BRAToSPHERE

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  • Hundred Days

    How time flies.

    It has been more than three months that I have scribbled something here, and yes, how time flies. So much has been happening in the last hundred days.

    (Yes, it is around hundred days that I have posted something here).

    The New Year started on a peaceful note, with a calm night at the home to welcome the New Year. So much unlike the previous years, where inevitably I would be totally inebriated and amidst high volume cacophony (yes that is how it seems now!) ringing in the New Year. This year, it was a calm evening dinner and reading at home, and then the customary cake cutting at the stroke of midnight. Yes, this is how it is now. A calm welcome to the days to come.

    Post the New Year beginning though has been a mad rush. I was on a long leave for three weeks, away from office, on a personal assignment. I got Married.

    The journey home itself was quite memorable with the flight to Vizag getting delayed by more than 4 hours, and we having two cabinet level ministers in the airplane for company. One of them happens to be the Civil Aviation Minister himself. It could not get more ironic. It showed how everyone is equal in front of nature. What possibly can be done on a foggy morning?

    I did indulge in some small talk, and on learning that the reason of their visit is to open the new IIM at Vizag, it did lead to some thought provoking conversation with the HRD Minister. Quite an eventful flight to begin the wedding celebrations.

    The traditional band-baaaja welcome at home and running the last minute errands amidst a whole lot of guests made the celebrations even grander. No wonder time just flew.

    Sunday, 25th January 2015, I got domesticated. I got married to Ankana Priyam.

    Post the wedding, after a couple of days at home (Vizag and the Pune), we flew away on our beachside honeymoon trip to Maldives. The short trip to the pristine beaches made us realize once again the hidden beauty in the amazing planet that we live in.

    Post the romantic getaway, we paid our respects and seeked blessing from the lord of the seven Hills, at Tirumala.

    Three weeks done. We are back to Gurgaon, back to normal life.

    …contd.

  • The Firm – Book Review

    It has been quite some time that I have started reading on the iPad and to say the least, it is very very convenient. Now my travel bags no longer get weighed down with the heavy books. It is all on the iPad. (Having said that, my weakness towards buying books has still not withered a little bit, and my house is still inundated with all kinds of books, with regular additions)

    The Firm – I first picked up this book in a bookstore at the airport, and it seemed quite interesting. I did not give in to the impulse purchase and forgot about it. A couple of days later I bumped into an article about the book, and I immediately knew I had to read it.

    The title of the book, The Firm: The Story of McKinsey and Its Secret Influence on American Business, is self-explanatory. McKinsey has always intrigued me, and I always used to wonder the reason an organization (Mc Kinsey’s client) hire such expensive services. Why could a company just not hire the people? That would be so much cost effective. I still remember the long debate with Doc about the futility of hiring a consultant. This was during our campus days just after we had returned from our summer internships, and Doc had interned at McKinsey. Like a good consultant, we concluded the argument with “it depends”.

    The Firm (this is how the company refers to itself) was started in 1922 by James Mc Kinsey, by decoding the story within the accountant’s ledger. This led to the beginning of a new industry – consulting. Companies were now ready to pay a hefty amount to someone from outside, who would tell what to do.

    The book captures the history of the firm, right from its humble beginnings in the 20’s to the present day in elaborate detail. Having said that, this is not just a company history book, it delves into the evolution of the consulting industry in general and its ways of working.

    The Book is full of anecdotes throwing light on the various engagements and the background role of McKinsey in many historic decisions. Like in the 1970’s, McKinsey was such a big item in Tanzania’s finances that Tanzania was paying the firm so much amount that it was a line item in the country’s budget. In spite of the huge expense, the tyrant ruler of the country (who had hired McKinsey’s services) ran the country into the ground. These and many such examples make it for quite a rich reading.

    McKinsey prides itself being behind the scenes, and has an unwritten rule – “Take no pride, but take no blame whatsoever”, absolving itself of any potential outcomes of its recommendations

    The McKinsey model is pretty straight – it sends in a team of super smart, well dressed, driven MBa’s (typically from Harvard) to understand the core of the problem. After a detailed fact collection exercise, the team does its analysis and comes up with its recommendations. (Gathering from the rich experience of working in similar companies with similar situations across industries)

    Now, these recommendations would probably be just what the company in question would have right in the beginning, but the McKinsey approval now gives it a complete legit turn and makes it much easier to drill down through various levels of the hierarchy.

    The book also deals with the controversies that have surrounded the Firm – right from the initial days of organizations restructuring where it implemented the same structure one company after another, to the latest scandal involving Rajat Gupta.

    The author Huff Mc Donald, has put in a lot of effort in reaching out to the various sources possible, and referred to countless works. Especially in dealing with such a firm, which prides in its secretive way of working?

    Overall, this Management book is a good read for anyone with an interest in to know the inside world of consulting and the origins of the company credited with establishing the industry.

  • It’s New Year Resolution Time

    One more year draws to a close, and this one I feel just went by too fast. I guess you get that feeling as the years pass by and there is so much you want to do, and just do not find time for it.

    New year’s eve has varied traditions across various cultures – for some it is wearing polka dots and eating round fruits, while for someone else it is wolfing down handfuls of grapes as the clock strikes 12!

    Whatever be the tradition, all cultures have one thing in common – the new year Resolutions. Every year, many of us try setting up quite a few resolutions, only to break them before dawn breaks on the 1st of January. (yeah yeah! Some of you keep it on for more than that!)

    Here, I am not dwelling into the same old what should be your new year resolution? You should resolve to live a healthier, better more spiritual life, type of gyaan! Neither am I getting into specifics – build six packs, run the half marathon, write a book, etc..

    I am rather wondering why do most of us fail to keep up with those resolutions?

    What are the special ingredients to make and keep up the New Year resolution for the whole year?

    I think it is more to do with the resolution setting process rather than the resolution keeping process. We set ourselves aims that seem good in writing and thinking, but are so distant from our present realities that more often than not, they just end up remaining on the pieces of paper we scribble them on.

    So, what are the rules to make those resolutions?

    Stay True to yourself!

    If you have never been a morning person, deciding to wake up every morning at 6 to go for a run will never work.

    One change of a date from 31st to 1st January is not going to change an inherent habit! Rather, attempt going for a run every night. Try waking up in the morning, but to do something that you like – like writing, reading, listening to Music. Once the morning waking up habit kicks in, start Running in the morning.

    Take it slowly

    Don’t resolve to run 21KM right from day 1. It requires practice even by seasoned marathoners, once they are out of practice. Warm up the first month, get going in the second month and by the third month you are ready kicking in.

    Plan! Don’t just jump in

    You want to quit smoking? Great! But well, easier said than done. There is a complete lifestyle that you have around this habit, and all of it needs to change gradually. If you are always amidst smokers, that will have to change atleast in the beginning to help you keep away from drifting. If you are a “Chai + Sutta” kind of person, you would have to think of working around a vice along with tea. The association needs to dissolve gradually and then life changes to a new normal.

    Choose, Decide and Prioritize

    I have known people, and I myself am accused of the same mistake – too many resolutions, all of which require substantial time investments. It is just not possible. Choose your resolves and prioritize. I know you would want to hit the gym, start running, pick up a sport, learn to play the guitar and also write that elusive book. Well, you also have a job to keep. All of it ain’t happening in one go. Choose, decide and prioritize.

    Rewards

    Make your cravings work for you. Are you a stickler for chocolate? Well, promise yourself a bit every time you complete a milestone in your miles covered. This way, both the resolves are kept in check. Charles Duhigg, in his bestseller – The Power of Habit, details the simple process of habit formation : Cue – Action – Reward, in a circular loop. This is probably the most important thing to be planned to help you keep going.

    Hoping that the above pointers would help you sharpen you resolutions. Do mention in the comments column about your resolutions and your plan to keep them.

    Happy Holidays!

  • 60 Minutes – Book Review

    About two years back, on my way Home for Diwali, I picked up a book, on sheer impulse, at the airport. I just could not resist the out-of-the-box name of the book and the interesting blurb behind the book. The book is 31 by Upendra Namburi.

    The latest book by the author, 60 minutes is in the same corporate Thriller/Drama genre and the setting this time over is FMCG, so I had to pick it up.

    The story primarily revolves around two seasoned corporate rivals – Agastya and Saliesh. How they take their professional rivalries to every realm of their lives – personal, romantic, financial, to settle scores, forms the crux of the story.

    The book touches upon multiple relevant subjects – competitive corporate dynamics, ruthless ambitions, day trading games, domestic violence and love.

    The entire episode occurs from 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM on what seems like a normal working day. The screenplay, interspersed with flashbacks, forms a compelling read.

    The blackberry messenger chats, game of chess and the constant flashing ticker of the stock market, makes one feel that the protagonist is unnecessarily complicating stuff. At the end it just ends up in confusion, making one wonder the real reason of the actions!

    Also, the detailing at many places felt like it could have been avoided. Also, the characters spend too much time in their own thoughts, motives and intentions, taking away from the main plot. The book has too many details, making the plot complex and boring at times.

    One interesting technique used by the author is the haiku at the beginning of each chapter. It pretty well tells you the core of what is in store. Example this,

    a battle turns to war
    we wash our dirty linen 
    with sweat and blood

    The narrative is pretty fast paced and it sometimes feels too unreal for so much action to be happening in so little time.

    Overall, a good read, more so for lack of options in this genre in Indian writing scene.

    Of course, this stands nowhere close to the first book by the author.

  • House Hunting

    One of my colleagues pointed me to this article where a celebrity was denied accommodation in Mumbai. It reminded me of my own troubles in finding a house.

    I have stayed in five cities in the last five plus years that I have been working, and have changed seven houses since then.

    Right since my early Delhi days, to Bangalore, Hubli, Mumbai and now Gurgaon, one thing that has always remained common across each of these cities is the pain associated with house hunting.

    If it is the astronomical amount demanded in the form of deposit in Bangalore, it is the high rentals demanded in Mumbai that becomes the sore point. The fact that I would be  a single bachelor staying in the house any which ways got seventy percent of the houses out of my realms. And this Anti-bachelor resonated in all of the cities without exception.

    The most troublesome place to find a house is Mumbai. As it is popularly said in Mumbai, getting a roof on your head is the toughest part, everything else can be sorted.

    The worse thing here, among other things, is the lease expiry issue. The lease is always made for eleven months and the owner has the complete right to kick you out of the house with no reasons whatsoever. This in spite of having a strict “no party at my place” rule to your friends, in spite of having a travelling job and rarely staying in the house and in spite of having no visitors at all.

    I believe I am like the ideal tenant to have. The real tenant was not me at all! It was my stuff which needed a roof and I had to pay a huge monthly premium to let it be. I was out most of the time.

    The other worse thing in Mumbai is the concept of a “co-operative housing society”. The whole purpose of such entities seems to be to ensure that the rental process becomes difficult. Even the owner has no say most of the time.

    Non-Vegetarian? Sorry!

    South Indian? Sorry!

    From South India? Even then sorry!

    Bachelor? Well, non-starter this one is.

    Bachelor is the word that every landlord shuns like plague. So much that many a brokers suggested that I lie that my Mom would stay with me, or even go to the extent of lying that I was married!

    Things here in Gurgaon seem to be slightly better. That I think is more a function of the huge supply!

    Hopefully I would not have to embark on this journey again any soon.