Mumbai under Fire: This is just a beginning…

Mumbai is bleeding, Mumbai – city under fire, Terror hits Mumbai and we are just watching? These are not just headlines but the fact that we are just watching and cursing everyone. But who is at fault??? The Government – we choose them, The Politicians – we elected them with our votes, Corruption – We all are a part of it. And above all these we curse Muslims, the entire community. Yes, The Muslims, these are the one who are always behind all anti – social activities. It’s always a Jihad behind a bomb blast. But did we notice that the profile of Jihadi’s has changed. They are no longer aged in 30’s and uneducated. They are now someone who is next to us. Today’s Jihadi are young blood who has ambitions to grow and reach on top of different fields. They are engineers, management graduates, doctors, lecturers etc. They are our friends, colleagues, room-mates. These are the one to whom we were mentor and the one who have mentored us.

Have we ever thought of having such a mind set and aim, which made them so destructive and not us? Why are we victims and not a part of Jihad? Do we know the answer and had we ever tried to know why this happened? We know the answer but cannot except the ugly truth. We have been at times responsible for encouraging them to leave humanity. I even don’t remember a movie on terrorism where the ugly role is played by a Muslim character. What was the fault of Chak De’s Kabir Khan? He missed to goal against Pakistan or he being Muslim. He showed sportsmanship to the opponent’s Captain but media portrayed it as “Desh ka Gunehgar”. In a very similar instance, during the test series at Australia, Kumble congratulate Mr. Stubborn Ponting, everyone appreciated Kumble for his impeccable gesture and sportsmanship. Why the definition changed with the religion? We prefer to get our clothes stitched by a Muslim Tailor; even the Muslims are in saloons but while recruiting a Muslim candidate we think twice.

A blast happens and terrorist got identified as a Management student. What we did? The Management schools stopped giving admission to Muslims. Muslims lecturers were not given respect. Muslim worker were being questioned about their past and were asked to get Police Verification. Was that we were supposed to do? Is this the right approach to deal with this? DO we know how many Muslims were the victims? The NSG team had Muslims who were facing fire from the front to rescue peoples.

We need to stand and lead from the front to raise against discrimination of communities. Few maharastrian do not want North Indians. The word “Bihari” and “Bhaiya” are being used to insult people. We say American have discrimination of color. We condemned DIscrimation of Black and White in the past. Then why are we discriminating Muslims? We all are responsible citizens but that citizen is yet to be recognized.

We need to know the truth and we need to accept the truth and look beyond the perceptions. We are humans the only living creature which can think and we need to decide our actions for a better and safe future.

Downbeat Media

Now-a-days, media plays a pessimistic role in India. Earlier, at the time of independence, newspapers were measured as the weapon which was used by freedom fighters to encourage Indians to fight against the English intruders. But now, media is a source of only earning profit. They give more importance to TRP of the channel. Only for that TRP, instead of showing news, they show comedy programs, astrology etc. For ten minute of news they take one hour to show by using their favourite tag line “We will show after this break” and the news which they show affect the psychology of children.

For example the Arushi murder case, a news channel find a girl who look like Arushi and the anchor of that show demonstrate various ways that how Arushi was killed by keeping the knife on that girl’s neck and the suicide case of Punjab where a man burn himself in front of media and police, they were showing it as breaking news, no one even tried to stop him, they was just covering it and increasing their TRP. They have to understand that how these type of news can affect the mind of innocent small children who were watching that, who don’t know, that they are watching the Black Spot on humanity and maybe they can try it at home or on their friend or with their brother and sister. And how can we forget about the news of a small boy Prince of kurukshetra, who fall in dig, was international news. Yes, it was true that only after media coverage the police and the government shows some active action but the boy was not a hero that media made him.

After that many parents want to push their small kids into dig to get star facilities like Prince and his parents got. Instead of showing the conditions of poor people they are showing that again there is break up between Abhishek and Rakhi Sawant or will Rahul Mahajan marry Monika Bedi. But for this type of news somewhere we are also responsible because we are interested in sensational news more than reality of India. That is why these news channels or we can say gossip channel show such news. If we start neglecting these gossip, only then we can see some more of truth and be able to know more about our culture and nation.

We urge media to grow beyond the fancy glamour and bring optimistic waves.

11 ways to be a happy employee

Can you recollect a day where you woke up at 5:00 am, got ready quickly and waited to do something exciting? Was it your college annual day function? Or a competitive exam? Or maybe a first date? Maybe it was your wedding day. Is it Monday morning to work? If the answer is the last, surely you are a happy employee.
Though the above occasions may not have a lot in common, excitement and motivation can be attributed to almost all of them. However, at the workplace, it is almost impossible to find both or any one of these attributes daily. But, being happy or unhappy is always in our hands. That's the choice we make and we are the creators of the outcome by our actions.

Let's look at what might make an employee unhappy.

• Unfair rewards and recognition
• Office politics
• Un-cooperative team
• Unreasonable boss
• Insufficient compensation
• Constant threat to job security
• Lack of responsibility in the current job
• No clear career path
• Seating location
• Lack of basic facilities at workplace

And the list goes on and on.

Some of these things may not really propel an employee to quit, but it might lead to negative energy which leads to low productivity. When an employee is under-productive he or she will be the first target when companies look for opportunities to give pink slips.
As mentioned earlier, being happy is always in your hands. A happy employee is more productive and gives more than an unhappy employee.

So let's look at some ways to up the happiness factor.

1. Plan your week on Sunday night

Look at your work calendar and plan your week on Sunday night or Monday morning. This would include important meetings, deliverables, a brief summary of things that are pending from last week and any tasks to be achieved during the week. Though this might look like a time management tip, at the end of the week, on Friday night when you re-visit what you have achieved over the last five days, the satisfaction is immense.

2. Undertake activities that you are passionate about even though it might not be in your job profile

Start an initiative that you would love to do irrespective of whether it is required for you to do or not.
Send a daily newsletter to your team on the topics that most of them will be interested.
Do a presentation on the topic that you are passionate about.
Organise a small sports event for your team.
Call everyone in your team for a team coffee, breakfast or lunch break

• Appreciate colleagues in your team or in a cross-functional team who did a great job
  
• Write a poem on your team's achievements
  
• Arrange a potluck lunch

3. Do not indulge in the blame gameIf something goes wrong do not blame others blindly.

If you commit a mistake, do not hesitate to accept it. As Gauthama Buddha said, there are three things we can't hide for long: the sun, earth and the truth. Accepting your mistake gracefully will only make you look like a true professional and also give you the satisfaction of not cheating.

4. Communicate more often in person

Utilise all the opportunities where you can speak to an individual in person rather than e-mail or phone. But be aware of the other person's time and availability. Listening to a positive answer from a person will give you more happiness than if it is done over the phone or via e-mail.

5. Know what is happening at your workplace

Will this make a person happy?

Truly, yes! Imagine a cricket team that doesn't know how many runs to score to win a match? More than losing the game, the player will never be interested or motivated to play well.

Attend all meetings that are addressed by the CEO to your immediate manager to know what is going to happen around you. It could be the company's growth plan or your department's next big project. Jack Welch mentions in his book Winning "every employee, not just the senior people, should know how a company is doing."
You will also get an extra edge if you are in a position to answer queries raised by your peers or juniors.

This is not just for the good reasons, but bad reasons as well. You do not want to be the last employee to know if your company is laying off employees (in the worst case, if you are the one who is on that list).

6. Participate in organisation-level activities

This could be as simple as spending one weekend for a corporate social responsibility activity or attending a recruitment drive to help your HR team or arranging a technical/sports event at the organisational level. Most of these events will be successful as people do come on their own to contribute.

7. Have a hobby that keeps you busy and happy

Many people say their hobby is watching TV or listening to music or reading the newspaper. These aren't hobbies, they are just ways of passing the time. Some hobbies are evergreen and will keep you evergreen as well: dancing, painting, writing short stories, poems, blogs and sharing your experiences.

8. Take up a sport

While choosing a sport make sure that there is physical activity. There is the danger of becoming addicted to sports where there is less physical activity (like computer games, chess, cards etc). Physical activity keeps a person healthy and happy. If you pick up one sport well, you can represent your organisation in corporate sports event too.

9. Keep yourself away from office politics

Politics, as a practice, whatever its profession, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. -- Henry Brooks Adams

Politics is everywhere and the office is no exception. Playing politics might be beneficial but only for the short term. So the best thing to do is play fair.

10. Wish and smile

More often than not, there are fair chances that the other person will smile back. This could be your security guard at the gate, your receptionist, your office boy, your CEO or your manager -- never forget to wish them and smile.

11. Volunteer for some activity

"The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving." � Albert EinsteinDo at least one activity without expecting anything in return. There is no set frequency for this. This could be once in a day or once in a week or thrice in a week. It could be as simple as making tea at the office for your colleague, helping a colleague who is working in another department by using your skills, dropping your colleague at his door step in your car, going to your manager or colleague to ask if there is any help you can extend, contributing to technical or knowledge management communities in your organisation etc

Dil Kya Chahta Hai!!!!!!!!!! A palette of desires

Each one of us has a wish, a desire, and an aspiration. In our life, we often say “Kaash aisa ho jaaye”, expressing our desire. Desire can be a wish, an inspiration, an objective or a dream. Each one of us wants something from our life, something for which sometimes we regret. Something for which we feel proud.

Dil Kya Chahta Hai is story about different desires at different stages and at different turns of life. From the time we open our eyes in the wide world of different colors, we start thinking, we start looking for. The first action of a newly born baby tries to hold something, which is yet an expression of desire. It is a human nature where we can never get satisfied with what we have. A baby does not know any language, any country any religion, but something he knows is “Dil Kuch Chahta Hai”. He crawls a distance to catch a colorful ball but as soon he gets it, he looks for another object.

Through this palette of different desires I will try to take you through different challenges, different perception and different phases which might or might not be a part of your life, but yes, it’s something we have in a close shell of our heart.

We often ask a kid what he wants to become as he grows but when he grows and become an adolescent, his objective changes. Even an inspiration might divert his objective and change his desire. Is it correct to follow something which is volatile, which is only an illusion an imagination? Can we stick to what we wish and what we want? We might be at different stage of life but have we got the answer to these questions? Can we say we have got the height?

Did Sachin stop hitting centuries after creating the record? Did Bill Gates pause his innovation in technology? Even Ashoka had a change of desire when reached his ambition. When he reached the extreme of his violence, he realized his mistake become saint. His desire changed from violence to peace but didn’t stopped. He might had said to himself “I wish I can conquer the world” but after reaching his destination, his desire changed and he wished to spread peace all over.

Why we change our desires? Why just we can’t stick to what we want? Why do we say “Yeh Dil Maange More”? What is our satisfaction? There is no answer to these questions but a right decision of desire will lead your life to destined success. Life is a race and we need to run, run hard to win this race.

This book is a replica of our desires which we know or are deep in our heart and yet to discover. The idea is to help you to discover the power of thoughts and desire to fight against the hurdles of life. I dedicate this book to guy who fall into my life with surprise and made me realize my inner undiscovered strength.
This book is a compilation of different stories linked to a life cycle of an guy with common needs and simple life but yes a person with ambition and with series of different desires.