Making of Managers - 22 :: "I become a Manager"

Dear Gowri
The mere fact that I am posting this one after two earlier postings on "transcendance" and "Moment of Bliss" could hint you that this news has not rushed too much into me....!! Exactly 6 months back it was strongly rumoured that I am going to take over at my old department as a manager...when my boss was moved else where. I know my boss sincerely tried for it (I still doubt that I did not get it because of his strong FAVOUR towards me) but I remained unperturbed. In fact some time earlier, I got so frustrated and dissappointed when I wrongly came to a conclusion I am going to get into my passion...training...!! It was quite a stupidity on imaging it guided by a mail from a trust worthy friend.
It was a poetic justice that the same friend (who reported to me) sent me an sms on wednesday congratulating me. Then the current manager of the earlier department wished me....and conveyed informally about the decision announced at the management meeting to all managers. To confirm it further, when I travelled with my current boss in his car in the evening, he too shook hands with me....and suggested me to wait for the All employee mail.
I hoped to have it on thursday (which is essentially GURU vaar....and I have started these days going to Baba temple on thursday evenings.....and have started enjoying the stillness amidst the jolt and crowd at the temple) but the mail never came.
On friday when I was having breakfast in the canteen, my mobile rung up and when I saw that it was one of my AGANDAM friends, I smiled to myself...YES the mail is OUT.....!! As I reached my desk, I had around 50 wishes in the mail box and there were quite a few at the new office reaching me and wishing me...(beware, this is the first managerial promotion at the new office). I smilingly shook hands with every one.....and thanked every single note that I received.
It was a long day on friday...and an unforgettable day.
This promotion (after 3 - 4 months) could mean some extra money, it also means an independent cubilcle much larger than the normal work station, it definitely means more previliges to take decisions and entry into management meetings.....Every single reality about the new role is triggering in my brain one by one.....!! MY God....I understand how much I had longed for this...only when I am getting it....!!
Good that I did not have this 6 months earlier. I still remember that I was quite shaky and not sure of myself....Today I am lot more wiser, much more sharp and pointed in my (official) communicatin and emotionally stable than my earlier days. I also realise that there is abundant room to improve further too...and I can make this as an opportunity as a self improvement tool more than serving scores of others who are going to report to me.
Well, the title of this series becomes really meaningful only from now on...I am now truely empowered to facilitate lot of managers for my organisation, , my country...and for my world.....!! I remember having renamed it in the context of becoming a trainer earlier....Now, I have more than one avenue to do it......!!
Krishnaarpanam....
Suchoo

Moment of Bliss - 24 :: An appreciation mail

Dear Gowri
It is quite natural for one to get lot of BEST WISHES mail when he gets a managerial promotion. It was not surprising for me to get around 80 - 100 notes expressing their happiness on the All employee mail that was triggered by 9.30 Am on friday.
While thanking them one by one, I was particularly enjoying "few" extra phrases in their Best Wishes mail like " you deserve it long back"...and "Delighted to see this mail"....from few of my friends. I was also noting that there was a good distribution of GRADES of people who had responded....
This particular note amused me. It was sent by a girl who has been working with me for nearly two years. Joined at the entry level, she has climbed up as a senior processor and worked with a team which is closely knitted to my operations where I worked earlier. We know each other quite well but never I can call this relationship as friendship OR has extended beyond smiles and basic courtesies. She - by co-incidence - has come to CBE thru' some other team where she joined after getting relieved from her old team AS I have moved to the project team from my erstwhile team. For that matter just one person had come to CBE from my old team who reported to me...and being as a focal point I have interacted with all the 100 staff at the new office....as the basic role until now had been to facilitate them and to settle down them in terms of infrastructure.
This girl about whom I had been describing is just one among the 100 and this small note that came from her made me realise how much I have impacted people around me and the number of admirers that I have. I am sure the messages about me and my style of functioning have reached my new team (which is 42 in number now which could touch more than 100 over a period of next 6 - 8 months) who was pin drop silent when I called them to the meeting room on friday....for a self introduction. Many of them are too young and was quite tongue tied unable to digest that some one who was supporting them administratively is taking over as their lead.....I am sure they talk to each other...and the expectations are going too high on me.
This note delighted me so much that I feel so confident about making little bit of changes in my overall personality and style....to cater to the new role and the demands of the position.
Well, I keep talking about the "note" but not even showing it, Huh ? Here it is....
__________________________________________________________________
From: ABC
Sent: 27 March 2009 09:39
To: Surendran, Suren (V.)
Subject: Wishes
Just to spill my thought:
God has sowed the seed to give fruits.
All the best Suren.
Regards,
ABC
____________________________________________________________________

Transcendance - 25 ::: Being "high"...

Prelude :: Though I have made lot of wierd postings until now, this could be the wierdest one unti now....Watch out...g
Dear Gowri
Being a practioner of pranayam yourself, I am sure you will understand the first para of this posting without much explanation. If you give a break to the breathing practise for some time and re-start after a while, the first few days will be basically for a warm up....and you get into your full rhythm only after a while. isn't it ? The same was very true with me too....and As I belong to 1997 batch, you can appreciate I had more number of slips and discontinuances than you.....and every other Isha meditator. I am not sure about how you take such gaps....and if you resolve feverishly that you will never skip practises again (do you ?), I have done it a thousand times....when ever I slid down when I am in a "snake".....only to recover gradually to my optimum energy level using yoga as a tool or rather a "ladder".....!!
In a way, I had theorically understood Sadhguru when he says that one does not DO yoga but it is a support system to be in yoga....!! He means YOGA as a state of mind which I can theorically appreciate as I had seen the glimpses of it during my highs....Do not mind confessing that there had been some super natural experiences to me once a while...which makes me never lose touch with my practises completely (there were instances where I did not do the basic breathing practise for couple of months too !!).
Now, why this bragging .....and why I am making it consciously in past tense ? YES, it appears that I have reached some level internally.....and though I was bit erratic in practise (not a long off....but since Mahashivarathri which was a month back, I had done just 50 % of the days only....), I seem to be in a mood that I am afraid is not quite a normal one for me until now. I am bit too involved in office these days....and I am feverishly completing few things in the project team (we call ourselves as center management team...these days) before I move on to operations...consequent to the management decision to promote me...The late sitting and coming early (couple of days I reached office around 6 AM not because of any work pressure but because of work excitement...) did not matter to me much....and I skipped not just the practises but also my cooking routine.....for several days. In the past one month, I have cooked for max 50 % of the days...and leaving out the chennai stay days, did not mind gulp the food available at the canteen....!!
Now, the house was a big mess when I reached home exhausted on friday...and I looked around...where to start....(including few vessels in the kitchen sink for more than 3 days)....and decided to go and stay at Isha for entire saturday..... before I do my household chores. When I roamed about in the premises of Isha aimlessly...and sat under a tree to take up few decisive goals about the second quarter (I do this once a while...The first quarter, I was bit conservative not to take any goals as the primary goal was to settle down hasslefree at CBE ...the promotion was just a bonus !!), I was in a typical mood...that made me without a word within....and eyes bit moist without any big reason.
No pranayam for past three days...it did not matter....!! there were couple of known faces whom I know very well....it did not matter....!! the rock bench in which I was sitting cross legged writing my diary was not so comfortable...it did not simply matter....!! I eventually reached home only by 9 PM in the night....and started to work....fully charged....!!!
The real confirmation on my mood came only yesterday....by 7 PM. After working really like a dog.....cleaning up vessels, cooking and eating and cleaning up the vessels again (!!!), washing a huge volume of clothes in two instalments, cleaning up the home, purchasing provisions....cleaning up and arranging the kitchen....so much to do that the whole of yesterday I did not even sit for a minute (except when I ate the lunch....potato curry, kothamalli chutney, rasam....curd and naartha ilai podi) ....but it simply did not matter.
I went to Baba temple in the evening refreshing myself after an unforgettable good bath. While I stood in front of Baba, tears rolled from my eyes (which has happened many times when I am doing the practises regularly...and when my lungs are brimming with oxygen intak capacity) and it appeared to me like a flash that I have reached my "high" inspite of any external support like a Sadhuru Lecture OR my practises....
Yes, seems I arrive at the next gear.....!! Today morning, I got up at 3 AM so fresh though I slept only by 11.30 PM....prepared my lunch...and reached office as early as 6.45 AM.....!!
Wish to be here...at this level of intensity always.....!!
Suchoo

** I WILL NOT VOTE FOR CONGRESS **

If you are following Indian elections- 2009 - did you come to know about the Congress manifesto?? If they win this elections, they have proposed to implement reservation in private sector too. That one reason is enough for me, not to talk about their promise for a separate quota for Muslims as well, to NOT to vote for Congress in this forthcoming elections.

We started with 18% quota on the whole and we all know where we stand now. The quota system is going to stay on for ever - thanks to the cheap and cunning politicians that we have. Quota - more than helping the downtrodden - is only helping the politicians to divide and exploit people. We have more caste based parties now than what we had in 1947 !! Congress, Mulayam, Mayawati, Laloo - everyone and ALL of them mastered the art of manipulating the votes based on caste. Please think before you vote to any one of them - because, you are only entrusting the life of our next generation into their hands. So, am I saying that other parties are not thriving on caste based politics?? Yes, everyone is - but not as worse as all the above. So, let us atleast try to delay the inevitable, if we cant avoid it. Well, I am NOT going to vote for Congress or any of the parties that support Congress in this elections.

** The IPL punch **

The congress government tried its best to scuttle the second edition of IPL . It has been discussed enough in the media that not the elections, but IPL being headed by a BJP man, Lalit Modi is the prime reason for refusing security cover to the tournament. The Centre and all the Congress governed States were the first of the block to refuse security cover to the matches. I am not a big admirer of Lalit Modi, but I am greatly impressed by the punch that he delivered to the government by simply taking the IPL matches out of India. Elections are important - but that does not mean that the Govt does nothing other than conducting the elections.

** Airtel CEO sells his entire stocks !! **

Airtel CEO, Mr Manoj Kohli, has sold his entire stock holdings with Airtel (123,000 shares) in open market (today - 11 Mar 2009). Another Satyam ??

Transcendance - 24 :: Living "wierd" but watchful

Prelude :: "That was a posting on my series quite after a long time. The last one was in Jan only. Am I becoming a "pudhuppondaatik kaaran"....enticing only "Agandam"....No suchoo no....".... Skip it...I was just talking aloud with my consciousness
Dear Gowri
Have you observed this around you ? There are people who have agendas for life.....always focussed on time management and very proud about being active in their lives. Such people do not tolerate wastage of human resources and always are on high energy. There are also another set of wierd people who go with the wind. Most of the times they are cheerful and never care to draw even a "to do" list for themselves...leave out bigger things like mission and vision.
Most of us - including you and me - cannot be cateogorized fully in any one of the category as we tend to waver between them. I do have a sense of guilt on those days when I enjoyed too much (think I have expressed this to you in some earlier occassions too). Similarly on days when I am too much oriented to my task list, at the end of day OR when situation go out of hand, I start wondering if there is any purpose in driving myself with a piece of paper.....and if it is much saner to be without any plan for the day....!!
I have explored and experimented on my time management skills (more than that self management !!) that it is not really a great wonder I am a good trainer today...and had some fabulous sessions on time management that I handled during 2008...which was purely volunteerly...!!! Yes, we speak with conviction when we have experience on the subject...what ever it is. The same goes true with spiritual people too who are able to make deep impact with us when they speak up....!!
Well, I had a unique experience of living bit wierd in the past 72 hours but at the same time watchful of my tasks.....thanks to my "home alone".....!! With virtually no one to question me or to get bothered about me, I have been living quite differently to blend the goods of both type of living and this posting fits nice ly into this Transcendance series.
Let me just give a glimpse of what I mean without going into every possible detail (see, I have a goal on conserving my energy and to express things crisply...on Jan 1st, you know).
Well I knew I am going to have a long day at office on monday as I had volunteered to HR to handle the induction modules of the FIRST new recruit at the new center. With no rep of HR available here, it was a delicate situation that we - as a company - had to face...on compromising the induction modules !! For that matter we have a 2 day induction modules which happens on most of Mon and Tues at Chennai....with first day chaired by HR and second day by battalion of teams...IT, IC, NBD, Payroll and also safety.
So, I had a net meeting with the person at HR on friday late evening and left home only by 9.30...to go thru various modues quickly (when I joined there was no such elaborate process...for that matter no induction at all).
So sensing that half of my day will go in this mon to wednesday, I decided to go to sleep at 5 PM in the evening (after seeing SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE - matinee show). The beauty is that the whole thing was planned with my eyes closed on sunday morning itself...
So, to cut the long story short, I went to sleep at 5 PM and woke up at 3 Am (yes, I mean it), did my kriyas, prepared food and had my breakfast at 5 AM (yes I mean early morning) and reached office at 6.30 AM on monday. It was an action packed day that I was able to speak to my own boss (who sits just a wall away from me) only at 6.30 Pm in the evening...though we have been talking thru' email mode right through !! I stayed at office till 9.30 PM...and left home with lot more energy left with me.
IT was relatively normal day yesterday but quite significant as I scheduled some time with some experienced people to trigger them on process improvements (purely voluntary) and got a thanks note from one of them that it was a great session. So moved with their vocal feedback, I scheduled 45 minutes time with them on passing on my pearls of wisdom about PROCESS IMPROVEMENT...during next tuesday.
Well, after reaching home yesterday with full satisfaction of announcing AGANDAM, I did not have a wink of sleep out of my high energy (had half litre of hot hot milk for dinner..did not feel like eating at all). Then wrote a poem (which I will post this friday only....conserve energy young man......!!) in the midnight seeing the beutiful moon once a while from the window, then put down the list of tasks that I have to handle today ...and realised that unless I reach office bit early (just like monday) I cannot do justice to all the tasks.
Apart from my voluntary intiatives at office, there are quite a few things that I am supposed to do to handle the oncoming second batch of people...on next monday. SO I decided to sleep at 1.30 Am and got up at 4.30 AM and reached office today at 6 AM....and feverishly completing my tasks one by one...ticking off my diary...
So, gentleman, this pause is to vento out my "wierd" living which is nicely combined with watchful of what I am doing....That is why you get this posted at around 7.45 PM so as to tick off at least half a dozen tasks at office.
This also gave me a previlige to make a posting at jollymusings which is the ancenstral home of agandam.....!! How can we forget our roots and past....Can we ?? Will we ??
Suchoo

** India & Chief Election Commissioner **

President, Prathiba Patil, as expected and as recommended by the Ministry of Law - has turned down the recommendations of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Mr Gopalswami for sacking Navin Chawla. Navin Chawla will now go on to take the post of CEC from Apr/20 this year when Mr Gopalswami retires. Navin Chawla is a stooge of Congress party. Some of the accusations against him are very serious and still he his going to take over the coveted position. The accused and the judge are on the same side of the fence here. Navin Chawla is a puppet of the Congress party and the Congress headed Government went into and decided on allegations against him. Isn't this strange??? (Well, not if you are not an Indian or used to Indian politics and ways). Navin chawla was deliberately and very planted in to the Election Commission by the Congress party and they will be immensely benefitted by his taking over the reigns of the Election Commission. Satyameva Jayadhe (honesty triumphs) can NEVER be true in this land of Gandhi. Jai Hind.

** India, Slumdog Millionaire & Oscar **

I saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Having seen a few Oscar winning movies, Slumdog Millionaire, I feel, was definitely not upto that standard. AR Rahman's music was good and there can be no second opinion on that. But, Slumdog Millionaire, as a movie was a good one - certainly NOT the BEST.

We, over the past few days, have heard a lot of accusations on how Indian poverty is being sold abroad. Having seen the movie, I would say that there is not a single scene which is grossly misleading or inappropriate or being falsely depcited. Poverty, violence, beggar mafia - its all very much present and rampant in India. Those who bad mouth about the way India is being depcited in the film, should realise that it is the actual state that India is in. We can not just see the rosy side of India alone and turn blind eye towards the state a large proportion of Indian population lives in. Abject poverty and mindless caste-ridden violence have all been and are going to be part and parcel of India. Above all, the situation is getting worser and worser and ALL our political parties are only adding fuel to the fire. To finish up this write up, Slumdog Millionaire is a good movie (not the best) and the way India has been depicted in the movie is not far away from the reality/truth. Not to forget, to this movie has opened up a lot of avenues for Indian cinema technicians and artists.

** DMK Govt's achievements **

Yesterday, there were full page advertisements in all leading New papers listing the achievements of the present DMK government, thus far. Free TV, Rice for Re.1/-, cheap loans (where it is not written off), free electricity (whenever supplied ;) ), free gas connection and stove... the list went on and on listing all about the freebies.

Dishing out freebies - do you call that achievement?? The Govt has done NOTHING to earn money. All the DMK govt has done so far is to dole out exchequer's money in a callous manner - in the name of freebies. Handing over Rs.2000/- to EVERY family in Tamil Nadu after the heavy rains last season is the icing on the cake. I saw people who own car and bungalows receive the money (if they do not collect, some body will swindle it anyway on their behalf). Latest mockery is to give a golden ring to ALL the babies that are born and being named in TAMIL !!

I do not know where and when will all this madness. At this rate, the deficit is going to get wider and wider and one day, this Govt will be in a position where it will not be able to pay monthly salary to the Govt employees (it was almost at that stage when this DMK govt completed its tenure last time, only to be revived later by Jayalalitha when she succeeded as Chief Minister).

Well... what matters to Mr Karunanidhi and his family is that they are getting richer and richer through deals, omissions and commissions !! So, who cares for the welfare of the State?? Does anybody ??

** Cricket - India & New Zealand (2009) **

At the time of writing this, India has already lost two T20 matches and hence the series 0-2. We have five one day matches and 3 tests to play. While I dont want to take a call in the Test series, all my instincts say that New Zealand will win atleast 3 of the one day matches and hence the series.