Be a Spongebob during criticism.....

The web is peppered with articles of the nature of 'Traits to know you are an entrepreneur' and I have always read such articles to see whether I fit the bill. Articles cite qualities such as not being able to work for someone, being innovative, not being able to take instructions and not being able to digest feedback and criticism among others. But I always find that the last in the list of traits is not always true.

One of the biggest challenges I face everyday in my entrepreneurial journey is the ability to handle 'feedback', that transcends the boundaries into easily being 'criticism'. Everyday, I am faced with endless oceans of feedback, rivers of criticism and trickles of appreciation if I am lucky. I am faced with critics both inside the company and my customers and I am found wanting in my ability to first absorb it and second make something from it.  

There are ways that one can handle this and I have found my own home based recipe for this. A disclaimer is that the management gurus may beg to differ on this (for which I will be criticised again !!!), but I will still go ahead with it. 

Panic a little first - this reactionary response actually gets my brain thinking of what happened. I quickly run through the sequence of events leading to the situation of my customer being unhappy. I just feel it helps me understand the enormity (or the lack of it) of the problem.

Undermine the problem - don't take the literal meaning of the words here, I have used them for the lack of anything better that could describe it. Basically, I deal with every criticism heaped upon me as a situation I feel that can be solved. I break up the problem into tiny bits and I prioritize what needs to be done first to salvage whats left of my reputation!!. 

Take Action - Well I may sound like a seasoned professional here, many may argue that its the obvious thing to do. But my definition is not as enormous as it sounds. First either me or my colleague associated with the project will start a dialogue with the unhappy individual. My tardy experience has been that if we show ourselves up at a time our customer needs us the most, that helps build a lot of credibility. Because guys, there are a lot of vendors out there who don't even answer the phone at the sight of a customer crisis, and thats really annoying.

Take the beating buddy - The moment you show-up at the customer's office or over the phone, do not resist the outrage from the other end. Absorb it like a sponge and if possible, refrain from saying anything at all, irrespective of whether you are right or wrong. If you have no wrongdoing, atleast you will gain a lot of goodwill from your customer for having the patience to withstand it all.

Promise - Now that the dust would have settled, assure the customer that you will fix it. Promise him an outcome with a timeline and tell him that you will do anything it takes to fix the problem. 

Now really take action - Now put your best people on the job and get it fixed. Keep the customer updated on even the most silly progress you have made on the problem. That will cool their nerves and provide an assurance that you are on the job.

Now a real scenario     

Phone Rings - Chinmay what have your people done? Its completely messed up....

Me - Sir, I am coming there with the project leader

I then put on my Spongebob costume and dash to the car......

Time of my life

The past weeks of my life have been different and interesting. I have been encountering too many changing scenarios and definitely way too many people’s opinions to comprehend. But the bigger lesson I have learnt is the essence of time.

I eagerly wait for the weekends for a purpose, make the most of the time I can muster and hope that there is no travelling plan for the next week. My carefree life where time did not find too much importance has all of a sudden become a major mental exercise. Well talking about exercise, I, after long times have also found time to do it now in the wee hours of the morning!

I now care about when I get up, when I could actually plan a night out, and the most bizarre being that I care about the time I get back home from work. Sometimes I have heaps to do and too little time, the other spectrum being that I have way too much time and have very little to do.

I have also learnt to share time now. Being the selfish one with all for myself previously, I have found a meaning to the saying “sharing is good”. There is never enough time to spend with the people you want and I recirculate the question about where it’s all gone so fast.

My bland weekends comprising of lazing around have transformed into pretty moments. The element of time kicks in the fact that a lot of minute to minute planning goes into it for rest of the weekdays. And then I get ready to plunge into the weekend hoping that it will all work! It’s almost like a diving competition at the Olympics, where there can be only one of the outcomes, I have either made it or not.

I feel the clocks turn too quickly when I want them to crawl, or they take excruciatingly long when I want them to fly. I wish god had given me the boon to control the pace of time wherein I could design its velocity.

But lemme tell u all, there is never enough time when you need it !

Friend : Hey chinnu I want to buy a watch, do you want to come along?
Me: Dude, no WAY....
Friend: Whats the problem?
Me: Never mind bud, I don’t have time to explain that now......

Non stereotypical, hidden talents or just daring passion?

What is common between Praveen Tagodia, the Secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, musician Raghu Dixit and the multi-talented and good friend Meiyang Chang?

First Dr. Tagodia, I always thought he displayed an honorary doctorate to be honest. His radical views and his path of advocacy of his ideologies have been noticeable in the media. Some condemn it, some endorse it, but my opinion on Praveen Tagodia is " like him or hate him, you cannot ignore him". Something about his personality intrigued me and wanted to know his life a little more clearly. And as always, Google came to my rescue and I happened land up in the non-curated encyclopaedia, Wikipedia. That’s where I was struck with the fact that he is a "Cancer Surgeon" by profession. That totally beat me, and not only that, I was totally impressed. But knowing Wiki, where one can pretty much post anything he or she likes and if no other user objects or edits the facts, the myth can be the total truth. So head off to some more references, and yes..... the same facts reiterated. Bookmark your thoughts right there as I have another example for you.

I have been an ardent fan of an Indian rock band called Antaragini, now rechristened as the Raghu Dixit Project with some tweaks in their composition!! Hailing from Mysore, a gold medallist in Microbiology and a proficient Indian classical dancer is known more for his self taught musical skills than the ones he was formally trained and academically excelled in. I was extremely fascinated by his work in a regional kannada movie I watched recently and I thought Raghu has displayed his brilliance again.

Lastly but in no means the least, good friend and my senior in university, Meiyang Chang. I know him best as the bubbly, friendly and multi-talented student in dentistry. He used to always be a stage performer and a creative guy. But now is famous not for his root canal treatments but for his clinical singing and acting skills.

That said enough, you must have figured the point I was trying to make at the beginning of this blog entry. I have quoted examples of persons whom we know very well, yet very little is known of their background qualifications. What I think puts personalities like them in a league apart is the daring quality in them to do something outside their comfort zone and stand by their choice with integrity. The passion and integrity within automatically propels them towards excellence. They have been successful in defying the odds and proving our very stereotypical society wrong. This is an eye opener for everyone at large where we draw our boundaries and limit ourselves since we are bound with our university degrees. Don't despair if you are unable to find that perfect job, maybe you are here to achieve something larger than just writing code or crunching numbers.............

"Hey mom, where are those papers that were on my desk yesterday?"
Mom - "threw all the clutter out"
"Wow mom, that was the draft copy of my first attempted book" Sigh

Theology trouble.......

I have had an experience in the last few days that I find a bit difficult to analyse and digest. I have just finished reading a book titled “Death of a Guru” written by Rabindranath Maharaj. It is supposed to be an autobiography of a person born into a staunch Brahmin family in Trinidad who eventually becomes a Christian pastor. Well, religion always being a contentious issue is a tricky conversation to make or write about. We all have our loyalties to the religion we endorse and in a way show our unquestioned faith and dedication to it. And this emotion is fine with me and it is absolutely understandable. Here I am writing this blog purely based on what I thought about the book and the presentation of its facts and content.

The author first writes about his rise to being a pundit as early as 11 years of age and how people would bow down to him and touch his feet and give him money. He then writes about the caste system and all the popular history that come attached with Hinduism. He mentions that he practiced yoga and meditation everyday to bring him closer to god. Then the book shifts gear to how he picked up smoking and how violent he had become all of a sudden. He speaks about how certain gods like Shiva and Kali brought a chill down his spine, and an incident where the cow he had worshipped for a long time as god had attacked him. The first half of the book where he is hindu is filled with negativity and dark shades.
Then he and his family endorse Christianity and things started falling in place. He miraculously got some money to go to England and his grandmother was cured of arthritis that she had suffered for more than a couple of decades. The transformation from not being able to walk to actually able to squat without support was seen only in a matter of weeks! He recounts enormous number of such case reports that has proven beneficial to him, the highlight being him quitting smoking overnight and him getting through a spinal surgery.

He then becomes a pastor and travels around the world; most of his time spent in criticising Hinduism than promoting his new found faith. He also claims that he had cured a girl of an untreatable blood disease (HIV) through religion. Since Christianity does not have a restriction on eating meat, he attributes it to his improving health which could Hinduism could not provide.He blames eastern religious influences like Hinduism and Buddhism to being the cause of the increase in drug users in western countries. He equates the experience of practicing yoga and meditation to being the same as using addictive drugs like LSD. He also goes to the extent of ridiculing certain hindu gods like Ganesha for possessing an elephant head and the violent nature of Shiva, the destroyer of the evil. He then finds Hinduism as the root cause for India’s problems of poverty and underdevelopment. He criticises great saints and personalities like Swami Vivekananda, Dalai Lama and some eastern missionaries to be the cause of misery, drug abuse and to the growing popularity of yoga and meditation, in his opinion the greatest trap of the east in the western world. The opinions and the innumerable personal examples provided here seem so contrived that it is hard for any sane person to believe.

It is one’s personal choice as to which religion he or she wants to follow. But the point I am trying to make is; promote a religion based on its positives and not by criticising the others that are around. If one has the ability to analyse other religions, then do it ethically and not through concoction of stories packaged as facts. India today is one of the world’s greatest emerging economies with a large mix of different religions in its population. Religion and development have little relation and it is outright idiocy to state that a certain religion has a negative effect on its economic progress.

There have been social and political revolutions that have taken place against certain practices of Hinduism like in the 12th century lead by Basaveshwara and by Swami Vivekananda in the 19th century. This is a phase that religions go through leading to its metamorphosis and its ever-changing interpretation to suit the prevailing social and intellectual ability of its followers. Hinduism and Buddhism are very different today, unlike the way described in this book which is very dark and unethical in its criticism.

The author tries to salvage credibility to his book by saying that he has been a guest speaker in universities like Harvard and Oxford. Making a speech in Harvard, if it is true at all, which I really doubt, does not justify the book’s unethical and blasphemous nature. I need not remind my readers about the beneficial effects of yoga and meditation that now have scientific backing to them. Choosing to use drugs of abusive nature is the prerogative of the individual and he has to deal with the consequences of making a lethal and unlawful choice. He criticises gurus of the east for accumulating vast amounts of money. But I think the Vatican is the richest religious place on earth!! The author himself now lives in Switzerland in a comfortable country home like the loads of other Christian preachers who own private jets. Flimsy arguments like these he poses in the book, and mine that counter them is a list that could see no end. It is not about who is right or who is not; it is just a matter of secular co-existence. Every religion has its positives and negatives, and the big picture lies in relating to a higher cosmic power that we call god, be it any form or conception. The bottom line is to keep away from controversy by not touching the livewire called religious sentiment.

Publisher: “your last book was a total failure and we are thinking of not renewing your contract”
Failed author: “my next book will be a mega seller for sure”
Publisher: “what are you writing on?”
Failed author: "Panacea to untreatable diseases, Religion". I will feature some (not so) real examples in it”

Gold greedy gurus........

The one thing that is on everyone’s lips is the talk about the global financial crisis. The subject dominates conversations in coffee shops to taverns. It is the intellectuals to the school drop outs; everyone has a theory and an opinion about it. How I wished the fund managers and financial advisors had talked and analysed it as much as the general public are doing now!
I was invariably a part of this conversation a few days back. I was sitting there and trying to make sense of all the financial jargon that sprung up like jacks in boxes all around me. I should say that it overwhelmed me pretty badly and left me struck by lightning. I could not make too much sense of all the numerical bombardment. But who should be blamed? The self proclaimed smarties that had held top decision making posts in banks? Or the greedy investment firms occupying expensive real estate in New York City, who think they set financial trends for everyone to follow? Or is it the average dude on the road with no job trying to buy holiday homes?

We were then living in good times. Oil was cheap and people had a lot more to spend. Everyone had extra cash to spend and people were happy. But then, the greed to acquire more kicked in. So the banks came up with this brilliant idea of stated income, verified assets (SIVA) where in where in one has to just state his income and not to bother about proving it and he is sanctioned a loan. Then another bank came up with No income, verified assets (NIVA) where one need not have any income at all, but will still manage to get a loan. Believe me guys, I could relate to SIVA and let it pass by being ultra liberal with my internal ethical instincts, but NIVA was totally unacceptable. But then some Ivy League MBA comes up with the idea of No Income, No Assets (NINA). You don’t have to have job, nor the need to have any assets. Yeah! Who else would like to take a loan would you ask?
What is the logic behind these schemes? Put a person under an obligation he cannot fulfil, promise him a better life and charge him the sky for the loan. Now every bank knew that this was a risky affair. So they sliced up the risks and packaged it to look like a very safe investment with a nexus with credit rating agencies. So the big boys on Wall Street decided to buy these “investments” thinking that it would generate revenue. The insurance companies did not want be left out of the bandwagon. The big boys insured all these so called dream investments with them and the insurance companies were more happy to do so. Higher premiums! All they eventually did was buy liabilities that were labelled as profit making means. The bubble eventually burst and the rest is history.
But one startling revelation here is that all these financial institutions dared to gamble with the money of the people who trusted them to safeguard it. The heads and directors made a fortune while the average investor is left in lurch.
The greed to have everything for oneself has led these people to make decisions that were eventually detrimental to global economics. And the world is left in jitters because a handful of individuals played a dirty unethical game. Fed by this sentiment of material pleasures, the guy next door goes absolutely beyond his financial means to lead a life of luxury and splurge. So everyone has his part in this broth gone wrong. The root cause for all this mess is human greed and I reckon you will agree with me. Greed was a human emotion that was underestimated isn’t it? Well, it’s hard not to recognise it now!

Playing spoilsport....

I was reading an Indian newspaper online yesterday and I came across this bizarre news item in the sport section. It was the President of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), Anil Khanna making some dullard comments on national media. He is trying to unhinge a company which has associated itself with the country’s star tennis player, Mahesh Bhupathi to release their spending details of their scholarships and to scrap their advertising campaign. Apollo tyres in a tie-up with Mahesh Bhupathi are going to help fund prospective junior champions to make them Grand slam winners by 2018. They are selflessly pumping in about 1 billion rupees over 10 years to help actualise a prospicient dream. There is one company for a change who are not looking for quick publicity through funding cricket, but have put their interest in tennis. Imagine being treated like this for doing a favour.
Sports in India other than cricket lack selfless funding to make an impact. Athletes are always left fending for themselves and these financial constrains restrict talented athletes to make it to the international stage. The AITA should respect Apollo tyres for a feat that it is ready for the big task. Getting a huge sponsorship like this is only possible with stars like Bhupathi trying to make a difference to the sport that brought them their riches and fame. This is a commendable act by the champion to put his credibility on the line to create champions. Sponsorships do not come easy and I have had a firsthand experience of that with my sibling. It is a humungous task to convince a funding source that the money they spend on the athlete is justified. Many give up hope due to the slack of the respective sports associations to bring in the critical finances.

The sports associations in India are headed by people who are distantly connected with the sport, but come into power due to their political or social connections. Once they get into decision making positions, they have no clue as to how to manage and improve the affairs of the sport. But the disappointing scenario is that they are a constant obstacle to people with a real interest to make a difference. Anil Khanna in his statement repeatedly says that he is not against Mahesh Bhupathi. The very fact that he reiterates the same sentence makes it very obvious that he is targeting him. Bhupathi owns a sports promotion firm which help manage international tennis tournaments in India. These events tend to give our in house players some much needed international exposure which they cannot afford due to the costs involved in overseas trips. If my memory serves me right, Anil Khanna has made another pitch against Bhupati by passing a resolution that private organisers could not conduct international tournaments in India without the AITA’s nod. Well all these series of events and circumstances makes it evident that a person with good intentions is victimised. It is shameful on the president to behave without consideration against a well known personality. This shows that he is the most incompetent person and that he cannot tolerate Bhupathi’s contribution and achievements. He does not have the capacity to either bring in a huge sponsorship deal like Bhupathi has done with the kind partnership of Apollo tyres, or neither let the combination work in peace.

Individuals like Anil Khanna do more harm to the sport than good. His organisational incompetence is showing up and his evil face is being revealed. Another classical example of a sport going rot is hockey with the mess than K.P.S Gill created. He sent our national sport stumbling down like an avalanche after taking over the post of President of Hockey Association. I just hope tennis; a game that has retained some dignity and popularity in India is not headed the same way. Let’s all cross our fingers and support champions like Bhupathi to create their clones to bring us fame.

A presentation ceremony of a tennis tournament.
President: “ ladies and gentleman, lets applaud the players for their fantastic “BAT” (for racquet) skills......
The kids chuckle in the background....

Hypocrites preaching human rights....

I am shocked at the recent bombings in Delhi where in innocent people have become victims to the cowardly acts of some narrow minded individuals lead by a set of bizarre ideologies and psyches that would win a Nobel Prize if ever reasoned out. Imagine if there would be an article published titled the “psyche behind the cause of terror” which has solid scientific backing. Psychology would be the “in thing” and absolutely savvy. But I think you have heard the word “cowardly” way too many times for comfort from the past few days. The sad part is that the word has been used more times than the number of cricket matches that India has played in the last 1 year! Well that is real high frequency I should admit and it is scary. The people who have been using the word “cowardly” have proven themselves that they suit the description best. It is a failure not in my opinion about intelligence of our forces, but the lack of political will from the individuals in responsible and governing positions to send out a stern message that these kinds of insane acts would not be dealt with lightly. We have a dude, who has been a political agenda, an eternal news pot for the press and a topic of casual conversations over beer, enjoying his time in prison from the last couple of years. His nice holiday sponsored by our tax payer’s money is courtesy….. his act of attacking the seat of our democracy, the parliament building. And what has the government done? It has been extending his holiday indefinitely than packing him off to the gallows. Well the explanation is pretty obvious for the moment I think; it is a classical case of vote bank politicking in which the collateral damage are innocent people. If the Indian home minister have had half as much loyalty towards his country than what he owes to his political party president, the lives of innocuous people would have been saved. Karnataka has been a witness to apparently some kind of religious tensions and clashes over the past few days. Any lives taken? NO. The central government wants to pressurise the local government to protect the affected people. Well, I am not saying that it is a trivial issue, but it has been blown so much out of proportion that the situation does not demand. The national human rights commission has stepped up its investigation in this regard. People at the central government have gone into overdrive to make the state government a scapegoat holding them responsible for these incidents. They want to curtail the powers of the state by attempting to use an act that is no longer taught of in law schools.
Why is the home ministry taking all the trouble to protect a bunch of people who live half the country away and why all of a sudden this immense interest in the welfare and the protection of our countrymen?
My impression is that this is a perfect way to make a mountain out of a mole hill to skew the attention of the people away from the real issues that really matter. I believe we have more pressing problems on our hands than investigating petty issues. The ministry has to step up its force on matters that mean a matter of life or death for the common man. We need our resources to be spent on strengthening our internal security to assure a peaceful life for our countrymen. The people responsible should be shown no tolerance and compassion and treated in a way that they chose to be. When they can ruthlessly take the lives of thousands of people who have no connection to them, why should our country give them the luxury called existence?
The human rights commission if they really mean business should initiate legal proceedings against the home ministry for not doing their job. Didn’t the victims of the blast have a right to live? They too have families, had jobs and had been bread earners for them. What can the government do to these victims of a real human rights tragedy? Oh well yes they can, make it a political agenda! Accuse someone else remotely connected with a petty robbery and axe him. Pass the baton on and shun away from responsibility.
The individuals at the powerful executive positions in the country are the most fearful ones I have seen. They fear political repercussions to protect the lives of our people. They fear losing their skin and are ready to trade it for the security of our people. The human rights commission has no real role to play and they are just a puppet in the hands of the ruling governments to act and make a noise when they are told to do so.
The people making statements on human rights should first awaken themselves to the fact that every individual has the right to live, irrespective of caste, creed or religion. Please show human life some respect by using the law in the true spirit of human rights. Avoid being synonymous with hypocrisy.............

Year 2020, the clerk in the Finance department,
“Sir there has been a request for a room A/C and a new limo”
“from whom?”
“The commission for the Delhi blast investigation of 2008 sir”