Thursday, September 17, 2009
Austerity Circus
‘Austerity’ the latest buzz word on the scene from the political class and the media hype around it, though just cannot understand some of the circus that the political jokers resort too. Madam Sonia flies economy class and seats near her have to be kept vacant for security reason. Needless to mention the entourage of security personnel that also flies with her. Wonder where is austerity in all this besides the ugly, pompous and arrogant show of power.
Austerity would have been if these politicians could stay in a common man’s colony. This way the whole colony would get security as the amount wasted on the useless lives of our politicians could give security to additional at least hundred common men. Agriculture Minister and NCP boss Sharad Pawar claimed he could not fly economy class because of his weight. If you eat (not just food but also the ugly amounts taken in bribes) beyond levels what a human should you are bound to be a painful weight. At the same farmers are committing suicides and dying in Maharashtra due to starvation, and this joker is Agriculture Minister. I wish they had austerity in bribes they took rather than just austerity measures of display.
It’s a known and obvious fact that a good huge majority of our politicians are there to rake in the moolah. Worse still it is planned for posterity and eternity of their future generations, and we like to fool ourselves that we are a democracy when in reality today we are ruled by a family. Well bad luck as many like me only complain and do nothing to bring about a change. Many even don’t even vote, and then there are the illiterate who sell their vote for a currency note or a bottle of hooch. Thereby we getting the garbage we deserve from the political system. Any political idiot’s birthday the whole city gets plastered with hoardings wishing him / her a happy birthday. Austerity and humility could be practiced there and that money wasted on hoarding displaying their ugly faces, could be put to public use.
Take any politician who has been around for a while and check his credentials of the past. A good number are from criminal background or good for nothings who used to lick some political heads and get a ticket to contest elections and after they win, the money they amass is a known fact. So why fool us Madam Sonia by issuing instructions to your circus clowns of ministers of taking a one fifth pay cut. It won’t anyway make a difference to them as they are not there for the peanuts but the big kill in which the poor are deprived and killed. As all you are doing is telling your cronies cover the ill gotten wealth and don’t display it, as it won’t be austerity. This is not an austerity drive but a mockery drive.
Our respectable Minister of State for External Affairs Mr. Shashi Tharoor used to stay in five star hotels. No one should complain as it is alleged he was paying from his own pocket. For him flying in economy class is travelling ‘cattle class’ and his agreeing to travel economy class was out of solidarity to all our holy cows. Mr. Tharoor when you are staying in five star hotels it may be paid from your pocket, but Sir when you fly in upgraded class of travel it is from my pocket.
Thanks to politicians like your Mr. Tharoor that we travel like cattle, live like cattle and many die like it. People like you may not bring any change to the country, at least display some austerity for a change.
Austerity would have been if these politicians could stay in a common man’s colony. This way the whole colony would get security as the amount wasted on the useless lives of our politicians could give security to additional at least hundred common men. Agriculture Minister and NCP boss Sharad Pawar claimed he could not fly economy class because of his weight. If you eat (not just food but also the ugly amounts taken in bribes) beyond levels what a human should you are bound to be a painful weight. At the same farmers are committing suicides and dying in Maharashtra due to starvation, and this joker is Agriculture Minister. I wish they had austerity in bribes they took rather than just austerity measures of display.
It’s a known and obvious fact that a good huge majority of our politicians are there to rake in the moolah. Worse still it is planned for posterity and eternity of their future generations, and we like to fool ourselves that we are a democracy when in reality today we are ruled by a family. Well bad luck as many like me only complain and do nothing to bring about a change. Many even don’t even vote, and then there are the illiterate who sell their vote for a currency note or a bottle of hooch. Thereby we getting the garbage we deserve from the political system. Any political idiot’s birthday the whole city gets plastered with hoardings wishing him / her a happy birthday. Austerity and humility could be practiced there and that money wasted on hoarding displaying their ugly faces, could be put to public use.
Take any politician who has been around for a while and check his credentials of the past. A good number are from criminal background or good for nothings who used to lick some political heads and get a ticket to contest elections and after they win, the money they amass is a known fact. So why fool us Madam Sonia by issuing instructions to your circus clowns of ministers of taking a one fifth pay cut. It won’t anyway make a difference to them as they are not there for the peanuts but the big kill in which the poor are deprived and killed. As all you are doing is telling your cronies cover the ill gotten wealth and don’t display it, as it won’t be austerity. This is not an austerity drive but a mockery drive.
Our respectable Minister of State for External Affairs Mr. Shashi Tharoor used to stay in five star hotels. No one should complain as it is alleged he was paying from his own pocket. For him flying in economy class is travelling ‘cattle class’ and his agreeing to travel economy class was out of solidarity to all our holy cows. Mr. Tharoor when you are staying in five star hotels it may be paid from your pocket, but Sir when you fly in upgraded class of travel it is from my pocket.
Thanks to politicians like your Mr. Tharoor that we travel like cattle, live like cattle and many die like it. People like you may not bring any change to the country, at least display some austerity for a change.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Bosses and Asses
All through my wide spectrum of checkered career spanning a good part of the world I was very fortunate to have had some excellent bosses and some excellent asses who were bosses. Being either is no easy feat, especially being a boss who can be a perfect ass. The asses who become bosses are never through any merit or credential of class. Most of them make it through influence of knowing someone in the Management or even related, and some rare instances of pure donkey luck as you could call it, thus the description ass for them. Now if you had any other meaning for the word, you are insulting the donkey and even further elevating and praising the asses I would be referring too.
My first experience of a BA (Boss who was an Ass), was a gentleman. A perfect gentleman to the core as he was very gentle to anything pretty in skirts, and could be even gentle with them to getting his work done. Just that his work was nothing related to business. Otherwise a shrewd businessman to the last bone in his body. Someone who gets married into a business family just for business gains and to set up his own business empire and then divorcing his wife needs vision and a clear defined mission. So now when I read vision and mission statements of Organization this ass comes to my mind.
The next BA was an old bag with one foot in the grave, and now is in the grave, and do pray his soul may rest in peace. He was one who could never have anyone living in peace in the office, leave aside working in peace. Someone who was so scared to make commitments that even remarks on memos he would make in pencil so it could be erased. Someone who could fall so low to be on a job, that on most occasions he used to actually touch the feet of the owners to stay on the job. Kleptomaniac to such a level that would not leave a pin which if he liked would take it home. Someone who was always ensuring building morale of the employees with assurance of overseas posting and finally ensured to have his son posted overseas, who was not even an employee of the Organization. So now when I read of Organization material which refers to employees as family, I know what family means.
Then was my exposure to BA’s on International shores. This one guy could refer to his MBA school academics to every decision and strategy. This meant he was an intelligent idiot as that’s what education makes you. So this intelligent idiotic ass was good at bar charts, pie charts, and could only fart in the office. Throw him in front of a client he would perspire in the winter of Europe. Loved to control with instilling fear and bullying and could never do anything on his own and would rely on his subordinates. Could never lead in the literal sense, to the extent when the company decided to expand its global operations he ensured I was pushed to a country which I never even knew where it existed on the map. When I got the geography up and ready to go for business, his insecurity began to throw up and he made life so hard that I decided to resign and move on in life. There was one instance where we were working on business projections and targets. To which I asked him could he tell me when he would he get his first business to prove and so I could learn from him. To which he confidently confirmed 15 Aug, a date which I will always remember. Just that I forgot to ask him which year, as over the years he did nothing but milked the company and recently came to know he was sacked. So now when I attend interviews and am questioned on how long I intend to be with the Organization, I think of this BA who could be long with an Organization and could contribute zilch.
My experiences won’t end if I don’t mention the excellent bosses who were responsible in making me. Not that the asses did not contribute to my learning. They did teach me that you can achieve success doing nothing, and making an ass of the Company you are working with, making an ass of your peers, colleagues, subordinates and by making an ass of yourself.
One of the bosses to whom my admiration and respect would be for life was a family run business with whom I was associated in my initial years on employment. Three brothers who ran different business units and one of them who spotted talent in me and groomed me and I ended up contributing in all the businesses units and that expanded my experience intellect so diverse that today my success in various companies and around the world has been because of them. Beside the point, the woman I married eight years later was someone who I met on that job. The relationship with the company is so strong till date that I ended up contributing more business to them than what I did during my association with them.
Another boss was a retired banker, who was heading Indian business of a company where I handled the operations. The only boss I have experienced till date that never took credit for anyone’s success in the company, and would mildly say that is what you are paid to do. Failures of anyone were never met belittlement of the person, instead it was encouragement and trying to find what could be learnt in the failure. I owe to him my ability to experiment and not getting scared to fail.
Finally was another banker who had employed me into the Organization which was a part of big International banking giant. I was responsible to sell technology solutions to Middle East and India. This boss had a unique ability is spotting talent in people and could use that to the best of the Organization. He realized that I had good presentation skills and inter-departmental interaction skills. I remember on one occasion the domain expert who was to present core banking solutions could not make it, and he very casually told me to go and do it. My fear knew no bounds as I was good in marketing and sales but not on domain expertise. When he realized that he just told me one statement, “Don’t tell me you can’t do it”. That statement put such a big sense of responsibility that I went ahead and did it and the best performance of my career had been with that Organization where I was responsible for the first sale of the Organization in Middle East and India. No mean feat in any way, but a great lesson that success is team work and a great boss who can mentor a team.
So I owe most of my success to all my Bosses and Asses who were Bosses. Asses that were good at verbosity and would give anecdotes as it how you look at glass with half filled water, you can see it as half full or half empty. The real Bosses simply thought me how to fill it up and not just look at it.
My first experience of a BA (Boss who was an Ass), was a gentleman. A perfect gentleman to the core as he was very gentle to anything pretty in skirts, and could be even gentle with them to getting his work done. Just that his work was nothing related to business. Otherwise a shrewd businessman to the last bone in his body. Someone who gets married into a business family just for business gains and to set up his own business empire and then divorcing his wife needs vision and a clear defined mission. So now when I read vision and mission statements of Organization this ass comes to my mind.
The next BA was an old bag with one foot in the grave, and now is in the grave, and do pray his soul may rest in peace. He was one who could never have anyone living in peace in the office, leave aside working in peace. Someone who was so scared to make commitments that even remarks on memos he would make in pencil so it could be erased. Someone who could fall so low to be on a job, that on most occasions he used to actually touch the feet of the owners to stay on the job. Kleptomaniac to such a level that would not leave a pin which if he liked would take it home. Someone who was always ensuring building morale of the employees with assurance of overseas posting and finally ensured to have his son posted overseas, who was not even an employee of the Organization. So now when I read of Organization material which refers to employees as family, I know what family means.
Then was my exposure to BA’s on International shores. This one guy could refer to his MBA school academics to every decision and strategy. This meant he was an intelligent idiot as that’s what education makes you. So this intelligent idiotic ass was good at bar charts, pie charts, and could only fart in the office. Throw him in front of a client he would perspire in the winter of Europe. Loved to control with instilling fear and bullying and could never do anything on his own and would rely on his subordinates. Could never lead in the literal sense, to the extent when the company decided to expand its global operations he ensured I was pushed to a country which I never even knew where it existed on the map. When I got the geography up and ready to go for business, his insecurity began to throw up and he made life so hard that I decided to resign and move on in life. There was one instance where we were working on business projections and targets. To which I asked him could he tell me when he would he get his first business to prove and so I could learn from him. To which he confidently confirmed 15 Aug, a date which I will always remember. Just that I forgot to ask him which year, as over the years he did nothing but milked the company and recently came to know he was sacked. So now when I attend interviews and am questioned on how long I intend to be with the Organization, I think of this BA who could be long with an Organization and could contribute zilch.
My experiences won’t end if I don’t mention the excellent bosses who were responsible in making me. Not that the asses did not contribute to my learning. They did teach me that you can achieve success doing nothing, and making an ass of the Company you are working with, making an ass of your peers, colleagues, subordinates and by making an ass of yourself.
One of the bosses to whom my admiration and respect would be for life was a family run business with whom I was associated in my initial years on employment. Three brothers who ran different business units and one of them who spotted talent in me and groomed me and I ended up contributing in all the businesses units and that expanded my experience intellect so diverse that today my success in various companies and around the world has been because of them. Beside the point, the woman I married eight years later was someone who I met on that job. The relationship with the company is so strong till date that I ended up contributing more business to them than what I did during my association with them.
Another boss was a retired banker, who was heading Indian business of a company where I handled the operations. The only boss I have experienced till date that never took credit for anyone’s success in the company, and would mildly say that is what you are paid to do. Failures of anyone were never met belittlement of the person, instead it was encouragement and trying to find what could be learnt in the failure. I owe to him my ability to experiment and not getting scared to fail.
Finally was another banker who had employed me into the Organization which was a part of big International banking giant. I was responsible to sell technology solutions to Middle East and India. This boss had a unique ability is spotting talent in people and could use that to the best of the Organization. He realized that I had good presentation skills and inter-departmental interaction skills. I remember on one occasion the domain expert who was to present core banking solutions could not make it, and he very casually told me to go and do it. My fear knew no bounds as I was good in marketing and sales but not on domain expertise. When he realized that he just told me one statement, “Don’t tell me you can’t do it”. That statement put such a big sense of responsibility that I went ahead and did it and the best performance of my career had been with that Organization where I was responsible for the first sale of the Organization in Middle East and India. No mean feat in any way, but a great lesson that success is team work and a great boss who can mentor a team.
So I owe most of my success to all my Bosses and Asses who were Bosses. Asses that were good at verbosity and would give anecdotes as it how you look at glass with half filled water, you can see it as half full or half empty. The real Bosses simply thought me how to fill it up and not just look at it.
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