Start again????

Thinking.....maybe I should....anyways this was always going to be about self-obsession.....

Thinking....

Let's think for some more time... :)

The Social Network

Yes...and I am back!!!

Just saw The Social Network, and looks like the social media bug is catching up with me as well. Have for quite some time held the view that Social media is an extremely strong PR tool, and the belief just keeps getting re-inforced.

After a long time, did the most mundane and obvious thing we all end up doing some time or the other online: googling ourselves!!!


Turned up the usual Linkedin and Facebook profiles as well as a major blunder made a few years ago on pagalguy. Nonetheless, discovered an article which highlighted my name as a "notable" Head boy of my school, Hyderabad Public Schoool!


Its an amazing feeling reading such stuff online, and does give a heady feeling (pun unintended).


Heck, it got me back here, didn't it!!!


Hope I can start doing this once more!!!

2010 update..the rambling continues!

I keep coming back to this page.

I read my last entry and then get the brainwave that I will add something to it.

I usually do not!!!

Well, its 2010, and I am back to Jaipur. Have finally moved to marketing and am looking after Postpaid segment.

And as usual I am again wondering about what to put down here.

And as usual I am clueless!!!

BTW, last time it was PS: I love You, now its Twilight!!! Quite addictive!

Since I am rambling, would just like to add that after watching the Hockey world cup, maybe we wont do as badly during the CWG. People have supported Hockey, and it is high time the team started delivering!

As I said, rambling...and the first 2010 update...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

PS: Whatever

Back to blogging.

Its been a long time since I have attempted to write something down. Its now been 15 months at Airtel, and the journey is continuing.

I am now in Udaipur, having been in Jaipur and then Sawai Madhopur for a long time in Sales.

I still do not know what to put down here. I think its got more to do with impatience rather than anything else.

But nonetheless, I am on a positive drive (not to be confused with a Positron "Sc-Fi" drive).

I will!!!

I think!!!

I am!!!

BTW, I got married....YAHOO!!!

And here's a tip...do not watch PS:I love you...it leads to a lot of problems like insurance planning and so on and so forth....

55 Days@Airtel

I have finally found the time to write something again, and it is a great feeling!

It has been a long time since I got time off for this. The last 55 days have been downright hectic ( a word which figures in most of my orkut or facebook interactions). I have learnt so much from the past couple of months, that somehow whenever I head out somewhere, I have an innate feeling of pride in my knowledge,about my work!

Well, I finished my one month stint at Networks, and besides learning the pain points the technical team faces, I have seen the way the business is impacted by the backbone of the business - the minute making factories. For the past few weeks I have been exposed to the Customer Satisfaction Delivery processes and mechanisms.

What should not have been surprising or astounding for me, is that there is a complete mechanism, a complete well thought out process behind the entire business. Pity, as a customer how less we think about the other side; the people, the work, the intentions to succeed which exist on the other side. The best and the worst part of the entire deal is that nothing is stable, nothing is constant. Everything changes, and that too rapidly. At one moment you are relaxing and thinking about the way your achievement will impact the business, the other you realize that the competition has someone as intelligent who just made mincemeat of your achievement. So its back to square one, and the learning curve just gets steeper and steeper.

Currently I am getting involved in something which is hopefully going to impact my industry in a bigger way,. or at least that's what I think will happen. These are very exciting times, and one can maybe put it down to my in-experience, but I think it is so great that I look forward to every day. I somehow think work, even when I am not around the office, and that itself has given me a great thrill. There is a purpose, a final destination which I want to reach, and these early days have given me the feeling of being on the right path! Sounds philosophical, but who cares!

The power to dream, the power to achieve, the power to will everything is in my hands!

Feels incredible!!!

Meaning or intention of this post....NOTHING!...Just wanted to blog and share the positivism I have been feeling!

By the way, this post could also be put down to the Arthur Clarke novels, which have these immensely well dreamt plots which reflect optimism to the core!!! :)

"So when are you coming back to India?"

In the year 1994 AD, ...uhmm sorry, too much of Dominique Lapierre/History Channel, etc etc...

Anyways, in 1994, my family shifted from Delhi to Hyderabad, and hence away from some childhood friends as well. With Internet having real low awareness scores in North India, I was not aware of the phenomenon called E-mail, and hence used to write hand written letters to my friends in Delhi. The fact that at the time this was actually encouraged by my family ( I wrote to all my extended family as well ) is redundant now, for my handwriting never improved. Well, during one of the responses from my friends back in Delhi, he asked me a very peculiar question: " So when are you returning to India?".

India...wait a minute... I was very much in India..so what did my friend mean by asking such a silly question?

Now at that time i laughed it off. In fact over the next few years, this tale actually turned into a good dinner time joke to be shared with people especially from Delhi. But today, the innocent question is no longer just a faux paus but is actually made me think of my life ahead.

Today I got my location for joining Airtel. It is Jaipur, the city I was born in. Well, as soon as I got to know about, there was rejoicing by many of my relatives who are in Jaipur. My parents were actually sad that I have to go back to the city they had in a sense escaped from. The fact of the matter was that I was a guy who had always lived in Metropolitan cities, and they were duly worried about me adjusting to a place like Jaipur. On my part, I am quite OK with it, for I can't wait to start work. But, I am digressing here..( blame it on bhasadi skills).

Well amidst the plethora of emotions and the advise which I was getting from everyone, my brother actually asked me with a smirk on his face ," So when will you come back to India?". Now his intention was very much to turn the joke on me, but it got me thinking of how true the statement actually was for many of my Delhi friends, and even to a certain extent for me. For Delhi has always stood for most of my friends as the symbol of India. Even when I came back from a trip abroad or from another city in India, my heart always felt lighter and at home once I was in Delhi. And maybe this is the feeling which we all relate with our country as well. Hence, it is but so simple to equate India and Delhi.

I have been to many cities in India, and I can say that for me there is no other city like Delhi. I do realise that it may be very early in my life for me to form such a judgement, but somehow, I have always visualised myself staying on here, if anywhere in India. I could put it down to the fact that wherever I have gone i have been always characterised as a Delhi-ite ( talk of re-enforcement techniques). But just imagine, how true this must have been for friends, such as my childhood friend, whose family and ancestors have always been in Delhi ? For for them, the world outside Delhi would be an alien environment. Maybe that actually explained the reluctance of many of my fellow B School students in moving out of Delhi!!!

But in the end, as I start out in the next chapter of my life, even I wonder if even after having travelled extensively, would I always equate India and Delhi as one. I am en route to Jaipur by the month end, and who knows where all I will travel, but one question which is sure to keep coming back to my mind would be..." So when are you coming back to India?"

Helping out

Ever since I have been back home, I have discovered a new trait in myself. I actually enjoy helping others out.

Today, I counselled a friend who is doing his Summer Internship, on the possibilities of defining the scope for his project. It gave me a high again to be talking about marketing. The jargon filled conversation, with the marketing lingo just coming out as if there was no tomorrow, was actually quite exhilarating. Discussing promotional mixes, price points, consumer profiles just transported me to another world. I put it down to a return to marketing jargon and the feeling of security initially, but it later turned out to be just the act of being able to help, counsel, guide someone which was the real high!

What made me realise this was the fact that I have been helping my father in a task with which he had been struggling for quite a few days. Why I had not done so before is beyond me, and now that I have spent the last 3 hours helping him out actually gives me a lot of satisfaction. But again, the common thread between these two events is that I applied myself again in a capacity to help or guide a task to completion.

The satisfaction which I derived from these tasks, has made me wonder, why during the last 2 years, I was not doing this on a regular basis. The most simple and straightforward reason which I can come up with right now is that, during the past two years, competition blinded me to a huge extent. I felt I had a point to prove to everyone. Maybe that led to a rebellious streak which could have resulted in bouts of selfishness. It led me to certain acts, which in hindsight I find intolerable. But I rest easy in the belief that at least I did realise the folly, and am now in the process of correcting myself and my behaviour.

In retrospect, I have always enjoyed myself when I have been in a position to guide others, help with my limited knowledge, and help them achieve their dreams, or achieve their targets. Doing it humbly for others, without expecting anything in return is actually a wonderful feeling. I suggest everyone tries it. For me, maybe, it is something which I can explore further.

Why

• Why does India not have a popular War memorial post Independence?
• Why do people get worked up when it comes keeping their words?
• Why does my blog never have the fluidity or the flow in its writing?
• Why do I not possess the will to write about things which keep cropping in my mind time and again?
• Why am I willing to go through other people's blogs and leave sane, intelligent and apt remarks there?
• Why do people maintain blogs?
• Why do we need structure and objectives in everything?
• Why are Indian traditions related to marriage so dependant on exchange of gifts?
• Why can i not put down my inactivity on my blog down to writer's block?
• Why am I writing this post?
• Why does each line Begin with why?

ANSWER:

This is called BHASAD...the biggest lesson I have learnt through Engineering and MBA.

(Added 21/4/08: BHASAD has been explained in the comments section mentioned below, courtesy Jaya S!!!)

All Corporate Managers should be Physically Fit

The only Group Discussion which I was not able to make it through during Day 0 of my placements at IMT was that of Vodafone. The topic of the GD was the title of this post. At that time, I was mentally tired and almost not able to think about what was going on around me. It did not help me either that my name was being called out for the Bharti Airtel interview while I was inside for the Vodafone GD. But excuses aside, a major reason behind why I did not function well mentally at that GD was a simple one : I was not physically fit!!!

It has taken me a couple of months to realise this truth, and it has been a bitter pill to swallow. But I have decided to move on. I am back to playing tennis almost daily and I am walking everyday as well. Yes, at my age it should have been jogging, but somehow I am just not able to get to that level of physical exertion as of now. So brisk walking for 40 minutes it is every evening. I do about 5 to 6 kms of it everyday ( a rough calculation) and I am feeling really fit these days.

Coming back to the topic of the GD, I totally realise now how physical fitness is so very important for a corporate manager today. It is important to feel fresh both mentally as well as physically, and I am enjoying the feeling of freshness which has come over me due to the physical exertions of the past few weeks.

Needless to say now, all corporate managers should be physically fit, and I am surely on that route now.