Day 146 - Building The Team!

I write this, while I recover from the exertions of the previous day.  The previous day, was a very enjoyable day spent with my team at an offsite doing a lot of team building activities.

The entire last week was spent chasing various people to get things in place for Saturday, including budget approvals for the do.  Finally we were ready for Saturday; Deven and Sagar doing a great job!

I was picked up in the morning by Roshan, as I did not have my car.  Poor Rampyaari, is in the workshop after I did not notice a pillar in the office parking lot and backed up into it, leaving a huge eye sore on the driver's door!  The seven'o clock start did not deter the team to be there on time to make the trip to Karnala, some of them not having gone back home the previous night as they were doing the US / late EMEA shifts.  I was impressed!

We started the game of Antakshari as soon as the bus started and were singing till we reached the destination, ably led by Renita, Vishakha, Bhaskar and other enthusiasts.  As soon as we reached the resort, I realised why the resort was named as Panaromic Resorts.  It afforded a panaromic view of the famous 'Thumb-Point'!  After quickly freshening up and having breakfast no. 2 (the first one being in the bus itself!) consisting of poha and crispy medu vadas, all of us trudged to the conference room for the serious business of the townhall.  I spoke about the priorities for the year for the team for about 40 minutes.  I hope the team appreciated the effort as well as the key messages in my talk. 

One of the reasons of this exercise was to get everyone within the team to know eachother.  I was shocked to find out over the period of the last few months that even within this team of 70, people did not necessarily know eachother; some did not even know the names of some of their own colleagues.  After my talk, we did an interesting exercise of everyone introducing a colleague of theirs to the entire audience.  This was well recieved.  The idea was to promote the motto of 'One Team, No Boundaries!' and gradually ingrain it in the behaviours of the team.

After lunch, myself, Deven, Arshan and Sagar conducted a couple of team building exercises which had key takeways for the team.  I did see the dawn of realisation in some of the eyes when doing the takeaways session.  After these 'work-play' sessions, the everyone was free to spend their time as they wanted to for the rest of the evening before we returned from the resort.  Water slides and the pool beckoned some; some fell for their love of under-arm cricket.

Having exhausted themselves by doing these physical activities for a couple of hours, everybody then began to gather around the bar counter for a drink.  The DJ was playing load music by now as well, probably happy at being of use for only the second time during the day!  Gradually the entire team gathered at the place and had a blast for an hour and half dancing to popular Hindi, Punjabi and English songs.  I think there was a Tamil song as well in between; who can resist 'Appudi Podu Podu....'!  The team was enjoying the dancing and drinking so much, that we kept on extending the last song for the day for about half an hour.  Finally, I had close the day, regretfully so. 

Tired and exhausted, everyone hopped on to the bus to make the journey back home; half of them wishing that the day could go on and on; only of the do had been an overnight one, etc, etc.  The only sad part of the day was at the end when a colleague, a teetotaller, had had too much to drink, of course, at the insistence of yours truly and others.  The sleep on the way back in the bus, however, did wonders for him and he was fit and fine by the time the bus reached Powai.  He ended up driving his car home, dropping atleast 3 people on his way!

What a day!  The greatest moments for me were when I saw people who had never spoken to eachother starting to speak to eachother.  By the end of the day, I could see the happy camaraderie amongst the people who hitherto had not known eachother. 

A good start to building a great team.  A team that can fight.  A team that can win.

One WINNING Team; No Boundaries.  Take care.

Day 140 - A Heartless City

Remember the famous Johny Walker song of yesteryears!?

....Kahin building, kahin traame, kahin motor, kahin mill

Milta hai yahan sab kuchh, ik milta nahin dil

Insaan ka nahin, kahin naam-o-nishaan

Zara hat ke zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombay (Mumbai) meri jaan

Aye dil hai.....

How apt!  And this was written so many years ago!  Off late, I have been thinking that Mumbai has changed and the change has only been for the worse.  Mumbai no longer has that old world charm.  Neither does it have a heart anymore.  I say this having seen Mumbai for the last six months, and after a gap of about seven years.  The biggest change that I do see in Mumbai is in the people.  Even seven years ago, I thought the population of Mumbai was a very happy community, opening their arms wide to welcome outsiders, being very accomodating and helpful to others even when living by the barest minimum.  There was a sense of camaraderie in the entire population.

Unfortunately, it is no longer the case.  Some might say, 'This is not news.  Johny Walker already told us so years ago'!  But to me, this is definitely significant, because it has come as a rude shock to me that this is no longer the old Mumbai, that I knew. 

I have been observing how people in Mumbai react in different circumstances over the past few months.  And the biggest thing that strikes me is that 'I' and 'Me' are the most important beings for the people of Mumbai these days.  In the streets, it is a mad rush, with the single objective of being the first and the fastest.  Forget lane discipline, everyone tries to squeeze into the smallest of space available on the roads, often resorting to 'elbowing out' the others.  Nobody stops for anybody else.  Patience is not a word which is very popular on the streets in Mumbai.

Elsewhere, people come to blows at the slightest of provocations, or even the lack of it.  And these behavioural traits seem to be consistent across all types of people and all sections of the society.  It is amazing that the tolerance levels of an entire city has collectively diminished.  Friends no longer just meet.  It takes months to plan a meeting with good friends!  The spirit of Mumbai is often lauded.  I am very sorry to say, there is no such thing in the social fabric of Mumbai today.

How and why has this happened?  It could be a combination of many factors.  First and foremost, the population growth and the inability of the city's infrastructure to cope with it.  This puts so much pressure on an individual to just get by his / her day to day activities, resulting in him / her being on the edge, always.  Second, and probably a offshoot of the population growth, is the competition.  And couple that with limited opportunities.  Naturally, 'I', 'Me' and 'Myself' becomes the most important being.  Third, the world has become a small place, resulting in making us more cruel and heartless.  As we interact more with the western world, the 'Self' keeps becoming the most important thing.  Even if just to copy the westerners.  Everything is wanted instantly.  Everything is needed instantly.  There is no time to wait.

Last, but by no means the least, is the repeated assaults on Mumbai's psyche by riots and terrorist attacks.  These have resulted in a general sense of mistrust that people have for each other.  Everyone is looked at with suspicion.

People in Mumbai live on the edge, perenially.  I think this city and its metamorphosis is a great case study for sociologists.  But I do crave for the Mumbai of the past, which had an old world charm around it.

Take care.

Day 133 - A Boring World Cup

Do you know that the T20 World Cup is on?  If yes, do you even care?  Is too much cricket killing the game?  Why do I get a strange feeling that the way the game is run today by administrators worldwide is eerily similar to the famous story of the goose which laid a golden egg every day?

The current T20 World Cup is a boring affair.  There are many reasons for it:

• It has been scheduled immediately after the IPL extravaganza, which this year was even more hyped due to the off-field goings on.  It is quite difficult to root for the players playing for different countries, when a few weeks back they were all in the same team.  I think there should have been a cooling off period after the IPL.  Moreover, we just had two months of non-stop cricket culminating in the Chennai Super Kings winning the IPL.  Some more cricket?  Naaah.  The players are tired; so are the spectators.
• The World Cup is being held in the West Indies.  Now, I am aware that in the past the West Indies were a strong force in cricket.  However, I am also aware that in the last few years the carribeans have tended to follow other sports more like football and basketball and cricket has been on the decline.  The rains are another problem here.  The West Indies gets unseasonal rains all the time.  Hence, many matches are getting affected.  Resorting to the Duckworth Lewis rule repeatedly to decide the fate of a match is the ultimate way to kill the game.  Moreover, the timings for the matches are weird late night ones.  I know that they have treid to schedule the matches early in the morning to catch the Indian TV audience after work.  However that works only for the first match of the day.  If it is a double header, I would be interested in knowing the TRPs for the second match late in the night.
• Another reason for the World Cup to seem boring is the performance of the Indian team.  Cricket fatigue is probably taking its toll on the players.  So, is the inability to adjust to the wickets in the Carribean.  It is a selfish reason, but isn't that natural? World Cups are played on the premise of national loyalties.

I am intentionally not mentioning the other oft-spoken reason for the Indian team not doing well in the World Cup.  Money.  There isn't enough in the World Cup compared to the IPL.  But I think, money cannot be a bigger consideration to joy and pride of representing your country.  But then, I might be wrong.

Personally the last week was interesting for me.  Friday and Saturday were especially enjoyable.  Friday due to the news that Suryanksh got the admission in Bombay Scottish School!  Couldn't wait to get back home to kick off the celebrations (pizza party at Papa John's).  However it took me 60 minutes to cover the 3.5 kms from office to home, because of the insane traffic at peak hours in Mumbai.  Saturday was good as well.  The townhall was well conducted and I am told that my presentation and speech was also well recieved.  Had a good time dancing with the team after the presentations, though a lot my bones did complain the next day morning.

I expect this week to be busy as well.  Have a few hurdles to cross this week.  If I get through them without any major blowups, I will be a relieved man by the end of the week.

More about that, next week.  Take care.

Day 124 - Weekend Mania

A weekend comprises the two traditionally non-working days in a seven-day week.  This is the Wikipedia definition for the term 'weekend'.

Wondering why is this the subject of my post today?  Simple....the term is all over the place.  Just look at your Facebook news feed and there is a torrent of 'sigh of reliefs' caused by the onset of the weekend!  Go to any workplace on a Friday and the atmosphere is so very lively caused just by the anticipation of the upcoming weekend!  Everyone is found wishing eachother a good weekend!  There are weekend getaway holiday packages being sold by almost all the travel portals and operators.  Long weekends (when one or more additional adjacent day to the weekend is also a holiday) are cause for festive cheer and sometimes delirious celebrations! 'TGIF' (Thank God It's Friday) is a common and well known phrase; even a brand representing the idea of taking time off and relaxing.  Sunday evening is dreaded the most as Monday morning lurks close by.  I find this a very strange (and interesting!) phenomenon.  I call it the 'Weekend Mania'. 

Even about 8 - 10 years ago, this phenomenon was unheard of.  I do not recall looking forward to the weekend during the early years of my work life.  Nor do I recall anybody else lamenting that the weekend was too far away!  In fact I used to hate most of the weekends because I would not have anything to do.  Of course, I did travel a bit during the weekend, went on treks and caught up with friends and family.  But I missed being at the workplace.

So what has changed?  I am no sociologist, but I believe a few questions would need answers when we dwell on what might have changed.  Are we are driving ourselves too hard?  Is it the case that competition at all levels is ensuring that everyone puts in their best efforts all the time?  There is no let up.  The pressure is just too much.  Either you slog and go up or you get left behind.  But then, I remember, this was always the case.  Is it that the younger generations have been pampered by chunky starting salaries at the start of their careers, causing them to think about concepts like 'work life balance' (the phrase deserves a whole post for itself) rather than worrying about slogging and earning their way up?

Another angle to this is that 'weekend' is a foreign term to India, imported into the corporate lives of Indians gradually over the last decade, as Indians started engaging with the western world more and more, due to the economy opening up.  'It is almost weekend' has become a very well-used phrase for bonding across boundaries, suggesting that 'I am as tired as you'.  A few years ago, it was normal to go to work on a Saturday, for some a half day, but still a work day.  Nowadays, the idea of working on a Saturday is frowned upon; do not even suggest a working Sunday.

The jury is still out on whether this is a healthy trend or otherwise.  The weekend is generally meant to be spent with friends and family and doing things which are important to you.  The assumption is that it is a contributor to improving the quality of our personal lives.  It is time meant to be spent bonding with those who are special to us.  I wonder if that is really the case, looking at the increasing divorce rates, suicide cases, fractured families and dysfunctional relationships.

Oops...the weekend is almost over.  Need to prepare for tomorrow and wait in anticipation for the next weekend.

Take care.