a mARTIAN dIARY

(Something that I left half finished loong back…finished it and posting at the original date! )

Finally sitting down to write about the Delhi haat experiences! Though I would like people to belive that it’s because I am doing an MBA and have no time, the sad truth is that I have been lazy. In the meantime, I was handling the same stall at American center for 2 days in connection with the monsoon festival too.
There are multiple aspects to the experience that I have had at these stalls. For example there are awareness, thought, marketing, merchandising, NGO operations, retailing, contact development etc aspects and each probably will hold me in good stead if I ever get into a BDM role.I am planning to touch upon most of them and try to do justice.

Awareness
As far as ecological initiatives are concerned there are two awareness related issues. One is in terms of actual awareness that exists and the unclear distinction between “common” wisdom and actual scientific truth. Now the problem is the former is just misleading and the latter too ambiguous. When I say ambiguous, what I mean is that there are lots of facts that can be twisted either way depending on the way you look at it [as is probably the case with anything..ohh! my elusive quest for truth ) . For me to get into a debate about the truthfulness of these would be futile, because I neither have the required expertise nor the time. But there are some facts that are startling for me actually get off my ass and start working. For example, the issue of sea encroachment is not some futuristic story; it is happening currently and has been happening in a tangible manner in the last 20 years. Orissa has lost WHOLE VILLAGES to it. Now the question of the cause being global warming is still debated, but I am convinced that it’s time for us to start working, because even if we take the position that it’s not affecting today, there is enough proof, when viewed from the most cynical viewpoint, to state that it will happen tomorrow. But yes, these interactions with different people has lead me break away from my cocooned mindset of this being a immediate non-issue.

Thought
One of the biggest problems that we as MBA’s studying in India face today is that of similarly in background and thought of our colleagues, Even at FMS (Or more so because its FMS) the diversity, though better than most other top notch b-schools because of our unique test system (50%tile cut-offs in different sections), is deplorable. 80% of my classmates are engineers and in the similar age group. Though this has its advantages, the exposure to new ideas or rather new ways of thinking gets limited. For the new age mantra of divergent thinking, this is one of the biggest hindrances, as once your way of thinking matches with your team-mates, they synergy is trampling constructive thought process and even conflict. In this respect, this stall stint has brought me contact with so many people that I cant even began to comprehend the effect of it all on my thinking. From fanatical environmentalists to NGO founders to Sports reporters to Academicians to NIFT graduates, the level of exposure has been phenomenal. And they way they approach problems is truly something that has started to help refine my own approach. This is probably more in line with the “learning from unusual sources” concept that I was exposed back in MindTree.

Accountability

The biggest turn off for a disciple of the capitalist world in these things is the lack of accountability. Initially it made me crazy to think of the whole lack of accountability and proper checks that any rational and practical (read slightly misanthropic) mind would dictate. But then I never factored in the way some of the people involved think and it’s a bit unrealistically honourable and noble. I am not trying to paint a pretty picture, because it’s obvious to anyone who sees it that there are different drivers for people and 90% of them are probably driven by not very noble (but not dishonourable) factors, but the rest 10% turn the rational model on its head. But there is still a lot of scope for management research to be done. Or if it had been already done , for it to percolate down.

Contact/Opportunity Development
I really didn’t realize how much difference it makes when you put up a stall in a fair (even a permanent one like dilli haat). Having been a placement team member in one of the worst times in terms of placement , the phrase “cold calling” is not something which will create good image/word associations in my mind. [actually now that I think of it feels like fun..but definitely not during that time]…well I digress…the crux is that the amount of contacts and opportunities that you can create in a fair is like a gazillion times more!

I guess I have covered some of the pressing things in my mind. Awesome learning experience that it was, it was also fun interacting with people who are totally different from the kind of people that I have been around for a while now. As far as more volunteer work for the next few months are concerned I will be on a hiatus till placements get over!

I had volunteered for IYCN a while back and one fine day I got a mail asking for volunteers for a “Delhi Haat” stall that they have put up. The details are below.

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Eco-products stall at Dilli Haat INA

Start: 08/01/2009 11:00

End: 08/15/2009 21:00

Timezone: Asia/Calcutta

The Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN) Delhi, in partnership with Conserve and Manzil, and supported by Haathi Chaap, Darpana, Freeplay, and several others, are setting up an eco-product stall to promote alternatives to plastic bags (made of paper, waste cloth, organic cotton, jute bags, and waste vinyl) and to distribute other unique eco-products (solar lanterns, hand-crank torches, elephant dung paper, and lots of waste-based products).

When : Saturday, August 1, 2009- Friday, August 14, 2009
Where: Dilli Haat, Sri Aurobindo Marg, Opp. INA Market,
New Delhi, India 110023.

Timing and duration: 11am-9pm

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So now I can be found at this place most days from 4^th till 14^th between 7 and 9 pm. Please do come along as there are lots of awesome stuff on display!! pics soon

Very exciting stuff and lots of new things to learn. Will share  my learning’s soon

“And it rained”

The status message of a fellow classmate shook him from his sleepy conversation with his laptop.
“It rained?” he thought. When? Now?
“I cant hear anything.” He runs to the nearest window, shakes off the curtain as the dust finds its way  into places he will never think about of his body, but places that will remain with him till the day he dies, he stares at the cold dark night illuminated by light without a celestial origin.
“Well it’s not raining now”
“Obviously, they why would she write ‘it rained’ it should be ‘it is raining’. Did he miss anything? Was he too engrossed in his artificial friend? The irony of the situation struck him, to people, who he cared the most he had not time, but to this thing of plastic he had devoted the best part of his last year.
“Never mind! lemme ask”
His plastic proxy for communication is activated. Magical 1’s and 0’s race with light.

Pop comes something in the right hand corner.

“Oh it’s that buffoon pinging me. What does he want now?”
“Hi”
“Hi there”
“hey one small doubt?”
“sure”
“it rained?”
“???”
“your status…did it rain??”
“are you making fun of me?”
“huh? No? why?”
“well its raining”
“hmm lemme see”.. “nope its not..i cant see anything”
“our hostels are close it cant be not raining at ur place now can it?”
“hmm possible..why not!”
“sabari! ur crazy, I just asked bajaj..he said its raining! And his room is just 2 rooms away from yours!”
“huh!”
“what Huh!”
“lemme ask him”

“Hi Bajji”
“Hi saber!”
“Its raining?”
“yeah”
“??? Where are you??”
“at 2 in the night? Where do you think??? My room!”
“!!! Ok..lemme come there..”
This time the rush in his being is gone as he gets up from his bed and puts a t as he walks towards the door. “I should probably clean my room” “later perhaps”
He take the turn moves towards room no 65. “its locked from outside” “how come?”
Knock knock
Knock know “bajji” bajjiiii”
Retraces his steps.
“Where are you man?”
“I was waiting for you ? where are you?”
“Well your room is locked…from outside”
“Impossible I can see it, its open”
“come on..i just came and saw”
“stop faking u lazy bum, let me come to you then”
Chat silence
“what games are you playing sabari, where are you?”
“what? I was waiting for you”
“room no 59 rt?”
“Yeah”
“Well its open but no one inside”

(No..this is not a reflection of some deep rooted fear of being alone..cuz I already considered it before writing and by the law about the universe it ceases to be the truth…this is just a writing experiment )

Colorlessness.  The sense of the prefect color. Peace and tranquility as the world moves on… away from him. He looks around and sees the cars and trucks engaged in their purposeful tracks, the zealots in their pursuit for gilt. The colorless gasses, light, voices…thoughts killing you slowly day by day.

His bike’s flirting with the 100s and suddenly he realizes that he has been pushing the self destruct button a lot lately. Not a great realization when you are riding at 100 and are only faintly present in the present.  And your hands and legs are frozen. Anyway no brake is going to stop that routine circle until it collapses in its own gravity. But the silence of this moment is deafening and the darkness blinding.

To the cynic every sense is misplaced, even his sense of cynicism. There is that part of him that wants the brakes to be applied, the one that wants to see a sense devoid of indifference, but the breeding is too ingrained now to be killed by simple wishing. The idea of second chances appeals to him, but after seeing though the mask it’s too hard for him to go back to believing the lies. It’s hard to once again remember god’s face when you have been face to face with the Satan himself. But he is convinced it’s the other way around in his case.

And it is this mask less world that he sees all around.   In shattered glasses lying on the highway, the last signs of the genesis of a lifelong disability. In the stoned gazes from the shaded glasses of the new aged diners, trying to remember (forget?) a night filled with disguised sadness. In the mirror of his own urine falling down creating an unfamiliar face staring back at him.

Is it too late for him to bypass the answering machine culture, filled with urgent conversations but nothing communicated? A world he now sees naked in all its brilliant, disgusting glory.

Today the google alert man dropped home a awesome present!

http://www.mindtree.com/blogs/thinking

A awesome outline post by someone I really admire. I know Kalyan Kumar Banarjee needs no introduction. He is one of the outstanding personalities I have interacted with during my time with Mindtree. The post is a nice collation of the different types of thinking and also a brief intro on why “systematic” is not just a buzz word be it any fiend breathing! to running to thinking . I am going to take  the liberty to copy and paste it for prosperity’s sake

1. Lateral thinking (Edward de Bono) – encourages thinking up multiple alternatives, not just going into depth on one – and suggests techniques to do it.

2. Six Thinking Hats (again, de Bono) – helps separate emotional responses from objective ones or distinguish inspired thinking from critical thinking. It also leads to parallel thinking (rather than adversarial thinking) where all criticize together or seek opportunities in a new idea together.

3. Nine Windows – helps us think of super-systems and sub-systems, and thus broaden our perspective. For example, if we are designing a pen, it tells us to think of people who will use our pen, the shop that displays our pen, or the crates that will ship our pens (all examples of super-systems). Useful when we need to focus on multiple stakeholder perspectives, or to understand the customer’s customer. Using this tool, we also focus on the system in the past, and how it could be in the future. Focusing on the past helps us understand why things are the way they are.

4. Systems Thinking – leads to realizing that we are part of a larger system, and the complex interrelationships between causes and consequences, Often, cause and effect are far removed in time and space, so learning from consequences does not always come naturally.

5. Ideal Final Result – helps us think on the ideal result we must aim for, and how we can get there.

6. Resources – triggers us to look for unused and probably free resources, to achieve our goals.

7. Personal Mastery – spiritual leaders and management gurus, all teach this. Covey dwells in depth on this, so does Senge.

8. Disruptive Innovation (Christensen) – well researched theories from the Harvard professor explain the success factor of innovative ideas; predicts when a startup will succeed with certain ideas, and when the incumbent is more likely to succeed.

9. Learning from Unusual Sources – a MindTree initiative, stemming from the belief we can learn from any situation, from anybody, or from any industry. We need to develop the capability to connect experiences in one situation to another scenario where we are looking for answers.

In terms of all thinking leading to innovation, I feel it depends both on the nature of the problem and how you define innovation and hence to expect magic to happen every time is pointless.

But there is one thing that bothers me about the whole concept which is put in perspective by what Peter Senge talks about a fad. The problem with systematic thinking that I have seen is that for most people already in the industry, there are too stuck in their motion already that its hard for them to stop and change their shoes. When they do come in touch with something like this, its more like someone throwing water to clean the shoes while they are running. It goes back to its old dirty self in time. Its hard for it to stick.

I know this rant can be quite generalized to anything new and put into better words with something like “You cant straighten a dog’s tail” but I think this is particularly important in the case of systematic innovation. The gains that systematic innovation can give in a real life scenario is quite intangible. Unless someone comes with with the next google or twitter during a TRIZ or a 6 Hat session, its possible that the incremental gains wont even get noticed, which brings us to the problem of keeping the interest levels up.

This is something I feel most organizations need to address along with trying to introducing systematic thinking and probably what will decide whether the initiative fails or succeed.