A call with Seema Mam

Seema mam is one person who is a well known person in our school even now, It has been almost six years since I left school but I couldn't forget her..why? She was the one who has banged me the most wen I was in school. Thrice she was our class teacher. "Good at heart but tough at act" is the only thing that I can say. We always used to plan something or the to over power her supremacy but never succeed in beating her up in brain game. Truly she was our guru in all sense.

Now when I think about it, I cherish upon those sweet and wonderful memories down the line. Ever since I visited my schools website on net and went through the photo of the present teaching I wanted to talk to talk her since then. As it was vacation time so I had to wait till school re-opens. Luckily Ashu was going home so I asked him to go and get me mam's number as I am desperate to talk to her.

Finally I got her number but was bit scared to talk to her. To my utter surprise she recognized as soon as I to her my name. A guy who had always scored less mark in english had spoken to his english teacher for more an hour in english without much difficulty. I couldn't believe I was talking to my english teacher that also in english. In school I had never spoken to her much except when required to. She was also very happy to hear me, after such a long gap. Even now she cares for us, it was evident from the advices which she had given me during our conversation.

When I told her that sometimes I do judge speech meets conducted at our office, she was really very happy about it and advised me to share my knowledge with others who need it, especially my friends.

Before we did hang our call we conveyed her regards to her student who are town. Really a pleasant and kind gesture of her towards all her ex-students.

Good employee at work place

In a country like India, where finding the right Job in itself is a tough job, many perceive that once they get a job their life is made. But guess what? They are wrong. Getting selected in a company is only a beginning. Your life can be made only when you become a good employee.

Many in India bank on one source of income and that’s their salary. As the cost of living is increasing day by day, working for the same pay is not an option. Employees wait thirstily for their increment. However, one gets good appraisal based on their performance. Here performance not only reckons how good you do your task but also on your behavior. This is where you will be judged if you are a GOOD or a BAD Employee. Here are few guidelines for being a good employee

Commincate: Once in a company, communicate with each others, be it your team members, your boss, even CEO if required. Do not be apprehensive while approaching your seniors. No organization can function without communication. This is vital because in companies where there is large number of employees, you need to be heard / to put your ideas across and let others know you EXIST. Communication requires a proper etiquette. Learn it.

Follow the rules: Every Company has policies and rules which has to be adhered by the employees. Follow it and don’t break it. Here are some list of policies / Rules which are common in organizations

a) Attendance & Leave: Maintain good attendance at work. Always make sure that the person you report to is informed about your leave. When this is done you are being very professional.

b) Dress Code: Dress well to work, this boosts your confidence. If the policy states that you have to wear formals then do that. Do not go to office with torn jeans and slippers unless you are asked to do so.

c) Asset Management: Make sure that you take care of office equipments like, desktops, laptops, mobile phones and other important documents / Assets of the company that you are in possession of. Do not loose them or get them damaged.

d) Travel: When you are traveling for project purpose, you will be eligible for DA and others allowances. Be happy for what you get as per policies. Do not produce fake bills in order to get reimbursement.

Honesty & Integrity: Every Employee should serve the company honestly and faithfully and promote the companies interest to his/her full ability.

Be Helpful: Not all are equally talented so this is where one has to learn to help others. Believe it or not, people observe you at work. What you do, how you spend your time, how helpful you are to others etc. Helping others would spread the news that you are a great person. This is how you get recognized.

Respect Others: Respect everyone in the company, from the person who’s doing a low profile job to the Managing Director. Appreciate their differences and value them all. This will earn you more respect.

Have Patience: It is very important for everyone to be patient. Some times you may not be rewarded for your hard work. Or you might not get appropriate work as per your qualification. Hold on, if not this time, next time.

Select the right channel: At work you will face many frustrating Situations like you do the hard work but someone else takes the credit, newly joined employee with same qualification as you being paid more than you (this is called Salary Compression). In these situations choose the right channel to address your concerns, approach the HR or your manager and get your issues resolved.

Be smart not over smart: Be smart, you will be loved for that but don’t be over smart that would cause detest. Don’t act like “you know it all and you are a genius kind of a person “, even if you are, don’t boast about it.

Play Politics: Politics and Politicking is an important part of every organization. One has to deal with it and not run away from it. Be a good politician, however make sure that it does not cross the limit or hurt others. In other words, Make sure that the politics is healthy

Leave with a good note: Many, often don’t know how to quit a company professionally; they just vanish without a trace. Working in just one company till you retire is a thing of a past. Recent HR Surveys show that one shifts close to 15 to 20 jobs in his/her life time. It’s always good to submit a resignation letter, serve the notice period and complete all the relieving procedures. On the last day, make sure you meet your boss, send an email to your colleagues thanking them for their supporting, let them know you will be available; provide them your email Id and your contact number. Make sure that you collect all the required documents on time (Experience certificates, relieving letters) as they are given more importance in India.

Government offices an apathy

Today I went to an insurance company to insure my bike, had terrible experince their. Office working hours are 10 a.m - 5.45 p.m(monday - friday) saturdays and sundays are holidays. Seems like a software company when we read their timing chart but its not so. I reached their at 10 a.m sharp, as I had to come to office also after finishing my work their. It was 10.10 when people started coming in. First they did after coming to office was to sigh the attendence register instead of looking after the people who have gathered inside office. Luckily for me the lady who was suppose to look after my vechile's insurance was at her desk by 10.15 a.m and when I approached her she asked me to fill in few form and wait for some time.

It was then when I took a view of whole office clock was ticking 10.30 a.m, office still had a desrted look. Most of the desk was empty although office timing had began long back. Manger was in his cabin but his employees were yet to report to work. Their were few people whose work could be completed on time due to absence of the employees in the office. I was wondering had been a pvt organization. By 10 a.m sharp all employees would have been on desk work would have resumed long back.

May be that the reason why pvt companies are doing better job in comaprison to govt companies. Every body who was present their was telling the same thing as most of them were either working in pvt firms or had seen the way how they work.

I had to make a draft the other day I went to ICICI bank at around 7.30 p.m and by 7.55 p.m they had handed me the draft. It really made me think had about their work culture and their dedication to their work. Had I been to govt bank it would have taken full day for me, which I had experienced couple of time.

I feel that the reason why government empolyees are opposing privitization. The day government office are privitised, they will improve their wqrking standard and add value not only to the government but also to the masses.

10 years of friendship...

"A ship which doesn't sink is frienship" I feel it true. Mine and ashu's frindship is 10 years old now, couldn't believe about it when he told me about it. I felt it was just yesterday when were introduced to each other by our class teacher in 9 th std. Didn't know then we will take our friendship to this level. Memories are still fresh about, I being banged by seems mam for sharing home work and sitting only with him and none other in class for all 4 years of our school life. It was great fun.

Even though we are miles apart today but then also we are in constant touch with each other through orkut, mail and mobile. Waiting eagerly to meet him but my professional commitment have tied my leg otherwise I would have meet him long back. Its almost 3 years sice we have met each other but I feel we will make it up by meeting each other. I still wonder what is it that has kept our relation going on despite the distance between. May be because of the understanding that we have developed over these years. Really lucky to have a friend like ashu in my life.

We are planning to celebrate silver and golden jubilee of our frienship as the time proceeds by. I have defenetly learned one thing from our relation if we are really truthful and loyal to any realtionship it always works out well, no matter how hard the situations could be at times. For people who say distance spoils relationship, our freindship is an example for them to rethink their statement.

Petrol pumps high and dry...

To my utter surprise, yesterday I experienced a strange problem like most of the people in Bangalore. Their was no petrol at petrol pumps. Customers were turned away from pumps telling petrol is out stock. Even premium was out of stock,few pumps which had petrol people were busy filling their vechile tank full. But how long will they be able to sustain with the petrol they have in their tank?All depends upon them and their use.

I have never come across any such thing till date in my life, may be finding petrol pumps were a problem to me at times but no petrol at pumps never. I feel its just the tip of the ice berg, if the condition persists then soon a day would come when people would use bicycle to commute instead of cars and bikes.

I think its high time that people take some time from their busy schedule and pay serious thought about this problem/crisis. If we don't think about it now and try to come out with a solution to tackle this problem, it would be too late in future then. Still wondering why people are not raising voice against it. Seems like people are also less bothered to express their concern to this issue which could bring drastic change in their life.

I feel pity upon cars and biker manufacturers now, I feel soon enough people would stop buying cars and bikes if they are run by petrol or diesel. High time automobile manufacture find an alternate source of energy to run the product manufactured by them, if they don't want to stock it in their company's gowdowns and showrooms. Are auto manufacturer listening or still putting an blind eye to it.

Hard worker or Smart worker...which one to go for?

Thinking what is it I am talking about? Smart worker is the one who perform the task assigned to him in less time using his brain or special skill than others, where as hard worker is the one who takes hell lot of time to complete the work assigned to him but he puts his heart and soul to it, without applying commonsense.

Today companies are looking forward towards recruiting smart workers in comparison to hard workers for the simple reason that they want to save time but it could be dangerous even. as smart workers are clever enough to either pass on their work to others or to do less work and show more.

At times it becomes difficult to manage such people because over a period of time we find that they start training others also to their traits and it effects the productivity of the other employees in the organization. They are not useful for long term.

With hard workers no such problem occurs but only thing is that some one needs to pay little more attention to them. But in long run we can rely upon them. But looking at the trend of the mark companies are looking forward to a fusion of hard and smart worker, so which one they should go for?