Small is beautiful, and efficient

Having the opportunity to be a part of multiple projects I have the luxury of interacting and working with various individuals and companies. Some individuals representing themselves and some represent companies. I am not being judgmental in this post. Of course being honest does not tantamount to be judgmental.

In spite of all the differences there is a striking similarity between mammoth organizations. They are equally (or competing to be more) inefficient. Of course I would be alleged to make judgment. But the only counter argument that I would accept here is that I have not found any exception Hence, I do not have the exception to prove the law.

I had the fortune of working with India’s largest private sector bank. Although the reception was clean and shining there was nothing much in the systems that would echo the same feeling. To get one document approved there were scores of e-mails exchanged. To add to that nobody wants to take any sort of responsibility; people are not ready to apply their minds or try to find the ways that would enable the closure of it. There is some sense of joy in lingering on to a task. Makes me wonder, is it the complexness of the process or the fear of having no work at hand once this gets over that there is high attachment to a task.

We have the habit of using the word sarkari in a derogatory sense; it would not be fair to derogate the government machinery in using the term for organizations that work ineffectively.

To add more ingredients to my repertoire for the same project I also happened to work with a quasi government body. Although the hierarchy surprisingly was less but the inefficiency more than made up for it. What I failed to understand is that people are inefficient even with miniscule amount of work. Again the reason that comes to my mind is the same as earlier.

If I were to design course for graduate school I would definitely add the subject Trivialization 101. Obviously it will not focus on teaching students how to trivialize things but actually make them understand what trivial issues are. How not to waste time, effort and energy on issues that by no way would have an impact on the outcome. Swami Vivekananda once said “The propensity of the Indian elite is that they spend hours debating whether to drink a glass of water with left hand or right”. The country would definitely had been different if Vivekananda would have been read more.

We form our opinions based on experience. And definitely the opinions mentioned in this post are based on some unpleasant experiences. However I am not totally against large organizations. If a small organization does well and has the will to grow then it will certainly reach a large size. But very importantly does this large organization cling on to the features that helped it to become large?

If a giant still deploys process that makes a small team become big and hence create these multiple sprouts the growth can be exponential and such growth will never cease.

Need is the mother of all inventions

It’s raining spuriously in Mumbai. I have not seen dry roads in the last one month. With the rains come the seasonal problems to the city. From traffic and travel to food and fashion everything suffers. I am taking myself on a whimsical ride (somewhere imaginative) and writing down my wishes that would make life a little easier during the monsoon.

Disclaimer: I love the rains and no wish here by chance or accident would come close to ask the rain gods to work less

1. I wish the Mumbai road were like Claire Bennet from the TV series Heroes! She had the power to heal herself. So even if she would cut her arm with a knife the wound would start healing and her arm just normal in 10 seconds. The Mumbai roads need this power. There is no chemical substance that seems to work, leaving more potholes on the road than the road itself. No amount of repairing has worked as well and it just gets worse every time. Interestingly the newer the road the more damaged it is.
2. Rainwater harvesting inside the subways. With the traffic on the roads growing like hair on my friend Vishwajeets chest a subway is the only safe place for a pedestrian. However in the first two downpours one can only swim across the subway. How about harvesting that water and increasing the height of the water table. Aam ke aam, gutliyon ke bhi daam!
3. All parts of wet clothing are bearable apart from socks. Believe me it is the socks. What you are thinking is still bearable. Quick dry socks have failed in Mumbai as it never gets the time to dry my wish would be to wear water repelling socks. So even when I am walking through that stagnant water puddle with a dead rat floating in it, my feet come out dry. I can promise the Mumbai city Nobel Prize would be conferred on the inventor. Can’t imagine how much pleasure this would bring even the thought is getting me on a high.
4. Radiation heaters to dry washed clothes on the clothesline. With humidity more than 100% and water seeping in through every possible vent it is impossible to dry the clothes. Mini radiation heaters would possibly be the answer so the clothes would dry to be worn. Of course they would be wet soon as soon as worn and stepped out of the house.

This is not it. This is what I can think of right now, of course there are a lot of other areas of improvement and scope of inventions. However without all the things that I have mentioned and a lot of other ideas the city does not stop or halt or slow or even hitch in the 4 months. In fact the challenge of the rain is taken head on and life goes on at the same lightning pace.

Outsourcing: Another Chapter

I have been reading a lot about the ageing Chinese population and the effect that it is going to have on their economy. Although I have my share of doubts that there is some trouble for China I would still lean on the side that it's not so much of an issue

The reasons I believe are simple:

1. With advent of medical science it would be common for people to work even at a much older age as to what they do now. Not just that people are living longer, they are fit post retirement and hence can and are having a longer working career.

2. The first question to the above point is that the Chinese economy is manufacturing focused so will these people be able to perform the strenuous tasks. Advancement in technology would come to the rescue there, with processes getting automated, machines and robots to assist human beings even the most primitive of the manufacturing industries would change the way they function.

3. China would never be like a Western European nation where there is heavy expenditure on pensions for the old, medical facilities. Of course things would change but never come to the level of countries like Norway or Finland, hence the pressure on the government would be less.

4. As far as the problem of China getting old before it is rich, first the term rich has to be defined. It is a very relative term and also the numbers attached to it would vary from city to city, state to state, country to country. I doubt that masses China or even India would see opulence and extravagant living. That means their maintenance cost would be low

5. India to the rescue - India's population is set to overtake the Chinese by 2030. India has a huge pool of young educated people who are either unemployed or under employed. With literacy levels increasing this talent pool is going to get bigger. It is unfortunate for them that their talent is not utilized. Unlike the earlier times this population is mobile ( even girls) and can fill the void anywhere in the world.

I feel that the problem of ageing Chinese population is a little over blown and the problem that erupted due to the forced change in demographics can be solved by the same way as well, if need be.

Customer Care

In times where products and services are being offered all around and processes going to back end the word customer care is dreaded by the customers. Who want to go through the trauma of being kept on hold for 14 minutes with an unclear song in the background and the machine constantly telling you that you are important to us, Oh yes! It's clear how much you are.

When I pay for a product, the price that the company is willing to sell it to me for I am doing my part of the duty. From there I expect the other side to do their duty as efficiently. I did not hold the payment for a single minute if that is an acceptable analogy. More so if by gods grace I am able to get through to the Customer Care executive I am made to feel as a favour is being done to me by answering my query. Serious lack of economic sense of who pays for whom!

Recently I have undergone some horrific experiences. And these were no small companies, worlds foremost ( at least by it's popularity these days) music player and phone company, India's premier trading company, Brit cellular operator in India and a couple of more. I am sure there are a lot of Jobs vacant in the customer care department as I was made to wait an average of one-third to half an hour. The world kept getting beautiful in the background score and my irritation level, escalating.

A recent incident was a pleasant surprise. I was not happy with a face wash of Garnier I bought recently. What's the surprise? Even brash men like me use products, least it makes something soft in us! Instead of writing an e-mail I thought let me try to call. I had to leave my name,number and a few other details on an answering machine. I just left my name and number as I was sure I would never hear back. Surprisingly I did and was asked to send an e-mail as I did not have the product details at my disposal. Ok this is a little surprising, customer care calling back and that too promptly. I sent the details and received a call. Like most calls that I get I was unable to take it. The team was persistent and finally reached me. Another surprise I thought only teams selling loans on the phone were persistent. A big surprise coming - I was heard out by the executive who called. I was explained their answer to the problem and along with that given a solution. Wow I have never got a solution from customer care executives.

Promptly the package in question was picked up and a replacement sent in a couple of days later all by a good courier company who would call me to check my availability and not leave a slip at my door on which the details are a task to read.

My belief that the customer can be serviced is re-instated. Like any good job done it depends on the willingness and effort put in be the people involved. Knowing your job is one thing, doing it another but doing it well is what matters. Kudos to the Garnier/L'oreal team for a job well done.

Just an afterthought, all the people at Garnier were women | Is that the key? | I am not a feminist!

Pasta Delight - Cooking a delightful meal

Being the food lover that I am I should have entered the kitchen and taken things in my own hands a long time back. Surprisingly I never moved beyond boiling eggs to perfection. May be the need to attain perfection was the barrier. More believable would be I was too involved with eating.

March’11 I made the paradigm shift from being a consumer to a producer. It does not just sound big but it is. The transition would not just affect my life but others too. And with the advent of social media I do not know what the magnitude of the impact would be.

It would be impossible to believe till now that this blog would talk about a recipe. And it’s really not. This is not just any recipe. It’s a life altering approach to cooking, learning and pasta J

It’s not the ingredients that matter; it’s the time and the timing that matters. Unlike all traditional ways of writing recipes I am going to introduce the ingredients on the way. How ever some basics need to be in place. A 2 burner gas, frying pan, pots, spatula, whatever you will find it on the rack in your kitchen.

A word on numbers the quantities mentioned is for a meal suitable for one person. But it will turn out to be so tasty that you will definitely cave for more.

Like life this recipe begins with water. The vegetables that have to be boiled are put in the pan. It can be anything of your choice, 100 grams corn, 50 grams beans, ideally both. Wash them in the pan and keep them to boil in this water only. While the water boils take 2 onions and take of the peel. Do this by hand. Savour the tears. Continue washing hands and drying them with the hand towel that is hanging behind you. Cut the onion into 2 pieces. Then keep the flat side of the piece on the slab and make 3-4 vertical cuts. Turn it 90° and now make cuts as close to each other as possible. Mind your finger. After about 75% of the onion is cut turn it 180° and then start from the other end. Repeat this for the other 3 parts. If you are confused read this 2 more times. There is no You-tube video for this. Please do not search.

While this finely chopped onion is put on the frying pan take out the ginger-garlic paste and butter from the fridge. Place the edge of the butter near the burner while you take out ¾ spoon of ginger garlic paste on the onions.

Wash the two tomatoes that are hard and crisp. Cut a small slice off the top of the tomato. Now keep it vertical and make 3-4 cuts turn it and make 3-4 cuts again. So now the tomato is like a flower. Get back to the butter, take ½ a spoon of butter (its so easy to cut, that's why it was kept near the burner!) and mix it with the onions and ginger-garlic paste. Mix it well but do not waste too much time. Back to the flowery tomatoes. Place them horizontally and cut slices so that you get finely chopped pieces. Mix these two to the frying pan. Yes even I love this sound – channnnnn!

Take the pot with boiling beans and corns off the stove. Place 100 grams of pasta (any type is fine) in 1 litre of water on this stove. Please cover the pot, the gas is not to waste. Put some salt in the pot of boiling pasta.

Add salt and red chilly to taste to the frying pan. Till now I have not got the correct proportion but I always get the taste right. So do not bother much! The boiled veggies are a pain. Taking the beans out of the hot water requires some effort and practice and cutting it into small pieces requires more. But who said this is going to be easy. Go ahead chop the beans. Whenever you get bored stir the contents of the frying pan. It makes you feel like a real cook, the chopping is actually some chotus’ job. To feel like a real expert you have to squash the things in the frying pan. I find it easy when I lift the pan a little with my left hand and squash with the spatula. But there is no dearth of equipment, find what suits you and go ahead. Do this otherwise the pasta will look like it’s been cooked by some halwai with chunks of tomatoes and onions.

Cutting capsicum is so much fun after the teary onions, mushy tomatoes, and fuming beans. I was told not to eat the things inside it, basically eat just the cover. Cut it into small pieces, figure out your optimum technique, but enjoy it. Unfortunately only 1 capsicum is sufficient. Beans and capsicum go into the frying pan. Some real stirring action needed. Take the corns out from the hot water. It’s easy when a strainer is used. Add them to the frying pan, also to add at this point is pepper. Again figure out the quantity. Tilting towards the higher side? – no problem.

When the water starts to boil with the pasta, close the gas. And do not forget to stir the pasta while the water was boiling. Use a spoon to do this and the same can be used to eat the pasta. Do not use the spatula for stirring the pasta.

ok. All contents go into the frying pan. Yes you are very close. And I know it looks really tempting. Start stirring baby. Continue doing it. Don’t stop. Exactly like that. While your awesome pasta gets a little dry add a sachet of ketchup. Don't say you don't have it? What do you do with the extra sachets at KFC? Don’t tell me you give them back. Stir the pasta with the ketchup. A little more. Put the gas off. Before you savour the pasta clean up the kitchen. Veggies in the bin, pots in the sink.

Pour the pasta slowly in the plate you are going to devour it, don’t let even a tiny bit of onion remain in the pan, it’s precious. Scrape of from the spatula as well. It’s ready! This was the moment you were waiting for. Hold on a little more. Serve yourself some cold juice, turn on some nice music, sit comfortably, and enjoy.

Bon Appétit my friend.

Favourite quotes from one of my favourite book

P. Sainath has written one of the most wonderful books on India. The book titled "Everybody loves a Good Drought" is a narrative of different problems in 4 of India's poorest districts. I would recommend the books to everyone, the lines that touched me the most have been compiled below.

Its important to focus on people than in numbers – In many studies, reports, analysis and then implementation, more importance on the statistics rather on qualitative data created problem.

“The propensity of the India elite- to discuss for hours if a glass of water is to be taken by right hand or left” Vivekananda

While implementing new methodology or plan do not scrap the existing system (however bad it is) first and then implement the new method.

Identify real needs first – before action

Very small problem need to be rectified at that point only before they grow too big or irreversible

“If the cost they (poor) bear are the price of development then the whole nation is having one endless free lunch” P.Sainath

Focus on solution for the whole process and do not just try to respond to events

When we talk

I was told of this once, in fact pin pointed that when I talk about an opinion or I am sharing something I have to use the proverb I. A lot of the times most of us replace the, I with we in making remarks. When told this it did strike me and for a while I was conscious. However in some time I came back to my routine way of replacing an I with a we. Also many more replacements would happen and I would do this as per my convenience.

However a recent thought brought back this idea. And I realized that there are reasons because of which I change the pronoun when I am talking. Mostly when I am talking of something good, strength, a good quality, a difficult habit that I have maintained, I would always use a personal pronoun (I or me for the uninitiated in grammar). Although there might be a very basic reason for this that when I am talking of these things they are unique abilities and hence I can only say it for myself. However the next conversation that crossed my mind made me wonder and pushed me to find out the real reasons of changing pronouns. I was thinking of a conversation when I was talking about some strength and a weakness. While talking of strength I was always using the pronoun I and when talking about weakness I was using you. I felt pathetic on retrospect as so easily I juxtaposed the strengths on myself and the weaknesses on the other. On further thought I realized that when I have to share thoughts, opinions, judgments, I would use the proverb we. This means that I am garnering support behind my idea even if there is none.

The real problem hence is only with me. Is it under-confidence or is it introverted ness? I am still figuring out. Or do I try to take an upper hand or show superiority or make my position stronger. But more that figuring the reasons out I have to work on my usage of proverb. I am sure once I force myself to use the correct pronoun the effect of that would be positive for me and the problem that I am figuring out would automatically get solved.

I am sure things will change, what I realize now is that in the latter half of this writing piece I have only used the correct pronoun. This is quite a bit of change as now when I look at the topic I realize that I have tried to generalize my problem and used the pronoun ‘we’, instead of I.

Social Workers - demystefied

Having been involved with development work and being opinionated the way I am, have made some erratic classification. A closer look however reveals it’s not so erratic (opinionated [sic]).

Note – This is a classification made by me with my bias and stereotypical mind intact. There are people (even personally I know many) who have defied the norms.

The High flyers – They visit a slum community for an hour on some random day. This hour is the best investment, in a lot of ways! The investment of 1 hour ensures fodder for chats stretching to 8 hours (800% return) cumulative in the week. Obviously the talks are accompanied by alchohol and filthy expensive food in an upscale pub in SoBo. They can be found in fundraising and charity dinners of expensive clubs and restaurants where the amount spend on food and drinks is much more than the charity money raised. They generally wear designer clothing that do not fit them.

The offshoots – (of the above types, many a times family) Took a step and committed themselves, maybe to a fellowship or a long term voluntary assignment. Get up everyday sulking that they have to do it again. Not realizing that they are doing more harm than good. But happy in the evening when they get to talk what they are doing (or supposed to do) to friends, dad’s business colleagues. Get tanned in the glory that they are changing the world. They can be either found with their high flyer type family members at expensive places or with friends with fake accent. Spotting them is easy as bags would have some trinket made by hand by some kid of an NGO not realizing that the kid had an exam next day when he was forced to make this for an art exhibition.

The CV builders – Great academics, great test scores still not getting admission to the desired MBA course in an Ivy League College! Baba Act I do good for others ke paas hai samadhan. Baba suggests, to add weight to your CV you have to do social work (for others?) and this also adds uniqueness to your application. Hence enroll to volunteer or work full-time as per what you think would be most suited to increase your admission chances. Can find them everywhere from year long fellowships to 1 day random acts of kindness session. On the internet if an intersection is formed of the members of the mailing groups: US MBA applicants and Indian youth doing social work, all of them would be there. Attire wise has a special affinity towards kurtas but only from fabindia.

The lost clean soul – The typical struggling chap who wants to make a difference, wants to do something good and feels strongly about it. Finally he takes the plunge and deep dives into doing something. Gives full effort. For him time is at premium because the pressure from home is high to do something more meaningful (ironical!). Can be found talking animatedly with friends about his work. Is found using the words “real calling in life”, “do what I enjoy doing”, “do meaningful work” and the likes. Would travel by trains and give a second glance to the half naked kid playing on the street corner. Would definitely have read a book or two on Gandhi, contemplated or done Vipassana, have motivational, inspiring movies in favourites list.

The real men – Took the plunge, defied norms and ready to stick to it. Left career, job, or made this work their life. Went against their families and faced peer pressure. Did amazing work right from the word go because of deep passion and conviction. Will continue doing it and continue inspiring and attracting. They are idols for the lost clean soul kinds. Working with the conviction that change is possible. Only purity of actions and thought is required to achieve everything. Can be found wherever good work is being done. Will be hard to notice as humility rightly is their last name. This country needs more people like them.

The Buddha’s – I would not be doing justice to them by writing. The one word description that I have chosen to describe them says enough about them. The world needs more people like these.

It’s a strong case

It’s the cricket world cup again! To the uninitiated in cricket it seems the world cup is played twice each year. Not their fault as there are so many different cricket formats and their respective world cups plus the IPL. Yes IPL is related to cricket, it’s not just about money and bribes. Back to where I started, the Cricket world Cup is back to the sub-continent after 14 years. Amidst much heat there is something missing in the world cup this time. Excitement. The hype is not high enough and the controversies not very controversial. The good news is the better half of the scheduled matches are left to play and the excitement is building on.

There is a card up the sleeve of this world cup, if played it can give a massive boost to the prospects of this version of the game. The history of the game has had big rivalries from the erstwhile West Indies and Australia to the ever green Australia-England and off late India-Australia. Keeping Australia and its rivalries aside the greatest rivalry is between India and Pakistan. Of course the rivalry is much bigger than cricket but the pitch acts as a medium of war.

So will this world cup give the spectators a chance to see the mother of all cricket battles? Will there be a showcase of the greatest cricket battle fought in Mumbai on 2^nd April. I think it would be and the reason is not my wishful thinking alone. Here are 8 reasons that are making the case stronger:

1. One-day cricket needs revival – With T-20s becoming popular, IPL raking in the moolah, one-day crickets popularity is on the downhill slope. Despite efforts to revive it by awarding the hosting rights out of turn to the sub-continent, the world cups popularity is still low. The world cup has not been able to come back from the troughs it reached in 2007. This is of serious concern to the authorities and a big final can certainly turn things around and set the ball rolling. Again.

2. Revenue – The sheer thought of and India Pakistan final would make the T.V. and other rights holder ecstatic. The advertisement rates of the final would be 2.5 times the rate of league matches. If one of the team from subcontinent plays the final the rates would get doubled, i.e. make it 5 times. If India plays then rates would get double again and if the opponent is Pakistan then the resulting double figure makes the revenue 20 times as compared to a normal league match. The rights had been issued at exorbitant rates and the companies want a handsome ROI.

3. Betting – Just like the T.V. moguls the betting syndicates’ revenues would increase umpteen times in case of an India Pakistan final. These 2 countries account for 90% revenue in the illegal betting circuit. People would love to bet on this final. And in all betting circuits it’s only the people who run the bets who laugh their way to the (swiss) bank.

4. Fixtures – India is like to finish 2^nd in their group in the league stages. Hence they will play the 3^rd placed team of group B in the quarter finals. Pakistan is likely to finish 4^th in their group and hence will play the winners of group A. In case this happening, the likelihood also being high the teams will play in grounds where they have strong support. The quarterfinals of India would be in Ahmedabad and of Pakistans in Mirpur where they would feel like home. So it’s not just the fixtures but the venue too!

These respective quarterfinal winners will play in different semi-finals and on winning will proceed to meet in the finals. Yes it’s that obvious.

5. Historically – The world cup finals has been played between the favourite team and the team that was the 4^th – 5^th favourite at the beginning of the world cup. Australia has been the favourite for the past 3 editions but has never played the final against the 2^nd favourites. This time India is a clear favourite to win the cup. The chances of Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Pakistan followed in that order. Going by the past trend the final clearly tilts towards India (favourites) and Pakistan encounter.

6. Indian & Pakistani governments – The 26/11 attacks though not yet forgotten, but time has interspaced memory of the attacks. The sinusoidal nature of the relation of the Indian and Pakistan government continues. With the troughs phase passing the governments are looking for crest like events. This final of course would be one of the highest crests. Both the government would be using the platform to re-open talks and rebuild relations.

7. USA – Can a list of reasons be complete without the mention of Uncle Sam? Of course USA wants an Indo-Pak final. Obama would watch the opening ball of the match and make his case stronger to bid for Nobel peace prize again. CIA also has it's reasons, they will only be spoken about by their official PR agency: "WikiLeaks". And of course the US based MNCs want this final to increase their revenues.

8. Shiv Sena – The tiger has not roared since a long time. The finals are in Mumbai, the BMC elections are slated next year, Sena’s popularity is not very high, and votes would get split with MNS. This is a perfect opportunity for Mr. Thakrey Sr. to reek out a loud roar. The effects of it would be the party’s ideology getting media attention, back door meetings in the corridors of power, some political arrangements made between the Maratha (who also is president of ICC) and the ailing tiger.

If these are not enough there are plenty of other reasons to have this final. Tendulkar’s final frontier, the crowds return on investment, Pakistani team that wants to come out of allegations, and the list goes on.

This might be a whimsical idea right now but the probability of it coming alive is getting bigger every moment.

Go India. Go Pakistan.

Feelings and the premium attached

Of late I have realized that feelings are some things that all of us have. Some of us are more conscious to be aware of them, some even though aware ignore them and some are not even aware of their own feelings or only realize it much slowly.

There are advantages in being each kind and with that there are disadvantages as well. Personally I feel that the one type I mentioned in the middle is able to use its feelings to its own, maximum benefit. However that part of the spectrum is very narrow and difficult to stay in.

What I think is that feelings are one of the most personal things to us. They are so very personal that their ownership is completely ours and nobody can have any sort of claim on them. Since generation of feelings is also a very personal experience then should we not attach a very high premium to this experience? This I say so because the feelings affect us in so many ways. They affect us in the shorter as well as the longer term. They can actually break us apart or guide us through an unimaginably difficult situation, safely.

In spite of the high value of the feeling, when we chose to experience them, the premium that we attach to having this experience is very low. We do not take control to decide that If we want to experience this or not. We just swim with the flow of thoughts that are gushing in the mind. We act as if we have no control in generating these feelings.

What we really seek to experience is dependent on the external factors. However this dependency is over-rated and the constant in the direct proportion has very less value. In reality what we choose to experience is something that we can manufacture.

The words say enough “choose to experience”. The words say enough on how the life of a person would be shaped. Choices are pervasive, it’s a matter of being aware and making the right ones.