Final Post....atleast for sometime

I am finding it very difficult to write out posts regularly and hence I thought that I can do a more photoblog than a writing. So, you will start seeing pictures on the blog more than writing and I am aiming to be more regular on that front :)

Home.......FINALLY!!

As the last few days are being counted down before heading back to India, I have a lot of memories and lot of experiences as an employee, alien resident, tourist and father. But still, those are no good when compared to the joy and bonds that I have back, pulling me strongly to India. If someone asked me to answer without thinking, there would be no hesitation in choosing India as the place I would work and on further thinking, it still would have been my answer. My work style would be no different or less committed than what I did here, but the joy of being surrounded by reality and family is enbalming by itself. At this point, I also cherish the amount of guidance and feedback through which I can groom young minds having such a rich customer experience and variety in my stay of about 4.5 years. Sure, the money has been good, but can I choose that over what I am leaving behind? Well, I have done that long enough! Though that's not excuse to amount of exposure and experience that I have gained in the US, it's been one successful chapter in my life. I cherish the relationships and friends I have gained here, decisions I have taken (everyone seemed the best and right given the time and circumstances) and places I have visited.
But then, its still "ghar aaja pardesi tera Desh bulaye re" - here I come (July 29) :-)

Internal Feud

Its been an emotional roller-coaster ride since late January. On one hand I am trying hard to make the most of it and be as professional as possible, working hard to benefit the best interests of the organization I am working for. On the other hand, I am just being pushed around (including my family), unable to make any personal decisions, leaving me to think that my hard work in no longer a matter of consideration. Among all this is a fading ray of light of that of my boss. I go from handling a team of more than 50 members to a challenge of growing an account (which I have grown to 30 members) to struggling for allocation and loss of a good challenge of work.

No more am I included in account level activities and everyone seems to think that I can be neglected and get new people into the team for a role that I can well handle, making me taste disgust at the effort of 5 hard years that I spent into nurturing this account and treating it as the priority over everything else I was doing including my family. What have I done to deserve this?

I was supposed to have been elevated in my responsibilities due to potential, but looks like it got lost in the series of measures taken to counter the economic-tsunami. Other than my boss, everyone else has decided to forget/ignore my existence. Career-planning is non-existent in my organization and only way is to do well in what is assigned. So I am just doing what I am supposed to do while battling the grief and frustration alone, on my own and in the spare time. Will the professional be overcome by the rising wave of grief and frustration? Only time will tell!

Spicy vs. Constructive

Rumours, half baked news - this is what I read everyday in economic times. One day its TCS, next WIPRO and then Infosys. After the recent Satyam fiasco, that has managed to be a permanent fixture in the last couple of months. First it started with layoffs, then the excuses of performance based layoffs (even though this has been happening over many years and its one good way for recycling the talent in the company, the economic conditions have ensured the magnifying glass placed on this aspect) and now its the competition to honor the offer letters to candidates selected from campus. Are these 3 the only companies around? Or is this supposed to be the sampling of the industry in India? Or is this a PR game being played by pitting one against the other?
As far as I see, on the sales arena, they are up against each other for several deals....will these rumours help in securing deals? Why are not the papers looking at the industry and highlighting those aspects that will grab the attention which will lead to the betterment of the public life and standards of the economy? Like focus on the transportation issue that plagues the public life and the pressure under which they operate or the infrastructure issues of traffic, roads, etc? Maybe that is not as important and it can be fillers in a side column in the newspapers.
Me, being an insider in one of these 3 companies, can clearly see the the confusion caused by the news that is half true and the comments drawn by them. When will there be a day when i can read the papers and truly get information that will be useful rather than "masala"?

Give a chance.........

One of the commonly heard phrase in many interviews I have taken - "given a chance sir, I assure you that I can pick up the technology quickly.......I am a quick learner and a hard worker".

I am a big believer that one should not see the the deficiencies in a candidate but see how to utilize their strengths. But in this rat race with a quicker pace in new developments, where is this chance that needs to be given to someone to develop their strengths or even find out their strengths? Companies are run with such tight budgets that the "bench" we had for parking such candidates has gotten shorter and its close to being a "chair". No one wants to listen about this being an investment and those who listen can hardly fight a battle of diminishing budgets. I always feel a pinch of hurt in my heart on hearing this, since I came up from the same "town"- the difference is that I was in an era where the rat race did not have this many rats and things were just getting to heat up. So I am eternally grateful in getting more time to prove myself and getting to where I am today, while someone who maybe a million times better than me is still waiting for that "chance".

One of the ideas I have is, every program should be run like an organization - manage its revenues and costs. The training should be a joint investment by all the programs across the organization and the stake will be decided by the program owner. Based on the investment and stakes, the talent should be picked up from the training pool and yes, the training team should be accountable. I know that there are loopholes in what I propose, but those are somethings that can be plugged adn more importantly, talent is given a chance and nurtured.

News, Drama, Chaos.......

Its been about 3 months that the news has been keeping me busy at the amazing pace that its unfolding - economic collapse in the US setting off a "financial tsunami" across the world; my favourite team, San Diego Chargers, coming back from a 4-8 deficit to win the division before finally closing the season with a divisional round loss in the playoffs, Satyam disclosing fraud by the once genius business man (Chairman and MD) Ramalinga Raju, chapter 11 filings by various respected companies, election of Obama to presidency of US and discussions with many frineds and close ones on the distress caused by potential chance (sometimes without any evidence) of losing the jobs. 

And I wouldn't do justice if I do not mention the 11/26 Mumbai terror attacks that has hurt me so much to just see the destruction caused even though I am miles away in US. I was unable to sleep and was constantly on the news networks praying for it to end for misled fools had brought pain and destruction to common man who had no idea how his/her life was linked in anyway to the paradise that was tried to be achieved.

Among all this, my niece Shraddha was born, my son V turned one and a couple of my best friends have been blessed with beautiful daughters.

So much in so little time, it always amazes me when I reflect back!

New Year and Resolutions

I have a theme that I try to strictly follow for the new year - sleep through the new year's eve and hope that you can sleep that well every night for the next year. Of course, I have never validated that ever, but it gives me a sense of security every year! As for resolutions, I remember having given it up a few years ago. For most part, all of them were the same - lose weight, make more money and spend them more happily. But this year, I decided to do a few things different - try to be a better person. You may want to call it a resolution, but for me this was path on which I embarked ever since I moved to Atlanta from San Diego (just needed a significant change to "time-stamp" a cause in my life). All these days, I was chasing the silly dream of being a perfectionist at work till it dawned that a) it was limited to the group that I am working in b) it was like a magnificent flower in a pool of dirt (depicting everything in life I did not have time for). Don't get me wrong, I loved the challenges en route to that goal and loved every minute of it (even though I would not say I succeeded in reaching it), just that it did not give me the peace of mind I wanted all round.
So, I decided that I wanted to be a better person - a better father, a better husband, a better son, a better friend while also being a better worker and in being all this, I do not want one to supersede the other. Sure, I may not succeed in everything, but I will try and do justice as much to ensure that I can be at peace.

Back to blogging

Well, a year since my last post....my excuses have primarily revolved around V, P and work. I also made a slight change to my career over the last year.
Being primarily a logic and resulted oriented person (at least I would like to think so), I moved into the web of sales. I say that it's a slight change since I have been involved in many aspects of it in the past one year and now those are my only goals on the job. Its not something that I would like to have taken, but then I realize that I was very comfortable in my former role and it was time to challenge myself and see if I can do this role too. Even though many consider it going up the ladder, I still believe that one has to see all aspects of the business before being able to make decisions for the same. In a way, I am at the same level of work when I started my career in 1999. Just that, the mistakes made now hurts my ego much more which is bloated with the success of in the previous role. Man, isn't re-learning difficult; though without change how long can I survive?

And speaking of change, just when I got comfortable in SD, I had to move to Atlanta. Not that Atlanta is bad, its just that I like SD better.

And on a more sentimental note, I lost my pet dog Roxy who was with my family over the last 8 years. She was the best around during my MBA days who patiently listened to my presentation practices, debates, frustrations and my dreams. Even though I have been away from her over the last 4 years, it is going to be hard for me to forget her.

"You have truly been a great companion and security for me and i hope God has greater and better things planned for you! I love you and will never forget you Roxy!!"