Made my day

As anyone who knows me would know, I have a son. He is a big boy now. He was little once. He is not demonstrative, but shows a little hint of affection occasionally.
Between 1997 and 2002, we visited the US quite often, mostly spent the months of April and May there. In addition, it is in this period that mothers' day is celebrated. AT first, he could not understand how my birthday could change. He after all had a mother with a birthday in August. Then he figured that it was a day that mothers are felicitated and gifts are brought for them etc. In the US, my son would do small chores and collect quarters and he had a few dollars saved.

A few days before one mothers’ day, he made me wait outside Lechters' (one more victim of the bad times in US) and he bought me a beautiful set of knives. I was very pleased. It had set him back a good 9 dollars, almost half of what he saved. The day before mothers' day, he spied a magnetic clip with Taz (a comic character modelled on the Tasmanian devil) and I like it and bought it for three princely dollars. On our return, my kiddo sidled up to me and said, "You know that the knives cost a lot of money. Will you please buy them for yourselves and accept Taz as my gift. It is also very nice. And please return six dollars to me. I am a poor boy working hard and we will leave for India before I can earn his back. SO I said OK. And Taz still adorns my fridge after all these years. The knives and the fridge are different.

Flash forward to present day and age when my son has voting rights and is of an age when it is legal in India to marry. He visited China and was there during my birthday. In one of our Skype exchanges , he told me that he had bought me a dragon in genuine jade. I was very happy about this gesture. He came back and gave it to me. Then after a few hours he blurted out that of all the things he had go in China, this was the most expensive memento and so he wanted to keep it in his room. He gave me a dragon he had, made of some non-jade material. He then gave me a T shirt with a photo of the dragon and told me that he had ensured that it was my sixe and that it was not the cheapest one available.
I have a feeling the T Shirt may outlast the dragons.

No use by date for India

A friend of mine had posted a link to Shekhar Kapoor's blog about how he got his blackberry repaired in six minutes in the interiors of India. Indians have always known the ground realities. When we look for a house in a high rise being next to what some would call slummy areas is not always a disadvantage. And it is fun to shop and walk in these areas.

I was walking by today and as I often do, I looked at sign posts and shops . My son has put a few pictures up in his blog . There are signage like Government Bhang shop, Charas and Ganja shop etc. today I saw a uniquely Indian shop. The shop's name was "Using Items sale" It was a second hand goods shop. But in typical Indian way, it was true. We buy items still in use viz Using Items. I hope Oxford takes notice of this meaning of this phrase. When I have limited money I want a car in use , not a has been used car.

HR Carnival is over

Just woke up after a good night's sleep which is what was somewhat missing with calls, emails etc going into the night for the past week. No photos yet since I don't take pictures with my cellphone usually. However I can report that it was quite a foot tapping evening and we had a decent turnout. Here's what happened.

We had a talent hunt with about 20 odd participants. These were all HR professional/post graduate students who are very talented in arts like stand up comedy, instrumental music and of course dance. Alongside was the more serious part of the carnival called HR Showcase where more than a dozen companies talked about some of their HR challenges and how they overcame them. Then we had the games and fun portion for kids and kids at heart. I could not find time to get my caricature done ... next time maybe. I must mention our event managers. "Event mechanics" who did a fabulous job.

Our chapter president Harish D suddenly asked me to speak and I stumbled big time... Public speaking was my Achilles' Heel and remains so in spite of friends giving me many opportunities to improve...This stuttered speech was to get the souvenir released and acknowledge those who contributed to it . I forgot a few and remembered most. There were smiles all round and I took them to be genuine. And the souvenir looks professionally done.

I thought I worked hard on the souvenir. When I saw the results of the carnival and the scale, I realised that my colleagues in the EC like Anuradha Mahesh, Siddhu and Gubbi have earned the right to rest for at least two or three days to recoup. I never thought I would say this... but the timing of this Bandh is fortuitous... And that is my last word for now.

HR Carnival---The fraternity is headed to NIMHANS!!!!

Today, July 4, 2010 is the day when the hectic activities of the past 2 months culminates. We are part of National HRD Network and are in the EC ( Execution committee.... those who get executed for not doing things and even doing things...)
Our annual day has been delinked from our AGM and has now been dedicated to pure networking, fun and maybe some learning. We are ready with everything from cotton candy to erudite HR Showcases. I was involved in getting the souvenir ready and it is being released today as well.
I did some writing, some detective work, a trip to printers, learnt about fonts. Learnt a few tricks used by advertisers etc. Hopefully it will hava all the advertisements ond only minor mistakes. I shall post the events of today by tonight.

In the meanwhile we are headed to NIMHANS. We are also hoping that the HR fraternity in Bangalore also heads that way to visit. BY the way, many of our spouses who are not part of this function of HR believe that this is the right place for us. And we have quite a few doctors to treat us as well.

For those who are not familiar with Bangalore, NIMHANS stands for something like National Institute for Mental Health And Neuro Sciences and it is a top notch place in this field.

Committee and horses and camels

They say that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. I am part of a committee and unnecessarily active part at that. And I believe the saying should be reversed. We set out to make a camel and cannot reach the necessary heights and we have a donkey on our hands.

Every committee has two sets of people . Those who do and those who promise to do. And I will not even get into who takes credit for that Donkey.

Robert Copeland said that "To get something done, a committee should consist of no more than three people, two of who are absent." We are all familiar with committees right from our school days. Sports/ Culture/ and many more. And there is an apparent glory attached to being members of committees which are meant to lead all those who are not members.


My son at a young age of 12 refused to be part of any committee whatsoever. His teachers complained that he did not want to take any responsibility. He in turn said that he did not want a position where he was mostly expected to do the teacher's bidding. That this line of thought has some merit was brought home gradually to me.

Milton Berle had the last laugh when he said that , "A committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours."

A matter of time.

I was sitting comfortably with my son (just past teen) and I was telling him how I liked my new routine and felt very good about it. He listened carefully and then said,"Oh! So you have now got used to you new weight , is it?" That set me thinking. I thought about two little stories which I will now narrate in my clumsy fashion.

There were two men arguing vehemently, There was a Jesuit Priest dressed in his official outfit not far from them. He and another by stander were observing this fight. After a while one of the word warriors went to the priest and the priest took him aside and heard him. The priest said, You are right, my son..."This could only be seen by the by stander.

Next the other party came to the priest and the priest smiled and heard him. Again he said, You are right, my son." Both the parties involved in the arguement seemed calmer. This of course agitated the by stander. He now went to the priest and protested that there was no way that both the parties were right. The priest smiled and said, You are right, my son" and went away.

The other story also involves a parishioner and a priest. The priest heard out all the trials and despairs narrated to him patiently. He sympathised with the pain being endured. At the end of it, he sais, All will be well in two years time. The parishioner was happy and exclaimed, I will be better off and not have these troubles." The priest replied, "Not necessarily. The time will be enough for you to get used to your present state."
Sooner or later " All Izz well"

God S(h)ave India

There was a serious announcer with what seemed like breaking news. She talked about this movement to groom Indians (males presumably) by making them clean-shaven. I have not been to Punjab recently, but my guess is that the state may have far less people to target. Is India so jobless that their hirsute citizens do not shave or are advertisers really bereft of ideas.

I plan to write to a few of my favourite celebrities like Vir Sanghvi and Shekhar Kapur to stand up for their rights and protest this campaign. Closer home, my husband's uncle who is part and parcel of our family and is called Dadhi Thatta (.....loosely translated from Tamil, it means the bearded Grandpa) is quite a handsome chap even at 80 plus.

I have frowned at ads for fairness, bleaching etc. To be honest, a lot of people aspire to those standards and may find those ads useful knowledge. This kind of propaganda however is worse. I hope they figure out other creative ways to promote their grooming aids.