I have learned...

The period since last November has provided me with a lot of learning experiences… not in a good way really but still they have made me a little stronger… added a little more confidence…a little more value…. Personally as well as professionally.

My first job switch… first separation process has taught me a lot. I has promised something to my new employer based on the word of my immediate superiors. And when the time came for action… the higher ones refused point blank. Even option of buyout was refused.
All pleadings… begging went in vain….finally frustrated, I threatened to go on leave if I was not paid attention to. That time I was told in plain words that I will not be released as expected... when I escalated to still higher authorities… the HR simply called up to threaten in indirect words…everyone took side of the manager who refused to release me.

I had to stay back as I was contractually bound. My new employer was not ready to wait and revoked the offer they had made to me. May be my superiors had expected to retain me back by making me loose the opportunity. But by the time all this happened…. I had lost my interest…enthusiasm…willingness to work….goodwill and all…. I still pressed ahead with resignation and found another job…..
Now hopefully I will join there once this last torture tenure here is over in a few days.
I still think that even this time it is my right to get released… I still will have to fight for it. I think I will start that off tomorrow……

I have learned a lot of things during this three month long episode….

I Have learned that word of your immediate boss need not be honored by the higher ones. One should think twice before going ahead` based on word of immediate superiors…

I have learned that no matter how much hard work you put in your job… ultimately your extra work may be taken for granted.

I have learned that one should not really trust on what the logo or the advertise says… no matter how much one may be claiming to be driven by values…. It does not mean that they will actually follow that when it matters…

I have learned that If you work beyond your stipulated duty… management will not value that. No one will care for you in the end…

I have learned that a good employee so far “automatically” becomes undisciplined… ill mannered etc... the moment he put down his papers….

I have learned that a good way to curb attrition in your organization is to try to trouble and screw up as much as you can when an employee plans to leave the organization.

I have learned that not paying attention to an employee when it is needed is an easy way to make them frustrated.

I have learned that in order to get the top management think about you, you really need to talk about some drastic measures…. That too with much senior people in loop….
That way it will also attract some attention from otherwise non-attending HR people…
They will then call you up only to give some indirect threats…. And then justify their decision to screw up your career….

I have learned that quitting a job may not be as easy as it looks. You never know when all the goody goody talks’ turns into negative actions…that look towards retaining you back by making sure that you loose the opportunity….

I have also learned that if you have enough talent there is no dearth of jobs… even if one is lost you can easily get another one within a few days…

I have learned that in order to keep afloat in the competition you need to keep adding constantly some value to yourself.

More importantly I have learned what not to do with my subordinates when I will step into similar role few years down the line…. May be this was god’s way of preparing me for a higher role.

As I have always believed…. Whatever happens... happens for good…. Only time will tell what that good point is….

I am back !!!

I am back!!!
Back in India...
Back in Mumbai...
Back to my family... friends...
Back to my love...

Life has begun to rock n roll...
Ever since I am back from HongKong life has become like a roller coaster.
It is hardly a month, but already a lot of ups and downs... high and low...
A lot to write about... in fact major events...On the professional front... on the personal front... transition into a new phase of life.... a new phase of career... new horizons.... new opportunities....
it's so exciting...

This December has really been a happening month in all sense.
I sometimes feel it is because i suddenly got exposed to all this after a long stagnant period. it is very much like what happens when after staying in dark for a some time, we all of a sudden see bright light.

After nearly being isolated socially for around 10 months, all of a sudden i found myself surrounded by my loved ones. One can easily have a look at my posts from February till December... number of posts as well as content of posts... they all speak the same story... story of a workaholic person...who had nearly isolated himself from anything that was not related to his work... even people !!!

I felt this strongly when i attended a local sports event on weekend. i was really feeling uncomfortable for a few hours initially. It was strange feeling of being among so many people where many of them recognised me.

After initial disappointment disappointment over loss of good opportunities...and subsequent treatments i got from my company... there began a real good time.

Once the date of engagement was finalised.. and shopping etc began, before i realised anything; it was 30 Dec already!!

The main reason behind this was that me n Deepa , both were busy trying to catch up for "lost 10 months" of courtship..... So we made sure that we did not miss a single opportunity of being together... may it be shopping... or visiting to Siddhivinayak temple... or meeting each others relatives... or simply roaming around together.... all these activities were as much for the cause of being together as they were for the original intended purpose....

Along with all these major things in between there were some small but sweet events like party for Kapil's new job at Hyderabad. we met after almost two years.
Then there was another function for celebrating my sister Hansini's third wedding anniversary.

On the 30th of Dec came up the big event of my engagement with Deepa. This was something that was being planned for almost past 6 months but was getting postponed because of my unavailability at home. Once the function was over then on the next day we celebrated 31st at home with family. This too was my first celebrated at home after a long time.

Not one or two... many events packed in such a short time span...
and as a result...
I am back...
back into life....
and back on blogger too......!!!

CircleK 7Eleven and Octopus

The three things that I liked about Hong Kong are the convenience store chains here and a very effective smart card system Octopus. Even though they are not very unique to Hong Kong but their wide presence in such a small region make a lot of differance.

The two store chains operate nearly 24 hours… and of great help during odd hours when everything else is closed. This was my first encounter with these two international store chains.
One can enter the shops and find the general utility items... food items… drinks…(all sort of drinks ;-)) even umbrella… chocolates... Cakes…gift items….news papers… all in almost of the things that we generally require… not in all varieties etc but surely it can suffice the need of the hour when it arises.

The biggest advantage is that these shops are available around every damn corner …
In fact one can find very few other such shops which are “not 7Eleven or CircleK” and most of them are country specific… like Indian or Philipino etc etc

These shops have been a great help to me since they r the only ones who can cater here food requirements during odd hours…
You can come out of office at any damn hour… it can be 2 or 3 am… you look for something to eat and voila…. Here are the only open shops
Even when my other 24x7 faithful friend…. McDonalds failed me at times…. These two never did.

There were occasions when i came out expecting the Mc D to be open… and only to find that the McDonalds was closed on that day from 0000 till 0600… L I had not taken dinner expecting that I could get food anytime at McD…. But then no problem…just roam around a little and you are sure to find one of these two shops… you can get packaged food… and survive….simple as that….

Another good companion here is the octopus… it is a smart card system here a nice alternative to the general ebit card system we follow for general transactions. The advantage is that this is used everywhere… from trains...bus…tram… ferries…. 7Elevens...CircleK… Mc D...KFC and at every other damn place where you need to make a payment.

You need not have a bank account…. Just pay 150 bucks and get a card. Alter that all you need to do is to keep on recharging and using. Recharging is also simple…on all railway stations there are machines… put your card in it… put cash in it and it will recharge…. Or alternatively any 7Eleven or CircleK shop will do it for you.
The main thing is that you need not be worried about what if it is lost and all…. You will only loose money that Is charged at that time on the card. Anyone and everyone can have a card and it is universal….easy for merchants since they do not have to maintain connections with different banks... networks... and then the logo’s like we accept these card and don’t accept those cards…

I remember a few years ago, BEST has brought similar concept for the bus system. But it failed since people did not respond well… mainly due to difficulty in recharging the cards which could be done only at major bus depot.

I think this is a better form of plastic money for day to day use than the debit cards that we use….

One More Ganapati Missed.....

Since past 4 years.. I am able to make it home for Ganapati every alternate year…. 2004…. Yes I was there….. 2005…. Jeddah… 2006... Again home…. And now 2007… Hong Kong….. so chances are bright that I will make it next year...
Also every year Ganapati festival marks… my blog anniversary….
I wrote first blog during Ganapati of 2005….

This year I missed allthe festivals…. Starting from holi… then all the shravan… like dahi handi and all…. Now I after missing Ganapati, I am all set to miss Dasaraa too….just hoping that I will not miss Diwali also.. :-(
I really hate to miss any of the three festivals… Holi… Ganapati and Diwali…

It’s one year since last Ganapati but all the events are still fresh as if it was yesterday… may be because there are no new memories to overwrite them.. assembling of the ”Makhar”… then going together to bring the idol home… this is where the fun starts. Then comes visiting to friends and relatives…. Going together to see “Sarvajanik Ganapati”
Daily “Aarati” that too multiple times…. “Jagaran” and in the end “Visarjan”

All the sequence seems like a dream from here…

This year I think I m missing not being there for multiple reasons…one reason being the festival of course there are other reasons too… Deepa of course is another major reason…
Also since I am supposed to get engaged with her once I am back…that excitement is also there… Then the ongoing job hunt is also adding to the cause. I need to come back to Mumbai at the earliest so that future plans can be finalized…
So many things going on together….

Sometimes I think there must be some reason behind Ganapati bappa making me go around the world during his own festival…… first time2.5 hrs behind and now 2.5 hrs ahead. New countries…new cities…new people… new cultures…. Definitely the god of wisdom is making me wiser every year by enriching me with new experiences…
May be he wants to make me realize the value of family by keeping me away from my loved ones frequently…

The more I think…. More I miss... more I miss more I feel about it… more I feel about it then more is the urge to go back… but I should stay back… till the project completion…

I have always believed that whatever happens… happens for a good reason…
It is just a matter of time before we find what that “good reason was”. I hav learnt that even though the current scene may look bad… but whenever I have looked back to such scenes in from the past…. They always make me realize that they have always led to something good which otherwise would not have been possible…

Jo hua achha hua… jo ho raha hain… achha ho raha hain… jo hoga who bhi achha hi hoga… :-) wait n watch….

Hong Kong……Some random observations

The very first thought that comes to my mind is that this is nothing but an advanced version of Mumbai…. Same story repeated but in a sophisticated manner….
Both are harbors…both are islands…. Both are financially important cities….
Both are full of peoples…population density is very high…people are highly dependant on railway system, Bus and taxi for their daily travels… one more addition in case of Hong Kong is presence of trams. Again all the offices are concentrated in one area and all the residential areas in other parts….. Climate is humid…..
On any given day the scenario at Churchgate and Hong Kong railway stations can be easily compared….. in the morning thousands of people…. Rush there from other areas… and in the evening the other way round…

It is difficult to find out normal eating stuff like biscuits and all…
One day I went out especially to find out something to eat in the area around the office. Went across so many shops… all u can find is some cakes and pastries.. a few varities of sweets and chocolates…. That’s all…
Kaahi thikani biscuits disataat but they r so costly that to an Indian mind they seem disproportionate…. Even when I compare just currency units… I just could not fathom how someone can pay 20 dollars for some small pack of biscuits similar to crack jack… for which I would never pay 20 Rupees… L

All the shops are full of fridges… they contain only 3kinds of drinks….. First category is beer…. Second category is ice tea… and third category for remaining “alpasankhyank” like… juice… water…cold coffee…some energy drinks etc etc…. surprisingly almost negligible quantity of cold drinks… especially the ice tea seems to so popular that all the major players including Pepsi coke nestle; everyone has some brands to cater.

Not only cold tea… for normal tea also... These people have so many varieties…. And all of them taste so different… and true to the Chinese traditions.. with weird taste and smells….in past almost 2 months I have never been able to finish a full cup of tea… somehow I keep on trying but every time manage hardly half cup somehow….

People are game crazy…. Sony has a tight hold on the youth…In train.. in restaurants you can see many people hooked to their gaming consoles…. Not only the children but the middle aged people also can be seen hooked to the gaming consoles…. In trains….on the road… in the parks… in restaurants…. Everywhere…. And all consoles form Sony !!!

People are highly self dependant… u can easily see a very very old man going along the way I could never imagine person in such condition going all alone in India…. They are seen everywhere… doing their bit for the society…. Roaming around independently and even working. On my way home there is a fruit shop. It is open 24x7. When we go in the morning, we see all the young people running the shop... and when we return late after midnight we see a few old people. And I really mean old, some even hardly walking with help of stick. But they run the shop!!!

That’s all for this episode…. More stuff in coming days….:-)