Getting ready for Work

The 1st week in Singapore

I landed in Singapur on the 21st at around 7:20 pm..The flight from India(Singapore airlines) was on time and the landing at the Changi airport was also on time.

I had no issues with immigration either in India or Singapore.I found the Singapore immigration very eficient and friendly.The lady at the imigration counter in Singapore infact offered me a candy(chocolate).That was the first positive imopression of Singapore I had on this visit.

After immigration I collected my luggage and proceeded towards the Exit.Chandran from Emerio had just arrived there and was holding a placard of my name.

I got into his taxi,chatted with him on the way and reached the Francis Guest house.There was no recepton at the guest house but Chandran guided me on how to reach the room.

I managed to get to the room where I met a Chinese guy called Leo(I am currently sharing a room with Leo).

I told Leo that I had to make an International call and hence wanted some help.He readily offered me the card given to him by Emerio.I could call up home and inform my folks about my arrival in Singapore.

I had not taken the number of my friend Ratan and was wondering how to contact him.Just then he called me up at the Guest house after learning from my wife(He did not know when I was coming and so called up my wife in India) that I was to fly on Saturday at 11:45 am India time.

I asked Ratan to come to the guest house.In the meantime I took a shower and got ready.

Ratan came to the guesthouse in a few minutes and with him I then went to Little India,had samosas and wandered around curiously finding about the prices of various items of my interest.

We then went to his place at Tiong Bahru,had food ,chatted with his roomies and went to sleep.

The next day we again went to Little India(Ratan had some work there),then to the Suntec City,Fountain of wealth, came back to Ratan's place,had special khichadi,made by Ratan.

In the evening we went to the forest walk recently innaugarated by the PM of Singapore.It was a very unique and wonderful experience.I wished we had something similar back in India.

After the walk,we returned home.I had some food and then got back to the guest house and prepared for the next day - my first day at CITI.

I had called up Bijil,the Emerio HR on Sunday afternoon and he had told me that he would pick me and another guy-Suresh who would join CITI on the same day,from the guest house.

On Monday,I got ready by 8:30 am.Bijil did come to pick me up and he took us to the Millenia tower.He made us fill in some forms and sign a few.He took the passort and the EP document to be submitted to the Ministry of Manpower(MOM).

Later,he took us to the office we would work in and handed us over to the CITI admin.

The CITI Admin rep,Stephanie completed the onbaord facilities and introduced us to the PM and the colleagues.

Everything seemed well planned and friendly.

I met a guy - Rahul Ner who hailed from Nampur,Nasik in the office.Later in the day I went to lunch(at Pangat) with him and another colleague-Krupa.

The rest of the day passed going through some mandatory web trainings.

I was still anxious as I had still not got an idea about my work and role.But I remained positive.

The next day the PM-Priya did explain to us about the team and the work.That assured me.

Today it is my third day at office.I seem to have gained some acquaintance of the place.Thanks to my previous visit to Singapore in 2003,I quickly learned to move around Singapore, using the MRT and the buses.The public transport system in Singapore is one of the most efficient in the world...far better and friendly than in the US.Singapore scores a huge point over the US here.

Today I managed to get to office all by myself.That was a big achievement given the maze of tall buildings around the Suntec area.

I am still reading about the Project through documents provided to us by the PM.We have still not been involved in the regular work.

That may happen soon.

There is no internet access in the Office.So I have to go to Ratan's place to access the internet.I now feel that I would be able to spend an year here and so have parallely started searching for a flat.

From Ratan's place using his phone and the website given to me by Gayatri(Gumtree),I called up a few agents yesterday.One of the flats,mentioned by the agent Rani looks promising.

Today she may call me in the evening and I may go to see the flat with Ratan.

I am missing my family and India.However I see many Indians here and Singaporeans are friendly people.

I can also get Indian food easily and have met many old friends here.

That has helped me get over the homesickness.

I am positive about the things here and plan to bring my wife and son here soon.

Only then life would start again..Currently I am in a Buffer state, not living actually..just making arrangements and preparations.

GOD has been kind and has been guiding me in the right direction.I am being patient and waiting for the day when my family would be here with me.

During our South India trip we came to Thiruvananthapuram at about 4 pm.We had a train from Thiruvananthapuram at 11pm.

We decided to visit the famous Padmanabhswami temple.

Through our visits to various temples and tourist locations so far,we had realised that people try to loot the tourists.

We were really fed up and frustrated with the experiece...The Padmanabh swami temple topped it all and I had a fight with the pandas in the temple.

The details:
Before entering the temple..all of us...2 men,2 women and 1 child were forced to wear a special kind of a wrap around..the rent was rs.15 per piece...This is something unique to the temple..Nowehere in Maharashtra I have come across this forced custom of having to wear a particular dress while entering the temple.

So the rent was Rs.75.Then for the cameras we had to pay extra.The total was over Rs.100..Before entering the temple we had the feeling that we were taken for a ride and this temple was more a business centre than a place of the Almighty.

At the entrance of the temple we saw a Russian couple who was prohibited from entering the temple..probabely for the reason that they were non-Hindus and ate cow meat.

I think everyone should be allowed inside the temple.How do you ensure that a Hindu has not indulged in immoral activities?Without any means of verification,Hindus can easily enter the temple and non-Hindus are prohibited.This again was something differnt from my earlier experience in Maharashtrian temples.

After we entered the temple,a guy carrying some plates of oil followed us,handed that over to us and asked us to pour the oil in some place.After doing what he asked us to do,he demanded Rs.20.I said I had money outside the temple(I actually did not want to give him the money as I had not asked for the service..He had thrusted it on us).

He then asked me to go out and get the money.This sparked me off.I blasted the guy left and right and abused him.I told him that it was because of guys like him that Hinduism was getting a bad name.Cheating devotees, doing business in the name of GOD is quite prevalelent in the Indian temples...My father and I have now decided not to visit a single temple during our next tour.

GOD is everywhere and we need not seek him in a confined location and in the process get looted.

To all the temples that we went to (Srichandur,Trivandrum,ISKCON temple Bangalore) we
saw business being done in the name of GOD.The ways are different but the purpose is the same.

Business...Business.

We were fed up with that.

The best experience was at Kanyakumari..at the rock memorial.I think that is the real temple.It is not driven by business motives.Rather it inspires young Indian minds to work for a strong India.



The Vivekanandapuram Project is a not-to-miss place.I plan to stay there for atleast a week and knowing more about the activities of the Vivekanadapuram on my next visit.

A nation of corrupt and cowards has no future

I was told by my travel agent that to get my passport renewed under the 'Tatkal' scheme,I would have to get a verification

certificate.This certificate could be got from one of the several officers authorized by the Government.

The certificate had just 5 things to state

1.That my name is XYZ

2.My father's name is XYXABX

3.My place of birth is XYZ

4.I have been staying at 'abc' and

5.That I am of a good moral character.

I already had an old passport which certified items 1 to 3.For item 4 I had the relevant proofs and for item 5,I had no case

pending against me.I have served in reputed MNCs in the last 10 years and have held important positions.

I tried to approach one of our acquaintances who himself is a First class officer.However he did not fall in the list of

officers stated by the passport office..So I asked him if he could refer me to any such officer.

From what he told me,I was shocked.

Getting a simple certification like the above has become a very tough task in India.I think that is a symptom of the

illness,India suffers from.

We hear many stories how people have committed suicide because they could not gather the necessary documents for claiming

the pension that they aptly deserve.

On the other hand many anti-social elements,using their political nexus,get any kind of certificate.One member of the

parliament had even produced a certificate for a dead person.

A nation where the common law abiding citizens have to run from one officer to the other for getting basic certifications

and where anti-social elements manage to get any certificate without much hassle can never become a super-power.

It is doomed...I am sad that my own country is doomed.

Then what category do I fall under..after all I too am an Indian...I think I am a part of that dormant-disunited-law abiding citizens who are vastly outnumbered by the corrupt and cowards.

A day will come,I am hopeful when this section would demonish the cowards and corrupts and restore India to its past glory.

Till then I wait.. and pray that God give me the strength to get rid of these locusts.

Soft skills

My passport was due for renewal and so I contacted Girikand travels- a name I trust for my travel requirements.

While I was filling in the forms and talking to the representative,there was a man sitted next to me who was collecting the tickets for his travel the same day..He collected the tickets and left.

After he had gone,I realised that he had accidently dropped something on the chair.I checked it up and realised that he had left back his credit card.

I immediately brought this to the notice of the representative who then contacted the man on his cellphone.

After a few minutes the man did come back to collect his card and left without thanking.The representative commented on him after he left.

I realised that the man was not good at soft skills.He was the CEO of a wine company.But he did not have the basic courtesy of expressing gratitude.Would that affect his work? Most certainly.Being the CEO of a company,he must be handling a lot of people on a daily basis.

Must he be doing the same with his people..i.e not expressing gratitude for the good things they do?

How much does lack of soft skills cost an individual.I guess a lot.

Thank You,Sorry,Excuse me are small words but have a huge impact on life.

These skills should be taught from childhood so that they become second nature.I think I was fortunate that I was taught these things in school.

Changing the address made easy

Earlier to change the address on the bank records used to be a very tough and time consuming experience.

One would have to get an address proof,write an application and then submit it to the bank to get the address changed on their records.

However,lately I had a good experience with ICICI for getting my address changed.

I called up the Customer care and they did it over phone.No document was required.Of course,I was banking with them for more than 5 years.

It saved me a lot of trouble and time.I thinks things are changing for the better.

But other banks like Kotak still need a written application.Shouldn't all banks follow the same procedures for such basic customer needs and add to customer satisfaction?

Once again,thanks ICICI.

A good experience with ICICI Home loans

I sold and transferred my flat on the 9th april.However as the EMI date was 8th of each month,the EWMI for April was drawn from my bank account.

I wanted to get a refund for this.In the Ramchandra Sabhagruha office Iwas told that I would have to come to the bank,fill in a form and then a cheque would be sent to me.

I really did not want to take all that trouble.It is a pain coming to the Shivajinagar branch through the congested FC road and then struggle to get a parking slot.

Hence,I called up the customer care number and they told me that the whole thing could be done on phone.I was delighted to hear that but still was not sure if it was true.

To my surprise and pleasure,the refund did come directly to my bank account without me goin anywhere.Thanks ICICI.

Out of all the different experiences I have had and keep having with ICICI,I should say this one was the best.

Hope everything could be done over the phone.We would save so much of time and fuel.

Barbaad-e-Gulistaan karne ko to...

There is a sher in Urdu which goes like this

Barbad-e-gulistaan karne ko to ek hi ullu kaafi tha
Yaha..har shaakh pe ullu baitha hai anjam-e-gulistan kya hoga

For destroying the wonderful garden,even one owl is sufficient
Here there is an owl on each branch,wonder what would happen to the garden

In my last assignment I worked on a Project which was the best example of mismanagement.

The sales guys had sold something to the client which the Technical guys could not stand by.

The company had no expeience in the technology and yet it was made out as if they had experts.

The estimates given were absurd.To top it the managers managing the show were pathetic.They had no people skills at all.

Technology can be learnt and mastered,but ultimately it is the people on the Project who decide the success or failure.

Sadly,I did not come across a single manager who understood this.They took the team members to be granted.Instead of motivating,they resorted to instilling fear about the appraisals.The Tech Lead did not entertain the ideas of the developers,forced his own thoughts on members and frequently changed priorities creating confusion many a time.

The onsite co-ordinator was selfish to the core and instead of standing up against him,the offshore managers fell in line.

The message that it was not a fair play was clear to one and all.People then lost interest in the good of the Project and were only interested in how they could make the best of their presence in the team and move out.

Not surprisingly,resignations started pouring in.I was the second to resign and there were two that followed me.There could be more.

I remember an instance when one of the members had shifted partially to another project and the Tech Lead was pleading/bargaining for her time on the current Project..almost on a minute by minute basis.How did he not understand that she had lost interest and was only physically present.We were not in a factory producing goods mechanically.It was mental work.

A manager should have the basic skills of keeping the team members interested in the Project.The actions of all the managers were contrary to this principle.They ensured how people lost their devotion and interest in the Project.

I remember a thought:
You could buy the physical presence of a person for a certain number of hours at a certain place
But you would not be able to buy the devotion of his heart,you have to earn it

And the higher management still does not seem to be in a mood to learn from the mistakes.

I feel sad for the company with which I started my career.

Barbad-e-gulistaan karne ko to ek hi ullu kaafi tha
Yaha..har shaakh pe ullu baitha hai anjam-e-gulistan kya hoga

Adieu to TechMahindra

In July this year I would have completed 10 years in Job.However,I quit a bit early...3 months early to be precise.

My second stint at TechMahindra(previously Mahindra British Telecom) was not giving me the satisfaction I needed and so I decided to quit in February.One of the reasons that hastened the decision was my son's admission.

I did not want to end up paying hefty sum of non-refundable deposit in some school in Pune only to move back to Nasik in an year or two.Hence,I sough admission for Raghav(my son) in a school in Nasik and then quit.

I learnt a lot over the past 10 years and also earned some money which has made me financially stable.Now I feel I need some time for myself and family.Instead of running a rat race,I think I need to pause and see where life is taking me.Can anything be changed for better? Can I choose some other field and learn some new things and also make some money in the process?



Would I have added value to myself had I continued in IT? These are some of the questions which I would try to face and answer over the next few months.

I may have continued to make good regular money in IT.But is that the sole aim of life?How much money is really needed?

Can I try out something else and discover new things about myself?

I am relying on the knowledge and experience I have gained over the years in job,on the advice and suggestions of friends and of course the blessings and well wishes of friends and family.

I may be able to get some good answers for some of the questions..that's the hope that I have made this change...a change which is very bold for many.But life is all about explring..ain't it.