Back to the campus, or so I thought, last Friday afternoon.
The security procedures at the gate were the same. The trees were all there. The blooms were still there. Every nook and cranny looked familiar. The bookshop was just overflowing with new arrivals. The library bookshelves still bulged with books. There was a “Hogwarts-in-the first-week-of-school” air about the campus. Posters giving directions to “Mars”, a campus students’ store, were all over the place. The beautiful big football ground had a big pile of sacks dumped in the center, on the makeshift “cricket pitch”. Construction seemed to have reached out further right trying to stretch its arms towards the Tennis court. Suddenly, the familiar campus looked so alien and strange, in just about a month. The smiles and faces were different and unfamiliar. There was lots of energy and activity on the campus. Busloads of triumphant-looking PGPs were trooping in, after a field visit, in their first week’s stay in the campus. The friendly, smiling “bhaiyya” at the Amul kiosk was the same. There were hundreds of saplings, stored opposite the kiosk, waiting to be planted by the new kids on the block. But, everything being the same, there was something that was very different - the faces I sought - those were missing. The EB block looked so eerie and empty, as if it joined in my sense of loss.
As I walked out of the hostel, towards the amphitheater, deliberately taking the path that leads to the “Garden seat below the trees”, the strains of this familiar song played on in my mind.
“Oh when I look back now
That summer seemed to last forever
And if I had the choice
Yeah - I'd always wanna be there
Those were the best days of my life…….
I knew that it was now or never
those were the best days of my life
Back in the summer of 69……..
We needed to unwind
I guess nothing' can last forever - forever, no, yeah
And now the times are changing'
Look at everything that's come and gone……..
I guess nothing' can last forever - forever, no,yeah”
I could almost see Pragnya strumming her guitar and a motley bunch of us jamming alongside her, the brave hearts going for their daily run, the not-so-brave on their quiet walks around the place, groups of people hanging out at Chai Unchai, at Athica’s and at Amul, picking up their orders from the serving window, delivered with smiles, …………. a sudden gust of Shruthi’s throaty opera singing just floated in on the air…..Prof. Prabhu on his scooter, YLR on his daily walk…. fading strains of Baishali’s rendition of “lobe beel keep us alibe”…….
As I walked past the MDC, I just paused to look out for a hint of the MDC Woods. As if in reaffirmation, I could see the twinkling of the fairy lights (though it was still 6 in the evening) and I thought I heard Aparna sing -
“Na Jaane Kyun, Hota Hai Yeh Zindagi Ke Saath
achaanak Yeh Mann, Kisike Jaane Ke Baad
kare Phir Uski Yaad Chhoti Chhoti Si Baat
na Jaane Kyun ...
jo Anjaan Pal, Dhal Gaye Kal,
Aaj Wohrang Badal Badal, Mann Ko Machal Machal
rahen Hai Chal,.....
wohi Hai Dagar, Wohi Hai Safar
hai Nahin Saath Mere Magar Ab Mera Humsafar
idhar Udhar Dhoonde Nazar Wohi Hai Dagar
kahan Gayi Shaamein, Madhbhari
woh Mere, Mere Woh Din Gaye Kidhar
na Jaane Kyun ...”
I really pinched my goose-pimpled hand hard enough to almost let out a small scream. Was I really imagining all that!
Like the wise, old men said it all, “You can never get into the same river twice”. But then, like they also say, maybe you can take us out of a place, but you can’t take the place out of us……
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
How (not?) to catch a mouse.
- Catch a mouse by its whiskers. (Mooch nahin tho (chooha) kooch nahin!).
- Beg, borrow or steal your neighbour’s cat till mission is accomplished.
- Leave around lots of soaked, seasoned beans as bait. At least, chasing the mouse with a trap, will be easier, since you can hear it wherever it goes.
- Improvised 3. Leave bait in a mouse trap. Instead of the trap closing in on the mouse, improvise it for spraying a foul-smelling substance on the mouse. You will have a choo(h)a(a)chooth (Untouchable), walking into your trap, pretty soon, of its own accord. Social ostracism to your advantage.
- Improvised 4. Using latest technology. Use bait and strap the mouse with an RFID tag – at least tracking becomes easier.
DISCLAIMER: The author does not subscribe to any such crazy ideas on the premise that it is either a gross violation of animal rights or a grosser violation of human sensibilities.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Random thoughts on Silence
They say the Universe began with the Word and will end the day it melts into silence. Just wondering how life on earth starts with silence and ends in silence.... and how many feelings and stances in life, silence can convey, so effortlessly, in the days in between. Music systems worldwide, classical and otherwise have always had a very hallowed place for silence. Yet different cultures and different times seem to accord different status to its place in our lives. Asian cultures traditionally seem to have a deep-seated reverence to silence, whilst the Western world seems to look at it as a void that must be filled up as soon as possible, even before it is detected. Popular culture seems to associate negative connotations of rudeness or inadequacy with it.
As a child, when I went to my father with a request (not brave enough for a plea) to send me on the school picnic or college study tour, his silence said it all.
I remember when I was still engaged to be married, my nightly ritual of a long-distance call to my fiancé comprised of a large dose of intermittent silence. After a long hard day’s work, to both of us, that silence was more eloquent than anything else between us. We were actually OK with burning huge holes in our pockets to hear each other’s silence!
When talking of conflict resolution, people suggest talking things out across a table. What do you discuss with a person who intentionally hurts or harms you or undercuts you? What use any words, other than hotting up each other’s tempers? Silence is the weapon of choice here. Strange isn’t it, this concept of silence as a weapon?
Silence is the accompaniment for meditation of the highest levels. Whatever else people do to express their faith or communicate with worldly and other-worldly powers, silence is the ultimate accomplice in this act. Eckhart Tolle in his “Power of Now” talks of gaps in your thoughts – isn’t he referring to the silence of our minds? Is this, what learned minds across timezones and from times immemorial told us about looking inside of us – to find our real selves. So, is silence in a way, a mirror to our real selves?
As a child, when I went to my father with a request (not brave enough for a plea) to send me on the school picnic or college study tour, his silence said it all.
I remember when I was still engaged to be married, my nightly ritual of a long-distance call to my fiancé comprised of a large dose of intermittent silence. After a long hard day’s work, to both of us, that silence was more eloquent than anything else between us. We were actually OK with burning huge holes in our pockets to hear each other’s silence!
When talking of conflict resolution, people suggest talking things out across a table. What do you discuss with a person who intentionally hurts or harms you or undercuts you? What use any words, other than hotting up each other’s tempers? Silence is the weapon of choice here. Strange isn’t it, this concept of silence as a weapon?
Silence is the accompaniment for meditation of the highest levels. Whatever else people do to express their faith or communicate with worldly and other-worldly powers, silence is the ultimate accomplice in this act. Eckhart Tolle in his “Power of Now” talks of gaps in your thoughts – isn’t he referring to the silence of our minds? Is this, what learned minds across timezones and from times immemorial told us about looking inside of us – to find our real selves. So, is silence in a way, a mirror to our real selves?
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Breakfast Table Entrepreneurs.
Dedicated to my friend SriVidhya
(Thank you for being my muse, you set me thinking on this).
I am a Breakfast Table Entrepreneur (BTE, for short) and I have no qualms admitting this. You must have heard of Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs – mind you, we Breakfast Table Entrepreneurs, though ubiquitous, are not some kind of poor, country cousins of the former. We struggle just as hard or even harder. Well, let me just explain this for you.
Even before the next operating cycle starts, we start all over again from a visioning exercise that leads us to examining the past, assessing the present and seeing where we want to be. This decides what our target for growth is and a detailed brainstorming leads us to our product offering and Market Mix. Even the BCG Matrix falls short at arriving at this magical mix! Mind you, again, this is not a one-off exercise. This happens fresh for every Operating cycle and don’t let your jaws drop – we operate on daily cycles. This is followed by checking up on stock and Inventory and Work-In-Progress, optimizing production to match the super-optimal, Just-in-time Inventory. This is Supply chain Management, stripped of its esoteric appeal, at its practical best. Our products have very low shelf-appeal (though shelf-life is much longer) and break-even is a daily goal. External forces like the demand-supply dynamics definitely affect our functioning. Feasibility Analysis for the chosen offering and operating cycle is done from different perspectives, from produce to platter and thereafter, to add depth to the exercise, every single day.
Production is a multi-level, multi-tasked, parallel-processing activity. This is where labour has to be handled very deftly. Managing people sounds so easy on paper – just try handling these paper tigers on a daily basis! That’s when you curse yourself for not having done a Management Program specializing in Human Behaviour and Labour Relations.
What’s a product without a consumer? You think having a captive customer means a high-resolution pen profile – where every like/ dislike/ preference of his is known to you, where positioning your offering to him is a cakewalk. Whoever says a cakewalk is easy? Try even imagining plodding on through the gooey mass… Anyway, you do all your planning and strategizing to fit your offering into a segment (which you think is very niche!), offer a highly differentiated product and peddle multi-pronged benefits on a platter. And you wait for reaping the benefits of being in a niche segment! Far from it - the battle is still on, for higher acceptance and customer satisfaction and loyalty, though not for a higher market share.
Marketing takes on a whole new meaning here, because the product is its own talking point, unless you follow Table Etiquette very strictly. Viral marketing has no place here, you would not want to be caught dead, parlaying with the germs. The Internet, at its best, can be a business enabler, nothing more. The mobile though emerging as a major marketing tool elsewhere, fails miserably here, except for its Alarm and Clock functions, which anyway are not mobile-specific features. Power lunches and Power breakfasts are loaded with Negotiations and your demonstration of your strongest Persuasion skills. The force of the Bargaining Power of the Customer can actually be seen here, to be believed and to be contended with. Which Business Development Teams of FORTUNE 500 companies wouldn’t want you on board, for precisely these skill sets that you display so casually and effortlessly, every single day?
Legal and taxation issues are best left undiscussed for fear of setting off a wave of paranoia amongst the Entrepreneurial community. Thankfully, suing producers for falling short of customer satisfaction has not touched this space as yet, but you never know. It would be prudent to keep open multiple Customer Grievance Redressal channels to mitigate this high risk. Almost like running a Call Center.
For the BTE, there are no VCs, no angel-investors in this space, not even Incubation Cells. The BTE has to jump straight from the planning table, literally into the fire (well, in front of it). That’s what the BTE has anyway, a fire-in-the-belly, like no other class of Entrepreneurs.
Networks exist, but only as fonts of information. Ultimately, the BTE has to learn the ropes of the trade, literally by burning her fingers.
But, the ROI that BTEs realise makes it worth it all for them. It is when the two extremities of the line that stubbornly stays flat at most times (even during high growth period ) steep upwards and when the thumb and the pointer fingers break into a “Big O”, that’s when you know that you have arrived as a ” Breakfast Table Entrepreneur”, at last!!!
(Thank you for being my muse, you set me thinking on this).
I am a Breakfast Table Entrepreneur (BTE, for short) and I have no qualms admitting this. You must have heard of Kitchen Table Entrepreneurs – mind you, we Breakfast Table Entrepreneurs, though ubiquitous, are not some kind of poor, country cousins of the former. We struggle just as hard or even harder. Well, let me just explain this for you.
Even before the next operating cycle starts, we start all over again from a visioning exercise that leads us to examining the past, assessing the present and seeing where we want to be. This decides what our target for growth is and a detailed brainstorming leads us to our product offering and Market Mix. Even the BCG Matrix falls short at arriving at this magical mix! Mind you, again, this is not a one-off exercise. This happens fresh for every Operating cycle and don’t let your jaws drop – we operate on daily cycles. This is followed by checking up on stock and Inventory and Work-In-Progress, optimizing production to match the super-optimal, Just-in-time Inventory. This is Supply chain Management, stripped of its esoteric appeal, at its practical best. Our products have very low shelf-appeal (though shelf-life is much longer) and break-even is a daily goal. External forces like the demand-supply dynamics definitely affect our functioning. Feasibility Analysis for the chosen offering and operating cycle is done from different perspectives, from produce to platter and thereafter, to add depth to the exercise, every single day.
Production is a multi-level, multi-tasked, parallel-processing activity. This is where labour has to be handled very deftly. Managing people sounds so easy on paper – just try handling these paper tigers on a daily basis! That’s when you curse yourself for not having done a Management Program specializing in Human Behaviour and Labour Relations.
What’s a product without a consumer? You think having a captive customer means a high-resolution pen profile – where every like/ dislike/ preference of his is known to you, where positioning your offering to him is a cakewalk. Whoever says a cakewalk is easy? Try even imagining plodding on through the gooey mass… Anyway, you do all your planning and strategizing to fit your offering into a segment (which you think is very niche!), offer a highly differentiated product and peddle multi-pronged benefits on a platter. And you wait for reaping the benefits of being in a niche segment! Far from it - the battle is still on, for higher acceptance and customer satisfaction and loyalty, though not for a higher market share.
Marketing takes on a whole new meaning here, because the product is its own talking point, unless you follow Table Etiquette very strictly. Viral marketing has no place here, you would not want to be caught dead, parlaying with the germs. The Internet, at its best, can be a business enabler, nothing more. The mobile though emerging as a major marketing tool elsewhere, fails miserably here, except for its Alarm and Clock functions, which anyway are not mobile-specific features. Power lunches and Power breakfasts are loaded with Negotiations and your demonstration of your strongest Persuasion skills. The force of the Bargaining Power of the Customer can actually be seen here, to be believed and to be contended with. Which Business Development Teams of FORTUNE 500 companies wouldn’t want you on board, for precisely these skill sets that you display so casually and effortlessly, every single day?
Legal and taxation issues are best left undiscussed for fear of setting off a wave of paranoia amongst the Entrepreneurial community. Thankfully, suing producers for falling short of customer satisfaction has not touched this space as yet, but you never know. It would be prudent to keep open multiple Customer Grievance Redressal channels to mitigate this high risk. Almost like running a Call Center.
For the BTE, there are no VCs, no angel-investors in this space, not even Incubation Cells. The BTE has to jump straight from the planning table, literally into the fire (well, in front of it). That’s what the BTE has anyway, a fire-in-the-belly, like no other class of Entrepreneurs.
Networks exist, but only as fonts of information. Ultimately, the BTE has to learn the ropes of the trade, literally by burning her fingers.
But, the ROI that BTEs realise makes it worth it all for them. It is when the two extremities of the line that stubbornly stays flat at most times (even during high growth period ) steep upwards and when the thumb and the pointer fingers break into a “Big O”, that’s when you know that you have arrived as a ” Breakfast Table Entrepreneur”, at last!!!
Monday, June 15, 2009
Midnight Muse
Poems for my daughter Ananya
(written for her, inspired by her, when she was a month old)
Who are you?Who are you, my darling?
What tidings do you bring?
Where do you come from?
Where do you have to go?
When today was still unborn
Where were you, my life's breath?
When today will be gone
Where and how will you be (after I'm gone)
What made you come to me?
Who showed you to me?
Have we met before somewhere, sometime?
Will we meet again, after we part this time?
What is it that makes you part of me, but separate
That you belong to me, but are not mine?
Are you -
a lost angel looking for your lost world and your lost wings?
Gentle Stirrings.
Like the gentle stirring in the bosom of the woods
When the first light of dawn warms a million beating hearts within
Like the sudden burst of colour on a dreary, rainy day
When the wind blows away wisps of gossamer cloud as He shines through
Like a little pink bud shaking all over with dew
Waking up for a new day, bathed and cleansed
My baby stirs up, from a restful repast.
(2001)
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