The other day I was talking to this colleague of mine and he mentioned about a client he met during his stay in the US. Lets call our Texan as 'X'. X is supposedly a 40 year old guy who is involved in the business part of the company. His role and responsibilities would involve nothing with IT at all. But this guy was so interested in this whole IT thing that he learnt COBOL, C, VC++ etc all by himself and by learning I don't mean that he read some books and calls himself a techie. This guy is a now a technical architect and he doesnot even have any degree related to IT, unlike most of us engineers. And what more...he even created this tool to design UIs and guess what it is now a patented copyrighted one !!! And he supposedly paints and makes furniture for his home , all by himself....
Now to be honest I have hardly come across anyone like that at my workplace and I bet most of you might not have too. How would we after all! I think its in our bloodline to think that someone making a table out of wood or someone writing a poem or creating a different form of art is looked down in comparision to one passsing in the first class in his board exams. And what next, with all discouragement to your creativity you are working now in a atmosphere where spending 10+ hours at work is the order of the day. Not that I apprecite the dedication we Indian show to our work, after all that is what has put us on the whoel IT map of the world today! But at the end of the day , don't you feel that something is missing , something called an outlet for your humaity or creativity or anything different than the normal humane tasks.
Besides the westerners have this amazing wrk life balance that impressed me so much during my work tenure in the US. They come early , leave early , absolutely don't waste more than an hour a day at work. And of course you have all the time in the world to pursue your interests after your day at work is done. Imagine what all you would do when you are home by 5 PM. I do listen to people talking about how evereybody has only 24 hrs a day. But I woudl love to know the secret of how they fit in everything in it!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
HSB
Hotel Saravana Bhavan - and you thought I was gonna write about some H. School of Business - Even if you did don't get disappointed, this is no less than a school of management in itself. My 3 and a half years in Chennai and I have never seen such professinalism and service like in HSB. It is something I like to flaunt to my non-Chennai friends.And the hygiene, comparable to those of international restaurants.Would you believe me if It old you that their operative kitchens are immaculate at any time of the day.Yes they are! At any given time a soiled plate is visible for no more than a couple of seconds. Every point in the HSBs have a person waiting on you attentively, a boy waiting to clear off the plates etc-Very recently I have noticed that HSB has started hiring women,they didnt't have women employees till a few weeks back....am not sure why the change - though I appreciate it :) The myth (or may be the actual truth)is that HSB management takes care of its employees i.e. waiters and their families to such a generous extent that it sponsers the education of their kids and has a lot of benefits like that. What impresses me and surprises me is that the taste of a particular item on the menu is same in any of the HSBs any where in the world on any day!!!I wonder how they achieve it.I really wanted to visit the HSB in NJ whenI visited Edison,NJ but couldn't.But am sure its the same. Whatever they do in HSB,they do it so well and have such impressive logistics that are worthy of a case study.If ever I wanted to submit a paper on logistics and hotel management , I know what I would write on.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
How to make an American Quilt
"There are no rules.You have to go by your instincts and you have to be brave" - These are the closing lines of a beautiful movie "How to make an American Quilt".And yeah how true they are!!
It is about a group of related women,by family,who are in the process of making a quilt for the youngest of them who is a 26 year old writer.They believe a quilt has to be made by the right combination of themes, Each of them has a story of her own which she knits into the quilt. One woman knits a combination of colurs in telling about how she coud hold on to a husband,who is an artist madly in love with her but can't help having other women in his life. One woman carries the story of a young slave girl falling for her master's son and how she lives her entire life just with his memory in the form of a child. Another women carries her own infidelity as a big burden on her and how it has resulted in her losing her true love in life. The young protagonist,played by Wynona Ryder,doesnot believe in a life long relationhsip and in turn ends up upsetting her soul mate. But the importance of one person, the right and deserving person, in every one's life as conveyed to her by the whole quilt making group makes her realise the mistake she has made.
The pre-finale' scene is beautiful!The storm blows up all of Ryder's new story about these women and she feels miserable seeing that her one and a half year of work is washed away by rain and when her grandmother asks her why can't she start it all over again,she looks at her mom who is getting remarried to her father and says,"I wish it was as easy as it is with other things".The grandmother tells the writer that its a pity she feels so unattached to things more important than her writings.
Overall I feel this movie is a good feel-ggod watch for all women and I doubt if there is a man who can get the same message that that a women can get by watching this. Is there one?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113347/
It is about a group of related women,by family,who are in the process of making a quilt for the youngest of them who is a 26 year old writer.They believe a quilt has to be made by the right combination of themes, Each of them has a story of her own which she knits into the quilt. One woman knits a combination of colurs in telling about how she coud hold on to a husband,who is an artist madly in love with her but can't help having other women in his life. One woman carries the story of a young slave girl falling for her master's son and how she lives her entire life just with his memory in the form of a child. Another women carries her own infidelity as a big burden on her and how it has resulted in her losing her true love in life. The young protagonist,played by Wynona Ryder,doesnot believe in a life long relationhsip and in turn ends up upsetting her soul mate. But the importance of one person, the right and deserving person, in every one's life as conveyed to her by the whole quilt making group makes her realise the mistake she has made.
The pre-finale' scene is beautiful!The storm blows up all of Ryder's new story about these women and she feels miserable seeing that her one and a half year of work is washed away by rain and when her grandmother asks her why can't she start it all over again,she looks at her mom who is getting remarried to her father and says,"I wish it was as easy as it is with other things".The grandmother tells the writer that its a pity she feels so unattached to things more important than her writings.
Overall I feel this movie is a good feel-ggod watch for all women and I doubt if there is a man who can get the same message that that a women can get by watching this. Is there one?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113347/
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