distributors, etc, etc who form a part of the 'Supply Chain' of the organization.

The IT industry seems to suffer more from the 'i-Pod Syndrome' than some of the other industries. Let us look at some of the unwritten norms / rules in the IT industry in terms of expectations

1. Six Digit Salary within 3-4 years of joining the industry
2. Onsite trip, preferably to the US, in the first year of work. The wait should not be longer than 2 years. 
3. Salary hikes that are comparable to the best in the industry.
4. Promotions every two years.

All these could have worked with the IT industry was growing at an enormous pace. There was a time when companies showed 100% YoY growth and at least a 30% QoQ growth. Is that the case today? 

Firstly, IT industry in India is a business driven completely by global factors and have not much to do with the local Indian environment. Laws and rules against outsourcing is one of the issues that is plaguing the industry. Competition from Philippines on the BPO / KPO front is tremendous. Above all, India is mostly used as a platform for 'service and repair' rather than 'innovation and creation' of new products and services. 

Let me make an honest confession over here. These are not facts that most of us who work in the IT industry do not understand. All of us are aware of these and we are trying to increase our individual skills to suit the needs of the future. 

This is where the i-Pod Syndrome of the organizational leaderships come to the fore. One of the senior executives from a leading IT company comments  "...... Our employees will understand ...." depicts the magnitude of the problem. 

As a part of the middle management, in one of my earlier jobs, we had to face a lot of flack from our reportees. In the all employees calls / meetings, our leaders used to compare our performance and pace of growth to that of Usain  Bolt. When you are comparing yourselves to somebody who has been winning every race and creating world records, you are giving an impression that you are doing wonderfully well. However when it came to that time of the year where we were supposed to decide on promotions and increments, there comes the quota and the bad news. The middle management takes the blast from subordinates and superiors alike. Reportees shout at you saying "We are told that we are like Usain Bolt, but what you are saying is completely contrary to that. I don't believe you". The management says "You need to own the careers of your reportees and convince them that the times are not the same as it used to be in the previous years. If you can't do that why do you deserve to be in your position ?" 

People would have worked very hard year long (At least most of the 'Professionals' who believe that their aim in joining the IT industry is not just to use it as a platform for their MBA) for these pay hikes. The inflation is going through the roof. Price rise has been the order of the day in every walk of life. (Managing a Girlfriend is becoming next to impossible, is what some of my friends say!). All of a sudden a decision like this is communicated to the employees, that too through the media! 

What prevents the leadership from listening to what is happening around. All somebody would need to understand the pulse of the employees is to walk into the cafeteria and eavesdrop into some of the ongoing conversations. I am not opining that people should have been given hikes or not. That is purely the decision of the management. However what puzzles me is that the way some of these 'Game Changer'' decisions are handled. Why couldn't the management take their own colleagues into confidence and let them know about the situation? The only point here is, when the leaders speak to their line of influence, they should talk about plans on how they intend to revive the situation. In my opinion, lack of this plan is what prevents managements from communicating directly with their employees, thus making them adhere to forced i-Pod syndrome, where they pretend to be listening on their i-Pods. 

This attitude leads to the employees losing faith in their organizations, thereby impacting customer work most of the times. Customers see a dip in the levels of service that they have been getting. Mostly this is a temporary phenomenon, thanks to some amount of 'righteousness' left within us as individuals. But if this process of non-communication continues for sometime, then the person is bound to quit the organization. If the person can influence the decisions of the customer, S/He could walk away with the customer in the long run. 

An unsatisfied customer will leave no stone unturned to ensure that their requirements are met. Organizations end up hiring somebody to replace this person at probably a higher cost. The new employee comes into the organization with a completely different work culture and it will take a minimum of six months for the new employee to become 100% productive. 

Squeezing suppliers / vendors of all their margins will obviously leave then red eyed. Sudden decisions to fire supplier resources lead to a lot of heart burn and non cooperation from the suppliers when the organizations need more resources once their positions become strong enough. 

The forced i-Pod syndrome, where leaders want to isolate themselves from the happenings on the ground will eventually ensure that their businesses suffer drastically. Yes, everybody in the industry understands that these are difficult times. What is needed is more of an 'i-Phone' where there is a two way communication rather than an i-Pod which keeps the leaders in their own world. 

Immortals of Meluha

I wanted to read some fiction and found a book called 'Immortals of Meluha' lying in the garage. My Bro had bought the set of 2 books, but had dumped in the garage for some reason. The only reason why I picked up the book to read was, I was feeling bored and the cover page had a 'Jataadhaari' with his back with a 'Trishul', which made it look somewhat different.

The story starts near Manas Sarovar, near Mount Kailash. Going on a trip to Manas Sarovar has been my dream for a long time, and I hope to do it sometime during this life. As a matter of fact, this is the reason I continued reading beyond the first page.

The plot starts with a tribal lord of 'Gunas', called Shiva, who thinks he is a normal human being taking the place of God. Shiva gets an offer to immigrate to 'Meluha' ruled by a Survavanshi king called 'Daksha'.

Suryavanshis are people who deserve a PMP and ITIL certifications. Their architecture is driven by 'Enterprise Architecture' techniques similar to the TOGAFs, Zachman's of the current day world. Orderliness prevails in their daily life and they wouldn't go even an inch away from the agreed upon rules.

Suryavanshis have a secret magic potion called 'Somras' (like the Obelix and Asterix comics), which is prepared using the water of river Saraswati. This Somras ensured that the Suryavanshis had a healthy and long life. There were some unfortunate souls called Vikarmas who were believed to be cursed due to their sins in past births.

Shiva and his people migrate to Meluha at the invitation of 'Nandi'. They travel across the Himalayas and enter a city called 'Srinagar' where they are treated by an able Doctor called 'Ayurvati'. Without the knowledge of the tribals, they were fed with Somras. Shiva becomes 'Neelkanth' here, without his knowledge. The Meluhans would be waiting for Neelkanth to lead them.

He would accompany 'Nandi' and Bhadra to Devagiri which is the capital of Meluha to meet Daksha, the King. On the way to Meluha he sees 'Sati' who was Daksha's daughter and also a Vikarma. Sati would be a very beautiful lady and a valiant swords-woman. Shiva makes a visit to Mount Mandar where the Somras was produced and meets Brahaspati. They get so close to each other that Shiva considers Brahaspati his elder brother. When the entire Meluhan nation would have been taken over by the 'Neelkanth' hysteria, Brahaspati would be one of the few who talks sense to Shiva, making them even closer. The other character that is equally impressive is Parvateshwar, the chieftain of Meluhan Army. He doesn't approve of Shiva's ways initially, till he sees Shiva in action against the evil Chandravanshis in a war. He becomes an ardent supporter of Shiva beyond that.

An attack on Mount Mandar ensures that the production unit of Somras goes up in ashes and the Suryavanshis believe that Chandravanshis hatched a conspiracy to raze the production unit. A war ensues between the two, a meticulous, and a small Meluhan army versus a large Chandravanshi army. Shiva leads from the front to ensure a Suryavanshi victory.

After winning the war against a large Chandravanshi army, Shiva and the Suryavanshis go to Ayodhya, which would be the capital of Chandravanshis. The city of Lord Ram, whom both the Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis believe as their benefactor and the guiding light. Chandravanshis also would have an unstinted devotion to Neelkanth and that helps Shiva in a big way. Shiva creates peace between Suryavanshis and Chandravanshis and realizes that they have a common enemy, the Nagas. The story ends with a realization for Shiva that Chandravanshis are not evil, but are different.

Each of the characters portray a very strong reason for their existence in the plot. Amish Tripathi has given a gem of a book. I could not keep the book down till I completed the book in one shot. The book has a lot of twists and turns and definitely makes an interesting read.

Revolution - 2020 by Chetan Bhagat - A Review

I have read all the books of Chetan Bhagat and I find '2 States' the best so far.

I ordered Revolution 2020 through Flipkart and got it delivered the very next day. Reached home early in the evening and started reading it.

About the Plot: Usual CB style of writing, there is nothing really enticing in the plot, except for the narration. CB's narration is something that I have really liked in all his books.

The plot revolves around 3 School mates, Gopal, Aarti and Raghav. The story has enormous twists in terms of the relationships between the three. It captures the current state of 'affairs' that is happening in the society.

Kids who sit and cram their books just to ensure that they satisfy the egos of the parents, without even having an idea of what the future beholds for them has been picturized perfectly. On a lighter note, CB holds a grudge against his parents for pushing him to become an Engineer as this comes out very prominently in 5 Point Someone and Revolution 2020 in the form of Prateek.

The lead characters identify the areas of their passion, One wanting Money, Other being a Journo and the third wanting to be an Air hostess; is something that I find very interesting. I don't think it happens with most of us, especially engineers. This reminds me of Aamir Khan's dialogue in '3-Idiots' when he tells Kareena about 'Suhas' character that 'He did an Engineering, Then did an MBA and works for an Investment Bank'. I have a similar story, just that I don't work for an investment bank.

The way corruption and goondaism is portrayed, depicts a perfect setting of Uttar Pradesh Politics. There seems to be nothing that moves in this country without greasing the hands, which is not far from truth.

CB mocks at our system of getting approvals for setting up educational institutions and throws light on mushrooming of new private engineering colleges. I think this has been a bad phenomenon across India, where colleges have been opened without basic infrastructure. At least our Hero's college had the necessary infrastructure, that could be called an Engineering College.

I could relate my state to Gopal when I missed getting into Medicine. Though, I got into Engineering, which was always a second option. In hindsight, I think engineering fitted me right.

Pros: Good and easy read. If you like CB's style of writing, you can be rest assured that you will like this. I kept the Book down only after reading it completely.

Cons: The story line could have been better. We don't like to disappoint the Hero in India. :) (Am I giving away too much?)

Conclusion: It is a fantastic and light read! I liked it.

Can I compare it with CB's earlier books? No harm in comparing, but I liked 2 States and 5 Point some better than Revolution 2020.

Tommy....

I never liked any pets and have never wanted to have any pets for almost 33 years. There were two street dogs, that somebody left on our road a week ago. One was a light brown dog (Tommy) and the other is a dark brown (Johnny).

By the way, nobody in our house liked any pets and my daughter was frightened by the sight of dogs. These two dogs started coming to "Aashraya" and my Dad and Ananya started feeding them with milk and rice. The two used to sign in early in the morning at sharp 6:00 AM. All this went on for a week. In between I had been to Shivamogga for my wife's PhD convocation. The first thing that I asked my dad when I called him was, "How are the puppies?"

Today, after a hectic day full of calls, I returned home by 5:30 PM. The moment I got down from the Car, Tommy and Johnny came to me and started playing with me. I played with them for about 15 minutes and came in. I saw one of my neighbors take Tommy and give him some food.

It was about 6:30 and I went to the road to check out something in my Car and I saw Tommy sleeping on the road. I had never seen him sleep on the road. When I tried to wake him up, he had slipped in to permanent sleep :'(. I still cannot believe that Tommy is no more. The pup with whom I had played with about an hour ago had been killed by a speeding car.

Tommy, we will miss you. The sight of Johnny crying over the body of Tommy is something that I can never forget in my life.

I do not wish to curse the driver of the car, but I have decided that I will be a safer driver on the road.

Life after...

I was returning a while ago in an Auto after a heavy dinner and a discourse by a friend. Of course, I am in Hyderabad.

A lot of thoughts crossed my mind when the Auto came over Nagarjuna Circle, Banjara Hills flyover. For people who don’t know the geography, this is a place where there is a cemetery on either side of the road. Probably, the road has been built through the cemetery.

The first thing that came to my mind was, Why did Human beings started to bury the dead? Leaving aside all the religious beliefs, I was drawn to my eighth or ninth standard Biology lessons, which taught of the concept of 'Evolution'. I began to think that, this probably was the way that man found to save himself from seeing the human body decay.

I was reminded of the verse from Shankaracharya's Bhaja Govindam, 'Yaavat Pavano nivasati dehe taavat prichchati Kushalam Gehe. Gatavati vaayou dehaa paaye, bhaarya bibhyati tasmin kaaye', which roughly translates into 'Till the time there is life in you, people think about you and your well being. The moment, 'Air' is out of one's body, even the wife would be frightened to see the dead'

I was also reminded of a teacher by name 'Francis D'souza,' who taught History in my high school. Once he had remarked, 'It feels so great after you are dead to be buried in the lap of mother nature, rather than being burnt into ashes.' I really dont remember the context in which he said that, but yes, even then I was wondering, how can somebody know what happens after he is gone. What difference does it make to the body without any life in it?

Thoughts about reincarnation, Life after death, all the stories that I had heard of as a kid that 'Yamaraj' would be standing in hell with a vessel of boiling oil and the moment you enter hell and if you are a sinner, you will be fried in that vessel: The 'Kinkaras' will chew your nails off if you have done that all your life (Nevertheless, i still have that habit and I am sure, there wouldn't be anything left for them :-) ) : There would be no food given for days together if you waste food that has been served for you : Your tongue will be cut off for using fowl language when you are a kid, etc. etc.

I was preoccupied in thinking about the discussion that I had with my friend on the way things are going in a recessionary economy, when all of a sudden, I was reminded of my once upon a time ambition, 'When I die, I should be happy and there should be at least a million people who cry!'

By the time, I began to think of on this, I had reached my destination and the next problem was to get the door opened...