The Money Trap!

There used to be a tradition followed by children in many families in India during the 90s where kids tend to follow similar career as their parents. This was either due to lack of opportunities in the region where they lived or reduced awareness about what the world had to offer, often backed by limited financial support parents could offer those days.

Things were not too different for me. As soon as I was in my tenth-grade, questions started popping up about what my plans for future was. Those were the days when we finished with grade ten at school, we moved on to a college campus where we did a course called pre-degree for the next two years preparing ourselves for future courses, such as three-year graduation in streams such as Science, Arts or Commerce or four-year Engineering or even longer Medical courses. The options were limited to these.

My elder brother had opted for Commerce, and my dad was a graduate in Economics. So naturally, I ended up with these choices and finally decided on Commerce assuming that job opportunities were better with that stream.

Soon, I joined the pre-degree course in Commerce at St Berchmans (SB) College, one of the most prestigious institutions for higher education in Changanacherry, my hometown in Kerala. After two years, I continued with the graduation stream in Commerce. Before even I knew, three more years went by, and I was in my final year of Commerce. The same year, I got elected as the Commerce Association Secretary of SB College, an assignment I deeply cherished since that was the beginning of many such responsibilities that came my way in future.

One of the key events I was responsible as Association Secretary was to organise an inter-collegiate event named Commerce Causerie. We formed a good team from our final year class along with a few of our juniors to drive the event. A considerable amount had to be raised in sponsorship from institutions in and around our small town. Invitations were sent to multiple colleges and universities across the state. All preparations were done. With the support of the team, we raised enough funds to conduct the event.

The money raised was utilized for various needs including prizes for event winners, facilities including renting of acoustics, travel expenses for invited dignitaries, printing of flyers, posters, banners for sponsors, setting up stalls and many more. Togy, one of my classmates was responsible for the funds as official treasurer of the event. I was equally required to oversee the expenses in the capacity of Association Secretary.

Finally, the big day arrived. All events were picture perfect. As the day progressed, Togy and I started settling the bills with various suppliers. Everyone except the acoustics provider was cleared. His bill was Rs 2000 and I looked at Togy, but all what happened was that we exchanged blank stares. To put it simple, we were broke! There was no money left in the purse to settle the last guy.

Commerce Causerie was an event completely conceived, planned, and executed by the student body of Commerce Department, and hence it was not prudent to reach out to our faculty for help. 25 years later when I look back, moments like these defined true leaders in us. Good leaders are always around. Great leaders are born when a crisis stared down on them.

For a moment we wondered what really went wrong. We were quite sure that we had raised enough money through sponsorship and even after the planned expenses we were even expecting certain surplus. Those were the days we rarely carried extra cash with us, and credit cards were even unheard of. The acoustics guy started to get uneasy. We had to do something before he decided to head to the Commerce Department and complained to our faculty.

That was when we realized something. A few weeks back, as part of the sponsorship trips I did along with a few of my classmates, we had visited the branch of IDBI bank at a nearby town and met the manager. After a few minutes of convincing he agreed to sponsor us with Rs 2000, but with a caveat. He said he would release the cheque for the amount only after showing him the photographs of the event where the banner of IDBI was prominently displayed. Never knew angels came in the form of bank managers!

Since there was no way to get the liquid cash required at that moment to pay the acoustics guy, we were still stuck. That was the exact moment, the proverbial idea bulb showed up above my head. My dad used to work in a branch of Dhanalakshmi bank near our college. I had a savings account in the same branch which I knew had more than Rs 2000 in it. I rushed to the bank, filled the cash withdrawal form for Rs 2000, and waited for my turn for the teller to call out my token number to receive the money. Imagine a world without ATMs!

My dad saw me coming in and he obviously asked me what the urgency was to withdraw the money. I gave him a quick update about the situation and as soon as the teller handed over the money from my account, I rushed back to college. The acoustics guy was finally silent.

A few days later, as I handed over the cheque for Rs 2000 from IDBI bank to the teller at Dhanalakshmi bank to deposit the amount back to my account, he could not help noticing a smile on my face. It was the smile that appeared from reliving the experiences of an occasion that turned out to be one of the greatest learning in terms of not just organizing a large-scale event but helped me with lessons in money management that remain etched in my mind forever.

നാർമടിപ്പുടവ

 ഒറ്റ ഇരിപ്പിന് ഒരു പുസ്തകം വായിച്ചു തീര്‍ക്കുന്ന സവിശേഷ കാഴ്ച ഞാന്‍ കണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നത് എന്റെ നല്ല പാതിയിലും മകളിലും മാത്രമാണ്. എന്റെ ഓർമ്മയിൽ ഈ അടുത്തകാലത്ത് എങ്ങും തന്നെ അങ്ങനെയൊരു വായനാ അനുഭവം എനിക്കുണ്ടായിട്ടില്ല. അങ്ങനെയിരിക്കെ കഴിഞ്ഞ ആഴ്ച മാത്രം വായിക്കാനായി എടുത്ത ഒരു പുസ്തകം ഇന്ന് വായിച്ചു തീർത്തു എന്ന് ഞാൻ പറയുമ്പോൾ അതിലെ അതിശയോക്തി നിങ്ങൾക്ക് മനസ്സിലാകും എന്ന് ഞാൻ കരുതുന്നു.

പലതവണ പുസ്തകങ്ങൾ കണ്ടിട്ടുണ്ടെങ്കിലും ഒരിക്കൽപോലും വായനയിലൂടെ പരിചയപ്പെടാൻ ശ്രമിക്കാതിരുന്ന ഒരു എഴുത്തുകാരിയായിരുന്നു സാറാ തോമസ്. നാർമടിപ്പുടവ എന്ന കൃതി ഇതുപോലെ ഒരു അസാമാന്യ അനുഭവം പ്രദാനം ചെയ്യുന്നതായിരുന്നു എന്ന് അറിഞ്ഞിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ പണ്ടേ ഞാൻ അതിന് ശ്രമിച്ചേനേ!

ഒരു പുസ്തകത്തിന്റെ തുടക്കം മുതൽ ഒടുക്കം വരെ അതിതീവ്രമായ വികാരങ്ങൾ അതേ തീവ്രതയോടെ വായനക്കാരുടെ ചേതനയിൽ ഉണർത്തുക എന്നുള്ളത് ഒരു അസാമാന്യ എഴുത്തുകാരിക്കു മാത്രം സാധിക്കുന്ന ഒന്നാണ്.

തമിഴ് ബ്രാഹ്മണ സമുദായത്തിലെ കാലഹരണപ്പെട്ട ചില ആചാരങ്ങൾക്കെതിരെ പിടിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ഒരു കണ്ണാടിയാണ് ഈ കൃതി. പക്ഷേ എന്നെ ഏറ്റവും അതിശയപ്പെടുത്തിയ കാര്യം 1978ൽ എഴുതിയ ഈ പുസ്തകത്തിലെ പല അവസ്ഥകളും വിവിധ രൂപങ്ങളിൽ ഇന്നും നിലനിൽപ്പുണ്ട് എന്നുള്ള യാഥാർത്ഥ്യമാണ്. അതിന് മതത്തിന്റെയോ, സമുദായത്തിന്റെയോ വ്യത്യാസമില്ല എന്നുള്ളതും ഒരു സങ്കടകരമായ വസ്തുതയാണ്.

ഇന്നും വായനയെ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്ന ആരെങ്കിലും ഈ കുറിപ്പ് കാണുകയാണെങ്കിൽ സാധിക്കുന്ന ഏറ്റവും അടുത്ത സാഹചര്യത്തിൽ ഈ പുസ്തകം വാങ്ങണമെന്നും വായിക്കണമെന്നും ഞാൻ അതിയായി ആഗ്രഹിക്കുന്നു. ഇല്ലെങ്കിൽ അതൊരു തീരാനഷ്ടം തന്നെയായിരിക്കും.

സാറാ തോമസ് നിങ്ങൾക്ക് എന്റെ ഹൃദയം നിറഞ്ഞ കൂപ്പുകൈ 

When Yesudas failed to impress me!

K J Yesudas is one of the most celebrated singers India has ever produced. He is estimated to have recorded an overwhelming 50000 songs in more than a dozen Indian and foreign languages.

He was already a living legend by the time I reached my middle school. This was year 1993. That was when one day, dad came home with a breaking news that Yesudas was to perform at a musical concert in Assumption college, one of the most famous colleges in Changanacherry, my hometown in Kerala. Naturally, everyone got excited because you were getting an opportunity of a lifetime to listen to a musical icon in the country performing live!

For me personally, that was not the real excitement. It was also the first year after my dad opened Adens, an ice cream parlour and restaurant, in our hometown. After breaking the news about Yesudas, dad also mentioned that we were going to have a food stall inside the college where people could walk in and buy ice creams and snacks. Yay! We were going to run a shop inside one of the biggest colleges in our small hometown.

Dad also offered to pick me up from school in the evening which was a rare occurrence since I used to commute daily to school on an auto rickshaw. I felt happy that my dad was coming to pick me up from school that day! Small happinesses in life.

By the time I reached the age of middle school, dad used to give me a small amount as pocket money. Nothing fancy, it was about Rupees 2 a month. But the value of that was so high those days, that you will not believe me if I said, I was able to buy twenty candies for just one Rupee! So, on the day of the concert I ensured that I bought a handful of those candies from a tiny shop behind our school where I waited for my dad to pick me up.

Soon we reached the college where the musical concert of Yesudas was about to begin. As soon as I stepped into the campus, what greeted me was a large make-shift frame which connected two of the main buildings of the college. The frame looked as though it was painted in pure white and there were images of bright red apples placed at equal distance from each other across which the word Adens was engraved. It was the beautiful logo of our business. Everyone who walked through the gates of the college that day, stood and took notice of the shop and the brand Adens. 

It was a pure marketing genius of dad to secure a stall there in college for the event, which was the only food stall available in the campus that day. Not only did the day end up as exceptionally good for the business but also gained much needed publicity for a new brand in town.

Meanwhile, the concert was an equally big hit and soon after the event, Yesudas headed back home. So did I, with tummy filled with candies and mind brimming with business ideas.

Thanks again to dad for instilling such brilliant marketing lessons right from our childhood in my brother and me. I am sure his soul must be rejoicing up in Heaven for a life well lived!

Secret of Ramses

Tom and Maria were living their dream vacation in Egypt. After a lot of persuasion, they finally convinced their parents to plan a trip to the land of pharaohs. They were at the tomb of Ramses II, the greatest and the most powerful pharaohs in the recorded history of Egypt.

They were looking at hieroglyphics carved on stone and were having lots of fun, imagining the meaning of each one of them. 'Oh my God! Look at this Tom!' Maria screamed! Tom literally jumped, hearing his sister yelling. He rushed to her side to check what excited her so much. Maria was pointing to a specific hieroglyphic square which depicted a bedecked Egyptian figure holding what looked like a movie camera! Tom was equally surprised to see this in a tomb that was more than 3000 years old. What was even more alarming was that a few feet later he found another square where he saw an equally decorated Egyptian figure holding what looked like a mobile phone! Tom and Maria were thrilled at what they discovered. They decided to put their brains together to figure out the meaning of those unusual findings.

Meanwhile, 3000 years back, an incredible scene was unfurling at the great palace of Ramses II. Commander Neb-Re was presenting to the pharaoh, the working of 'alet el-zaman', a time machine invented by a group of supremely brilliant scientists in ancient Egypt. This was meant to be the greatest of all innovations during the reign of any Egyptian ruler ever!

The commander just returned from a trip to future where he first arrived at a unique setting which strikingly reflected a pharaoh's palace, except that the pharaoh looked quite different and even spoke a language that was alien to Neb-Re. There were certain devices placed all around the palace with large lights flooding the area. He heard someone shouting words that sounded like 'Action' and 'Cut'. In fact, one of the folks even pushed him into a scene where he was asked to accompany the pharaoh as he was heading out of the palace. He also heard someone speaking the words 'movie' and 'The Mummy Returns'.

After 'acting' in the movie, Commander Neb-Re landed in Dubai and it was the day when the new iPhone 16 was getting launched in the Apple Store in Dubai Mall. Never in his life had he seen a crowd that big, that he felt so intimidated, something he did not even experience in the battles he led as the commander of armies of great Ramses II.

After listening to all the wonderful stories from future, Ramses II asked Neb-Re about the understanding people have about ancient Egypt. Neb-Re told him about all the looting of pyramids and the famous museums where mummies of pharaohs are kept, including Ramses II.

The pharaoh looked disturbed listening to the stories of the loot. But having remembered something important, he quickly asked, 'Did they take away everything Neb-Re?'

'Not really, your Highness. They could only find gold and other things in the main burial chamber. Our special treasures and jewels are still safe. On my way back I did a quick stop to check at the Valley of the Kings and made sure that everything is still intact even after 3000 years. Those smart humans of future are yet to discover our well-kept secrets. There is nothing to worry your Highness.'

As Ramses II smiled, three levels below the palace, artisans were etching images of a movie camera and a mobile phone to the many hieroglyphic squares that were kept ready. Those and many others had a tiny opening at the rear end which when opened unveiled bright and beautiful precious gems laid inside them, each one of them valued enough to buy even a whole country, 3000 years later!

As Ramses headed to his chamber to rest after a long day, Commander Neb-Re was seen moving the 'alet el-zaman' to a secret location which only pharaoh and his most trusted commander knew, one the world will probably never know!

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction. Please do not try to find these hidden treasures when you visit Egypt.

The Dilbert Future - Book Review

'Dilbert', that name alone was more than enough for me to pick up this book by Scott Adams, the legendary cartoonist who gave life to one of the most sought after cartoons in corporate world! The concepts he discuss in this book are, as thought provoking as his usual Dilbert cartoons.

What makes it even more exciting are the predictions he made throughout the book, about 21st century way of life. When you realize that the book was first published in 1997 and many predictions turned out to be prophetic in nature, will make you admire Scott Adams even more.

One of his predictions for example was that, in future everyone will become a reporter themselves who will report on everything that goes around them. Isn't this exactly what we see today with social media? Am sure when the book was written, social media was only at its nascency and the primitive form of the social media then, was quite inferior compared to its current abilities to even attempt a prediction such as this.

Having said that there are a few predictions where Scott Adams went totally wrong. For instance, he predicted that airlines' will never change their ways of working and in fact will degrade their new aircrafts to match their older versions to give a uniform experience to the customers. Clearly he didn't anticipate the game changing strategies airlines such as Emirates executed, which completely thwarted his prediction.

Overall, I will give this book a 5/10 rating. For me, the comic strip of Dilbert any day wins, than this form of writing by Scott Adams.

Whale Watching

മെയ് മാസത്തെ കനത്ത ചൂടിൽ ദുബായിലെ വീട്ടിലിരുന്ന് വെറുതെ ഒരു പുസ്തകം വായിച്ചുകൊണ്ടിരിക്കുകയായിരുന്നു ഞാൻ. വായിച്ച താളുകൾക്കിടയിൽ എവിടെയോ തിമിംഗലങ്ങളെ കുറിച്ചുള്ള ഒരു പരാമർശം വന്നപ്പോൾ പെട്ടെന്നുണ്ടായ ഒരു ചിന്തയിൽ ഞാൻ എന്റെ പ്രിയതമയോട് പറഞ്ഞു, 'നമുക്ക് എന്നെങ്കിലും യൂറോപ്പിലോ അമേരിക്കയിലോ Whale Watching trip പോണം. ഒന്നുമില്ലെങ്കിലും ലോകത്തിലെ ഏറ്റവും വലിയ ജീവിയെ നേരിട്ട് കാണാനുള്ള ഒരു ഭാഗ്യമല്ലേ ഉണ്ടാവുക?'

കേട്ടപാടെ ഉത്തരം വന്നു. 'വെയില് കാണാനാണെങ്കിൽ ആ ബാൽക്കണി ഡോർ തുറന്നു വെറുതെ ഒന്ന് പുറത്തേക്കിറങ്ങിയാൽ പോരെ? അതിനിനി യൂറോപ്പിലോ അമേരിക്കയിലോ പോകേണ്ട വല്ല കാര്യമുണ്ടോ?'

എന്താണ് പറയേണ്ടത് എന്ന് ഒരു നിമിഷനേരത്തേക്ക് ഞാൻ അന്തിച്ചു നിന്നു. പിന്നെ ഈ മരുഭൂമിയിൽ കത്തിക്കാളുന്ന വെയിലിന്റെ സ്പോൺസറായ സൂര്യഭഗവാനെ ഒന്നു വണങ്ങി, ഞാനെന്റെ വെയിൽ വാച്ചിംഗ് സ്വപ്നങ്ങൾ പൂവണിഞ്ഞതായി സ്വയം പ്രഖ്യാപിച്ച് ആത്മനിർവൃതി അടഞ്ഞു.

Sleep

After a long and tiring day, my sweetheart and I finally hit the bed. It was past midnight already. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I could feel the Angel of Sleep staring to flutter her wings that worked its charm just like a lullaby.

Somewhere in between the flutter I heard a deeply familiar voice asking me a question which was equally familiar for the frequency with which I encountered that on a daily basis. It sounded something like this, 'So, what are you doing for losing the weight? Any plans?'

Before I replied to the query, which seemed to have come from the other side of the bed, and not the Angel in the room, I must have dived deeper into my sleep. I do not recollect answering that question.

The next day morning, as I was getting my coffee ready, my significant other walked into the kitchen with an even more significant frown on her face. I was wondering what did I do? I had a sound sleep whereas my darling wife clearly did not seem to have enjoyed one.

After a few moments of cajoling, she finally spoke. Here was what really happened, apparently. As soon as the question on my plan on losing weight was asked, I responded and that ticked her off.

The conversation went like this, allegedly:

Her: 'So, what are you doing for losing the weight? Any plans?'

Me: 'I have reported it to Lost & Found section. As soon as they find it, they will return it safely.'

Moral of the story: Drinking and driving is dangerous. But there are far more life-threatening combinations like sleeping & talking! Please avoid, if possible. Else...

Leadership & Humility

It was almost twenty years back, when I got down from a bus into a lush green campus, with career dreams and aspirations as vibrant as the greenery in the campus. A board at the entrance of the campus announced that we reached ‘Global Village’. It was a brand-new campus situated off the Mysore Road which a few IT companies made their new office location. MindTree Consulting was one among them, into which I stepped in for my first ever corporate job as a fresh MBA graduate from Christ College, Bangalore.

MindTree offered a whole lot of impressive perspectives of life for me as a youngster. One among them, that stands out even today after two decades was the humility of founders of the company. There are quite a few stories to share which will put to shame some of the self-proclaimed leaders of modern world who seemed believe that humility and leadership do not travel on the same boat.

A few days after our induction, I was walking down to the food court in the campus from the primary office where I was working. MindTree was established by ten professionals from different companies, each of them, being stars themselves. Subroto Bagchi, was one among the founders, who possessed a charismatic personality that you could not help but be at awe at his sheer presence! The reputation of the man preceded him. Most of us who joined from various Business Schools across the country, already knew him as an astute businessman, a fantastic writer, and a good human being. We were all waiting for a chance to meet him in person.

As I strolled down the path, I was quite excited to see him walking towards my direction. I saw many of my colleagues walking ahead of me greeting him with an equal amount of awe and to some extend even a fan fare which was akin to celebrities. I felt my heart giving competition to some of the best-known drum beats I had heard before. With every step I took forward, I was getting closer to the man, already known as a legend at MindTree.

Two more steps, and I found myself facing the very man who was one of the reasons for thousands to be drawn to the inspirational story of MindTree. He looked at me, smiled and then did something which I never imagined a C-level executive would do. At least, that was what I was thinking till that day as someone with no prior work experience.

Subroto stopped, bent down, and picked up something from the ground. It was a piece of scrap paper that was lying there, all the while the rest of us failed to notice and passed by. He then promptly disposed the paper in a bin and continued to head to his office, as though nothing ever happened.

As I write this experience, twenty years later, I want to tell the world one thing. Mr Bagchi may not remember this incident, but what he did not realize is the fact that, a simple action he performed that day left a permanent positive mark on me. Subroto, you taught me a lesson for life, without even uttering a word!

Leadership is not always about speeches. Many times, it is about actions that speak louder than words, which will hold the audience in a magical trance. We need leaders like this to inspire and make the world a much better place to be.

Thank you Subroto.

പ്രതീക്ഷ

നിണമുതിരും കൺപീലികൾക്കിടയിലൂടെ അവൻ എന്നെ നോക്കി,

കൈകാലുകൾ തറച്ചീടിലും ആ കണ്ണുകളിൽ ഞാൻ ദയ കണ്ടു.

ക്രൂര പീഡനം എന്ന് കരുതി ഞാൻ ശാപവചസ്സുകൾ ഓർക്കവേ

ആ കണ്ണുകൾ ഇന്ന് എന്നെ നോക്കി ഒരു ചോദ്യം ആവർത്തിച്ചു.

തെറ്റൊന്നു പോലും ചെയ്യാത്ത ഈ ദൈവപുത്രനെ അവർ കുരിശിൽ തറച്ചെങ്കിൽ,

മനുഷ്യപുത്രാ നിന്റെ നിഷ്കളങ്കതയ്ക്ക് മരണം അനിവാരൃമല്ലേ? 

ആകാശത്തിനും ഭൂമിക്കും മധ്യേ, ഉഗ്രമരണ വേദനയിൽ ഞാൻ പുളഞ്ഞപ്പോഴും 

എന്റെ ശത്രുക്കൾക്ക് വേണ്ടി പ്രാർത്ഥിക്കുകയും അവരോട് ക്ഷമിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തത് ഞാൻ കാട്ടിയില്ലേ?

എന്നെ പീഡിപ്പിച്ചവർ അത് കരുതിക്കൂട്ടി ചെയ്തതാണെന്നറിഞ്ഞിട്ടും ഞാൻ ക്ഷമിച്ചെങ്കിൽ, 

നിനക്ക് വേദന സമ്മാനിച്ച പ്രിയപ്പെട്ടവരോട് നിനക്കും കാട്ടാം ക്ഷമ.

ആണികൾ തറഞ്ഞു കയറുമ്പോഴും ഞാൻ സ്വയം പഠിപ്പിച്ച പ്രാർത്ഥന ഇതാ നിനക്കും തരുന്നു. 

ഏതൊരു കുരിശു മരണത്തിനും ഒടുവിൽ ഉത്ഥാനത്തിന്റെ പ്രതീക്ഷ എന്നുമുണ്ടാകും.

മകനെ നിനക്ക് ഞാൻ മംഗളങ്ങൾ നേരുന്നു.

Heaven on Earth!

Shah Jahan, the Mughal Emperor while visiting Kashmir once said, ‘If there is heaven on earth, then it is here.’ Unfortunately, I had not been able to set my foot in Kashmir till date. I am not sure if I ever will get to see the beauty of those mountains and valleys that enticed Shah Jahan.

I can confirm one thing for sure though. Whatever made Shah Jahan utter that famous statement, was exactly what made me think the same, the moment we drove into one of the most famous valleys in the world.

Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland!

It was almost eight years ago, I got to experience this ethereal beauty of mother nature, when we did our first ever family trip to Europe. The mountains, the valleys, the houses, the church, the river and even the cemetery there, were all epitomes of beauty! It indeed felt Heaven on Earth for me.

If you ever get an opportunity to visit Switzerland, I strongly urge you to include this in your itinerary.

I really want you all to experience how it is being in Heaven :)

Bon voyage!

വേദന

തലേന്ന് രാത്രി ഒന്നും രണ്ടും പറഞ്ഞ് ചെറിയൊരു സൗന്ദര്യ പിണക്കവുമായി പ്രിയതമയെ കെട്ടിപ്പിടിക്കാതെ കിടന്നുറങ്ങി. ഉറങ്ങാൻ കിടക്കുന്നത് വരെ ഒരു കുഴപ്പവും ഇല്ലായിരുന്നു. രാവിലെ എഴുന്നേറ്റപ്പോൾ മുതൽ, വലതുവശത്തെ കഴുത്ത് അനക്കാൻ വയ്യാത്ത വേദന. ഓഫീസിൽ പോകേണ്ട സാഹചര്യം ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നതുകൊണ്ട് മാത്രം, കുറച്ചു വിഷമിച്ച് ആണെങ്കിലും പോയി.

പിറ്റേന്ന് വേദന കലശലായി. ചില മരുന്നുകളും പൊടിക്കൈകളും പ്രയോഗിച്ചു നോക്കി. ചെറിയ മാറ്റം ഉണ്ടായെങ്കിലും വേദന തുടർന്നുകൊണ്ടേയിരുന്നു. അങ്ങനെയിരിക്കുമ്പോൾ വൈകുന്നേരത്തെ ചായ കുടിക്കുന്നതിന്റെ ഇടയ്ക്ക് സ്നേഹനിധിയായ എന്റെ മറുപാതി വന്ന് നല്ല ചൂടുള്ള ഉപ്പ് വെള്ളത്തിൽ തുണി മുക്കി ചൂട് പിടിച്ചുതന്നു. നല്ല വേദനയ്ക്കിടയ്ക്കും ഞാൻ ചോദിച്ചു അവിടെ എന്തെങ്കിലും പാടോ ചുവപ്പോ വല്ലതും കാണാനുണ്ടോ എന്ന്? അവൾ നോക്കിയിട്ട് പാട് ഒന്നുമില്ല എന്നു പറഞ്ഞു. ഉള്ളിൽ എവിടെയോ കലശലായ എന്തോ നീർക്കെട്ട് ആവാം എന്ന് ഞാനും മറുപടി പറഞ്ഞു. അപ്പോഴാണ് തൊട്ടപ്പുറത്തെ മുറിയിലെ ടിവിയിൽ നിന്ന് ഒരു മലയാള സിനിമയുടെ ഡയലോഗ് ഒഴുകി വന്നത്, "പുറമേ പാടൊന്നുമില്ലാതെ, ഉള്ള് ചതച്ചെടുക്കുന്ന വിദ്യ ഈ പോലീസുകാരന് മാത്രമേ അറിയുള്ളൂ".

ഞാനൊന്നു നടുങ്ങി! തിളച്ച വെള്ളത്തിൽ മുങ്ങി പൊങ്ങുന്ന തുണിയുടെ ശബ്ദം ആ മുറിയിൽ എങ്ങും അലയടിച്ചു കൊണ്ടേയിരുന്നു. ഞാനെന്റെ പ്രാണനാഥയുടെ മുഖത്തേക്ക് ഒന്ന് നോക്കി അവിടെ ഒരു ചെറിയ പുഞ്ചിരി കണ്ടോ എന്നൊരു സംശയം. വേദന കടിച്ചമർത്തി എന്റെ കഴുത്ത് അവളുടെ കൈകളിൽ ഞാൻ സമർപ്പിച്ചു.

ശുഭം.

Steam Inhalation & Staff Motivation

As summer started setting in, the Middle Eastern sun shifted gears to work overtime. With the change in weather, we had some visitors at home, in the form of cold and cough. One by one we started showing signs of being under the weather. As always, we reached out to an aluminium pot, our first resort during weather driven issues. This was the vessel in which we filled water and boiled it. Once ready, we dropped into the steaming water, a few leaves of holy basil and Indian borage, a brilliant combination when inhaled, worked wonders to our respiratory system!

Since my sweetheart had a bad cough, I invited her to inhale steam first. When she was done, I asked our darling daughter to inhale the less hot steam. After both were done, I was not sure if any steam was left. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot. Though the first few moments proved my thought, I realized that I could still get a considerable amount of steam if I breathed into the pot. Since the effect of the herbal medicines had lessened by then, I added a couple of additional leaves. As magical as it was, the steam from the pot felt as good as a fresh one made ready for inhalation! I happily consumed the steam and continued with my work, energized, and refreshed!

I could not help but reflect this experience on the motivation levels of staff in an organization over a period. A new joiner may display elevated levels of energy. This may slowly diminish over time, resulting in a reduced verve. If you are one who manage a team, you may find this pattern among your team members. This is where you could apply the learning I mentioned above. Put on your motivational hat which acts as those additional leaves of herbs in my story. On top of that, slightly nudge your team members who need some push, by giving them some challenging yet practical tasks. In most cases this will work well, akin to the breathing into the pot to generate more steam.

While the above is just a metaphor and the actions mentioned are mere examples, there could be many more motivational tactics one could apply. Try them out if you observe your team could make use of some support from you. You will be in for a surprise to see the outcome of these tiny changes resulting in bigger impact!

May the power of steam be with you… 

An Uplifting Story

It was a normal day as any other. Like some days, I picked up breakfast from our office cafe on the ground floor and headed back to the lift lobby. There were three elevators and my desk was on the fourth floor. 

As I swiped through the gunnebo gates to get to the lifts, I could see four people getting into the first lift that arrived. Two of them were my teammates. They offered to hold the lift for me. Since the lift was a bit crowded and I was holding my breakfast with a cup of tea as well, I requested them to go ahead without me. I did not want anything to spill on anyone in a crowded lift. I waited for the next lift while their lift door closed and they went up.

Soon, the next elevator came. I reached the fourth floor and got out of the lift. The lift which my teammates took was still on its way. I decided to wait for them and as soon as they stepped out, I told them the first thing that came to my mind. 

'Sometimes life makes you wait, but you may be surprised that you scale heights faster than the rest who started earlier than you'!

Good day folks...

PS: This is not always true in corporate world 😉

Murder in Sansville

A loud cry cut through the calm night of Sansville! Someone shouted, ‘Murder’! They found a dead body floating in the river which was the ultimate heart of peace in the small town of Sansville. The body was found at the same spot where during the daytime, scores of families with young children gathered to play. It was a town where nothing bad ever happened and was a picture-perfect place which boasted of peaceful days that you could scoop happiness out of the air.

The news spread like wildfire. The police swiftly arrived at the crime scene. Considering the seriousness of the situation the mayor was woken up in the middle of his sleep and was informed of the tragedy. He rushed to the place where the body still was floating on the river. Strange was the sight that it was hugging a clumsy bunch of other plants that were supporting the corpse.

This was the first ever such incident in the long history of Sansville. The mayor did not lose another moment and called for a meeting of his town committee. They were instructed to get into the depth of the matter and figure out the details. Questions were galore. Who died? Was that a man or a woman? Was it indeed a murder? If so, who was the murderer?

Even in the frosty night of November, people who gathered around started sweating. The palpitation among the team was quite evident. Some of them could not even manage the pressure and fainted! The mayor started losing his patience started thinking of calling the Home Guard or even military if required. Such was the frenzy in that tiny town which had never ever seen anything like this in the past.

All these were happening upstream the river and at the townhall. While the heads of the town where frantically jumping up and down, the town folks managed to get a few men to go down the river and figure out more about the dead body so that they can report back to the mayor. These were the brave souls of the town who dared to wade the freezing waters of the river and reached the corpse which was mangled with other plants and their branches.

The men tried to figure out the body among the contorted mix of things in the river. Since they were unable to do that, the whole bunch was brought to the river shore. With the help of others, they tried to untangle the mess and as they progressed reality hit them!

There was no dead body! It was just someone’s shirt which must have freed itself from a clothesline and ended up in the river. The shirt then got stuck in a branch of a small tree and ended up looking like a dead man floating on the river hugging a tree!

So much of noise, for nothing! The mayor was soon back at his bed. The townhall was locked till the time someone else finds another body. And the people of the town went back to their peaceful lives as usual.

But just when they were heading back, they noticed that someone made a slight correction to the name of their town. It now read, Sans-brain-ville!

Disclaimer: If the story reminded you of the meaningless escalations you see in your office, it must be merely incidental.

Product Market – A Model for Large Organizations

The other day, along with a colleague from operations, I was reviewing the requirements related to a module in the Flight Information product I manage. My colleague raised a question about enhancing a feature which could benefit another product used in operations to manage allocation of tasks for ground handling agents thereby optimizing the utilization of staff and an expensive set of equipment used in the airport.

Since both of us were familiar with both the products, we could discuss and debate on the pros and cons about the enhancement and eventually came up with a potentially feasible solution. We highlighted this to the respective operations heads and now the change is being pursued for viability and if approved will head towards implementation.

This simple incident reminded me of the power of product knowledge, especially across multiple products. This is important in large organizations where product managers tend to focus merely on their products and their roadmaps rather than having effective conversations with their colleagues to figure out the possibilities of making various products talk to each other and realize mutual benefits.

We live in a world where most product managers await the steer from business owners to state their need, get them documented as a new feature and get going with implementation. If integration with another system is identified as part of the change, converations start flowing in that direction. Rarely do we drive conversations the other way round.

Large organizations typically have hundreds or thousands of products across various operational areas. Each of these products boast of their own features and capabilities that support respective businesses. While it is impossible for a product manager to know every feature and data element available in all systems in the company, just imagine the possibilities if you have a clear visibility of the information set offered by all other products in your organisation.

The idea does not have to stop there. To support your thought process, visualize your fellow product managers sharing with you the features and data elements of their products and give you scenarios of how those data can be used in your product. These could potentially open endless doors of ideas for you leading to ways by which these products could talk to each other thereby adding tremendous value to the respective business teams.

I would love to think about this concept coming to fruition as a ‘Product Market’ in an organization. Product managers can ‘set up shop’ showcasing the features and data elements available from their products. They can also advise how the ‘potential customers’ who are fellow product managers, can use the data for their products. Use cases which were not identified earlier, could be the outcome of this Product Market directly leading to a ready list of ideas enriching the backlogs.

One bonus value a Product Market could bring in, is to identify products which have overlapping features and thereby plan for better optimization by eliminating duplicates. The cost savings for the organization could be quite high if we could remove such redundancies.

Here is a toast to the awesome product folks out there who could think beyond their products and add significant value to their users!

15 years and counting…

The first ever memory I could recall of planes, is of a young boy who rushed out of his home following the buzzing sound of an aircraft flying way above our tiny town called Changanacherry in Kerala. Since that day, to being associated with the wonderful world of aircrafts now close to two decades, if there is one thing that still drives me crazy is the love for aviation!

Among the countless moments of living in this passionate world of airports, airlines, and ground handlers, I still remember the excitement with which landed in this wonderful city of Dubai and walked through the doors of The Emirates Group, 15 years ago, this very same day!

It had been nothing short of a blessing to be associated with two of the greatest known brands in the world of aviation, Emirates and dnata along with being pampered by one of the youngest and most dynamic cities in the world, Dubai!

Thank God for everything till date. Looking forward to remaining committed to the city that added countless meaningful moments to our lives and adding even more value to the industry till the time I breathe the air filled with molecules on which it is written in big bold letters – AVIATION!

Tale of a Bridge

Once upon a time two large cities flourished on the valleys of two mountains. There was a vast lake that separated these mountains. The administration of these two cities decided to build a ten kilometres long bridge that was to connect these two cities. It was a mega project predicted to catapult both the cities to exceptional levels of progress.

Plans were drawn, preliminary work started and the dreams for two cities getting merged into one big city started taking shape. Esteemed members of city councils visited the location regularly. The top brass from the government bragged about their vision and the benefits, the bridge project was going to bring to the region.

As the calendar progressed, one day a junior-most engineer while going through the plans, noticed a significant anomaly. One of the many pillars of the proposed bridge was short by a few inches in height. That was at a critical point in the design of the bridge which could pose a grave threat to the very existence of the structure once built.

Now, the junior engineer was a simple and straightforward girl who promptly presented her finding to the top executives and even proposed an alternate course of action to correct such mistakes in future. 

As soon as the authorities, heard her out, all hell broke loose! The young girl was severely reprimanded for highlighting such a major mistake which put the whole project team in a bad light. She was even given an ultimatum to do only what was asked to do and nothing more. The backlash was so harsh that she even wondered why she even bothered to highlight the anomaly! 

Another sincere employee died a painful death that day.

The above story is a pure work of fiction. But if it did remind you of any experience, you had or heard in the corporate world, do not be alarmed. There will always be bridges that are built with design flaws. There will always be sincere junior engineers who highlight the anomalies. And there will always be corporate martyrs.

Learn from the mistakes of either yours or others. Diplomacy is an underrated skill, especially if you are unaware of the power of it.

Life goes on. So does the corporate world.

Water water everywhere…

As I mentioned in one of the older articles, the first international trip we did together as a family was to Mauritius. We checked in to the resort we had booked and obviously being a beach destination, we headed to the beach which was right across the resort.

After having a good time in the pristine waters of the island nation, we returned to our room extremely tired with thirst. We reached the resort counter where they sold water bottle and asked for a couple of bottles. It was a moment of truth for me! All what I learned about pricing based on demand and supply in my Economics class came full steam. The price of a bottle of a 500ml water was an exorbitant one, since we were in a resort environment, in the middle of nowhere in Indian Ocean where literally everything consumed was imported from elsewhere in the world.

We were to spend the next one week in that place and the sheer math of water prices threatened to put a large hole in our budget planned for the trip which we did not anticipate. The next day, while we were out, an idea occurred to us. We had visited a shopping mall from where we picked up water in bulk which obviously did not cost as much as the resort. While in the resort, we still had to buy water from there, we could manage our budget quite well while we went out supported by the water bottles purchased from outside.

Life teaches us many things, especially when we travel. One among them is, there will always be complex problems with simple solutions.

Happy vacation! 

Passion Vs Compulsion

I was getting a tea at the local tea shop near my office the other day. A colleague came over and told me that he was not seeing new articles from me these days and asked if my frequency of writing had come down. Since I was a bit caught up with the Quarterly Planning that time, I attributed the lack of action to my busy schedule.

Sometime later I was brooding over the same question from my colleague and started wondering if it was really the Quarterly Planning that slowed down my frequency of writing. The fact was that I just did not feel like writing. Now the reasons could be plenty. It could be attributed to the busy schedule or the ongoing incidents in Middle East or an increased focus on reading and what not. In any case, I knew that I did not feel the urge to write and hence I did not.

Days went by, but somehow the question from my colleague kept haunting me. It was never a case where I had a dearth of topics about which I wanted to write. As the pressure of inaction built up, I did sit with my laptop open the other day to write about a topic which was a part of a series I was writing. It was not an impromptu topic and hence I had done certain amount of research to come up with the content. I completed my research and started putting the words together and eventually the article took shape. As always, I did the proof reading and finally published the article.

While the mission was accomplished, I knew something was missing. At the end of every article I wrote, I felt a pure sense of bliss which motivated me to write more. That element seemed to be missing this time! To make sure, I asked one of the best reviewers of my writings, I have right at home, my son. He read the article. Though a young man of few words, every time after reading one of my writings, he had a smile on his face, which proved that he loved the article. To my utter dismay, the smile was missing this time.

I asked him, what was wrong. His response was quite candid. He said, unlike my usual presentation of a topic, this one was quite dry and could only be appreciated by people who were genuinely interested in the topic I wrote. I understood. It very well explained the lack of happiness I experienced myself, at the end of writing that last piece.

I realized that I wrote the last article, not because my passion made me write, instead was the result of a compulsion I felt due to which I let my brain and hand co-ordinate the activity all the while my heart stayed away from the party. Simply put, it was a heartless piece of work!

The story is not just about an article I wrote. Every time we set forth to do something, whether it is a hobby or something at work, if it is not driven by passion, it will end up as a monotonous activity. We may end up meeting the objective. But the bigger question we need to ask ourselves is, did the work give the same amount of happiness to us as well as the intended consumers? If not, was the effort truly worth it?

Be driven by passion and not compulsion!

അഴീക്കോടിന്റെ ആത്മകഥ

സുകുമാര്‍ അഴീക്കോട് - ഓര്‍മ്മ വച്ച കാലം മുതൽ മലയാള സാഹിത്യ സമൂഹിക ലോകത്ത് കേള്‍ക്കുന്ന ഒരു നാമധേയം. അസാമാന്യ പ്രാസംഗികന്‍, വാഗ് ദേവതയാൽ അനുഗ്രഹീതൻ, തുടങ്ങി നിരവധി വിശേഷണങ്ങള്‍ ചാര്‍ത്തിയിരുന്ന അപൂര്‍വ്വ പ്രതിഭ. എന്നാല്‍ നാളിതുവരെ അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ ഒരു പ്രസംഗം കേള്‍ക്കുവാനോ, എഴുത്ത് ആസ്വദിക്കുവാനോ സാധിച്ചിരുന്നില്ല. അങ്ങനെ ഉള്ള ഒരു വ്യക്തിയെ മറ്റേതെങ്കിലും രീതിയിൽ അറിയുന്നതിന് മുമ്പ് അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെ തന്നെ വാക്കുകളില്‍ അറിയാനുള്ള ഒരു ആഗ്രഹം ആവും ഈ ആത്മകഥ വാങ്ങിക്കുവാൻ എന്നെ പ്രേരിപ്പിച്ചത്.

ഞാന്‍ വായിച്ചിട്ടുള്ള ആത്മകഥകളില്‍ വച്ച് ഒരേ സമയം അതിശയിപ്പിക്കുകയും അരിശപ്പെടുത്തുകയും ചെയ്ത മറ്റൊരു പുസ്തകം ഉണ്ടോ എന്ന് സംശയമാണ്. അതിശയപ്പെടാൻ ഉള്ള കാരണം മറ്റൊന്നുമല്ല. സ്കൂള്‍ പഠന കാലത്ത് നാമൊക്കെ കേള്‍ക്കുകയും പഠിക്കുകയും ചെയ്തിട്ടുള്ള മഹാരഥികൾ ആയിട്ടുള്ള പലരുടെയും സ്നേഹിതന്‍, ശിഷ്യന്‍ അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ സതീർത്ഥ്യൻ ആയിരുന്നു സുകുമാര്‍ അഴീക്കോട്, എന്ന യാഥാര്‍ത്ഥ്യം ആശ്ചര്യം ജനിപ്പിക്കുകയുണ്ടായി. മഹാകവി ഉള്ളൂര്‍, വള്ളത്തോള്‍ തുടങ്ങി, ഗാന്ധിജിയെ വരെ നേരിട്ടു കാണുവാന്‍ ഭാഗ്യം സിദ്ധിച്ച ഒരു അപൂര്‍വ്വ വ്യക്തി!

അരിശപ്പെടുത്തിയ വസ്തുതകൾ രണ്ടാണ്. ഒന്നിന്റെ ഉത്തരവാദിത്തം ഞാനും കാലവും ഒരുമിച്ച് ഏറ്റെടുക്കുന്നു. അത് മറ്റൊന്നുമല്ല, അഴീക്കോടിന്റെ പദസമ്പത്തിന്റെ ഇടവഴികളിലൂടെ നടന്നു പോകുമ്പോള്‍ പലപ്പോഴും ഞാന്‍ കാലിടറി വീണു പോയി. ചില വേളകളിൽ മുട്ട് പൊട്ടി ചോര ചിന്തുക വരെ ചെയ്തു എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ അതിശയോക്തി ആവില്ല. എന്റെ അറിവില്ലായ്മയുടെയും, ജീവിച്ചിരുന്നെങ്കിൽ ഈ വര്‍ഷം നൂറിന്റെ നിറവില്‍ വിരാജിക്കുമായിരുന്ന ഒരു മഹാനുഭാവനും ഞാനും തമ്മില്‍ അര നൂറ്റാണ്ടിന്റെ മേല്‍ ഉള്ള പ്രായഭേദത്തിന്റെ അവസ്ഥയുടെയും പേരില്‍ ഒന്നാമത്തെ അരിശപ്പെടൽ ഞാന്‍ സാദരം സംസ്കരിക്കുന്നു.

രണ്ടാമത്തെ വസ്തുത, അദ്ദേഹത്തിന്റെയും എന്റെയും വ്യക്തിത്വങ്ങളുടെ വ്യത്യാസം ആണെന്നു കരുതാനാണ് എനിക്ക് ഇഷ്ടം. അഴീക്കോട് തന്നെ പറ്റിയും തന്റെ എഴുത്തിനെ പറ്റിയും അനുഭവിക്കുന്ന ആത്മരതി എനിക്ക് എന്നെങ്കിലും സാധിക്കുമോ എന്ന് ഞാന്‍ സംശയിക്കുന്നു.

എന്തൊക്കെ ആയിരുന്നാലും നാം ജീവിച്ചിരിക്കുന്ന ഈ കാലഘട്ടത്തിൽ, അഴീക്കോടിന്റെ തന്നെ ഭാഷയില്‍ പറഞ്ഞാല്‍, നാം ശ്വസിക്കുന്ന ഈ വായു പങ്കു വയ്ക്കാന്‍ ലഭിച്ചത് ഒരു ഭാഗ്യമായി കരുതുന്നു. ആത്മകഥാ വായനയുടെ അന്ത്യത്തില്‍ ഇനിയും കൂടുതൽ പലതും അറിയേണ്ട ഒരു മനുഷ്യന്‍ ആണെന്ന് തന്നെയാണ് അവസാന ചിന്തയായി മനസില്‍ വന്നത് എന്നും പറഞ്ഞു കൊള്ളട്ടെ.

ഞാന്‍ ഇനിയും അറിഞ്ഞിട്ടില്ലാത്ത ഒരു മഹാ മനസ്സിന്റെ ചിന്താപഥങ്ങൾക്ക് സാദരം എന്റെ വന്ദനം.