Lingo Bingo – Another example of living in an interesting country

I am a bit of an observer of different ways in which my countrymen (and women, of course) speak and use English language. I am currently in Hyderabad, and I saw one peculiar thing here, that is the use of the word, “world” in a lot of business establishments. When I visited Hyderabad for the first time, in 2005, I saw a retail outlet called, “Food World”, which is a branded chain of stores selling groceries. I agreed to this name as they were selling food items etc. The same day, I saw a shop called, “Helmet World” and again a showroom named “Furniture World”. I found myself little intrigued and interested to explore further and I found a lot of “worlds” with rejoinders like chicken, computer, diabetes and so on. A latest addition was a consulting firm started by a good friend of mine and he has his own “world”. The other thing I noticed was that the localities call a petrol filling station as a “Petrol Bunk”, which is usually termed as a “Petrol Pump” in North India. Fine, this is the way it works with them. Now, if I move to Delhi, a pre-paid sim card is called “Cash card” and in Mumbai a post-paid connection is called “billing” connection. And, if we talk about Sikhs, they have a sweet way of nick-naming their kids as “Happy”, “Lovely” etc, which makes me start wondering as to how this would have started. Probably it is linked to their communities’ history of immigration to the west. I feel there would be similar examples from other parts of this amazing country as well. I recall that during my childhood, one illiterate woman who used to work as maid in my household, used to refer to any woman as “ledis”. Slowly I observed that even educated people from vernacular medium used to speak like this, for example, “koi ledis aayee hai darwaze per” (some woman is at the doorstep).

I will write on more such anecdotes in future blog posts!

Conscious living

I was born into a family which was conservative, religious but still a little broad minded as far as treating the children was concerned, more so because of my father, who, as per his own admission, has a belief in God, “Out of fear and for well being of his children”. I think most of the middle class people are like that, who earn their salaries, go once in a week to a temple, influence their children with their beliefs and so on, but nothing additional beyond that. For such people, a temple or a prayer is a part of the overall system, of which I say it is more of precedence and conditioning. I call it precedence, because their parents were following that. For example, at my mother’s place, the daughter in laws should not have any dish made of eggplant because of some precedence. At my parents’ place, we don’t see the burning of “Holi”. I used to be amused by all that ever since I had some grey matter in my brains but I didn’t speak out about it as I knew that my banter would not stop them from doing what they believed in. Secondly, as an adult when I stayed in different parts of the country on work, I realized that even the religion I am born into, by default, Hinduism has different interpretations in different parts of the country, each community claiming to be more genuine than others, which made me realize that it is apparently all man-made and a localized phenomena. In North India, there is one day which is considered inauspicious is considered very auspicious in Maharashtra, that too by people who claim to be following the same religion. One day a realization dawned into me and I had a thought.

When all human beings are alike physically with the same set of bones, same way or procreation, same heart or set of arteries, what in us follows a particular religion or follows a particular path in life. Is it our heart, or intestines or kidneys? Of course the answer is “No”. It is in fact, our mind, the brain of ours which follows all that because we are all conditioned with those beliefs. Imagine a person who is mentally challenged. He/she doesn’t have any notion of beliefs or religions as his/her mind is not fully developed. The same applies on birds or animals, which are in one to one consonance and harmony with nature. Do they need a religion? Similarly, the basic nature of a human being is to be in harmony with this existence and a developed mind has enormous potential, if it could be used for creative and “out of the box” thinking. Otherwise, we all are the same individuals, purposeless, egotists, limited in our own beliefs and thoughts. We should expand our vision, rather than narrowing it down on either our community or religion or in any other pseudo belief. Shouldn’t this mortal life be lived qualitatively and with consciousness?

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev on “Peace and Joy”

Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is an Indian yogi and mystic. He is the founder of Isha Foundation which administers yoga centers around the world, including India and the United States. Sadhguru, a yogi and profound mystic of our times, is a visionary humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader. A contemporary Guru, rooted as strongly in mundane and pragmatic matters as he is in inner experience and wisdom, Sadhguru works tirelessly towards the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of all. His mastery of the mechanisms of life, an outcome of his profound experience of the Self, guides in exploring the subtler dimensions of life.

Learning from the Movies: A Good Year (2006)

A Good Year Synopsis: London-based investment expert Max Skinner (Russell Crowe), who works 24X7, moves to Provence, France to sell a small vineyard he has inherited from his late uncle. Max is shown to be a shrewd person who doesn’t have time for anything except his career and money.

Shortly after his arrival in Provence, he discovers that his latest financial stunt has landed him in hot water with the government and with his firm’s management, necessitating his return to London later in the day. Before heading back to the airport, in order to assist his realtor with the sale, he hurriedly snaps photos of the estate, and in doing so, falls into an empty swimming pool. (He is unable to escape until Fanny Chenal, whose bicycle he ran off the road with his careless driving, turns on the water supply in retaliation.) The resulting delay causes him to miss his flight, and because he fails to report in person to management, he is suspended from work and trading activities for one week. However, he does sell his inherited property and goes back to London.

Back in London, management offers Max a choice: “money or your life” — either a discharge settlement which includes “a lot of zeros” or partnership in the trading firm in which he would be “made for life”. During a discussion with his boss, Max views a painting in his room appreciatively, something which he never did before. Max finally chooses the money and cleverly negates the sale of the estate by orchestrating through a forged letter from his uncle Henry that Christie (illegitimate daughter of his late uncle) has a valid claim on the property. He puts up his London residence for sale and returns to Provence, entering into a relationship with Fanny, while Christie and Francis (a winemaker) must reconcile their vastly different philosophies of wine production and jointly run the vineyard.

The movie makes us aware that there are other fine things in life which one should admire, rather than being part of the rat race, which ultimately takes away the true self of a human being. From being a shrewd investment expert, Max gradually transforms into a good human being and leaves his high paying job, to go back to a place in the countryside of France, to enjoy life as it comes. All of us have priorities and all of us have choices – to live a life which is joyful. Hence, having a work-life balance is very important. Not everyone is fortunate like Max as not everyone has an uncle who leaves an estate in France, for inheritance. But we can all acquire the wisdom to enjoy the finer things in life – family, nature, the birds and the trees etc.

Self Analysis – a tool to empower oneself

“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.”
Deepak Chopra

How many times in life we face a situation, when we feel everything is going wrong against us? I think many a times we face these challenges, be at work place, or in relationships or elsewhere and we always feel that we are perfect, it is the others who spoil everything. Do we analyse holistically as to what could be the reasons for this and try to ponder on questions like, “Why did my boss questioned me today, what did I do which made him behave this way with me” or say, “Why was my wife in this mood today”. The answer lies in Self Analysis as it is finally the individual who has to take a call and analyse his/her strengths and limitations on a day to day basis and following can be a way in doing that;

Be still in a space of your own
Play some soothing music, preferably of a flute and be conscious about your being. Do this at your home and be alone. Don’t brood or spoil your mood. Just be yourself and think of the day gone by and in a flash, remember the low points and high points of the day and tell yourself that you will not repeat the low points again. Keep aside your ego.

Go Backwards
Whenever you have some trouble, say at workplace, go backwards in your career, in your thoughts and see whether this kind of trouble had occurred that time. If yes, then what did you do to tackle that. If you did nothing that time, this is the time to do something about it. Remember, every mistake has to result in an action plan to correct that. You cannot ever change someone else, the least you can do is to change yourself.

Write down your strengths and limitations
At every month end, most of the people check their bank balances. Its all the more better to check your “emotional abundance” and maintain a diary, where you should write your strengths and weaknesses in a particular month, along with at least one thing you would have done differently

Have a Goal Map
Develop a Goal map about what you are today and what you intend to be in future. Example; I will be a Head of my department/division and will have a house and a car of my own in 2015. It can also be a short term goal like I will not repeat this mistake ever again

Have self-esteem
Don’t to self analysis with self-pity. Analyse as if you are good enough as an individual having high self esteem and see things in a holistic perspective, with a belief that all individuals have their perceptions

Hence, self analysis is more of self awareness and the ways in which you can harmonize your life. Every human being is different and one has to accept this. But we can always try in our own way to analyse ourselves and be intelligent human beings.

Suggested readings:
1. Goal Mapping, available at http://www.flipkart.com/goal-mapping-brian-maynes-practical-book-1842931385
2. Key To Living The Law Of Attraction, available at http://www.flipkart.com/key-living-law-attraction-jack-book-8189975846

Treating your people

Most of the organizations have a lot of money and a great deal of good intentions, but they lack the knack of knowing the pulse of the people who work for them. Take an organisation like Google and see how much they do to take care of the employees. Someone may well argue that Google has a lot of money, but finally it is not about money, really. How well a person is given the ethos of the organisation is also quite important. If we talk about Google, on the website http://www.google.com/support/jobs/bin/static.py?page=benefits.html , the company has mentioned, “Give the proper tools to a group of people that want to make a difference, and they will” an then they talk of the benefits they give, which are as follows;
Google’s founders often state that the company is not serious about anything but search. They built a company around the idea that work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun. To that end, Google’s culture is unlike any in corporate America, and it’s not because of the whimsical lava lamps and large rubber balls, or the fact that one of the company’s chefs used to cook for the Grateful Dead. In the same way Google puts users first when it comes to online services, Google puts employees first when it comes to daily life in its offices.

“The goal is to strip away everything that gets in our employees’ way. We provide a standard package of fringe benefits, but on top of that are first-class dining facilities, gyms, laundry rooms, massage rooms, haircuts, carwashes, dry cleaning, commuting buses – just about anything a hardworking employee might want. Let’s face it: programmers want to program, they don’t want to do their laundry. So we make it easy for them to do both.” Eric Schmidt, CEO Google

Benefits Philosophy: We strive to be innovative and unique in all services we provide both to customers and employees, including our benefits and perks offerings. We realize and celebrate that our employees have diverse needs, and that this diversity requires flexible and individually directed support. Our priority is to offer a customizable program that can be tailored to the specific needs of each individual, whether they enjoy ice climbing in Alaska, want to retire by age 40, or plan to adopt 3 children.

Dental Insurance
Comprehensive coverage through Delta Dental.
Vision InsuranceExams, contacts, lenses and frames all generously covered.
Flex Spending Account Plan
Includes Health Spending Account, Dependent Care Account and Qualified Transportation Benefit.
EAP – Employee Assistance Program
Services for employees and their dependents include free short-term counseling, legal consultations, financial counseling, child care referrals and pet care referrals.
Life Insurance
Automatic coverage at 2 times annual salary.
Voluntary Life Insurance
Option to purchase additional life insurance.
Short Term & Long Term Disability
Short Term Disability Insurance coverage provided at approximately 100% of normal of salary. Long Term Disability coverage provided at 66 2/3% of salary once Short Term Disability is exhausted.
Business Travel Accident Insurance
Automatic coverage at 2 times annual salary.

Retirement and savings*
Google 401(k) Plan
Employees may contribute up to 60% and receive a Google match of up to the greater of (a) 100% of your contribution up to $2,500 or (b) 50% of your contribution per year with no vesting schedule! We offer a variety of investment options to choose from, through Vanguard, our 401(k) Plan Administrator. To help you with those tough investment decisions, employees can access Financial Engines to receive personalized investment advice.

529 College Savings Plan
This plan provides employees with a way to save money for post-secondary education.

Time away*
Vacation
1st year
15 days 4th year
20 days 6th year
25 days

Holidays
12 paid holidays (sick days taken as necessary)
Maternity Benefits
Up to 18 weeks off at approximately 100% pay
Parental Leave (for non-primary caregivers)
Up to 7 weeks off at approximately 100% pay
Take-Out Benefit
To help make things easier, new moms and dads are able to expense up to $500 for take-out meals during the first 3 months that they are home with their new baby.
Benefits … beyond the basics*
Tuition Reimbursement
We’ll help you pursue further education that’s relevant to what you do. You must receive grades of “B” or better. Why a “B” or better? Because we said so. Tuition reimbursement is $12,000 per calendar year.

Employee Referral ProgramGood people know other good people. Our best employees have been hired through referrals. Google encourages you to recommend candidates for opportunities here and will award you a bonus if your referral accepts our offer and remains employed for at least 60 days.
Back-Up Child Care
As a California employee, when your regularly scheduled child care falls through Google will provide you with 5 free days of child care per year through Children’s Creative Learning Center (CCLC). 13 Bay Area locations serving ages 6 weeks – 12 years.
Gift Matching Program
Google matches contributions of up to $3000 per year from eligible employees to non-profit organizations. Bolstering employee contributions to worthy causes with matching gifts doesn’t just mean helping hundreds of organizations, both locally and globally; it’s also a tangible expression. We want Googlers to get involved – and the company is right behind you.
Adoption Assistance
Google assists our employees by offering financial assistance in the adoption of a child. We’ll reimburse you up to $5000 to use towards legal expenses, adoption agencies or other adoption professional fees. Parental leave and take-out benefit also apply. See Time Away.
Benefits … way beyond the basics*
Food
Hungry? Check out our free lunch and dinner – our gourmet chefs create a wide variety of healthy and delicious meals every day. Got the munchies? Google also offers snacks to help satisfy you in between meals.
On-site Doctor
At Google headquarters in Mountain View, California you have the convenience of seeing a doctor on-site.
Shuttle Service
Google is pleased to provide its Mountain View employees with free shuttles to several San Francisco, East Bay and South Bay locations.
Financial Planning Classes
Google provides objective and conflict-free financial education classes. The courses are comprehensive and cover a variety of financial topics.
Other On-Site Services
At Google headquarters in Mountain View, there’s on-site oil change, car wash, dry cleaning, massage therapy, gym, hair stylist, fitness classes and bike repair.
Other Great Benefits
Halloween; holiday party, health fair, credit union, sauna, roller hockey, outdoor volleyball court, discounts for products and local attractions.

Google might have money but also has the knack of knowing what people need and finally, a happy employee is far more productive than a moron, slogging because he doesn’t have a choice in recessionary times.

Positive Psychology

Positive Psychology is not a new concept. It has emerged becuase of increasing levels of gloom and unhappiness in personal as well as work lives. As per the concept of Positive Psychology, people flourish when they are in a state of optimal well-being, which is composed of pleasure (positive emotions), self-actualization (positive meaning), and flow (positive actions), which if someone goes to analyse, is in direct consonence with what the spiritual sciences talk about. The difference is in approach. The positive psychology movement is still in the initial days and if applied in fullest form, it will be a great management tool. From the early industrial revolution to the “hire and fire” era, the future is of providing sustainable workplace pleasure (a sustained effort in positively assessing each and every employee in an organisation and providing the ”harmonising” tools) and promote “Creative Human intelligence management” rather than just human resource management. This will of course take a lot of time to succeed in developing countries. Positive psychology will revolutionise the way people work.

Human Resources Management: Ethics and Sustainability

Human Resources Management is not just about treating human being as mere resources, it is more of a theoretical premise. HRM is about treating people right, empowering them to take leadership challenges and to make them sustainable in the organization and in their careers. Sustainability of the human resources is an important issue. If an organization expects something from an employee, the employees expect to be treated well, to be heard, to be promised of equity. Commitment begets commitment. If an organization or its top leaders cannot commit a transparent organization to its employees, the employees start losing their passion for the job. Sustainability also means stability, a kind of assurance that performance parameters exist for evaluating performance, but also that if one or objectives are not achieved, it would not lead to something very drastic, but the performance gaps would be addressed through mentoring and coaching.

I am what I am

I am what I am, a common man, an ordinary man, trying to go beyond the conditioning of thoughts and mind. I am tired of being a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle or whatever relationships are created around me. I want to respect and be respected. I should be free to decide what i wish to be, what i want to be, what i have to be. Relationships should be able to give positive support and not the run of the mill wisdom. I am what I am and i wish to be free, in thoughts, in things i wish to do. Let the people think the way they think, I don’t care. But, this does not mean that i am rude. I am compassionate and emotional human being, as others are but i want to be free. I want to be told things of which i seek advice and not otherwise. I want to feel my mother’s love and not her superstitions. I want to work wherever i need to work and rest wherever i need to. I wish to enjoy my life the way i think is the best. I love all the people who love me unconditionally and not form opinions about me. I really respect them all who respect me as a human being and not what my name, nationality, caste or religion is. I am what I am, a person striving to reach the level of high self-esteem and i will achieve so, with humility, compassion, respect and dignity.

Going beyond superstitions and rituals

There are people practicing different religious beliefs in this Country, with a very few who may be atheists. Different religions have some basic rituals and then when we look into caste and sub caste groups, there are furthermore rituals. I am probably in a minority when i say that i don’t really think rituals have something to do with religion. These are all man-made. There are some people who don’t drink or have non vegetarian food on Tuesdays, as if they are doing some kind of favour to God. It is in a way saying to God, “See, I sacrificed by not having non vegetarian food. Bless me for this, so that i earn a lot more money”. People should sit back, relax and think about their life. They tend to spend their entire life in making their lives complicated, by following rituals. Let us follow rituals for the sake of making ourselves self aware about who we are and what we do in this small life given by either God or this existence or by some supernatural power or by theories of Charles Darwin. We may have different ways to see why we live but finally we should be thinking as to what is the best ritual to make us an extremely good human being.