Fame Raghuleela Fiasco!

We were all excited about watching Rock On since the reviews were so great. We made a group of about 5 of us forced some of the hesitant ones booked tickets online at the Vashi Fame Raghuleela. There were a lot of seats to choose from so my friend booking tickets choose seats furthest away from the screen and paid online.We reached well on time, picked up our tickets and walked into the cinema hall to find that we have been given front row seats!

The front row seats in the Fame Raghuleela are pathetic… I have seen a lot of movies on the front row but I have never seen such badly placed seats. I don’t know if there is a law on the mandatory minimum distance for the seating to start from the first row….but these seats were literally into the screen.If there is no law and regulatory agencies certifying theatres they should really have some norms on the minimum distance of the first row from the screen. The theater owners would keep on adding rows upto the screen to made money!

Well the girls in the group, were all eager to see “Rock On” with all the hot dudes on screen so adjusting as women are, we were ready to see the movie sitting on the first row….but the boys were indignant on being given the wrong seats despite booking well in advance.

So we too stormed out of the all in support of the boys and demanded for a refund.

We Spoke to the booking staff…they directed us to some other staff and then to the so called “manager” ..let us call him “Mr Rajesh C” who was suppose to be the unit head and he was extremely rude and unreasonable and started blaming us about being wrong and a loud argument ensued with him pointing figers at us and telling us how wrong we were and there are so many people who book tickets online and this has never happned!!

So much for customer service. We were already irritated and his attitude infuriated us!

All we were demanding was give us a credit note so we could watch some other movie. Mr Rajesh had some brilliant ideas. He wanted us to come back for a movie on any weekday Monday to Friday between 8am to 6pm! He looked at us as potential customers to fill his off peak hour slot!

After much loud heated discussion for almost half an hour…. Mr Rajesh finally agreed to give us a credit note which said you can redeem this for 5 tickets @ Rs 150 anytime.


We were royally pissed about our movie plans being screwed up and we walked out of the theatre in a huff with the credit note…but not wanting to look at the face of Fame Raghuleela again.

As we stepped out and met some college kids who wanted to buy 12 tickets for a movie on a Monday morning and someone form our group had a brilliant idea to give our credit note to them take our money and get out of the place so we don’t have to come back.We thought it would be a simple enough logical transaction…we had a credit note for 5 tickets @ Rs 150, so that would make a total of 750 and the kiddos wanted to buy 12 tickets @ Rs 70 each which totaled to Rs 840. So we though we would pay the difference of 90 bucks take our money and walk out and never have to come back again.

But lo behold…. Logical! (whats that!)

The credit note which was made 10 minutes back was examined in detail by the booking agents on the counter. They went into their back office area to find Mr Rajesh….but he had disappeared…must have been taking a rest break….after all fighting with customers who have come to have a good time at the movies can be very strenuous. So the credit note written on the back of the ticket was examined by three other people and finally after almost about 15 minutes , Mr Rajesh arrived and we heaved a sigh of relief…now we can finally finish our transaction and move on an rescue what was left of our evening out.

But lo behold...Wait..!! That was not to be…at least not so soon!

Mr Rajesh did not see the logic of the transaction required!!! (How duh!)

He said we could get 5 tickets in lieu of the credit note and not the amount!! And since the kiddos were buying morning show tickets which were cheaper tickets, they could take 5 tickets on the credit note and we would have to forfeit the rest of the amount!!If we were pissed earlier…now we got mighty pissed now!!!! The logic of 5 tickets in lieu of the credit not obviously did not hold true for tickets that were priced higher than what we had bought!!

We demanded to speak to his manager……we could not believe he was actually the person in charge there he was stupid! His boss…lets call him Mr John..was based out of Pune…we demanded to speak to him cause this man was acting ridiculous!

Our Hero called up his boss and explained the situation...I spoke to Mr Manager’s Manger…Mr John….not much use….he gave me some bullshit about the number of tickets matter….I told him that at this point of time I am an irritated customer…and this would effect not only me but 50 other friends of ours…but Mr Manager’s Manager…said he can’t do much…..

I passed the phone to my friend…who told him… "Ok thank you very much for your customer service…please remember to buy the mid-day tomorrow to check out the coverage” (Or something to that effect!) and we once again walked out.

We apologized to the college kiddo’s and told them to go ahead and buy their own tickets and these idiots don’t seem to want to see logic.

We were hanging around near the booking counter, contemplating what to do next and trying to find a group who wanted to buy 5 tickets from the counter for 150 bucks and make them use our credit note and get out of there and never come back!

Suddenly we see Mr Rajesh….coming running out to the booking counters and calling us inside! He was in a mood of a compromise…he did not want to loose us as customers…He was attempting to give us sales talk…and coming up with some stupid options…We told him…..If you don’t want to loose us as cutomers…refund our money….we are so mighty pissed now that nothing else will work….but Mr Rajesh….was unable to gauge our mood and persisted with the sales talk…” No Sir….(suddenly we were respected again!) if refund the money…you wont come back…unless we had to should at him and tell him cut the crap and give us the money back if you want to save face…get your booking counter to use the credit not in lieu of the next 5 tickets they sell…

I think it finally something struck him……(I think it was a return call from his boss)…and he came out an gave us our money back…not without saying… but it was actually your fault..and we are making a major exception your you!! Who makes people like time managers in a customer centric role!

We walked out of the place finally after almost two hours and a lot of argument…..with our evening all ruined…And I looked at Mr Rajesh’s card which had the Fame tag line printed on the back “Fame…Makes my day!” and we all laughed…..how ironical….

Bottom line: Honestly I don’t know who was at fault….but the way it was handled was pathetic…it was a case of horrible customer service.
Bottom line 2 : We missed the movie but ended up going to a new coffee shop had a nice time!

Teach India : Week 5 - A Disappointment…:-(

I went all enthused for the Teach India session today after two weeks of holidays (Rakhee /Janamastmi Saturdays) only to be disappointed.
There was some program going on in school and barely any children turned up. So today there were more volunteers than students!!
Since I did not have any students for my session, I decided to make use of my time and see how the others were teaching be a silent spectator and get some ideas. I did get some idea’s from other people and I also realized that I was doing a decent job with the kids!

Some idea’s I picked from other which I plan to use with my kiddo’s next week…

1. Play the shopping game- A role play in which one of them is the shopkeeper and the other a customer. This works well especially if you have girl students.
2. Read the news paper with the kids … One of the volunteers was reading the news paper his kids...I this can be used effectivly to make conversation if it is made into a game!
3. Use activity books like find the word in the maze, easy crosswords etc
4. Read out a story to the kids.

Being a silent spectator is not my natural style I was quite bored and came back home in an hour and slept!

Exhausted…..

Been a hectic week…. I am sooo exhausted. Looks like I am getting old. But I managed to put a blog post everyday…not bad na…..

The week that was in very brief…

Late Friday night…preparing for “ I object your honor” and dinner at good old Mac Donnalds!
Early morning last Saturday for “I object your Honor” and late night…dinner at Basalico!
Early Sunday morning….Lonavala
Early Monday morning…Review meeting at work…
Late night at work on Tuesday…don’t even remember why
Very Early Wednesday Morning…reached office by 7.30am
Very late night on Thursday….. extempore meeting on general strategy fart….reached home by 11.30 pm
Long Friday evening…..drove to Juhu from Vikroli for a Rotary Interview..ready to crash to bed...

Plan to CELEBRATE Saturday and sleep all morning…..Thank God for weekends!!! Have a nice weekend!! Good night...

Dilemma and Confusion!

I am going to be tell you a small story…it is “inspired” from none other then our very own bollywood…and how many of you’ll have watched “Bunty Aur Bubby”….well my story also has two thieves and a policeman….and ofcourse me…!

But since the story is only inspired and not copied…the similarity ends there!

I am gonna talk about…..this man and a women who haunted me for many days and nights….made me think 24/7 ….have puts me through a lot of pain…..god its almost torture….I hate it….but they are still there….this thing…I mean people don’t only bothers me….but also all my close friends….through me..
And you know what…its me who nurtured them….made them grow …

Here’s introducing to you the “thieves” or the bad guys in my story…today…..the monsters who are build in my head… who possesses me when they come….who may with a new disguise every time….and maybe with a different name….but I know the soul is the same….and I think its my fault they come….

u know what I am sure he must be possessing you guys to many a times…and when I introduce him….i am sure some of you will recognize him….


Ladies and Gentlemen here is presenting to you…the bad guys of today’s story…

“Ms Dilemma De-Cruz”

And her Chinese friend

Mr CON – FU –SION

Recognize them..?

Many of you would be familiar with the Chinese guy by the Indian pronunciation of his name confusion and Ms D-Cruz by his first name “Dilemma”

Yes ladies and gentlemen its these are the two things Dilemma and Confusion who rule and ruin my life! And I am fighting a loosing battle to get back some control!

They are born when there are options to choose from…and the .if all options are equally good or Bad….these demons have a field day…

I am a confused soul…..I don’t know what I want out of life…..and I can be very fickle minded….

I have trouble decisions…be it small ones like which topic to speak on…for toastmasters there is soo much to talk on…or big decisions as to which guy I should get married to..(not that there are too many options there to choose form! But still!)….

I’ll share something that happened with me quite recently….

May 29th 2006…I am about to get a release form my ongoing project…I get a call from one of the big bosses saying Singapore is your next assignment….30th May 2006…I get a call from another not so big boss saying Mumbai is an option and then the torture began…I was suffering….and so were all my close friends and any guesses who was the culprit….well not the bosses in TCS that comes latter … it was none other then me myself and my two ghosts …of confusion and dilemma…


I could not decide….weather I want to go to Singapore for an onsite assignment or try for a transfer back home to Mumbai…..both great options…one my first onsite opportunity....short one but still…the other the option to go back home…..something I always wanted to…

I did all the methods from the DAR session I attended in this very room…and spoke to all my friends and seniors…and as expected….came to contradicting conclusions…..would give “Go” higher priority and the other gave “Don’t Go” Higher priority…..people said..onsite opportunity…difficult to get in TCS now grab it…others said…go back home…once you go onsite and come back you will be stuck in hyderbad for a long time to come….what to do I do…confusion and dilemma prevailed strong…as both the options were good in their own way….

So what did I do …thought contemplated and agonized…..but took no action…

and then finally I could take it anymore and complained to the police force to take some action and chase dilemma and confusion away..

There came the policeman “ Mr Dession Demello”…but alas…Mr Decision was too week due to lack of exercise as he has not been called to action too often and every time and could not do much……

Ultimately after almost 2 months of agony…fate intervened to help Mr Decision Demello and removed the options….options were akin to air….for the monsters of my story and thus they died a natural death…and Mr Decision finally overcame the confusion and Dilemma and I was off to singapore and back now standing here and telling you this story!

All worked out well at the end….But at what cost…? Was the mental torture and the uncertainty and the repeated discussions…worth the trouble…maybe not… if only my policeman Mr Decision had been stronger….the demons of confusion and dilemma would not have played on my mind and ruined soo many days of my life…


Ok so what am I going to do about it….? Help Mr Decision to be come stronger…so that next time when confusion and dilemma raise their ugly head…The Police Decision can chop their heads off at the first stage and let peace prevail….

And how am I going to make Mr Desicison stronger….what do u think…well by ensuring he goes to the Gym and exercises ofcouse…


Osho says…take small decisions and stick to them….it helps to strengthen your decisions making capabilities and train you to take bigger decisions and stick to them…

So my excersise are on…!

What I do now is take small decisions and stick to them…like…I will brush my teeth every night before sleeping…or I will have only fruits for lunch for a week…and I will go to the Gym 3 times a week for the next two weeks….

I am hoping my Police Mr Decision becomes stronger…

And when it comes to the next difficult decision of in my life… maybe who I should get married to or which is the next project I should shift to… I fare better then what I did previously…

Just like excising your body…..excising your mind is an ongoing journey…. And as I stand here talking to you the journey continues!

This was a speech I had given long back at a Toastmasters meeting in Hyderabad...I plan to use this as my Project 3 speech at the Mumbai TCS club sometime.

Early Morning Workshop...

The TCS Toastmasters club organized a two hour Humorous speech workshop starting 7.30 in the morning!!! Crazy is’nt it…who starts a session so early…I guess they they may have though it was a humorous way to begin!

The previous evening on my way back from work…I was contemplating of I should take the trouble to go for the workshop or no…I called up a friend from the club to check who all are coming…and he was like…..”I don’t know…. I am not coming…I think just the organizers and the speaker would be there!”

And I though to myself…chuck it…why take the trouble to get up at 6 in the morning and reach work so early..So I called up the organizers to do some general talk and tell him that I am not planning to come…but he seemed quite enthu and gave me a picture that the workshop would be really good and lot of people have registered etc. So I decided I would get over my laziness and actually try and go for the workshop…and I did!

I generally love workshops….especially if there are the personality development….soft skills types for a number of reasons…
1) Get to meet new people
2) I would like to be a trainer someday….so it is a fun to see different people handle the participants
3) End up learning something new

So since I am an “enthu cutlet” (a slag used by unenthusiastic people of this world for people like me!), I actually reached office at 7.30 for a completely optional session for which the utility was also under dark clouds of suspicion!

I reached office in record time…..15 kms….15 minutes drive end to end! As I pulled into the parking lot….I saw a red color Zen..and then another car and a then a few more! I was pleasantly surprised…Looks like the trainer and the two organizers have arrived with a few of their friends…Thank God I am not going to be all alone!

I stepped into office at 7.30…walked up the stairs to get to my work area…and OH MY GOD….there was a crowd at the reception with two perplexed harried security gourds trying to get entry passes for all those people and wondering what hit them early in the morning...
There were almost 30 people for the session. It may not be a large number by itself, but for someone who was expecting 3 people early morning…it was a shock!

The session per se was not bad! A gentleman called Ajit Kamath who was a corporate trainer was the coach and conductor for the session. The basic objective was to empathize on the importance of non verbal communication to create humor.

It was a normal interactive workshop with group activities.
The key take aways were
1) Weave a story
2) Be descriptive and make the audience travel with you
3) Let the body language be natural
4) Prepare but sound spontaneous

Theoretically I understand everything…..…practically I understand nothing!!

I have signed up to participate in a Humorous speech contest at the club level….I really don’t know what to! Attempting to be humorous can be extremely tricky…especially if you tell your audience…you are going to be humorous!

The bottom line: “Humor is serious business!”

Dreams...

I got a new book to read today (“Earning the Laundry Stripes” by Manpreet Sodi Someshwar) which was highly recommended to me by someone in my ‘all boys’ sales team...(I am a rookie as far as ‘sales’ is concerned…..enjoying it tremendously for now!)

It seems like an intersting book. If and when I finish reading it I may post my version of the book review here. I have just read the dedication in the begining of the book...and I though it was worth writing about...

This book is for

Mama-Papa
Who taught me to dream
Prasanna
Who keeps those dreams alive
Malvika
Who is a dream come true

I though this was so beautiful and it simply sums up life...

-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your parents teach you to dream...

Your partner is someone who keeps those dreams alive...

You have a baby who is like a dream come true!!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So people go out there and dream....."The future belongs to those who believe in their dreams" ...and may all your dreams come true!!!

Dropped my Phone....

Today looked like my lucky day… I managed to hitch a ride with boss while going and coming back from work. Boss dropped me at a spot close to home near his ‘sutta shop’ and I got into a rickshaw to go home. Half way home I digged into my bag to sms a friend and realized my phone was not in the bag anymore! I clearly remembered putting it in the outside pocket….but I checked all the various sections in the bag in vain…L My phone was no where to be found…!!

I told my rickshaw driver to take a U- turn and we rushed back to the ‘sutta shop’….looked for my phone all over the place…but did not find it…:-( I asked the people standing around and smoking if they had seen the phone. All of them denied seeing it but they were quite helpful and started looking around the place with me.

Someone suggested…”make a call and see if it rings”. Lukilly the 'Sutta shop' also had a PCO. Tried calling my phone a number of time but I could not get through…(Dolphin Network!). I finally got through the number…someone picked up the phone...but I could not hear anything...
I tried again….the phone was ringing but no one was picking it up any more. Discussions around the 'sutta shop' were gallore…”phone gaya”…”if someone picked up the phone once and is not picking up again…it is not a good sign…
Some of the local ‘men’ around the shop wanted to help this damsel in distress and offered to talk and give ‘dum’ to whoever had the phone…but no one was picking up the phone anymore!!

Finally someone picked up….the phone…I could not hear to clearly….my newly found ‘friends’ came to my rescue to talk to the person who had my phone…and do whatever it takes to get it back!

He spoke with full on josh….”kidhar ho”…”Kaha hai phone” ….and then suddenly handed the receiver to me….

The person at the other end…sounded familiar…he also knew my name….oh my god…it was my boss…I dropped the phone in his car! Thank god! Today was indeed my lucky day!

I don’t have my phone yet…but chances are bright that I will sure get it tomorrow morning!!!

Lesson learnt : Never keep a phone in the outside pocket of your bag!

Rotaract Saturday...

We were suppose to go for a Water RYLA this weekend….RYLA for those of you’ll who don’t know are RYLA stands for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. It is camp organized by the Rotary for the youth. The camps normally have a theme and there are talks and activities around the theme. Over all it is fun like camps are always…night out in some remote place are always fun…even if some of the talks are boring.

So Water RYLA, as the name suggest it was all about water. It was suppose to activity oriented 3 days on water conservation, water harvesting and a whole lot of other things related to water.We registered for it, but since we could not bunk work on a Friday(See how dedicated I am!), we tried to get permission to attend the RYLA over the weekend however it did not work!
So we had a weekend free, which was planned to be dedicated to fun at Rotaract…and the plans went down the drain!

So an old friend of mine from my RC Bombay West days, who also with the rotaract district and currently my strongest link to Rotaract activities suggested we go for a RC Churchgate project "I Object Your Honor" which was a mock court room competition.

The project was overall fun. We had to defend a case, present evidence and witness, cross examine the opposition witness. The project could have been handled more professionally, the timings were not adhered to. Overall a nice way to spend a Saturday morning especially since we won the competition!

Ear Wax!

I had a blocked ear because of too much accumulated wax in the ear(self diagnosis) and I could hardly hear anything!I did my bit of self medication and put soliwax but my ear seemed to keep getting worse. The drops were clogging my ear even more. Now along with the feeling of a blocked ear, I could also feel the liquid ear drops making bubbles in the ear canal.

I was uncomfortable and put almost everything I could in my ear….finger…ear buds (was looking for a hair pin but luckily did not find it!). It did not get any better. The only thing I succeeded was in pushing the wax further into the ear canal.I finally got a torch and showed the in house baby doctor(my brother who is a medical student) and he said….ah I can see some wax... but I have never seen a normal ear canal so I don’t know if it is too much!

Then armed with the torch we both went looking inside the ear canals of everyone else in the house. Luckily since it was on rakhee day, we had a lot of ear canals to look into and finally we reached a conclusion that the wax in my ear was too much!

And then the baby doctor opened his ENT book which was as good as new and was tucked away at the bottom of the study table away and looked in the appendix for ear block and found the appropriate page. I was suffering from a classical case of excessive ear wax!!

Did you know ear wax among other things is made of sebum, dirt and dead hair! The hair part was news to me!

I continued with Soliwax multiple times a day with the mindset of the more I put the faster it would get cured. But it just kept getting worse. Now it was the combination of ear wax and ear drops blocking my ear!

I could not hear what people were saying I would laugh at jokes people cracked at work cause everyone was laughing. I don’t know how many inappropriate answers were given by me in the last one week.

And the interesting part was almost everyone had a blocked ear story to share!

Some told me about the time their ear was blocked and a big black stone like mass came out and was hard enough to break the glass, others shared their experiences with the ENT with a fancy head gear and torch, still others gave me advice on how putting oil is better than the ear drops!

Half the advice and stories went un heard or partially heard at the best case…


I finally had enough of it and I should show my ear to the office doctor and get some real advice!

But like my in house baby doctor he could not see any wax in the ear but he could not confess to a patient that he had not seen normal ear canals to make out the difference. I had half of mind of suggesting that I understand his plight and the best way to learn would be to come check out the ear canals of people in office!
Thank god...only half my mind sugested that option

After few more days of Soliwax with no relief I finally decided to go to an ENT!

He pulled my ear and with one look and he said….Oh My God!…so much wax….no wonder you dont listen to you mom! (That was his attempt to humor!)

He picked up a hooked instrument …, put it in my ear….and pulled out a blob of wax…..It felt like someone was pulling out a blob of mud from the muck….paaaaaachaaak….was the loud sound I could hear in my ear….it was ekky….it was creepy…it was scary…but I had to sit still…..and in about 5 seconds it was over out! And I could hear again!!!!

And then it was lecture time….I got a dose on how I should not have used ear buds and how using ear buds and pushed the wax deep inside the ear…and how I could have injured my ear drum in the process…etc etc

And then it came to payment time….900 bucks is what I had to pay for a 5 second procedure and a end to end discussion of 15 minutes!!

It is so ironical, that if I had gone out shopping or gone for dinner and spent the same amount of money…I would not have felt the pinch….but I resent paying a doctor who has given me relief…I realize it is wrong to resent it…. Cause after all he is a professional and this is his way to make a living..

The good thing that came out of this entire episode…is that I learnt to put in my HIS claims!

Current Staus: I have another date with the doctor next week….cause all the blobs of wax in my ear are not out yet….and I am back to putting Soliwax!!

Kotak Securities Helpline Experience..

I needed something to be sent to me from Kotak securities.
I called their helpline number (30305757) expecting to get a quick resolution, but that was not to be.I was given another me another helpline number (66216666)..and everybody I spoke to at the new number wanted to direct me to the earlier number!

I had to give my details to 6 different people without any use…and by the time it came to the 7th person…I was pissed…and some poor guy called Aditya had to bear the brunt. He like all the others had no idea what needed to be done and he told me he would find out what needs to be done call me back in the next 15 minutes. 1 hour passed by and he did not call. I called back the help line and did not findc Aditya!

I thought to myself…god what pathetic customer service...now I have something to write about on my blog tonight. Some Kotak Securities helpline bitching to do!

But one hour latter to my surprise Aditya called back..took some more details from me and then called back again with the resolution! I was pleasantly surprised! My issue is not yet resolved but I need to get back to them with some information…but the fact that they called back although it was the wrong department I was calling to start with was indeed a positive sign!

I though to myself….since I was all set to write about the lousy customer service…It was only fair that I write about one good executive who took the trouble to try and call me back to resolve the issue even though I don't think it was a part of his portfolio...he just happened to be the unlucky 7th guy who spoke to me and got a piece of of my mind!

The lesson learnt is people are the most important part of any organization….and If you are a part of a big corporation with lousy policies and lack of information don’t loose hope as a lone individual you can still make a difference!

A Lousy Book I Read..

An open Window

DREAM

As Everyman’s Guide To The Spirit

Author Sri Madhava Ashish

I picked up this book because I liked what I read on the back cover of the book. This is what it read..

“This brief but profound book assails the conventional understanding of
dreams and their interpretation, drawing attention to a much neglected aspect of
dreams as a source of guidance of spiritual aspirant”

Wow I hoped this book would help me to make sense of my dreams and give me some spiritual guidance maybe!

“It uses insights of psychology, but transcends it to confront the
inescapable questions most people are driven by : what is the true purpose of
life, and does it all end with death?”

I though to myself….yes it would be interesting to understand the purpose of life from a psychology and spiritual aspect! So I picked up this 125 page book for 200 bucks from Crossword!

And boy it is a complete waste of money and a complete waste of time spent reading it.It just did not make sense to me. It is one of those books at the end of which I have absolutely no take aways.

Thank god it was just 125 pages and it did not take too long to finish. I guess the back cover synopsis and the book is not written by the same author.

One good thing about the book was that it sure helped me to go to sleep at night.

So if you see the book in the book store I recommend you don’t pick it up. I really dont know why I pick up books like this.

Which Side is Greener?

My role- model and mentor from my company,a 35 year old man was diagnosed with Cancer.I was shocked…scared…depressed….worried…Till I met him and then I was inspired! I always had great respect for this gentleman….but now I am in awe of him…what an attitude to life! Amazing…

There he was sitting on a chair and smiling…laughing….telling jokes…and stories despite the dreadful diagnosis of having a tumor very close to his heart and undergoing killing chemotherapy treatment with all its horrible side effects…he was sitting there thanking God that he has money for treatment; thanking God that the diagnosis was done on time…here was someone who was counting his blessings and taking what life is presenting to him in his stride…hats of to him!

I have read a lot of inspirational stories on positive attitude in life etc etc…but here I saw someone living it…and it was great…

And it made me think….And that's what I want the everyone to do…think with me…

Think of all the things that make you feel miserable ….depressed ….. unhappy….envious..?

What is it..?
Bad Ratings at work?? Does it really matter in the bigger picture of life…? Even if it does… Look at the people who don’t have jobs..

For all the married folks…
Do you feel your husband/wife does not understand you and care for you enough….. Look at someone who is a widower…or someone whose husband is a wife beating Drunkard…and you will thank your stars….



For the bachelors...
Do you feel your parents don't give you enough space and freedom... think of people who do not have parents…or who have parents who are ill and you'll thank god for your wonderful fortune that you have people who care for u……

And all of you'll who are parents…
Do you feel that your children don't listen to you? don’t study enough ? Are not making the required grades ? Look at people who cannot have children or have children with disabilities and you will automatically thank your stars…


Do you feel you don't earn enough….. well if you compare yourself to Ratan Tata or Amitabh Bacchan….no you don't….but u are a rich man if you compare yourself to the servant who comes to clean your house….its all about which side you look at….


At every given point of time there would be people who are worse situation then you and yes a lot of people who are better off then u too. You choose which side you want to look at. The laws the cosmos will not allow you to be at either end of the spectrum.

So whenever you feel you are in a bad situation with no way out… “look at how it could have been worse”. Search for the positive and you will definitely find it!

Its very truly said that we may not have a choice to what life brings to u but we definitely have a choice in how we react to it!

All this is nice to say and good to hear but can I follow it word to word in my day to day life? Can I be like my mentor and smile despite all adversities?

Honestly Maybe not but you know what I am sure going to try!!

On this note…I want everyone here to take a second here and say a silent prayer….Thanking god for all the great things in your life.

And Remember….You choose… which side is greener…..your's or the other!

Its only a perspective.


This was a speech I had given long back at a Toastmasters meeting in Hyderabad...I may use this as my Project 3 speech at the Mumbai TCS club sometime

Happy!

The time to be happy is now! The place to be happy is here!

And the best way to be happy is to make others happy !

And the best way to be happy is to make others happy !

And make a little heaven right here!!

This was a little song/poem I learnt in a yoga course I did sometime back. I though it was really nice

Teach India : Week 4

Last Saturday was my 4th week of teaching the children. I took three batches of children instead of the normal two batches! I had a total of 9 children this week.

Batch 1- Soheil and Rupesh
Soheil is a very serious type of a student and says he does not watch television/movies. Rupesh is very quite and shy. Soheil came about half an hour late for the session. Making conversation with Rupesh alone was not too easy. I did a rainy day picture activity with him. The activity was basically to show them a picture and ask them to tell you about everything they see in the picture. This helps to improve their vocabalry
My initial sessions, I kept telling my kiddo’s I am not your teacher and I am a friend who has come to talk to you’ll. This week Soheil got me a friendship band and tied it for me. It was such a cute gesture.

Batch 2- Komal and Rashmi
I had missed my last session with them but the bond was still there. I did the same Rainy day picture activity with them that I did with my earlier batch. The girls then wanted to go for a walk as the rest of their friends who were not a part of this program were having a break at school. So the three of us went for a walk. They introduced me to their friends in school and had a lot of questions to ask me when we were out walking. But all their questions were in Hindi/Marathi and I would tell them I will answer only if they ask me in English! I feel the kids open up so much in an informal setting.

Batch 3- Dipika, Kshitija, Pooja, Namrata, Abijit
This was a fun session! I think 4- 5 kids who are at the same level are fun to deal with at the same time. They get the personal attention and yet there is scope for having fun on the table! We revised what we did in the last session and then went on to do other activities.
There was only one boy in this group, who is normally not a part of this group so we had a nice time pulling his leg. I even got to know about their class politics!
For the first time I gave these kids some homework….I have told them to write at least one thing in a day for which they do not know the English word and when we meet after 15 days, they were to come back with all the words they have written! Lets see if it words.
Another thing that I did with these kids was that I told them to write all the new words we are learning. Their recall was better if they have written the words.
Will write more latter! Overall an interesting, fun and fulfilling session!

The Week That Was : 9th Aug to 15th Aug 2008

9th August Saturday
Celebrated Saturday morning …..Had a laazzzy morning...slept late…had a leisurely bath and then was off for my Teach India volunteering duty! Teach India Week 4 was quite interesting. I was there for three hours and took three batches of kids and I had a total of 9 children and had a really nice time. Will write a detailed post on this soon! In the evening I went for the RC Bombay West installation to Juhu. Was a nostalgic experience I have written a detailed take on it in my blog post(which rotract club to join??)
Went to a “Granth” the book store in Juhu to just pass some time before dinner and picked up two new books which someone at a workshop had told me about.
*Personality Plus by Florence Littauer

*Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl

I have already almost finished reading Personality Plus….will hopefully write a blog post on it someday! As for the second book…not yet started reading, in case I find it interting I will write a review online.
Dinner was good fun….tapoked at a cousin’s house and ordered Pizza and had a nice time gossiping

10th August Sunday
Went for a Gosho in the morning at an SGI members house in chembur. It was quite nice but at this point of time cannot remember much!
Went to watch Singh is Kinng..but did not get tickets! Got tickets for Tuesday!
Chillled and slept at home as was not feeling to well.

11th August Monday
Normal day at work. The traffic was crazy because of the pot holes on the road. It took me an hour and a half to get to office as against my normal 20 minutes.
12th August Tuesday
Work as usual. Had movie tickets for Singh is Kinng…lousy mindless movie…not even worth writing the review! Missed a co-workers birthday bash at work because I had tickets for the movie!

13th August Wednesday
Gave my second project speech at toastmasters club on volunteering experience (See post volunteering experience: teach India) Travelled

14th August Thursday
Had three important client meetings at work which went off well. Atmosphere at work was great before a three day long weekend!

15th August Friday
Celebrated the independence day holiday! Visited a RC Deonar project in a school. Went for zadenki practice. Watched Bachna ae Haseeno!
Finally closed some important pending open ends.

Bachana Ae Haseeno

Quite a cute movie…..Three heroines….and one Ranbir...Thank god he is not romancing them together at the same time!

The movie is about Ranbir’s love affairs over about ten/twelve years.

The Manisha/Ranbir plot is a take on DDLJ and it is quite well done! They meet DDLJ style on the Eurail. Manisha is a girl who is enamored by DDLJ and has watched it seventeen times and she is hoping she finds Raj…and she meets Raj Sharma(Ranbir)! I could so relate to the DDLJ smitten Manisha....the movie has had that effect on me and many other girls I know!! Ranbir breaks her heart and moves on without blinking an eyelid!

The sexy Bipasha is Ranbir’s live in girl friend and he ditches her on their wedding day and does not look back

Ranbir ultimately falls truly in love with Deepika Padukone and she turns around and tells him she does not love him and he is heart broken.

Ranbir finally realizes what Manisha and Bipasha would have gone through when he ditched them years back and he decides to go back and ask for forgiveness! They forgive him…and Deepika falls in love with him and they live happily ever after!

On a philosophical note… to me the movie embodies the law of karma (read earlier post on Law of…)as you sow you shall reap…but it in your power to expiate your negative karma!

The way I have described the plot it may sound corny but overall it done well and was quite cute! The songs are nice, the cinematography and locations are beautiful….the cast has acted well and is looking nice...overall a nice movie worth watching once!

Volunteering experience: Teach India!

"Me Shaaret Marathi Sheekli…pan mala marati bolut yeat nahi"
“I learnt Marathi in school but I cannot really speak the language!”

Although Marati is the local language...not knowing Marathi has not hampered my progress in life…but if I did not know English…chances are that I would not be standing here as a part of Tata Consultancy services…giving a speech at the toastmasters club.

But Why am I standing here and telling you this?

Because I have spent the last few weekends with kids who are studying English in school but they don’t really understand and speak the language they are in the same position as me but unfortunately not knowing English will put them at a disadvantage. When these kids grow up and go out in the world to be employed chances are their pay package would half of their English speaking counter parts even though they would be as smart and knowledgeable.. I know its not fair but it’s the truth.

The Teach India Campaign launched by the Times of India group made me get in touch with these children and I got my change to try and make a difference! In the next few minutes… I am going to share my experiences as a part of a campaign I registered on the teach India web-site and my assignment was to teach Spoken English to Marati medium students. Well I can speak English but to teach spoken English...umm….I was not too sure how that was suppose to be done! Thank God they were planning on an orientation program;but the only thing they told us as a part of the orientation is that you will have two children.and you need to do is give them a conducive environment to speak English! There is no method use your instinct….teach the child like you would teach your own children your mother language!And I though to myself…what instinct!!!! I don’t think I have a instinct for teaching!! but what the hell…since I was here on a Saturday afternoon.I might as well go ahead with it.

Believe me it was a little scary to start off with. Although I am normally great at finding commonalities and making small talk with strangers but this was different I had to talk to the child for one hour!! And what would I find common with a 13 year old child from a completely different socio- economic background…..60 minutes….3,600 seconds…seemed like a very very long time. But I had to act confident I was the teacher after all the kids walked into the hall….and two little boys..Soheil and Rupesh came and sat with me.They were nervous and so was I it was difficult to decide who was more apprehensive we made small talk…what is your name…..where do you stay…which class are you in…..you know the basics… family…school… friends…10 minutes or 600 seconds would have passed…now what next….????One part of me was listing to their answers which by the way were in monosyllaals the other part was thinking what next to say should I talk about books? Nah! they would not read… suddenly though movies…..! everybody watches movies….and that would give me lot to talk about…after all there are so many bollywood movies and stars I though I have found the perfect topic to make conversation so I asked the boys which is your favorite movie.and Soheil promptly answered…"hum TV nahi dheekte"! There I was at a loss again! The kids started fidgeting on their chairs….and I was so uncomfortable I looking at my watch .. had 45 minutes more to go!!

Then an idea struck me and I told the kids will you show me your school…come lets go for a walk….and their eyes lit up! Wow here is a “teacher” who is taking them for a walk around school instead to sitting in class…and that is when I managed to break the ice! We walked around school….they showed me things….they told me what it was called in Marathi..I told them what it was in English…they repeated the English word….i repeated the Marathi word!! All of us learnt something…..and it was a wonderful experience!

That was session 1….I have had three subsequent Saturday afternoon sessions with them…and believe me each one has been extremely satisfying and challenging… and I can actually see the difference…it may not be very significant…but my kiddo’s have taken small baby steps in becoming more confident in attempting to talk in English…..the first session they were talking in monosyllables….now they are attempting to talk in sentences….the grammar may be all wrong….but slowly and surely they are getting better.. And there is so much for me to learn in the process…how to keep 13 year olds entertained and also teach them in the process requires a whole lot of creativity by itself!

I don’t know if this “Teach India campaign” will actually make a major difference….or will it be just be a publicity stunt by the times group to win awards for the best campaign….but I know I done my little bit to help to change a childs life!

To conclude I would like to tell all you people sitting in the room..you may not be part of the Teach India Campaign”… but if you look around you…you will find many people you can teach….your servants kids…the TCS Maitri teaching programs….it is an effort…it is scary….but at the same time it is extremely satisfying and enriching!

This was a speech i gave at the toastmasters. It is my project 2 speech….did not go too well but I managed to clear the round! Lesson learn't : Don’t be too dramatic while speaking...this is not theatre! Be natural…talk to the audience…and don’t try and give a performance!

Which Rotaract Club should I join???

I went for the Bombay West Installation today….and it felt really nice…almost like going back home!It is all so familiar…everyone knows you...you know almost everyone…you have been a veteran there and you identify yourself with the club…everyone there is a friend….you may not be in touch with them all the time but you all been through so much together as a club. The Rotarians know you….the office staff knows you…even the new members have heard of you (good/bad otherwise is a besides the point!!) Well after all you have been there for years together and spend many hours at the rotary center….given your bit to the movement and gained a whole lot more in return! My house used to be the second office of the Rotaract Club of Bombay West….a venue for our projects (the parents nite!) and many many meetings… My Indica was the official Rotaract truck to ferry things to and fro…and our cupboards used to be the gowdown for all rotaract stuff! My entire family was the rotaract family….I was a president for a year…. Eventually Sam (my younger bro!) also got inducted into rotaract has been the president for a year... my Mom has been an active part of so many of our projects….Dad has always cribbed about Rotary( don’t think he still understand the difference between rotary and rotaract!) but over all he has been supportive….Bottom line… not only me but my entire family along with me has been an integral part of Rotaract Club of Bombay West!!

We moved out of Juhu to our own house in Chembur.….Rotaract Club of Bombay West is logically too far to be actively involved…..but it is possible…

Logically Rotaract Club of Deonar is a better choice to join…it is close to home…it is nice active club….the do some interesting projects…..I have always heard a lot about them….but it does not feel like home….I fell like an outsider…..I don’t really feel a part of it…L…I don’t feel belong there….. I guess I have barely gone for any meetings…and not been involved with any projects….it is like a chicken and egg situation….If I don’t go for projects and meetings…I will not feel involved….if I don’t get the feeling of being required and involved…I will not go for meetings/projects!

Now what is the best thing to do…..?? RC Bombay West..? RC Deonar ? Neither!?? Either..?? Both…??

“Analysis Paralysis” is raising its ugly head again! I am sitting on the fence…analyzing and doing nothing about it!!!

While I was writing this I realized…this can be compared to other aspects of my life... relationships…..work..

RC Bombay West is like an old relationship/job….which has gone stale….which I can drag on but it may not really be the best thing for both parties...…but I don’t want to let go..…I love my club….it is comfortable…..it is mine with all its flaws and good things……

RC Deonar is like a new potential relationship/job..…scary….unknown…unchartered…. different…

What should I do…?? Forget my baby RC Bombay West (I was called the amma of the club!) and take the plunge and move on???

Which club to join is a very small and insignificant thing to decide…….but I am talking ages to make that call….and I am loosing out on precious time….(you can be with Rotaract only till the age of 30!)

How ironical ….. I am doing exactly the same thing with the rest of my life! It’s a pattern that is repeating in almost all aspects of my life….be it work….relationships.....leisure!

Awareness if the first step to change.……..I have taken the first step!

IT Enabled SMBs!

All the posts that I have written have been about what I do over weekends…I wonder why I have never written about work. After all I spend a good part of my waking hours at work! I have had a very non traditional career path…my post on analysis..paralysis will give you a brief so I will not get into that here and jump straight into what I am trying to do currently!

I am working with one of those Big Branded IT company and my profile is currently quite interesting….we are trying to sell the concept of IT to SMB’s….who don’t really care much about IT…don’t really need it…and don’t particularly want it!

SMB…for all those who don’t know is Small and Medium business..also sometimes called as SME’s..or Small and Medium Enterprises.

SMB’s are normally classified based on
1) Revenue
2) FTE’s (Full time Employee’s)

There are specialized criteria to classify companies in different verticals

1) Machinery investment..in case of manufacturing (Something new I learn’t today)
2) Number of beds in case of hospitals (below 200 beds is what would be and SME!)
3) Number of locations in case of retail

I am sure there are many more …but this is what I have learnt so far!

The interesting part of my job currently is that there is so much new to learn! I am learning about the SMB market…I am learning to sell…I am learning to manage relationships...manage internal politics…I can go on!

There are a million challenges in addressing this market…or jungle as my boss puts it!To start with we don’t even have a reliable listing and data on companies in our Go to Universe (GTU)…

We are not really sure who we are selling to….not sure what we are trying to sell….our customers don’t think they need what we are trying to sell…and yet when we manage to succeed..and that makes is all the more fun! It can be extremely frustrating....and sometimes fun...but whatever it is..it is definitely a learning experience. Will write more latter on my sales experiences!

Leaving comments on blogs..

So many people I meet online and in person tell me they have read my blog and they always have something to say about it…(good/bad/otherwise) (by the way the most liked one seems to be the” Analysis Paralysis” post). But hardly anyone leaves a comment on the site…. :-(

People when you come to this site….see it…do leave your mark before you go!

For all those of you have their own blogs I need not explain what it feels like not to have comments on your posts…for all those who don’t have blogs….let me just say it is almost the same feeling of opening you mailbox and getting “no new mail”.

Teach India - Week 3!

This Saturday was the 3rd week in my teach India program and I was really looking forward to meeting my kiddo’s again.
A girl from Kotak education foundation called me to confirm what time I would like to come. I was surprised that I had a choice of timings and told her I would prefer the 3.30 to 5.30 batch provided I get the same children. She assured me that I would get the same kids that I have been teaching for the last two weeks.
I was all set with my armor of books to teach the kids. (By the way…I had taken the lap top with some nice English video’s to show the kids last week!..will write about that experience subsequently)
When I reached Kumud school at 3.30 instead…I realized that there was some confusion and my original kids had already come and left! I was quite disappointed and kind of irritated with the Kotak people for giving me wrong information….I had half a mind of going back home!
But then I though to myself since I have anyways cancelled all my other plans for the day and come all the way…I might as well stay back and teach the kids who come now..and I stayed back!!
I had 8 new children to teach this week!! The first batch had 4 girls and the second batch had 4 boys!!
I missed my old batch of kids..but the new ones were also really cute..teaching 8 new kids was quite stressful but fun! Now next week I may do a 4 hour shift in teaching cause I wanna be with the kids I have spent time with!
For all those of you’ll who have not registered you’ll are sure missing something! Looking forward to next Saturday!!!

Ugly Aur Pagli!

Crazy movie….not very realistic….but I guess any director should get his ‘creative freedom’. I always feel If you want to watch reality…watch the news!

Malika Sherawat is looking as hot and sexy, so if nothing else especially the guys can go watch the movie for her! She plays the role of Pagli very well indeed and is absolutely crazy….so crazy that it is not realistic, but then it is the directors creative freedom to exaggerate!

As for Ugly Ranvir Shorey,he is really cute and not so ugly and your heart goes out to him the poor guy who is tortured by crazy Malika and you wonder why does he even bother to be with her…so what if she is sexy!! (But I guess guys will always be guys!) But love is blind…and love lies in the eyes of the beholder! He loves her for a crazyness!

I quite liked the end of the movie because I saw a very philosophical angle to it! It brought out the importance of destiny. You can make choices as per your free will but that will only change the path you take to reach the ultimate end! Ugly was destined to be with Pagli. All through the movie his mom is pestering him to meet an aunt who to introduce him to a very nice girl but he always has excused and does not go.He nevertheless meets Pagli randomly at the station and they go through the routine of falling in love and give us some laughs in the process with some crazy antiques. They go through the pains of breaking up and learn the lessons they are destined to learn! Ultimately when the ‘time is right’ (at the end of the movie)…Ugly gets officially introduced to Pagali through the very same aunt he was avoiding all through out!

Overall the movie is funny in parts…and don’t expect logic from it and you won’t be disappointed…It is not half as good as Pyar Ke Side Effects so try not to compare!

Director -Sachin Khot Producer :Rangita Pritish Nandy, Pritish Nandy Cast - Mallika Sherawat, Ranvir Shorey