Making History at Olympics

Yesterday while watching the closing ceremony at Beijing Olympics, I felt pride.

Pride about two very important things. That as a Foreigner living in Singapore, I watched with equal passion and trepidation that final between Singapore and China in ping pong game. I cheered every point that Singapore won. And I loved the fact that small TVs in different small shops or large screens in large malls were all showing the golden moments. And I loved the pride in my fellow Singaporeans hearts about this amazing winning feat which they won after 40 plus years of effort. It was a moment in HISTORY.

If Michael Phelps was a country, he would be placed high in the list of countries.

Secondly, I had written a while back about “will 1 be all …” in which I wrote about India and the fact that it takes a lot to get that 1 gold medal and I am not just proud of that moment but many more.

Today while reading on the net, I saw this article by Shekar Gupta which I completely agree with and wanted to capture for this discussion. I am proud of the fact that for once parents are getting out of their stereotyping the career of kids. They are quickly accepting the fact that “sports” can be a “career”! I remember in good old school days in one of the debate competition, we had a topic called “Padoge Likhoge Banoge Nawaab, Kheloge Koodoge Hoge Kharaab”! (means “if you read and write, you will become a “Prince”, if you play and jump, you will become a rot.). I distinctly remember one of our great debaters who happened to go ahead and represent my state “Rajasthan” in Ranji Cricket had come on the stage against the motion and had put across what he saw as the emerging “career” in sports. I did not have the guts then to go against my parents to do the unthinkable, and give a go at the sports that I loved.

And nothing more be said about sports than what Shekhar just pointed out. We are now witnessing the coming of age of that thought / philosophy on “Padoge Likhoge Banoge Nawaab, Kheloge Koodoge Hoge Kharaab”. There is nothing wrong then, and there is nothing wrong now. At those times, India required good quality professionals like Engineers, Doctors, Lawyers, Architects etc. Today we need good sports people to build our nation’s pride and status. Interestingly, Shekhar at the end points to a very interesting “PS” post script about Dingko Singh. You know what I am also absolutely proud about the “salt-of-the-earth” behaviour which is so Indian.

Telecommuting

Today I would like to look at this increasingly used model of working in Corporates. While many companies still believe in face to face as the only method of interacting within employee community, many have started on the path to telecommuting as a way of life. 

As a partial telecommuting professional, here are some of my experiences of the pros and cons. As always, there are two sides of the coin, and here too I have tried to keep it balanced.

POSITIVES:

1. We save a lot of carbon footprint if we telecommute. Think of cars, public transport etc that get reduced load since people are putting less pressure on the resources. Especially relevant for countries that see tremendous traffic jams during peak hours. And especially relevant also to countries where Car Pooling is considered almost a “crime” and looked down upon. On the flip side, it really puts the pressure on your own home infrastructure since you are consuming more Airconditioning, Lighting, Telephone and Wireless.
2. You get to see your family more (only for those who are married and have a family). 
   We used to joke about how our kids are growing up laterally coz we don’t get time to see them horizontally, meaning since you work so long hours, the kids go to sleep way before you land up at home. That way you only saw them growing up in their sleep. On the flip side, I do remember my wife asking me to take the kids to the school bus stand. They are yet to wake up to the fact that we are working, so what if we are still in our PJs. 
   One of the days I remember we were having a conference call and a very serious fight broke out about what should be the relevant strategy to move forward, and lo behold, there was a very naughty little voice that started talking baby gibberish. For a moment the whole conference went silent, and then the whole group broke out laughing. It seems that one of the participants son had picked up the extension and started giving his advice.
3. It improves your ability to influence your “work / life balance”. I have seen many people trying to juggle a budding career with priorities at home. In the process they lag behind in both the aspects of their life – work and home. And then it soon spirals into a trying to catch up on things game. On the flip side, it gives into the hands of most people an ability to do whatever you please with time. As you know non productive work does expand to fill up your time. So there is a serious concern felt by many that individuals do personal work when official work needs to take priority. 
   It’s like the Biology experiment of frog in water that is kept for boiling. At the end of the experiment boiling water brings the death of the frog. The frog does not understand the changes in the environment as it is subtle but keeps degrading to a point where it looses all its body controls to take corrective action. My point, this freedom to manage your time is a big responsibility and only the best know how to manage it well and to your benefit.
4. It reduces the infrastructure cost per employee. For many companies their sales reps, service reps, and logistics teams are constantly on the move. Does it make sense to have dedicated workspaces for such members when their most productive (read revenue generating time) is out with customers? On the flip side, there are employees like project managers, call center workers, product line managers, shopfloor folks and workers who need that infrastructure to support teams who are mobile. Using the same yardstick in the name of cost rationalization is a stupid idea.

NEGATIVES

1. It stifles brainstorming and creative thinking within groups. There are many instances when most admirable campaigns happened across the pantry with caffeine and smokes. The strongest of business strategies have happened when the boss has brainstormed with his employees on the fly in a “5 minutes” discussion which turned out to be great strategies on which companies spent millions of dollars.
   
2. It reduces your ability to socially network. Think Office Romances, those chance meetings that get you great jobs, those water cooler talks about office politics and some cool things to do. But what the heck, in today’s world of facebook, orkut and linkedin, many find it more convenient to be digital than physical.
   
3. Costs seem to reduce in short run, but over the long term cost structure of doing business will increase. Now I put costs as one of the primary positives earlier. However I mention it now. The reason is simple. If you see all the savings company gets above starts to tell on the balance sheets and profit & loss accounts quickly. Any cost savings gets reflected in hard currency saved. However, what these measures fail to measure is the ease of doing business which goes through the roof, in a negative manner. Imagine, the amount of money a company will need to spend to make its employees interact with each other. Imagine the amount of money spent to create knowledge sharing tools which at best are still very static. Imagine the cost of brain storming. When an employee gets a brilliant idea, he will not be able to share it instantly. It will need a formal ideas capturing mechanism, which again costs money. Imagine …

That’s all for today.

Kerala version of The Hotel California by The Yeagles

(not my writing ... just recieved this on email from a jokes group)

Just reproducing this hilarious piece.

On the road to Trivandrum

Coconut oil in my hair
Warm smell of avial
Rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance
I saw a bright pink tube-light
My tummy rumbled, I felt weak and thin
I had to stop for a bite
There he stood in the doorway
Flicked his mundu in style
And I was thinking to myself
I don't like the look of his sinister smile
Then he lit up a petromax
Muttering "No power today"
More Mallus down the corridor
I thought I heard them say
Welcome to the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace,
Plenty of bugs at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Any time of year
Any time of year (background)
It's infested here
It's infested here
His finger's stuck up his nostril
He's got a big, thick mustache
He makes an ugly, ugly noise
But that's just his laugh
Buxom girls clad in pavada
Eating banana chips
Some roll their eyes, and
Some roll their hips
I said to the manager
My room's full of mice
He said,
Don't worry, saar,I sending you
meen karri, brandy and ice
And still those voices were crying from far away
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them pray
Save us from the Hotel Kerala-fonia
Such a lousy place,
Such a lousy place (background)
Such a sad disgrace
Trying to live at the Hotel Kerala-fonia
It is no surprise
It is no surprise (background)
That it swarms with flies

The blind man was pouring
Stale sambar on rice
And he said
We are all just actors here
In Silk Smitha-disguise
And in the dining chamber
We gathered for the feast
We stab it with our steely knives
But we just can't cut that beef
Last thing I remember
I was writhing on the floor
That cockroach in my appam-stew was the culprit,
I am sure
Relax, said the watchman
This enema will make you well
And his friends laughed as they held me Down
God's Own Country? Oh, Hell !