Make a difference......

Andhra mess..... Once quiet, but now a noisy little food joint close to my office caters to the IT folks who crowd in during Noon for lunch.

We are a group of friends who frequent this place once or twice a month for sure. We all have different preferences in meal usually. One friend of mine loves peanut powder, another does not have curd, I don't usually take rice, instead ask for extra Rotis, another friend likes to have sugar soon after the usually spicy meal.

Usually we place orders for "All Veg meals" and when the waiter comes over to serve, we give out our preferences.

I never knew that he knew our tastes by heart... He ensured that sugar was kept on the table, extra rotis were brought in, and peanut powder took a place in our table. We are all still amazed about the memory power that this person who serves close to hundred people a day has and how much of an impact it has on us, his valuable customers.

Later when we were talking about it, we realized that a lot of us meet a lot of people in shops who knew our tastes exactly and would give us what we want. These people do not get any rewards or benefits, but just the satisfaction of having done their jobs, rather mastered their jobs...

I cant help thinking about people in high-end jobs who do not really master this art of remembering to think about the other person's interest... still they get paid much more... appreciated much more... cared for much more...

It is the same set of people who fail to recognize the small niceties extended to them by people who have not been fortunate enough in life to be their peers in terms of money and work style.

I think we all should start appreciating the niceties extended by a shop keeper, baker, fruit seller, grocery storekeeper, launderer and other people without whose services our own work life would majorly get affected.

I have seen people complaining about cost for all these services sky-rocketing... Think about it... We all wont mind a reasonable big number as salary hike every year .... :-)

So lets pay due respect and appreciate all those who make our life easy, although be it in a very small way. This will probably make someone's day.....

They say , "Small things make a huge difference most of the times"..

Outlook in Life...

Yes, right... I am talking about Outlook... the role of Microsoft Outlook in work life..

Yesterday when someone asked me, if I would be available on Thursday morning for a discussion, it took me a while to realise that I had no idea whatsoever of my appointments on Thursday.... I had to rush to my desk to look at my Outlook calendar to say "I am free on Thursday morning"...

I sat back thinking about this... Its never happened with me... I am known to remember my appointments, phone numbers, task lists, email ids and of course birthdays....I once used to argue with people that if you prioritize 'People', you cant really forget these things...what's happening now?

Outlook is everything at work....
You have a task to finish, enter it in Outlook..
You have a birthday wish to send, mark it in Outlook...
You need a contact number, look it up in Outlook...
You want to see a message from a friend, check your Outlook...
You want to write to a friend, compose it in Outlook.....
You have to meet someone, save it in Outlook...
You have a discussion, etch it in Outlook and send invites to people....
You have to store some information, scribble it in a draft and keep it as long as you want...
You want to remind someone of something, flag a follow-up on Outlook....

So, everything.. just about everything that you need to do, is dependent on Microsoft Outlook.. The Outlook, kind of, defines how much people are working these days...

Every day....

• An over-flowing mail box with two emails from friends, one of which is usually a forward and the other is a "hello, how are you? Long time.. no see/hear.. what's up?" email....
• An Outlook calendar with back-to-back meeting appointments, some of them important, some of them name-sakes, some of them which are usually bound to get cancelled/postponed and some of them which can be skipped....all of which are usually accepted most of the times...
• A task list which usually runs to lengths....
• Reminders that pop-up as the system clock ticks by each day....

Without these, life at work is not complete...

What if one day, just one day, for some reason unknown, Outlook stops working in companies all over the world... ????

No emails, No notifications, No reminders, No phone calls, No meetings : No one knows the task list, No one has any clue about meetings, No one has any phone number recorded anywhere else, No one has any information on what happened to all the work that they finished...

If Nothing of this happens, there is practically NOTHING that happens at work desk in a software company... so also, I guess everyone will be on a paid holiday, much more relaxed and will use the native super computer - that is, the BRAIN much more..... Life at work will change for the better.. :-)
I also am tempted to mention:

May be, the "whatever" council/body/committee will declare "Outlook day" where Microsoft Outlook will not be functional in their offices.... I have to admit that there will be an email flood across the world saying : " Tomorrow Outlook will not be functional. Please take proactive measures and send all emails that you would need to send tomorrow by End of the Calendar day ( 23 hours 59 minutes) tonight. Request you to ensure that your business does not get affected. Have a happy "Outlook Day". Thank you for your cooperation. Best regards. "

And one will end up thinking " Why on earth do I have to put up with this ? Just do away with this Outlook free day and I'll be better off with my own mails, task lists, calendars and contact lists and spend less of my brain.....:-)

All said, it is Outlook that makes my life at work better, just because, the moment I come inside office, my brain instructs me to open my mail box.. Now that my brain is tuned to Outlook, I guess, I salute Microsoft for its Noble work as I am plunging into the whirlpool of emails today..... :-)

Wonder what my superiors think of their email boxes?? :-) May be : Behind every manager's success there is people, attitude, and of course Outlook. :-)

IT Highway

This morning, when I was commuting to office in the company-provided deluxe bus ( High platform, Cushioned Chairs, Comfortable leg-space, Air conditioned, the local FM radio channel ) I was curious to see how much longer my bus has to wait in the heavy traffic. So I stood up and gave a quick glance to see that the road was completely packed with buses like the one I was travelling in. There were a few cars, quite a number of city cabs, a very few bikes and a few maxi cabs. No cycles or pedestrians in this part of the city at this particular time of the day, as you just cannot expect to wade your way by a bike or walk, through the very heavy, heavy-vehicle traffic.

I was glad that I don't drive a car - as in this city's traffic, you would be one among the rare herd of people who love to drive to work in an office that is out of the city - and certainly am not the kind.

I also noticed that people in most of the cabs, cars and buses dozed off... I wont blame them for it as they probably wake up very early to take the bus to office at 6:45A.M and catch up on the lost sleep in the bus. But coming to think of it, where is the morning freshness, where is the morning briskness, where is the morning speed and efficiency that we have all been taught so much in school?

While I was still wondering about the missing early morning enthusiasm in most of us, - thanks to IT life - my bus reached my office and it was time to get down the bus and get into the wonderful office space that I have. I get down the bus and didn't fail to notice the slow walk and dull faces and extremely slow paced ID swipes... I try not to question.. but can't help at times...

Why is the speed so low?
Is it traffic? Is it work? Is it life style? Is it practice? Is it home life? Is it chilling out? Is it relaxed mind state? Is it weather? Is it the I-don't-care attitude? Is it I-don't-have-life-outside-work nature? Is it plain boredom?

As a contrast, if you look at people working in other sectors, there seems to be a better briskness expressed, among the very fewer luxuries that their work life has to offer them. There is no plush office space, there is no transport, if at all there is, there is definitely no AC transport, there is no flexible working hours, there is no Friday evening excuse, there is no.. let's just say, a lot of other things..

I have no clue what fits into the description of a very slow IT professional with all the luxuries.. But I surely know that IT highway today got me thinking...and that this kind of pace is not good for the supposed-to-be young and energetic crowd.

Gulab Jamoon in Bangalore

I know you picked up this topic because you love Gulab jamoon or are curious to know what this post is all about....

Last Saturday, I was in a shopping mall in Bangalore. After a two-hour long roam, my friend and I decided to eat at the food court. We chose the juice and dessert corner and placed orders.
While I was still waiting for the sugar cane juice that I ordered, I was scanning the display shelves. It is a nice past time if you are the kind who will appreciate decor.

Wall papers with fruits and cake pictures, glass shelves with fruits made out of wax, a display shelf with lots of freshly baked cakes and some sweets....I stopped right there... it was not just another sweet.... it was my favorite Gulab Jamoon.... :-)

For people who do not know about Gulab Jamoon, it is an Indian sweet which at its best, is brownish red in color, soaked in Sugar Syrup, very soft to bite into, and tastes very sweet usually. It takes about an hour to make 30 pieces of this sweet and costs INR 6:00 to INR 10:00 in any restaurant or a shop that sells sweets. Google can help you better on this reference..

I love Gulab Jamoons... There is no limit to the number I eat at a time and there is no definite time of the day or night when it comes to tasting Jamoons.

For a minute, I was tempted to buy, though I knew it for a fact that among the other things that I have ordered that evening, this sweet would add too many calories and it may not go well with the rest of the items... While I was still thinking, I happened to glance at the price of the sweet. It was Rs.49( seven times!!!!!!! more than the usual price)...

I picked up my sugar cane juice, sat down at a fair distance from the shelf and pondered about the cost and the fact that many of the customers were willing to pay that high a price for a sweet that can cost upto 20 rupees at the maximum.

May be this is how the calculation was done:
Pro-rated cost of Air-Condition in the mall + Pro-rated cost of the glazed glass name plate stating "Gulab Jamoon"+ Pro-rated cost of refrigerator display shelf + Pro-rated cost of maintenance of the sweet corner+ Pro-rated making charges + Pro-rated cost of the bright lamp in the display shelf that made the Jamoon look truly attractive + Cost of the actual Jamoon = Rs. 49!!!!!

May be, just may be this is how the cost Math was done, otherwise, I don't see any other work- around to arrive at this huge number for my favorite Gulab Jamoon.

Splash on Confusion

• Realising that you are confused takes you close to the solution.
• Five steps to solve confusion : Identify, Confirm, Prioritize, Think, and Act
• Confusion is more like a muddy puddle of water.. It takes some time to sediment.
• Confusion implies that clarity is round the corner.
• Re-check if it is really confusion or just an interesting problem that needs your time and attention.

The joy of satisfaction.........

I chanced to visit a village (About 100 km from the city) recently. When I was about to leave, I asked if there is any transport from the village to the nearest town from where I can take another bus to go to the city. The villager was very helpful in directing me to the bus station. There was no bus shelter as such, but from the crowd there, I guessed it should be the bus station.

The villager went on to tell me about the "nice school" ( the only school there), the "main hospital" ( the only health clinic in the village where nurses were always available and doctors come in at a definite time), the regular buses, the future plans to have a doctor's office and house after the ongoing temple construction ( One Crore budget) gets over, and that the village will soon become a town.

The sparkle in his eyes, when he said this, showed how much he loved the place and how satisfied he is in the current promise that the future holds, for the village and its residents. They all were permanent residents, though the children of the households are currently settled in cities and some, even out of India.

The villagers had their own mini vegetable garden and every house had a well. For their shopping needs they took the bus to the nearest town. The bus plies between the town and the village, every two or three hours. So they are very happy to say that they have a means of transport to reach the town. They have a school that had teachers teaching all days and a hospital which as the villager put it, is the best, one could trust for treatments.

I stood there amazed..... It is said, Ignorance is Bliss.. I did not know the context, nor do I want to Google for it now, because I think I understood the context now....

We live in cities where every lane has a school, every cross road has a hospital and every second lane has a bus stop.We people know so much about what is happening in the world today and we know the ways and means to improve our knowledge, which makes it difficult for us to stay contented and happy.

This villager did not know or is ignorant about the scientific, economic, and social advances outside his own village. So he is not aware of the benefits or qualms that they bring in. Thus he is a happy man.. :-)

The urbanite knows all that he wants, knows the advantages and the 'not-so-good' aspects of the socio-economic-scientific advances, knows that he needs to grow and keep growing, but does not know all that he has. The villager lives a contented life as long as he is alive as he does not know that there is more to what he thinks he has.... it is a bliss that he is ignorant..

When I was still thinking, my watch showed 10:15A.M and the bus came in, just at the promised right time. Not even a minute's delay.. You should have seen the pride of happiness in the villager's eyes!!! that went on to say " That's about the punctuality in my village "... :)

I am not advocating rural life, but I surely would say, it is good to visit these places whenever chance permits, to see what life is like in a village and feel glad for our gifts and learn to be happy from a villager.

Splash on Mistakes

Allow new mistakes everytime....

It is okay to make mistakes, but important not to repeat them....

Forget your mistakes, but never the learning....

Every mistake you make can change the way you look at things to a large extent....

Mistakes are the best teachers....but the lesson from a careless mistake might be too late to learn.

Mistakes are usually not fatal if they do not come under the category of 'Careless mistakes'.