Friday 30 March 2018

Our new abode- where the heart is

2017 is a year when we brought new life to the world.2018 is a year we made our own home at Bangalore.By the way,buying a home was not in our list so soon but happened as we like to give a engaging space for our daughter.Our home is also like our child and it would keep evolving along with Ranjana.Just a flashback,I was more of a hippie who loves to move places after my mom's death.Somehow my job was something to get surrendered to.I have lived as Paying Guest though I have a comfortable house at my native.I hardly visited there.Somehow the term home has been lost and washed away with body of mother's ash.I have to say marriage has mended me and now the term home has been brought back because of my soulmate Nambi.He has brought back home and finally we bought our home though we have spent enough on this.That's a good feel to have our own roof and not all places can become a home and actually close people make it that.

Ranjana, my daughter

New responsibilities have added on over my shoulders.I couldn't explain how I feel when I am called as Amma.Yes,My daughter is 7 months old now and slowly she is getting into a schedule and Iam getting my sleep back along with enough tiring day.Iam so happy to introduce my daughter Ranjana  and her name bears a lofty meaning and it  means a person who gives joy for others.Meanwhile I took a conscious decision to resign  m job and I have gifted this exclusive time for my daughter to make her as a healthy kid.If at all I have to say I have done research, it's totally on child development and Iam bearing the fruits of it.I haven't taken any tablets even for iron or calcium supplements just went through organic way and it helps a lot.There is lot more to say about pregnancy and childcare ,might be later I would start my post on it.Somehow I love August month as it has given saddest and happiest moments.I lost my mom on August 13th 2010 and got my daughter on August 25th 2017.Sometimes what we loose, we gain it in another form.And We as parents full on ready for 20 years project to bringup a lively kid who can conquer the world.

Friday 5 May 2017

Corporate ladder vs Woman

This post is the reflection of my introspection  over every woman who envisions to grow in corporate ladder. Interviews what we hear about Sheryl Sandberg, Indra Nooyi ,Kiran mazumdar shah still belongs to that 10% of woman at top management. If there would have been a gradient shift in this percentage , then their interviews will not be about the hardships they have faced all through the journey.

Every year we have heard about policies unfolding at corporate offices when women's day comes round the corner. Smell of rose bouquets , vibrant colored balloons and over flooding wishes in all our gadgets and social networking sites. Surface level compliments tries to give a good aura for the particular day and it vanishes in a whimsical way. Now I have seen both metros and cosmopolitan life. Hence my agony made me to jot the experiences I had in  my six years of corporate journey at multiple organizations.

What Wedding bell means  in Woman employees life?
When I got married , I can sense the skeptical view  in my lady boss face and she threw a question "why am I overwhelmed about married life?". If anyone is not overwhelmed I guess they dwell in the last stage of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Why don't people acknowledge beautiful changes in life.
That was the time I was shunting between two different states for my work with few days in Bangalore and few days in NCR . She has forgotten the point of uncontrollable x factors involved in relocation though they can give a jazzy name with the term "Work from Home" without setting clear infrastructure in place. I tested and experimented this model for couple of months and it pinched me to the heights when my immediate lady manager checked about the periodicity of my menstruation cycle as soon as I said unwell. I have faced these point blank questions from lady bosses consecutively who are in the age group of 40-50.
 I feel we Indians should really work upon work-life balance and so called leaders should really work upon leading a team without just managing it. They should know to inspire a person more than poking into micro transactions. Moreover  we should experiment  divide and conquer theory at our homes irrespective of gender difference. Divorces and attritions still majorly come from the same rootcause, uneven load distribution.

Work from Home or Work for Home:
 The next jazzy term is work from Home. Many non ITians believe work from home as the great luxury which IT folks exclusively enjoy. Within the IT group, male folks sarcastically bounce a joke over female collegues "Is it work from Home or work for Home". Unless a culture is brought in to appreciate the work more than the mode and way of working ,it will backfire the morale of team. I have seen folks who have not promoted in their career as they work in "work from Home mode"

Maternity vs Political tornado
 Iam happy to announce   we are so excited to welcome a new kiddo in our family. Happily Iam involved in  a challenging project in this tenure ,nevertheless I have come across another stunning head who can vent out her incapabilities in the name of review and who is eagerly waiting for my maternity break. Maternity is any woman's right and when senior management tries to ride on that energy there comes a flaw in the system. We are not in the generation to hide baby bump with a coat ,its not a shy thing to attend business meetings and to crack a deal or to provide a continuous lecture for 4 hours for the joy of work.

But political tornado when it sweeps in just to corner a woman employee with maternity reason ,that's intolerable. All the three reasons are something which any woman employee would have faced directly or indirectly. If not that's an ecosystem we should wish for.

Organisations should really work on eliminating the perennial roots if they want to question their statistical numbers in regard to gender inclusiveness.

Post Script: Sooner planning to work on a book in this theme.




 

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Love for NCR

All good beginning unfolds at Nation's capital for me.Let it be my first career,  life after wedding with Nambi,lean journey etc.. This is one ancient city which has become so romantic with me how much ever I hate it. In 2010 I disliked it and in 2016 my hatred for this city grew more due to climatic reasons, nevertheless NCR's love for me has become deeper with thick roots. I have become more inclusive with lot more Indianism in me and loving back NCR as an Indian and not as a south Indian,though I hear few regional demarcation statements wherever I go in North because of my Brown skin.
In fact I have got three great mentors for life at NCR, its my husband Nambi and my professional mentor cum Manager Minakshi and the city "NCR" by itself. It took sometime to consider NCR as my mentor but finally city won and I embrace it. I have learnt about true companionship in both good and bad times,beauty of patience  from Nambi who can dissect any problems to look into the possibility with 360 degree view, whenever I get entangled. I was a person who hardly believed in marriage once but it has truly changed the perspective now and I agree upon the point "Everyone needs a co-pilot" to make a journey of contentment.    

Unexpected gifts from Mentor NCR:

We  were able to meet my favorite author William Darlymple , the author of "City of Djinns"  who  has narrated about the great depth of India's landscape  in his book " Nine lives" at Delhi. Its an overwhelming moment when we see the favorite author who shared his glimpse about India.

We were able to witness the Jaipur literature festival 2016  with outstanding speech by Shashi Tharoor and many other young contemporary writers.So much in the store at Jaipur lit fest if anyone welcomes fresh perspective into their world of knowledge.

We were able to witness the slam poetry stage show by Sarah and Phil Kay though I made a huge hole in my pocket . Its worth it as their poem gets life in the stage

Last but not the least, I had a joyful professional journey to bring in lean momentum all because of my mentor Minakshi who taught me stakeholder management while handling people from multiple teams with its various intrinsic nuances and she is one such person who helped me to uncover the real passion of  mine "coach ,teach and experiment" with process and trainings.

Delhi is always something close to my heart in its own way.
 

Monday 17 April 2017

The shadow face "thoughtsbeyonddots"

Nice to come back from  bloggers break and its always nicer to hear about "thoughtsbeyonddots" blog which stands as a shadow for me. My friend who lives miles away called me yesterday after a year for a casual conversation as my blog is not being currently active.I have got another face by this "thoughtsbeyonddots", which is a way of conversation. There is lot more to pour down regarding my journey in one complete year where lot of dreams came true.I was quite packed with living a contentful year rather than imaginative writing .But its time to put it in words.
 At the end of the day if writing soothes or touches any reader and if they wait for the next post to read in a blog that's the great gift given by a reader to a blogger.

 

Wednesday 12 October 2016

Peace begins at Bhutan

I have recently read about Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner.Such an interesting book where the author goes in search of happiness quotient at different countries.One is the land of Gross National happiness,Bhutan.Even I got a chance to pack my bag to Bhutan recently.Though I have read about this country in Eric's book,Bhutan was in my bucket list for long time with so much research.I am excited to share about experience in Druk Airlines,where were able to spot Mt.Everest,Kanchanjanga,Mt.Makalu and many more moutains so close by.The landing is quite tricky as the runway is between two mountains.Thats a great experience to say.
   I liked people's self content life with meditation,chanting , prayers .Its so nice to see when a religion has all the power to bring in zero crime rate in a country.97% of the country follows Buddhism.We visited magnificent Buddha Point at Thimphu,a serene place to start with.We have got a Local college goer Tanzin as our one day friend who was happy enough to narrate their country's history.She actually was able to say the reality of a country without much polish.Must visit places are stamp museum,Textile Museum,Memorial chorten,Buddha Point and Thimphu Dzong.Food is spicy enough for Indian tongue.Then comes Paro where we trekked to Tiger's Nest.Its a place of extreme human engineering.Iam astonished by the building more than Guru Rinpoche's lonely meditation at the top of cliff.There is so much to write about Bhutan,so blog wont be a sufficient placeholder.So here goes few pics from our trip.I personally felt Bhutan is a place to find peace but not happiness.Afterall ,Happiness is always a subjective thing to discuss.More than 4 days Its not easy to stay at Bhutan as I have miles to go and things to finish




Tuesday 6 September 2016

Ganeshpooja 2016

Festival season has started now.India has lovely celebrations to add happiness to souls sinked in daily routine.I have woken up the happy kid in me to bring in the rituals at my new home.As ganapathi statue was not available in the streets of Noida,we tried to manage with chota ganpath at home.
I tried out fried mothak which is a maharashtian receipe along with moong sundal.There is a happiness quotient when we offer for our neighbors.That's a cool joy of giving.