Courtesy and ethics - where have they gone?

Since i have joined my job which is a good gone by gods grace , a lot of people have started asking me , guru pls help me with a job. and I try to. And here I am not boasting . I am writing this out of frustration and anger.

recently a junior of mine wrote too me asking for a similar help but back in India. I replied him i cant guarantee as we operate in silos but will give it a shot. I wrote to my HR in India about his case and after going thro a chin in the back ground the HR head replied back saying he can be in touch with me. I immediately wrote to him abt this and giving him the necessary details. its more than 48 hrs i am yet to get an acknowledgement from this junior guy. ( he had incidentally replied thrice in an hour during the initial conversation).

Now this is where my anger starts and frustration. what kind of ethics have you folks been taught. HOW SELFISH ARE YOU FOLKS. Here I am not expecting you to acknowledge just because I helped you out. I am expecting it because my reputation and relationship with these folks are at stake. next time round if I want to help out another friend or acquaintance, i mite not be able to do so , if this idiot had screwed it up with the HR. as they say in B2B its all repeat business and at no point in time I want my reputation to be tarnished. at the same time if this bugger does something i can atleast do some damage control.

btw this guy is doing his MBA. now if he doesn't know the basic rule of people management WHAT IS THE STUPID REASON BEHIND DOING AN MBA. and this is not hte only idiot. there are many cases like this. once owrk done wash your hands and go off. dont even bother to acknowledge. sometimes this does tell something about your personality and mind you i wont even give you a damn look next time. I am dead sure that if he cant have even this courtesy he cant succeed in corporate life . I am not giving gyan but 'corporate life is all about people, you get them right everything will automatically happen' - golden words of one of my mentors.

I did happen earlier when I had a chance to refer someone - a defenite hit, i did refer a couple of folks who went thro teh process and were courteous enough to maintain teh relationship with the contacts even though they did not make it through. while I purposefully did not put forward a couple of my friends where again my word would have been taken positively , just because i knew that the people i refer were ABSOLUTE BLUFFERS and would bring my reputation down. and another guy was as selfish as he could be that i did not want to take a chance.

But now this incident puts me in a bigger dilemma - next time some one comes should I help or not? he or she mite be well cultured. who knows? I am in a fix! shall i be me or close the door.

View from my Balcony

Long I wanted to have a house with a fantastic view. this is one angle. the other angle makes more sense in day light .

the stupid 9 floor building on the left blocks another super view the london eye.

London darshan - In a day - WALKING

Having run around London 's nook and corner - I thought it would be good to write on how to roam London in 1 day covering all spots effectively and without much hassle. The disclaimer here is that it’s for a good sightseeing trip and an alternative to the open bus stop tour. If you wish to go inside these locations for that matter London EYE - then it’s bound to take time. And Mind you If you don’t like walking pls do not read further.
Start your day @ Waterloo station. Walk across the bridge from waterloo station and Hit Big Ben. On the way you see the London eye from the bridge. See Big Ben continue in the same direction and turn left... Cover Westminster and Westminster Abbey.. It’s a circular road.
|Finish Westminster Abbey and walk towards Downing Street. See Downing Street from outside and continue on the same road you hit the entrance for Buckingham palace. You find a guard sitting on horses and guarding the palace - take a left at that entrance and enter St James Park. Walk across St James Park toward the palace the palace will be on your left hand side. See the Palace and spend time around the fountain and the statues. If you reach there by 11:30 see the the change of guard
Walk back from the palace towards the Arch that leads to Trafalgar square. On the way you see the Statue of queen mother. Crossing the arch you hit Trafalgar square. Spend time near the Nelson's Pillar and spend time in the square in front of national Art gallery.
Walk from the Far end of the national Galley (close to the charring cross station) and walk towards Leicester Square. It’s a 5 minute walk... It’s now time to take some rest... you are obviously tired.. legs have worn out. Enter Leicester square and help yourself in one of the fast foods Viz Pizza Hut / BG ( its economical ..) once you have gained your energy back start back for phase 2
Walk from Leicester towards Piccadilly Circus. See the circus, the lilly whites all the nazaaras you wanna see.. Then from the centre search for Regent's Street. walk along the regents street passing by all the great ( READ EXPENSIVE) shops ... walking across you hit the great Oxford circus. Its upto you whether to walk the oxford street or not.
After so much of walking it’s time for some tube journey
Go underground at Oxford circus and take the central Line to St Pauls. Get down at St Paul's Cathedral and have a view. Walk from sty Paul’s across THE CITY and seeing all the major banks (If you are interested).. And reach the monument. See the London Fire monument and then cross the road to enter the Thames Walk.. Walk along side Thames while watching the famous Tower Bridge. See the tower of London towards your left and spend as much as time you want relishing the view of Tower Bridge.
with this the Walking tour of London comes to an end... though you would have covered 5 km by walk and be tired , you would have covered mostly the important places that can be seen from outside... In the evening if you have some energy - take the tube and hit Knightsbridge and visit Harrods and the entrance for Hyde Park corner..

This precisely covers London on the whole
If you want to pay for the museums and other royalties like London eye keep it for the next day. Go to London eye and madamme Teussads on the next day and if you are a cricket fan - from madam teussads - go to Marylebone and visit lords.
This might seems as a walking exercise - but the best way to see a city is by foot. Yeah you may say you have missed some parts – the Museums, Wimbledon etc.. mind you if you want to see museums in London then pls spend 15 days. Else this is a quick way to Tick mark a place.

PMO for Jackasses

Dear webworld friends
In teh last 2 months I have been working with real Jackasses - absolutely no sense, highly arrogant and dumb to teh core people. I never classify people so badly , but given that these pepole are MBAs I found no other option to classify them as so.

Its actually a bad experience to work with such idiots. BUt on the flipside - you get to know how to handle such species.

In another 2/3 weeks time I hope to write my thoughts down as to how to handle such wierdos.

till then dont curse me... pray for the well being of my project, our reputation and my client

Its more than like getting an Indian govt job

Its now more than 15 months that i have been in this place called Mancester. joined MBA thinking it would change my life.. But god had other plans.. he changed the life of the world itself.. a big Shift+del to a a lot of aspirations like mine.. but thats fine.... we will find a way..

So started to search for a job since jan 2009. first it was internship and now a full time offer. blooooody helll its easier to get a govt job india probably by passing say a service comminssion exam or a bak exam or any damn exam like the railw recruitment board. But here its impossible.. if you know a 'mamu' yes you are thro.. else the queestion that arises on teh HRs mind is - who the hell is he and why the hell is he applying here.. shooo my resume and cover letter goes to the bin.. so that would be precisely 10 hrs of my effort gone down the drain in 10 secs... :-) .. now thats called reality... probably a friend of mine who spent 20 mins and 10 pounds with her tellling all the lies in the world ( a la raja harishchandra ) will probably take away the job..he would be proclaiming to her that he would be dishonestly proclaiming him to be righteous and the most honest person on earth, while he is still wondering when was the last time I was honest at least with my self :-) .

and am not the only one.... my class mates , my juniors all have the same exp.. one of my juniors had a very interesting status message on G talk - ' maine itne jhoot tho zindagi mein kabhi nahi bola. arrey ladki patane ko bhi nahi .. jitna cover letter mein bola'.

So i am still wondering at night 1 o clock - righteousness, truth, honesty , credibility , education , qualification - do these really matter to get a job? I hope to answer this question in max 6 months time....

Societal pressures

A lot of things in this world are driven by sosietal pressures - we can say that. to be more precise peer pressure.

the peer pressure has led to a lot of things , say your studies, you doing certain things in life. in my case my MBA is a bit due to peer pressure also. I have seen a lot fo my friends doign a lot fo things buying a lot of things esp electronics due to peer pressure. But somewhere down the line peer pressure influences some adverse effects.

Peer pressure is heavily reponsible for a lot fo nonsense done by people. Smoking is no 1, followed by drinking with drugs worse to follow. But off late there is a new trend because of peer pressure - Dating. Having a partner - girl friend or boy friend ( i still dont know whether dating equates to haing a BF or a GF. i am serious). Its like a fashion statement or a hep statement to say that i have a partner.

Recently a friend of mine came and told me that she was going around with the guy V and she was serious abt it. I was like - Excuse me? what nonsense. she was apparently telling us ( our group of friends) a while back that she was in a relationship with soem one but unfortunately broke off. fine it happens and we helped her. But then again a relationship within one month and serious , i was lke did you think abt it twice? but the best part of the story was the guy V, who again happens to be our class mate and the roomie of my gang . We very well knew about his relatioships and he was well settled with a partner in mumbai and he was telling abt his girl friend just a week back and how his parents like her. And suddenly this female comes and says that V has broken off with his old GF a coupel fo days back and came and proposed me . I found him to be good and accepted it.

Now give me a break ... was in a relationship til 2 days ago and then broke off and stated another one. What the hell is going around ???? have relationships become a commodity that can be traded in an open market. Once you lose a portfolio or lose interest in it, sell off and acquire another protfolio ? guys give due respect to the word relationship. I just asked the lady , is all these being done for the fashion of having a BF and you get your due respects in your party circles.

and now adding more spice to it , the girl tell us that, she spoke to teh guy's mom who happened to be very cool abt it. now this is really going over the top. people are playing around with relationships and parents are approving it instead of controlling it. Where are we headed to in india??? in the name of westernisation some creatures have destroyed the sanctity of relationships.

reading it you are confused rite whats happening. Not understanding it rite. somehting that is confusing and uncorrigable is relationship.

Athithi Devo Bhava

We indians have been taught one thing right from our yound age ' Athithi Devo Bhava ' meaning Guests are like gods. Treat them just as you treat gods.

But over the years that culture is changing. Changing in the sense , people are practicing it.. a lot more but with discreetion. Discretion is not based on caste but with benefit. What is in it for me. my old employer was always excellent in that. Their Motto itsef was Athithi Devo BHava - Treat the 'GUESTS' well. read between the lines .. As kamal hassan said -' Vellai karanukku salaam podarthu '.

People have observed it and implemented it according to their own defenition of Who atithi is.

earlier whoever came to my house was considered to be a guest , they were given atleast a minimum amount of respect . Be it a watchman or a electrician or a plumber . I have never seen my mother send a person away without giving them a coffee or a tea or atelast a glass or buttermilk.

Today i found myself crest fallen with attitude of people changing so much. Agreed you dont like a person but in a country where we treat even an enemy as a human being , seing such hospitality was heart breaking. I took a good friend of mine who had come here to my house to meet some common friends. and I go to this particular indian's house who half heartedly welcomed this guy. Ya agreed she was least intersted in seeing/talking to him but could she not even offer this guy a glass of water? leave alone this character , there was one more character standing next to it , could not she also offer this guy some water atleast? Have we become so materialistic that we forget some basics of life. Have we become so self centered that we forget the fact that what differntiate us from others is this small aspect of hospitality.

when you are outside India you boast about hospitality and service and what not.. Are these only eye wash or restricted only to the 'Vellai Kaarans and Vellai Kaaris' . theese people surely seemed to have taken a leaf out of some indian corporates books and following it sincerely.

These are things that cannot be taught .. it has to come automatically..

Right after this incident I took my friend to the gurudwara for langar and he goes there and does some Service after finishing the meal ( I ve never done it) . I was like stunned and speechless for a minute and in a sense made me feel ashamed. he comes to my city and does service in a temple where actually it was I who had to do it. After finishing the 'seva' he came to me and said ' We are brought up in a culture where service is important. It gives us some sense of satisfaction'.

What contrasting 2 things to happen in 2 hours. But defenitely I decided 1 thing. Service is important and I will also do it.

the Law of averages always stays.. when some one destroys the service mentality there is always some one to raise it up and balance it.