Married But Available - The Cover Story

Don’t judge a book by its cover. When a book lies among a hundred others on the shelf, it is the cover that first catches the eye. Thereafter the seduction of the reader is unabashed. through great graphics or visuals, maybe through an interesting title or through a controversial quote or a celeb author’s photo or endorsement, the cover tries to get you to cough up the money and take the book home.

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Mumbai Meri Jaan

I have been lucky enough to live in several different cities of India. Having grown up in New Delhi, India my view of Mumbai (actually it was called Bombay then) was colored by a collage Bollywood cinema scenes from various movies from the black and white era to the times when color films were the norm. They would always show the millions of daily commuters who would cramp themselves in local suburban trains and spill out at Churchgate Railway Station or Victoria Terminus Railway station to get to their office in the commercial hub of India. Read more

A Blog is Like a Baby

A Blog is like a baby - very easy to conceive but very hard to manage. And yet - people have them ( I mean blogs, not babies). Everytime someone is swelling up with the deep desire to educate or entertain the world, a blog is a great place to start. A blog is not just about self expression, but it is also about throwing your ideas up for scrutiny. You will get appreciative responses and they are easy to deal with. Blush and be coy. But are you also prepared to deal with a swift hurt on the anatomy (figuratively speaking) and ego (literally, not figuratively)? Read more

Shooting Star

There is something about the Olympics that I find very inspiring. The motto “Citius Altius Fortius” goads all of us to be faster, higher and stronger. The dream that has inspired humans to go past their humanness and achieve what makes each sportsperson believe that they too have a shot at inspiring the six billion. When Nadia Comenici hit the perfect ten in gymnastics at the Olympics many years back, the scoreboard read 0 because beyond 9 the scoreboards again went back to a zero. It was not thought to be humanly possible to score ten. Well she certainly proved that perfection was achievable after all. Nadia had like every medal winner proved that it was possible to go beyond what even four years back was celebrated as the ultimate feat a human being was capable of. But winning is not about being logical. Read more

HR Made Easy: How To Do Training Needs Analysis

This has been a tough year. The targets were set a mile high and you have had to growl incessantly at your team. Morale is low. How do you keep them motivated? You walk to the window and sigh in disgust. It is tough being the big cheese. Headquarters will not let you splurge on anything. Those guys in the Finance department are straining at the leash to snap at your ankles if you make one false move. It is a moment of epiphany. You have something to throw to the boys in the trenches - yes, you can send them for training. Nothing like training to motivate the troops. It is a win win. In fact it is a win-win-win. Human Resources will love you for your dedication towards building a talent pipeline, Finance will not grudge you the investment and the team will salivate at the thought.

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