Neeya Naana - Freedom of Speech

Proud I am as a Citizen of India, for I have my fundamental right - Freedom of Speech.
The right that gives me freedom to voice out my opinion without hurting others, the freedom to express my ideas and thoughts without provoking onto others, and the freedom to cherish what I think as my ultimate birth right.
After long many years, I had a forum where both my oratorical skills, emotional tangles and inner views got a wider audience. Participating in a Talk Show where people shared genuine thoughts, emotionally inter wined arguments and classical examples of our day to day lives, I could not ask for more. Anchor Gopinath is an excellent anchor, best coordinator and well planned and well equipped person with knowledge on the subjects he deals with and with a sense of humour and empathy to handle difficult situations standing as a bridge between two completly different groups debating on a concern or an issue.
Yesterday the topic we went for shoorting, both myself and my husband was "Is Indian Woman a glorified servants?" But ironically, Gopinath had never brought this subject between the couples who came in for debate. Instead, he very smartly took the angel of common issues, confronting between men and women inside the spectrum of marriage. Married for years, bonded with understanding, emotions, care and unending love and affections, and at the same time, with totally unspoken hidden woes, unknown struggles of inner thoughts got a platform to share, with a wit and a sense of humour trying to bridge the so called hidden gaps in a very very vital relationship in the society- Husbands and wives.
Not all of us get an opportunity to openly pour out and voice out what we struggle to explain in normal circumstances, but with a group of like minded people sitting on your side, and also the lights and cameras catching your every word and emotion, and having the person need to know sitting opposite to you, and very talented anchor beautifully weaving the thread to speak and express, Neeya Naana becomes the best platform to raise beyond those boundaries. It is not just another entertainment talk show, but it is an edifice on which people understand things looking from a different angle, and perceptions happened to change. Though at the spur of the moment you may feel like having argued with the other person unnecessarily, or even guilty for what you said, later you would realise that actually you spoke your heart.
India needs such platforms to bring in an awareness on lot many issues that entangle our social and private lives. This show undoubtedly raises to the very objective of its existence. No wonder this show has the highest popularity ratings in the Tamil Television Industry. Hats off to the Director Antony, and the unremitting willingness to work by the entire crew of Neeya Naana who made the live of participants more comfortable and the show a grand success. Gopinath rocks as usual.... and Neeya Naana definetly needs that best Pat!!!

Glad Elections are coming this April

I am excited from the time, I have seen the Chief Election Commissioner announced the dates for the upcoming General Elections - Decision 2009 as I would like to call it, after seeing all the hype, happiness and end results of US Presidential Elections on Nov 4, 2008.

But, I have a different reason to be happy and a different reason to be sad!!!

Like all good people do, let me list out my sad things first:

• 600 million people enlisted to vote, but hardly 50% of them actually vote
• Crores of Rupees drained in the name of Elections- some places still having paper ballot
• Wide diversity on thoughts and approach highlighted in every speech and constituency
• One more election> One more set of Leaders> One more list of manifestoes> But nothing changes even after 6 decades of Independence..... corruption, exploitation, population, pollution, poverty continues endlessly........

Now the best part:

• Roads are now getting cleaned, relaid as needed and medians are in place
• Thankfully my street lights, even lights in the darkest bridges are illuminated and the cities are glowing
• Thankfully, all the provisions supplied on Ration cards are of good quality this month
• Thankfully, all exams are getting over earlier before the sound pollution begins
• Ironically, every other politicians strengths and weaknesses are exposed by themselves and opponents respectively
• In a recession hit market, there is a sudden cash flow. In fact overflow
• Law and Order is in place, and everyone is alert. Alert beyond expectations.
• Lot of daily wagers are finding jobs to keep themselves busy, including press, printing and paper industry, cab operators, drivers, electricians, painters, banner makers, tea shops, weavers, carpenters, florists, hotels and the entire small scale industry is accelerated, thanks to our political rallies and election campaigns.
• Election in India is in one way a blessing to the common man for he is remembered ardently once in 5 years at this time, his issues are tried to be addressed, concerned are heard and solutions are seemed to be provided.

My own expectation from this election is we get a healthy cabinet who can stand high and take the country tall in the world map. We need smart leaders who can stand in par with developed Nations, shake hands with same thoughts, opinions, visions and a global enrichment for India. Wishing the country a very healthy, talented, qualified, unbiased and uninfluenced Prime Minister leading the Parliament in the forth coming general elections. India Awake to the New Dawn Soon!!!

Children Waiting for Adoption

Number of destitute children in India : 44 million

Number of Orphans in India : 25.7 million

Number of NGOs working on the issue of Adoption : around 300

Number of Children adopted by families through government welfare departments: Around 3000

Not even 0.001 percent of the children are finding homes. First there is a need to stop the creation of orphans by creating an awareness and second, there is a need to rehabilitate all the abandoned children, thus bridging the wider gap in the society.

What makes this a social issue?

Children cared and pruned well themselves struggle to make things work as they enter adulthood, lot many get succumbed to the weaknesses of the society, take on to drugs and other addictions, few turn violent and promote anti-social ailments.

The destiny of the abandoned children is far more than can be even imagined. There is one saying " Neeram nadhi kadhu- naa akili dhee" which means, the fault of the crime is not mine, but of my hunger. Children living in homes have no place to go once they are 18 and are asked to face the world. Lot many children do not have a direction, and are driven by helpless circumstances.

Can we as a society react to this before these statistics get growing up!

Children in need of homes- Can you pick one?

Nearly 1.8 millions children do not have permanent homes or parental care in India. If generous hearts can give little space for each little child, and families in need of children can welcome these little hearts, a new dawn without orphans in this world is close by.

Need Parents - For all my forbidden children

Since many weeks, I am restless with an ongoing thought. A Thought to make my mission accomplish. It is a restlessness that sprang from an inner cry of mother, a quest of child, the need of an civilized society. My dream is to see a dawn without an orphan in this world. I want to build a bridge between children in need of families and families wanting children. For weeks I have made my intense search to find appropriate adoption centres, the laws abiding them, the orphanages and baby hatches that support forbidden children and homes that educated, care and prune the helpless buds of this Nation.

My search only proved a fact that there is absolutely no proper mechanism to finding homes for thousands of children living in homes, orphanages, streets and as vagabonds. It is not the fame of Slumdog Millionaire or the limelight of destitute children that is creating this urge. It is an inner loss, a personal loss that haunts a mother for years.

What is my vision: The vision is to build a common platform where the needs of two different desperate groups get satisfied. One is of the helpless children and the other group is the issue-less couples or families who can adopt children.

How to envisage this vision: Bring in the two groups together. It is a ardent urge and a very tedious task. For it involves nothing but Children - Vulnerable and dependent.

Having started collected required data, there is lot more to do. Identify all children who need homes, at least begin with few. Closely look into the adoption law, identify areas of concern, create an awareness on the availability of this children and promote them to finding homes. I know it is not an easy task. But if I am able to find at least 5 children a permanent homes where they get ample care, love and parenting in the next 6 months, my mission has a reason to celebrate. At the same time, I need to ensure that these children are not prone to domestic violence, abuse or end up as unpaid domestic helps and labourers.

What I need? - Support from my family and friends. Networking to create awareness. End of the road- Finding homes for all those little children who are orphaned due to various reasons, be it parenting negligence, unwanted pregnancies, financial circumstances, female infanticide natural disasters, war victims, refugees, and so on.

Why this? Every child needs a home. Every child needs parental care, affection and love. Every child has every right to education and growth. Every child in this country is its future.

If you as a reader, do think that my mission is worthy its effort, please do not hesitate to forward your ideas, support, information and an extended arm to join this saga. I am sure one day, we would have all reasons to be proud of what we are aiming at.

Betrayed. Not once but twice!!

As I was crossing the road towards my car, with my shopping bags on a Sunday evening, someone pushed me from back and I took a jerk to hold myself. I managed not to fall down creating an embarrassment to myself and my husband who was walking ahead of me. My anger took over my calmness and I was about to pull the person back to give her a bang. My hand stopped for a moment in the air as my eyes caught the person who pushed me and tried to walk ahead. "Harsha.." I called to myself. Could not believe my eyes having come across her after almost 2 decades. The last I met her was in our school farewell day celebrations.

The night was almost sliding down towards the dawn when we realised that we haven't thought about sleep that night. Harsha was in her own world and went on talking, that I noticed that I have in fact become a good listener. May be what I was hearing made me not to stop her at all. It was almost 6 hours and yet her tears did not dry up nor did I try to console her. Sometimes, you need a shoulder to lean on and make you burst with the ages of agony that you withstood. That's destiny. That's childhood friendships are for. That's what we call luck, to stumble upon someone to share ourselves once in a while in this otherwise deserted society.

Harsha is struggling between two different poles. Irony is that she herself created both the storms in her life and still justifies doing so. Her 6 year old son Vinay is having a life outside his parents under the guardianship of his maternal uncle. Harsha saw him some 3 years back on his birthday.

After eloping with her college mate in the final year of her graduation, Harsha could not complete her studies, instead took up a small time job after a discreet marriage, only to realise later that her husband is an addict and is dependent on his parents for his survival. The so called wisdom that a child will change things only worsened her situation. With an infant in tow, and a petty job fetching her money for a livelihood and a highly demanding husband, Harsha was at the most vulnerable moments in life. What best could happen to her than a shoulder to lean on in the form of a colleague. The icing words of a married colleague who spends most of the time with her at work, brought in a solace to her troubled mind. Slowly the friendship blossomed and she found a new energy to regain her life and let go her tragedies behind the curtains for a while. After initial days of pampering, sharing, caring, there started the unique woman characteristics of possessiveness and expectations from this other man outside her marriage.

The other man got scared of his life, his social image, his own family and his growing up children. Managing finances started to give him the required pinch adding coals to the fire as Harsha kept on demanding more of his attention and time. In the due course of time, the passion faded away and what remained was a scar of a painful relationship that had no meaning. Reassurances of not betraying her from the second man did not make her life any better. Instead challenged her own position as his other woman in the society. Her husband caught her one day while she was fighting with this person on the road side in his car. That's the end of the story. Both the men accused each other and finally dumped her on the road. That was the day she bumped on me at the shopping complex in the city.

All I could do as a old friend is to immediately hug and make her cry... at least to relieve her from the pain of betrayal by two men who promised her heavens and broke her world apart. I am her friend and I don't want to upset her by asking more questions or providing useless advices. The fact of this story is that we try to escape from one agony and end up in a bigger one unknowingly. Her story is an eye opener to all those people who jump into hasty decisions and meaningless relationships in this world. Inter wined emotions and vulnerable situations provoke us towards those unwise decisions. There are hundred's of Harsha's in this world who suffer silently amidst the pain and trauma of various relationships in life.

I took Harsha the next day to a music concert. I could see a new happiness in her eyes. I suggested she take up some new work and also start to go for her passion of childhood- Music. It was after almost a year, I met her again, this time, with her son and a decent living. She is today a single parent, a confident professional and a strong woman. This time too, she did not let me talk. She gave me a big hug that made me proud. Proud for having been there when she actually wanted me, just letting her lean on my shoulder and unwind herself for long. I learnt to be a listener since that day. Letting people pour out and start afresh, amidst the dirty betrayals this world can never stop.

Acceptance is the biggest challenge in Schizophrenia

There lives a stranger, unheard and unseen but always in our lives. Travelling every distance we take, every road we cross, every bridge we burn. The stranger slowly becomes our friends, a family person and our companion for a lifetime. But more strangely, understanding this stranger takes time, drains our energies, kill our spirits, torment our strengths and distraught our beliefs. If understanding God without seeing him, talking to him, meeting him, or feeling him, and going ahead with believing him is the way of our culture, religion, custom and way of living, then understanding this stranger also is easy but only if you compare this stranger to God!

Schizophrenia is nothing but living with strangers all the time. Strange silence, strange circumstances and strange illusions. There are mild or paranoid ways of this disease capturing its victims for a life time. Its not just the patient but his or her family, friends and society to accept, understand and support is the most troubled challenge.

Its like having a child with slow learning, but as a parent refusing to accept his shortcomings till its time for the final call and treatment. Making our minds to accept the adversities of life is the most daunting task. Once we accept the adversity, our mind is free from confusion, obligation and tolerance grows and understanding happens. Unless we accept that there is a problem, we will not even be prepared to aim to find a solution. It is like a bug fix- unless you know the root cause of where the issue is, you cannot correct the piece of code.

Acceptance is at three levels- One by the patient himself, second by his dear ones, third by the enlarged society surrounding the troubled minds. Being schizophrenic is not a curse to someone, but not being accepted is definitely the worst curse.

Proper medication, counselling, periodically checkups, keeping physical health in control, proper diet, not taking to any habits like cigar or alcohol are few steps towards managing schizophrenia. The larger picture is that loved ones accept patients limitations, understand their thought process, respect their feelings, rightly interpret their expressions and showing them care and concern is the biggest medication schizophrenics can be blessed with.

They are like babies who need additional care,, hug them with love and they would respond to the world outside their imaginations. Slowly and steadily your love can dominate the illusions and free their minds from the strangers in their lives. Accept adversity and aim for solutions!!!

Quality - A Buzzing Mantra

My mom was unhappy that the rice delivered at home was of no quality, my manager emphazised that the deliverable are of a good quality, my friend wanted to hire good people for his business expansion plans, another friend is looking for a quality home in a good location, again synonym to quality. As a child, I thought quality represented a characteristic or a feature of a thing or a person. Later on, I understood that Quality represents a class, a structure, a nomenclature, a paradigm, a yardstick. But I still try to grab all the meanings possible for this "Q" word. Suddenly, the dictionary seems to be not enough to include all that represents as a meaning to this Big Buzz Word.
The striking things are of P preceding Q in everything possible, not just in order of alphabets but in the global scenarios:
Quality of People: Ultimately all things and events happen for the people, by the people and to the people,,borrowing words of A.Lincoln. People definitely are measured by the attitude, perfection, good ness, kindness, hard work, sincerity and loyalty, commitment and dedication, will power and inbuilt human values, love, compassion, consideration, empathic values and professional strongness. Good people and good thinking makes good products- This is the tag line of Toyota. Well, good people can be beginning of all good things in this world. Agree.
Quality of Products: Right from the days of barter system in place, till the global economy today, we exchange goods and services. These days across borders and continents. May be in the future across planets. I get a good worth of Rs.10 and expect to return either Rs.10 or a good worth of Rs.10. Nothing less is accepted. This is simple barter system. Today, the scenario is I pay Rs 10, and expect to get back Rs.12. This is a good business fundamental. Is my product worth Rs 12 is my question. If yes, agree. Quality of product is defined by the enhanced utility, encompassed with additional value, proper utilisation, no side effects, and ROI. Products can be anything from a perishable good, to a durable or a software solution or a big machinery or a mineral ore. The standard here is the enhanced value for the money I pay.
Quality of Service: Service industry is the second largest and growing industry in the world. Be it hospitality, tourism, hotels, maintenance, or products after sale services, this industry is flourishing and has a momentum ever. Sample case study: I go to Universal, for one reason, friendly people, good products and ultimate service. Someone attends to me as I enter the showroom, finds me a chair, gets me a call number or a time when someone would attend, and I am listened. The best part of the service is when the customer is heard. Business people tend to talk more, and they forget the fact that actual business happens when they let the customer speak. Service industry's quality is measured based on the customer voice about you. Today, what stands tall amidst all the flaws and dirt at Satyam, is definitely their one time service quality that proved strong that makes A.C. Murthy today declare that they are getting new business contracts. Service speaks!
Quality of Governance: I refrain from pointing fingers either at the Corporate Governance or the Political ambit that needs a different forum to address issues that everyone knows. In a simple way, I begin the governance at my home. I set a timetable for everyone on when to get up, what to do, what to practice and how to make the best of every day in hand. Small deviations due to social events and health is permissible, the overall outlook is that the governance is in place and no deviation permitted. What gets streamlined here is that everyone goes to their work on time, have food on time, get enough entertainment and sleep and above all, their own private spaces to rewind themselves. Creativity grows when governance is in place and give lot more room for new and prosperous things to happen than we keeping the house dirty, doing things as time permits, and go way away from a certain discipline. Governance to me begins at home!. With accountability, responsibility and freedom to grow.
Quality Time: Working mothers is a classic example again. One reason, they just give time for everything. Not just the time, but quality time. I know mothers at home, who don't get to hear their children everyday, but at the same time, I have seen mothers who are updated on their kids behaviour, growth, studies and health checkups. The difference is making for the time lost due to work by giving quality time which is vital. Same thing applies at work, its not worth if a person spends 12 hours and does nothing, but a concentrated work can accomplish the same task in 4 hours, that proves smart work within the quality time. Again, this being under similar circumstances to debate. Same rule applies to the governments. Its not important how long a government rules, but its important how good the ruling time is utilised. Again, a conscious effort to do introspection of oneself is required to keep managing time in the most profitable way possible. Time once lost is never regained.

I conclude, in this parlance, quality is not a watch word or just a buzzing mantra. Its becoming a way of life. A culture that need to be part of our system, our family, our values and ourselves. At least to reach near to 100% perfection. Towards a Quality society to live in!

Less Remembered North East India

As today the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukerjee is travelling to Bangladesh to strike a peace negotiation, I wonder why the beauty and serenity of the North east India is silent and away from required visibility. Few Pictures capturing the beauty of the forgotten east of our country

Crusade against Corruption

God, How I wish I did not have a family, a company to work for and free to go with my anger against the system that is meaningless? This is exactly my thought every time I come across a corrupted social environment. Few things that keep a citizen in me anger, restless and frustrated. Every time I see the story of a corporate downfall, the entrepreneur in me is getting wild with wisdom.
Issues that bother us as part of Young Indians:
Corruption, Corruption, Corruption: The whole country is infected with a deadly virus called corruption. Right from the time, we stand in the queue for getting a child's birth certificate, a legal marriage certificate, a driving license, a corporation approval, a license to start a business, a ration card, a electoral card, a passport, a community certificate till finally getting a death certificate and a legal heir certificate in this country, every thing and anything will only happen if you pay that extra "gift" .
This shook me hard when I went to the doctor who declared my dad dead when I was 15. He said, pay me Rs.300 and I will issue you a certificate that your dad was brought dead. What? Did I not pay him his consultation fee when my dad was actually been alive in his last stages. Why should he give a wrong statement and why should I pay him to certify something that he declared. The next wave of embarrassment was when I went to my dad's own office- a government institute called State Excise. His own colleagues charged me Rs 500 to move his papers to process for the last payments that we were eligible to receive. Death certificate was another drama, asking useless and unrelated questions all because I refused to pay Rs 200 to the peon in the Tahsildar office in the town. It took us another 3 months to obtain a legal heir certificate after almost paying another Rs 1000 some 16 years ago. That was the beginning of my anger against corruption and the so called government institutions
Hiring, Transfer, Suspension, Retirement: For getting a job in a government sector, every post has a rate. Irrespective of your qualification and capability, there is something else which is a deciding factor in this country. "Under bench capacity" . I have seen a hindi pandit paying 1.5 lakhs and joining as a watchman in a municipal office. What the heck is happening in my country? My friend, a qualified Principal of a small school in a village travels nearly 4 hours a day from her town to this village and having an infant, when approached the education director, was asked to pay to nearly 2 lakhs for getting the Permanent transfer to her hometown. Her school teacher jobs pays her Rs 3500 a month.
Just because a district collector's brother in law wants a posting in the city, a strict and sincere police office gets booked under a false case himself and is thrown out on suspension. The worst came to my experience when my mom got retired. She served Municipal corporate for almost all her life, nearly 32 years working endless for the same organization. End of the journey, she had to run from pillar to post for nearly 6 months, for her own office to authenticate her service register, and finally she went ahead to go and satisfy her colleagues with her "gift" with out my knowledge, at least to be sure that she would get her pension shortly. She finally managed to get it, after her "well wishers" in the pension pay office found a friend in her. The bonus she got is a form for insurance that retired government servants are privileged to get but mostly unaware. I am annoyed.
Education, health care, insurance - nothing spared:
We have seen hundreds of movies where the most deserving candidate do not get admission to the right college, or the right department, because someone else could manage to make the payment under "Management Quota" . A rate fixed for every educational seat. How will the poor educational institutions manage to survive without capitation fees???!!! How much they spent to pay for acquiring required approvals to run the institutes? Where will they go to recover their costs? Ok, I have not got my education paying a capitation fee and I am determined not to let my child pay anything for getting her education as well. If she gets in merit, she will do professional courses, or else she has life skills to survive, music, fashion designing or anything else, that really don't need this corruption monster to dance upon.
Health care- God bless India. Hospitals are not spared from corruption. It was a Diwali night, and I was driving down near St. Mount, when I saw a man behind hit by another car. The bike rider was lying bleeding and half dead. I managed to call 1066 and plead for help. I was shocked to note that the caller was curious to know if I was his relative, for one reason, he had to be sure that the hospital expenses will be paid. Next he want to be sure that there is no legal obligations unattended. I understand his concerns. But at the same time, there is a life which is at stake and its the moral responsibility of the Ambulance to rush in.
Insurance - I always wonder if it is this sector as a whole that is corrupted or the intermediaries in the name of agents. The man is dead. His family is grieving. He had paid all his insurance premiums on time. His kids are in school. His wife is helpless and the whole family looks upon the agent to help. All for another cost of Rs 10000, for the insurance agent to use his influence in the company to get the claim processed quickly. But why? Why is this happening.
This is a continuous post and there seems to be no end. Can go on and on, describing cases and examples.
What we should aim at is to bring in a portal to citizens of this country to post various instances of corruption, and with proofs where ever possible, and run a strict and rapid campaign to curtail this menace in our society. Unless and until, rapid action is taken as one against AIDS or Polio, this country will be crippled from growth and dead from development sooner than later..

Jobs melting down - 80000 jobs world wide hit on a single day

Jobs melting down - 80000 jobs world wide hit on a single dayIt makes us feel scary. Creating a sense of insecurity on what we hold and what we dream to build around us in our careers. Nothing is certain in this world today. One side we are fighting for rather silly things in the name of religion, culture and tradition, where the world is struggling today to make both ends meet. Millions of people are suffering from lack of proper food, shelter and clothing. Some parts of the world are struggling to cope up with the man-made wars, throwing civilians and innocent borders to risk and helplessness. Some parts of the world is continiously getting hit by earthquakes and floods, wild winds and unbearable cold still the countries trying to retain a calm and composed state of affairs. Thousands of people are going homeless not being able to pay the homeloans and other debts. There are thousand other things that are making our life globally difficult and miserable. The global forum of Financial experts are meeting in Swizterland this week to discuss how to curtail the impact of this global recession on the common man. Companies are struggling to make the overheads meet. People are struggling to keep up their performances and contributions so that they have they jobs secured. One side sports and arts are flourshing, and another side industry and agriculture is getting a hit. We can live without sports and arts, but I doubt if the world can run its wheels smoothly without core indigenous industry, banks, and agriculture surviving adversities of today. Major portion of the export markets that are struggling are not just steel, power, minerals or fuel, what is at stake include pharmacetuical companies, food exporters and education systems. Indian parents whose children are studying abroad are struggling more without much of employment opportunities supporting the children overseas. On the other hand, Pravasa Bharathiya concept is gaining momentum. Its the time for actual action by the economists and leaders of this Nation. Not to lose the strength of our fundamentals as reinterated by Prannay Roy in the thoughtful speech during the Indian of the Year awards function this month. Its time each one of us feel the need for a cautious handling of things around us, be it money, people or work. Unless and until we exercise strong strategic changes in the way we deal on our business goals, and work hard towards the much changed but possible way, there is less that we would be able to control under current circumstances. Instead of worrying about the tigers that may come, it is the right time to secure our caves from attacks. Nothing but a small old story of our childhood to make us think!!! This time towards a positive end.

Moral Policing - A Boon or a Bane?

Moral Policing going one step forward with making itself a dirty business. Inspite of the outage over the Mangalore Horror, a fragment of the society still believes that they are here to clean. Cleanse?? What?? I am not against the moral values of Indian Society nor against the decency necessary in a public behaviour. As a woman, sister, daughter and a mother, we all hold a high degree of responsibility towards our social behaviour. A behaviour that conducts ourselves to held our heads in pride and not in shame. This conduct of behaviour should be innate of oneselves and all of us do believe that we have our freedom backed by an amount of responsibility.

The girls who were molested in Mangalore were not hanging around in a public play ground or a road, they were spending time with their men folks, be it their companions, spouses or boy friends in the privacy of a pub. Molestation in the name of moral policing inside a pub, in the privacy of one's social life is disgusting. This is a shame to us, when the girls were made to run with their dresses being targetted to be stripped. The girls belong to a urban civilized community and may or may not have been to a pub with the parent's concurrences. That is a different story and can be addressed in a different forum. But, the question is, who are these people to condemn the private acts of few women at their discretion. I dont think, India is a taliban equivalent by any means?. Why are these men not targetting the areas operated by pimps and pro's in the society? What right or responsibility they have got to bring in such a shame to our Nation? The answer is that these girls behaved indecently!..
If they are so conscious about the social strata, let them first try to cover hundreds of mentally retarted women who are running with improper clothing in the Nation, build bathrooms for the women living in slums, create proper homes and living space for hundreds of vulnerable and destitute women sleeping in the Railway Stations and bus stands every day.
Someone, who do not see a solution to the existing problems in our community and social segment, have no right or reason to condemn the acts of few people in a private business area. Pubs and dance floors are not the areas they should really be bothered about. They dont even deserve so much of attention as they are frequented by the rich and elite of the society, where the parents also are aware of the behaviour of the children and ready to bear the consequences of the same what so ever.
If the social elements who are so concerned in the name of religion or a culture, or tradition, are really meaningful, and want to help the society, I would suggest they come forward to create a system that would eliminate still happening child marriages, bring in a change in the still prevelent dowry systems, provide employment opportunties to the women working in bars and night clubs, provide alternative means of living to the thousands of prostitutes who struggle without alternatives in our country. Till such time and work, no one has any right to condemn anyone in our so called democratic Republic.

Managing Projects

Quite often I come across friends who keep talking to me over a coffee about the projects that they are trying to turn green. Red Projects and Green Projects. Yes, that is what is commonly heard in the industry. Across organizations and various verticals. The common phenomenon is that the height of project management is to manage projects well and maintain them GREEN.
As a Management graduate, my thinking goes little deeper into this issue. Why does projects go red when they are managed by people who are trained and certified in the Project Management. What could be the reasons why project fails? Where are the gaps in sustaining a above average metrics that indicate a project's success.
People and Passion: Ultimately what makes things work is the intellectual strength and technical know how of the people involved. Above all, the fire in the belly. An urge to succeed. Passion to achieve and identifying the best ways to do a work. Team work. Its like a truck of tasks going standstill when one wheel is punctured. Cant afford to have punctured wheels and it is important to replace the same. When does the wheel get punctured, is when the attitude is impossible to cooperate and handle in a team. If someone lacks ina technical skill or a soft skill, they can be trained. But if someone is not inspired to succeeded, its better not to have them in the key roles. Identify people with the fire to succeed even if they are in the botton of a hierarchy and provide them right platform to utilise their talents and this trust makes wonders.
Planning and Execution: Not all plans are usually executed by every word of it. Lot of projects take so much of effort to draft plans and thinking but when it comes to actually execution, things go by the need of the hour. Referring to the plans drafted and utilising experiences will help projects succeeding without reinventing the wheel. It may not be always possible to go by the books, but going by the books will avoid deviations that are unnecessary.
Process and Projects: Process is not one of the last activities not a parallel activity to any project. Process is an integrated effort for a project's success. Processes that are time tested and implemented earlier enrich the usability of available knowledge and identify areas that need concern earlier. Processes though may sound tough and hard to follow, in fact, make life easier when followed. They are like trains running on the defined tracks. As long as Projects run on the set of processes planned, the destination cannot be different from success. Process and Quality should not be the responsibility of just the quality personnel and project managers. Quality should be the watch word for every team member, whose individual deliverable also count to have the required quality, be it the development work or the project documentation.
Persistence and perfection: Every one works. Only those succeed who maintain a consistency in their work. Nothing can be 100% perfect. But aiming it will at least achieve us a near figure of success. When deadlines are set, and things are planned, leaving the fate of the project to the last phase of the time frame and moving slowly at the beginning of the project is a wrong way of handling things. Proactive actions, timely decisions and active participation right from the time, a project is kick started can only make a project successful.
Placing in customer's shoes: Instead of taking advantage of things that do not fall within the Line of Control, it is better to handle things first that are controllable. Nextly it is vital to put yourself in the shoes of your customer and think on the ROI. The customer had assigned a task to you, for two things. For he believes in your competency and deliverable. Do continuous reviews of where you stand from your end date and avoid rework.
Analysis and Playing the role of right Project Manager: Question yourself on the work you do. Can you go home today and sleep in peace with satisfaction that you did justice to your 8 hours of work? Did you complete all the tasks you planned for the day? Did you marks things deferred to be tracked for a later date? Do you have self followups in place? If yes, then there is no reason why you should be scared of the colour of your project. Bring in this wave of self analysis within each of your team members. Bring in a sense of accountability and responsibility. Delegation and belief in the strength of your team. Affirmation and planned way of handling things, and maintaining calmness during most difficult business situations will provide you the required mind frame to think. Projects succeed when managers handle things calmly and do not jump into hasty deviating decisions. When they protect the interests of the team and shield them with timely suggestions and do not transfer their burden of handling risks and contingencies to the team, the team will keep doing their best. Appreciation and recognising job well done, and highlighting the same, inspires the people who work hard, and motivates others around.

Arise everytime you die!

I stopped for a moment when I heard some one in office utter aloud .."I am dead". Dead! Did I hear her right or was it just a way to express something unmanageable. Or may be just another exclamatory. But what if one comes across the same thing in the true sense. It necessarily need not be the final sleep that all of us one day have to go with. There can be situations equivalent or more painful than death. More worse that we find ourselves tremendously stressed out to handle.
To me every time, you die, you should arise. This death is not the end of the physical body, but it a tiring situation that makes us stop. Makes us stumble. Makes us wither. There seems to be no hope, no road ahead and no positive thoughts. Everything is blank and vacuum. There can be various reasons or circumstances under which once encounters death like situations. It is not easy as said. It takes lot of perseverance, strong faith, ardent belief and above all, the will to emerge, in fact emerge successful
Rama felt that her world came to an end and there is no life ahead when her husband died. She felt that her death could have been more a relief than going through the painful process of losing her beloved one. After 4 years, she emerged a strong woman running a small cooperative society supporting woman to begin small scale work from home opportunities. Today she employs 12 women in her small office.
For nearly 40 years, Keshav had built a small time pan shop into a leading jeweller shop in the city and was running a huge export business. A planned security breach of his employee with the security guards made him lose crores of his business. He felt lost. He felt cheated. He lost trust, faith and confidence. It took him another decade to recover and repay his debtors but he did it. Perseverance paid.
Jai, a stock broker in Chennai. The first of the few who introduced online trading in the city and got the BSE tickets to do the trading in the years when computers were not every man's commodity and trading was not a prospective business. He signed his first one crore rupees cheque in 1988, at the age of 24, the entire amount he made in 2 years of his career as a stock broker. 2009, January, Jai is reported to be missing from the city and his investors, customers and sub brokers are at the end of the road. Near to 30 crores of money that he owed to various stake holders is at a question mark. All that his office received is an email from him, is that he would arise from his death and come back. All he asked his folks is to trust him, have faith and be patient till the tsunami is softened. Having known the guts of this guy, am sure he would come back, this time, bringing some meaning to his people.
1970's were the time, the Vummidiars Jewellers were leading in Tamil nadu in the jewellery market having their best showroom in the place of the now standing Spencer Plaza on the Mount road. This is not the Vummidi shops that are flourishing in the city today and they were Vummidiars, the actual jewellers since 1920's in the business. Family feud, wrong market assumptions and taking people's trust to risk, by introducing a chit fund, way back in 1980's saw a sudden vanishing of this branded jewellers. Once popular group grounded, but what emerged are their wings in the form of expertise in United States where the young vummidiars are making waves as Gemologists. Vummidi group took the patronage and fame and created a new branding and image and sustainability.
Don't know if we should held our heads in pride for a woman's courage or shame for the vulnerability of few of brothers , when a gang rape victim, emerge from the social stigma, haunting police enquiries and courts proceedings and her own shell of pain and loss, and walk with pride running a school with the money she got as a compensation by the court in India and today she teaches children not just education but values that make them human beings above all.
Be it the loss of materialistic things, or emotional trauma's, what make people emerge every time they die? Faith. Faith in the future. Man is blessed with a mind to forget and forgive. Time heals. Those who learn to look beyond adversities, handle traumas with care and caution, keep up the courage and arise from confronting issues, will not only arise from death, but they show life to people around. They create success stories. They create a spectrum of happiness, peace and tranquility. They create a chain of life, a life beyond death!
Let me die millions times before I sleep, for every time I emerge from my death, what brings out of me is a better person, a learnt soul, a refined human being. That would put me to my final peaceful sleep!!! Arise every time you die!!!

The Obama Fever

My Obama fever has restarted again. This time, because 20th January 2009 not only marks the inauguration of the 44th President of United States but an expected transformation of the world economy as his regime begins. I am one of the millions of enthusiastic spectators who is expecting some miracles to happen and for the world economy to oil its wheels quickly to get accelerated asap.
One quick glance of this man in Michigan during his campaigns from a distance, and having had the opportunity to listen to his most of the speeches during his campaign, and also his acceptance speech in Chicago made me his great fan. He has got a fire in him that will drive him hard to face the turbulence's of the stumbling global economy and its direct impact in United States and the world all over. He represents a victory over racism. He remarkably presents himself as the voice of a common man. The way he starts his speech and gets so involved and engrossed and bring in a wave and vibration in the listeners just do not represent a strong orator but a inner leader who awakes as he talks. "Yes, We Can" , the words that naturally flew in his speech, became the slogan of the century. The three words represent positiveness, optimistic future, possibility, and above all Faith. A transforming faith. When a million people together shout, that WE CAN, let me tell you, it just happens, the change not just America needs but the world needs at this hour.
Inspired by this young leader and his views and opinions, I only keep my prayers strong that Indo-US relations should be strengthen and bilateral and economic understanding should grow paving a strong path for trade and commerce, and intellectual exchange to flourish for years to come making India stand ahead as a Developed Nation. His support on fighting terrorism and controlling borders restlessness should help India and our neighbours to develop manageable relationships that are looking for verifiable objector evidence every time we come across an issue. India and Indians in United States should aim at making the best of times during the next years of Obama regime, for here what we have is a man who is intellectually brilliant, emotionally 100% American and rationally strong winning over odd adversities and above all a very ordinary man with extraordinary family values and support system. He have lot of ingredients that sprang in every Indian and unlike most of his predecessors at the White House, here comes an American President who is a global Hero even before he takes over the oval office.
Hatts Off Obama, am sure your parents would be proud where ever they are and you certainly do have your grandmother's blessings. Enjoy your time in DC and give back to the world little more than what is expected, for that's your style and passion, to exceeding expectations!!!

The Hindu Opportunities Edition missing today

Wednesday Hindu paper used to be eagerly awaited by most of the professionals looking for a change or for the best of opportunities that get listed. Today, surprisingly after many years, we find the supplement missing. Reason: No enough classified to publish a complete supplement on the job market. Gosh, where are we heading to... all that had was added as two sides to the main edition. Is this representing a dull or rather lost job market. Interestingly, what was visible is also not biggest companies openings or fully from IT industry. Its just 12 days that this year passed and it makes us wonder, what is all it has got in store in 2009.
The fall of a King and his worst hit empire in the last one week had caused enough trauma to a recession stuck industry. It made people speak so much, discussed and debated at length, about a person who was once regarded as the best for governance, excellent corporate to look upon and man who made it to masses from a scratch. Overnight, things changed. 20 years of hard earned prestige, power and people are gone. Greed had been the primary reason. The system failed and made people think what to believe and what not to believe. The questions on the integrity of an industrialist or a corporate remained too large and too complex. Accounting standards, auditing reliability, political support, contractual obligations, people's trust and hard earned money, insecurity of jobs of more than 50000 people and their families, depending vendors, investors, everything under the purview became a question mark. What failed. Quality of a human brain.
The Nation stood standstill when another set of 50000 people refused to work for few days. Oil PSUs strike shook the Nation making it stand in queues for fuel. The life of an ordinary man was hit and we did nothing but to patiently wait and watch, and see the drama unfold in every news bulletin. Government believed that they are paid no less, people getting paid alteast 1 Lakh and above called for a strike. Those who did it, said that they are under paid. Prime Minister believed it otherwise. Trucks strike made the ordinary man's woes continue. Though fighting for rights is recommended, there is a way to do it. Strikes are in no way a recommended way.
Its just 12 days and so many issues. Government is working over night with the crisis management team to fix most of the issues. By the way Sibu Soren lost the election... does it trouble someone..hope so and hope not so too! It is time for looking for predictions this year!! ?Another question mark. All I decided to do now, is close this post, and go to bed, so that I get back to work tomorrow on time, and just do what is planned for the day. And find ways not to disappoint someone at work and learn to be cautious and just keep up my good work!

Civilized society unable to stop war

Watching the news on Times Now last night made me recall those days when I first saw a live war in television. Flights and bombers zooming in Iraq and Kuwait, first war that was telecasts all over the world. Nothing of it changed the way the war entered 11th day in the Gaza strip, killing civilians and tarnishing school buildings. Palestine and Israel war doesn't seem to end for any good any soon. For a moment it makes us feel if at all we are in the civilized society where every negotiation and dialogue fails to resolve confronting issues between the nations.
My heart started to ache further when the next news in line was of our brave soldiers making it amidst the terrain, cold winds and a fierce enemy marching towards them in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. They are very close to the LOC fighting for the security of our Nation. The cry for a war against terror inside the country is bringing in a cold war in the borders again. Army soldiers are fighting the terrorists and moving forward, leaving behind their families and friends in sheer desperation. It is shame on our country that we don't give due respect to these soldiers who put their lives for the security of the Nation and in turn idolize and cheer cricketers and actors who make the most of fame and money in their professions. There are hundreds of unsung heroes of our Nation whose families are shattered after they had laid down their lives for our homeland security. Unless and until we wake up to the internal and border security of our Nation, no wonder war is always at our door step. We need leaders who would raise their voices and create a sense of fear in Nations to even think of attacking us. We need powerful leaders who can create a sense of security in the minds of Indians and a sense of fear on those who aim against us. According to Bhagavath Gita, " If war is inevitable, fight it with courage." When negotiations fail, and diplomacy disdains, and war become the only way to win for our Nation, let it not be the responsibility of the few soldiers alone, let the whole Nation awake to the call, a call for security and peace of our Mother Land.

My New Year Post

Year 2009, another new year started with the usual prayers and celebrations. Bringing in new hopes and new expectations. There is so much of energy to sustain throught out this year, face adequate challenges, prepare oneselves for best of opportunities and bring in more success. Success is a huge edifice that can be built with bricks of hardwork, cement called trust, sand called dedication and water called right perceptions and mix it with right attitudes and vision towards certain goals set for this year, both individual and entreprenuel. The goals towards both professional enrichment and personal growth. Wishing my family and friends and all my well wishes and collegues a wonderful and passionate year ahead! Happy New Year

Sculpturing a stone to a success story...

Many a time, lot of things in this world go meaningless and value less, just because they dont happen at the right time, at the right place and with the right people. Lot of talent goes unnoticed because they dont know the way of right exposure. Lot of experience go useless without others learning from it. Lot of efforts result in no visible changes or profits or making a difference. Why does this happen? And how often does this happen. It can happen to anyone, any time and any where. What makes the change? How come some people experience a difference in life? When they find that something called "Right" in all aspects.

There is an inspiring story of two people - simple friends who did simple things in an extra ordinary way. They did not do different things, but did things differently from others around them. A decade of perservarance, warmth and unchanged understanding and equivilibrium of thougts to grow in life. They still remain simple friends who fight, who laugh together and who cry together for ups and downs in life.
It was the beginning of their careers, simple and small pay jobs that kept their kitchen fires running. A small moped that helped them shuttle to office. She used to help him fuel that little vehicle and he used to pool her to office, to avoid the atrocities of heavily crowded city buses, and protecting her from the men who are still meaner in their behaviours in the buses. He used to help her by training during lunch and after office hours on technology that she never understood completely. She used to listen to his classes and suggest improvements. 3 years went off by the time, the little office they worked, had its shutters closed. Just 5 collegues and 3 best friends emerged. First birthday of her child celebrated with the sponsered money from him. She rushed with her last few hundreds to help him take his wife for a surgery. Life unfolded by each other helping in times of need and still managing to look at being something big in the future.

From there they had to take different paths in career, but still remained together in life, with the same care and concern, love and affection. There emerged two interdependent families.

With a huge joint family, little child, sick husband then and a demanding job at a call centre, she shouted at him, when he proposed her to start taking up an MBA course. Finally his cause won. She gave him a direction to move from a training institute to a software career, a dream that he dreamt from his Anna University days as a trainee and student. From then, nothing made them look back.

People looked at them with envy. With always a wrong intention but they never bothered about what others think. What mattered to them was their growth, their children, their families and future. For that if they had to spend time together everyday, they did it. They did not regret for the false looks they had just because its a married man moving with another married woman. Society looks upon you and puts you down, only if there is something for which you should be guilty of. As long as there is no such wrong notions between them, I think that made them never ever bother about all this scrap of the dirty minds. A pious friendship, a carefilled relationship and fathomless affection. Together they toiled towards their growth, worked unearthly hours, shared beautiful thoughts and all good wishes, equally handled issues and troubles on the way, stood besides each other when trauma stuck and started to realise their dreams. Building a success story from scrap is a tiring process, but with someone's faith and confidence, nothing is impossible in this world. Today they inspire youngsters like them to aim big and move forward what ever may be the circumstances. Especially he doesnt give lectures like she does, but his sets examples by his actions. She is an orator and a writer who I think inspires people around. Today she and her husband regard him as one in their family, nothing happens without him at home. His family gets elited with them around. Now they chase each other to grow further big, leaving behind all the tragedies of poverty, vulnerability, fears and insecurities.

Moral of the story: A stone is just a stone unless its in the right sculptures hand.
Bottomline: That is Krishnan Vadivel for me! My Mentor, Guide and a Best Friend.

An Year that had been larger than Life 2008

Especially for me, this had been one of the best years in my career and very challenging year overall. An year which had seen the best of time and the worst of slide downs throughout. An year which gathered momentum of all sorts. An year of success and much tiring times.
January 2008: My husband with Aish went to fulfill a long time prayers to Lord Ayyappan .
I was taken by surprise as my interview on "Chennai Sangamam" flashed in NDTV on the Pongal day Jan 15th across India.
February 2008: Winning the EWIT excellence award, especially taking a lead on my role model pushed me to a list of surprises. Most Valuable Player Award from GD for Q1 was one another pleasant surprise
March 2008: Addressing a Women's forum on a International Women's day ignited my spirits all the more. Diagnostics Tool Certification was another technical achievement that I least expected. March 12 marked its significance when my father in law gave me a standing ovation as I went on stage in Music Academy to receive my award. My mom and family stood in applause.
April 2008: Got my visa to US and travelled with family to Michigan in mid April, proving a point to lot of people who thought we would get succumbed to my husbands sickness. Turning negative times to positive opportunities once again proved as my strength.
May 2008: Two things fight to take the first seat... Aishu turned 10 and our visit to Niagara falls. To me its a dream come true. Water Falls excites me always and this Falls made my dream many times, and walking down the Niagara river, I felt an amazing transformation in me
Finally my much awaited dual MBA certificate came in from IGNOU...
June 2008: Visit to Sears Towers Chicago and also getting my 7th EAward at work gave a real boost
July 2008: Kick started a huge responsibility wearing multiple hats at work towards a much required 24*7 concentration and working towards only one goal- a project success.
Aish met Dr Kalam in her school.
September 2008: Spent a good amount of time with my childhood friend Madhuri- a deep dive down a 16 years back school stories... wow, what lives for a life time is the childhood friendships
A new friend sparked my life with the presence on my birthday. Also lost a good friend Radikha, whose untimely death moved me beyond thoughts
October 2008: Completed the largest responsibility entrusted upon me. Started to re vibrate my thoughts in my blog. Thanks to this writing spree that got me introduced to Mrs Sarada Ramani....my ongoing inspiration.
Novemeber 2008: Tears rolled down on the day we went live, as a flag bearer of a project that tested our patience and efforts. Watching Obama transform the American history was another exciting moment. Finally bid adieu to Michigan, that gave me a new and profound energies to look at life...Manjit brought new and real meaning to friendship.
December 2008: Aish winning with her school team in the Inter School Dance fest conducted by kalaignar TV and Abirami Mall, made me recognise a grown up independent child who knows to handle priorities. Still remember the sparks in those four eyes that awaited me in Airport as I came back to India, Aish and Raghu gave me a big hug making me feel proud of my family... without their fullest support, I am sure, I would not have been what I am, my mom and sisters awaited eagerly along with my best friends and my mentor Krishnan and my manager Shankar. Getting back an old and much cherished friendship back in life, is like getting back a lost fortune....sometimes, people and their emotions bring in more happiness than materialistic things. Thanks to this wonderful year, that thought me lot of things that gives me a strength to handle anything in life