Author Archive for Abhijit Bhaduri

It is that time of the year when I avoid meeting people. Everyone wants to know about your New Year resolutions. This question just forces me to lie through my teeth just so that I remain politically correct and acceptable to my loved ones.

Every human resources person worth his payroll has heard and used these clichés over and over again.

The Wall Street Journal sent out a memo to its staffers some time back outlining rules around the use of social media like Facebook, Twitter etc. For instance the journalists now need to take approval of editors before “friending” a confidential source on Facebook or Twitter. These ground rules should guide all news employees’ actions online, whether on official sites or in social-networking, e-mail, personal blogs, or other sites outside. This has thrown up a debate among bloggers and social media enthusiasts who are divided on two sides of the argument. If the employee were to spread positive stories about the employer on their social network is that OK? What if the employee were to spread stories about a bad manager or blow the whistle about a wrongdoing in case of a publicly held company? Is it wrong if the employee does the social media thingy during office hours and using the company’s network and laptop to generally vent to the world at large?

Several organizations have launched initiatives to promote Diversity. Why do we need to build diversity in the workforce? If the consumer group is diverse, having the same diversity represented in the employee groups makes it easy to develop the product which is aligned to the consumers. This makes sense for consumer goods but how does his pan out in case of industrial goods. Taking the argument further, if the buyer group is not diverse, does it still make business sense to drive diversity in the organization?

In my opinion, the single reason to drive diversity is about providing a non discriminatory employment experience. Equal opportunity is the strongest reason. To be denied employment based on any criteria other than merit is discriminatory and illegal in many countries. How do we implement this in the workplace?

There are days when you are the pigeon and there are days when you are the statue. The trick lies in getting an early warning especially on the statue days, so that you can take in a deep breath and last out when your head is being held underwater. In my case the pigeon days are few and far between. It happens ever so suddenly and if I do not immediately take advantage of that tiny sliver of an opportunity I have only myself to blame. Horoscopes are helpful to take a sneak peek into the future. I read them regularly. My newspaper carries two of them (written by two different blokes) on Sunday.

Ghar is what the Gulzar-RD Burman-Kishore magic is all about. I have always wondered whether this is a film one should watch because it shows the transition of Rekha as an actress or just listen to the music. I think I’ll vote for the music.

The morning newspaper and a cuppa chai is a ritual that is common to a large part of the human race. But people read it in their own manner. Some glance at the headlines and head straight for the sports page. So open the editorial page and shake their head disapprovingly at the affairs of the world. I head for the cartoons. I grab the newspaper and head straight for Ajit Ninan’s cartoon. I look for two elements of wit in a cartoon – the visual and verbal. Ninan excels in both. With most cartoonists one lands up choosing between the two. Ajit started his career with FD Stewarts – an ad agency in Chennai before they transferred him to Delhi. While in Delhi Ajit started contributing cartoons to Target – a magazine for children run by the India Today group. That led to an offer to join the media group as cartoonist and illustrator. Ajit’s cartoons in India Today, Business Today and Target got him noticed. He joined Indian Express newspaper in 1992 before drawing for the news magazine Outlook. He is now with The Times of India as their Chief Graphics Consultant. Ajit used to run a cartoon strip called Detective Moochhwala (and his tail-less dog called Poochh, which means tail in Hindi) for Target. That comic strip had cult status amongst readers and it was amazing to see Ajit pack in a tight storyline and brilliant graphics in about 35-40 frames.

The quizmaster’s question to you is, “Which fictional character lived at 221 B, Baker Street?” The answer is Sherlock Holmes. You know that. Of course you do. Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the first public appearance of Holmes was in 1887. Sherlock Holmes birthday is generally deduced to be January 6, 1854. Holmes lived with his good friend and chronicler Watson, before his (Watson’s) marriage in 1887, and again after his wife’s death. Traditionally, the canon of Sherlock Holmes consists of the fifty-six short stories and four novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In this context, the term “canon” is an attempt to distinguish between Doyle’s original works and subsequent works by other authors using the same characters.

In Hindustani Classical music, there is a patrician group of Ragas which get picked routinely for the deeper, more austere and certainly more complex forms of Dhrupad, Dhamaar or Khayaal forms of singing. Clearly these dhrupad or khayaal is not for everyone. It is for the discerning listener and are capable of being handled only by a handful of artistes. There are several ragas relegated to a group in the Kshudra Prakriti (trans: Lighter nature – think of these as the pop version of Hindustani Classical) which is usually far more intertwined in the folk traditions of singing. These ragas are used more frequently while singing Thumri or its lighter form Daadra – both of which are romantic compositions. The seasonal song forms of Chaiti, Hori, Sawani are from UP, Kajri (songs of longing sung during monsoon). The form called Tappa is usually from Punjab, while Tarana is usually sung at the end of a concert, Geet and Bhajans are purely devotional. Mahatma Gandhi made the devotional song Vaishnava Janato almost synonymous with his own name. Based on Raga Khamaj this bhajan gets a modern interpretation from Pandit Jasraj, Shankar Mahadevan and Jaspinder Narula in this video.

It is hard not to get energized by supercop, mother, social worker and TV anchor Kiran Bedi (born 9 June, 1949). She is a bundle of energy and is always in a hurry. Her diminutive frame is deceptive. She is a woman of conviction and resilience to do what she has set out to. She has always attracted admirers and critics in equal measure.

Quick Gun Murugan’s official website says, “Quick Gun Murugun is an unlikely Superhero with Guntastic powers. He is a sincere South Indian Cowboy who considers it his duty to serve and protect. The movie revolves around
mis-adventures of Quick Gun Murugun
and his fight with his arch villain
Rice Plate Reddy! In 1994, a maverick called Sashank Ghosh (MBA from University of Jodhpur), left MTV to become the creative head at Channel Vand created a character called Quick Gun Murugan. Those “fillers” in between programs were a rage among the youth. Quick Gun Murugan trailers quickly became the talk of the town especially in the colleges across India. It introduced the phrase “We are like this only” as a tagline that reflected the growing comfort with Indian English. An out and out spoof on film heros who duck bullets, thulp twenty attackers without ruining the shirt crease is what Quick Gun Murugan the movie is all about.

You are the rising star of the corporation. You are working at building a resume that will qualify you for the corner office in the next few years. You want to set the world record for being the youngest head of the corporation. In anticipation, you have started looking up models of corporate jets you could buy and the power suits you will need to order for the swearing in ceremony. In the midst of all this comes the email on the blackberry that your manager wants to know if you would be interested in a short term assignment to New Widgetovia, the country where your company has struck gold. You would need to be there for three months… maybe six… ummm … a little bit more perhaps but hopefully not.

Many moons back when I started off my career as a HR person, I had a chance to attend a training program. All the HR folks used to have this once a year get together and just bond. I was briefed by my boss that, being the lowest in the food chain, I had to just take the opportunity to get to know the big fish in HR. Being a really obedient kind of person I took that advice to heart. I spent the next tea break running around that huge hall like a headless chicken collecting names and faces. I will tell you upfront that I have difficulty remembering zillions of names with matching faces. Within fifteen minutes of this maniacal pursuit of perfection, I discovered that the names and faces were all a big jumbled up noodle soup. I gave up.

I suppose the pyschologists and pyschiatrists – called “shrinks” in popular parlance – have their own code of silence. Once they are certified to practice, they are not supposed to give away the secret tests and techniques about how they figure out if the person lying on the couch is normal or abnormal depending on the response to the tests. To the person being tested this can evoke different feelings eg Awe or Aw (short for awful) and everything in between. So naturally people are anxious – which by itself could tell the shrink stuff about you that you don’t want them to know.

It is truly a magical moment when you read the manuscript and suddenly feel that there is nothing more left to add or to take away. If you add stuff you will feel the need to trim the fat and you cannot take away a single word without leaving gaps in the mind of the reader. It is that moment when you feel the most self-confident. You are ready to take the book to a publisher.

Should your employer pay for your training?

Sona has a degree in Engineering and an MBA in Marketing. She had a plum job as a Brand Manager in a consumer goods company. She quit that to take up singing. That’s not all. At 5’8″, this MTV Style Icon 2006 trained as a classical singer for 10 years. Her debut video Bolo Na बोलो ना (Translation: Tell me naa …) made people sit up and take notice. The song was about drifting relationships. She still bristles when someone describes her music as ‘unusual’. She would rather describe it as a “unique sound” and not unusual. Her debut album “SONA is a blend of contemporary and ethnic sounds with nuances of Romanian gypsy music, R&B, East Indian baul, Flamenco and North Indian folk rhythms.”

Hindustani Classical music was traditionally passed down from the maestro to the disciple. This tradition known as the guru-shishya parampara helped nurture some of the greatest artistes. “Baba” Allauddin Khan (1862-1972) court musician of the princely state of Maihar, was the guru whose disciples themselves went on to become musical legends in their own right. “Baba” taught his disciples of the Maihar Band the nuances of Hindustani Classical music as well as Western music tunes. The Maihar Band lost yet another musician yesterday. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, the sarod player who popularized the complex instrument among Western listeners died on 18 June 2009 at age 87 in California.

Collective nouns are a fascinating quirk in the English language. As the Rinkworks site would put it in their fabulous collection of collective nouns, “One of the craziest oddities of the English language is that there are so many different collective nouns that all mean “group” but which are specific to what particular thing there is a group of: a herd of elephants, a crowd of people, a box of crayons, a pad of paper, etc. There is great diversity of collective nouns associated with animals, from a sleuth of bears to a murder of crows.” There are interesting collective nouns for various professions – a sneer of butlers or a converting of preachers, a blackening of shoemakers and an obeisance of servants. A jail would have a pity of prisoners and maybe even a talent of gamblers.

Born on June 27, 1939, RD had composed music for more than 350 films until he breathed his last on January 4, 1994. He signed Bhoot Bungla (The Haunted House)in 1965 as his first film as a music director. This is also the film where for the first time Kishore Kumar the singer and he worked together. But Chhote Nawab (The Young King) also a film directed by Mehmood in 1961 is the one that RD Burman made his debut with. The song Ghar Aaja Ghir Aye (lyrics by Shailendra) is brilliant composition in Raga Malgunji (a Raga that combines elements of Raga Khamaj and Raga Bageshri). I will always rank this as the best ever Hindi film song composed in Malgunji.

You have been called for an interview for your dream job. You have subjected yourself to being deep fried at the interviewer’s mercy. Finally, you see signs of the interview coming to a close. They all look ready to call it a day. After you have finished answering the entire range of questions that the potential employers have asked, you are ready to run too. You silently wipe the invisible sweat off your brow and are getting ready to get up from the chair when the hiring manager asks you, “Do you have any questions?” That is an opportunity you could use to your advantage to help gather information that will help you decide whether or not this is the right role or organization for you.

My kids have known this always. My wife always sides with them. So she does too. I denied it for a long time and pretended to love it. But today I am announcing it. I do not understand rap.

“Rap is a way of life bro’. Wanna rap? You gotcha live like us – the ghetto clothes. You gotta dress right … like a gangsta. Give attitoood and you’ll get it.”, the guy offered me the first AHA experience about Rap. He should know. He was the young 20 something who was being interviewed as he stepped off his stretch limo. I had gone to drop off a hysterical gang of teenagers at this Rap Concert. (Is that an oxymoron?)

Who says Math nerds are cool? I do. Stephen Baker’s book turned even me into a raging fan of The Numerati – math geeks for the layperson. For many years I grew up being traumatised by Math and teachers of that dreaded subject. My relationship with that subject was pretty much like that of a fellow commuter riding the elevator during rush hour. You may stand in close proximity, but you never say hello to each other and certainly do not recognize each other at the supermarket as you trawl for discounts. In short I am the most unlikely contender to review a book on Math and Technology. So why am I recommending that you read The Numerati by Stephen Baker. It takes the complex world of Math and puts it in a manner that makes it easy for numerophobic people like me to understand.

If you planted corn in two different fields, one with rich soil and the other which is less fertile, the differences in the height of the plants in the same field would be what people call Nature and the differences in the height of the plants which were planted in the field with rich soil would explain Nurture. Over the years the debate on intelligence has primarily been divided into these two schools. So when parents tell their child that our family always excelled at/ struggled with Science, they are voting for Nature. This view tells you that any number of after school tuitions or coaching classes will do little to improve Science grades. Those psychologists who vote in favor of Nurture will tell you that given the right environment, it is possible for an individual to go beyond the limits that Nature built in.

The experience of growing up online will profoundly shape the workplace expectations of “Generation F” – the Facebook Generation says Gary Hamel – the management guru. Very clearly if you are one of those who believes that you are now with it because you now know how to use email, you do not belong to the Facebook Generation. Dear Gary, you will be happy to know that I am no stranger to Facebook. As someone recently mentioned that you haveto be on Facebook (which I am even if it is really tough) to be considered cool.Many teenagers continue to express deep angst at the enhanced age generation who have now taken over as Facebook users. When a website has like two or even three generations using it simultaneously, it clearly is a message to the youngest of the family to move on and seek online shelter for the homeless someplace else. The young and the young at heart cannot necessarily share the same cool hangout spots.

Classical Music from India is broadly divided into Hindustani Music and Carnatic. What I heard at home was almost entirely Hindustani Classical with a limited exposure to a few composers of Western Classical. The radio was our chief source of music. There was of course an old turntable and a large collection of vinyl records [...]

India is a complex puzzle to understand even for Indians. Just when you think you have summarized your understanding of India into simple sentences, you will come across evidence that totally undermines your beliefs. It is a picture that is continuously evolving. What you see around you is at best a snapshot in time of [...]