Working late...

I am one of those who DOES NOT TAKE WORK HOME! It sometimes however means that I need to stay in the office much beyond regular work hours. Today is one such day. And I thought I will put down my thoughts on likes and dislikes of working late over the next five minutes before I get on an overseas call:

What I like…
- No phone calls, yammer messages, and emails to break my chain of thought on whatever I am working on
- No colleagues walking into my office for unplanned discussion/issue resolution
- Very little distraction from adjoining cubicles (well mostly)
- Can play music on my laptop (and no need to use headphones!)
- Can enjoy a quiet cup of hot coffee
- If lucky, may find some left over cake in the canteen refrigerator (from a colleagues' birthday celebration earlier in the day!!)
- Roads are clutter-free (only relatively; don’t underestimate Gurgaon – world’s 24x7 back office!)
- Sometimes find time to update my blog between calls

What I hate…
- Next door office neighbor talking loudly on his phone (since most folks stay back for calls with overseas managers and/or clients)
- Cafeteria is closed, so no food
- No help around if there is an IT problem
- Eats into time reserved for my family

Man versus Nature...

Man can create modern gadgets to rein in the nature
He can ride waves, capture the Sun, and play storm-catcher
One “cough” from a mountain however can set things straight
Show the man who is mightier, and what controls his fate…

Men in suits, living by the clock, with business on their minds
No time to rest -- time is money, minimal effort to unwind
Living off a suitcase, hopping planes, living life in fast pace
Some to reach home early, most others (sadly) to keep ahead of the race…

Volcano destroying man’s “party,” seems totally absurd!
Nature is to support his desires, not to play wicked wizard!
Mountain sitting quietly under the ice had other plans on its slate
To show mortals his power, and a million egos it wants to deflate…

Nature is a quiet sufferer, mostly bearing man’s brunt
Catering to his greed and often letting him play the tyrant
Once in a while when nature decides to flex its muscle
A little smoking mountain is enough, not a longwinded tussle…

The message for those who may see is loud and clear
Man must keep nature on his side, not somewhere in the rear
He should check aspirations, simplify life, and accept his stature
Man, however modern, is no match for nature…

A poem by Sunil Puri; inspired by the recent volcanic eruption in a non-descript place that has impacted a zillion people across the globe (including a peer who is sadly stuck in a foreign land away from his family)

One year of back-to-work…

It has been over an year since I came back from my study sabbatical and started to work again. And the going has been great to date! I often wonder what has my (supposedly) celebrated MBA degree from the mecca of management education given me. Here goes...

Better skills (hopefully). The study sabbatical has certainly given me better understanding of economics, finance, marketing, operations, management, and accounting. It comes handy when having a conversation with a client with very different background – at least I am not left wondering whether he is talking stuff from outer space! The MBA has also polished my "soft skills " of leadership, teamwork, ethics, and communication that are so critical for effective management (Boss, hope you agree!).

More people to lean on! The degree has given me access to a network of ex-peers, other alumni, faculty, etc. This network will hopefully help me if I am ever on the cross-roads of career progression, or at some point building business relationships, or pursuing expertise outside of my current field.

A more “weighty” CV! The MBA degree is supposedly a recognized brand that signifies management and leadership training. The particular school (in my case IIM-A) also has brand associations that can help open doors based on the school's reputation. I have not had the opportunity to test the “weightiness” of the brand (thank god and my current employer for that!), but I am hoping it is true.

Our weekend trip to “Nah…what”!

Nah…what! This is the reaction I got when I told my colleagues that I was planning a weekend trip to Nahan. Both Shubhra and I wanted a quiet weekend away from Delhi heat, so we zeroed in on Nahan for a 3 day trip. The place is located in Himachal Pradesh, but not on the mountain side that houses Simla, Kasauli, Chail, and other more popular hill stations. The route to Nahan is fairly straight-forward: we drove down on NH 21 till Shahbad (just before Ambala), took a right to Naraingarh, proceeded to Kala-amb, crossed Himachal border to reach Nahan, and finally bypassed Nahan to reach a place called Jamta (where our resort was located). Total driving distance was about 300 kms (from Gurgaon) and total driving time was 6 hours. The roads were quite bumpy once we got off the main highway.

The place however was a revelation. Nahan/Jamta is clearly one of the most under-rated hill resorts. Probably because unlike a typical Shimla-type-popular-tourist-hunt where you have a huge market place (invariable called the mall-road!), cinema halls, several popular restaurants, and a zillion people; Jamta has a total of seven shops selling fruits and basic grocery, there is no “mall road,” and very few tourists. There are not many options to stay either – it is the Grand View Hotel, where we stayed or another adjoining hotel (I don’t remember the name).

For us, just the driving distance (along with a 1.5 year old who wanted to play ball in the car!) was enough to sap all our energy, and we were really looking forward to a quiet weekend. And I am glad we got one. We just lazed around at the resort. Krishnav had a wonderful time catching butterflies and kicking his favorite foot ball around in the relatively huge lawn at the resort. I wanted to go swimming, but the chill that ran through my spine the moment I put my toe in the pool, was enough for me to go back running for my clothes! The resort organized a fun evening (realizing that there is not much to do outside) both days with open air movie screening and other activities. Though my wife caught some part of the movies, I was mainly running around to make sure Krishnav’s football does not land on fellow-guests’ dinner tables!

On the second day, some of the more adventurous folks went to Renuka valley (22 kms) and Ponta Sahib (50 kms). Renuka has a beautiful lake surrounded by temples and a huge zoo; we had been there a few years ago so we gave it a pass. We just played with Krishnav in the lawns, went for a walk, slept in the afternoon, and woke up to another fun evening with yet another movie screening!

The drive back the next day was however hard (I guess return journey from a vacation is always hard!) since Krishnav did not sleep much in the car and was very restless. We stopped on our way back at a restaurant near Karna lake for a quick lunch. We reached Delhi a lot quicker (in about 5 hours) since there were no trucks on the road (it being a Sunday); I guess we started at 11:00 am and hit Delhi at 4:00 pm in the afternoon.

Overall, a good trip – highly recommended for folks who (like us) are not big fans of hill-station “mall roads” and seeing a zillion tourists around. Perfect place to just laze around for a weekend…