Ajeet babu @ home

When people asks for directions

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There are people who always beg to tell what to do - are they better people? Ok, let me tell you another breed of people - who just want to do each and everything on their own. The later set of people have certain thoughts in their mind but their approach as a result of their tendency to achieve everything on their own many a time lead them to achieve less than what they could have achieved had they trusted their peers and seniors. 

The first set of people - who look for directions can win the trust and many a time get more than their initial capabilities. But, if they say "If you tell me what to do, the responsibility for the outcome is yours, not mine. I'm safe." When asked, resist - that is what Seth Godin says in one of his blog post. Yes, that is true, this means sheer selfishness and we need to be careful. But if the request is genuine you should help and guide the person.

We have to plan for human failure

Image by http://www.prestonlee.com/archives/67 via CrunchBase

I got the following email - i don't know how to react - a complement or a complain - whatever it is i am going to take it very positively.


I should be thankful to you.You are the ROLE MODEL for "How a Leader/Team member shouldn't be?"Because of your nature, today i am acting as a Project Leader in the current project.


Thanks for everything. Have a good day :) 

Then, I was lucky that I went to Seth's blog and read the following lines -
and that gave me my answer

Fallback for the 2%

If you ask one hundred people to do a task (particularly one that involves following instructions or using a computer or both), figure that two of them will mess it up.

It doesn't matter if you use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. It doesn't matter if your instructions are crystal clear. It doesn't matter if you ask them to sign a release. Two percent will mess it up. And it won't always be the same two percent either, so the idea of kicking the clueless out won't work.

Which means you only have two choices:

• Design systems that have the good sense and gracefulness to permit the 2% to proceed, or
• Annoy, demonize or lose these people

Technologists hate this choice, but it's true. We have to plan for human failure and part of our job is to have the resources and back up to allow these people to remain in our tribe even though they're unable to follow a simple instruction.

And, thanks to God, I got the message. So, here is the point - God always gives the message at the right time - you just need to keep your eyes open.

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Few lines shared by Kakashi - san (my online buddy)

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove.

O, no! It is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.

If this be error, and upon me prov'd,

I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.

Shakespeare, Sonnet CXVI.

Courtesy:Kakashi-san

And here is one quote that I love a lot

"Burning desire to be or do something gives us staying power, a reason to get up every morning or to pick ourselves up and start in again after a disappointment."

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"The Professional" By Subroto Bagchi now in my hands

Image by dump9x via www.mindtree.com

We had a promotional offers on book inside the premises of our organization last week. It was my opportunity to buy the latest book by Subroto - 'The Professioanl'. It is his third book. I have already purchased the original copies of his last two book ('The high performer entrepreneur' and 'Go kiss the world'). Both the books are very good. 

The best thing that I like about a writer - how well they connect with their readers. The more a writer writes from his own experiences - the more he connects. Subroto's articles in various newspapers, magazines and his blogs are a good testimony. 


Another India novelist that has done the magic is Chetan Bhagat - read is debut novel - Five Point Someone'. No surprise, if he is considered one of the most read writer in contemporary India.


Looking forward to finish reading 'The professional'

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Met with Sunil Gavaskar today

Image by Jace via Flickr

Sunil Gavaskar visited our office today as Deutsche Bank's brand ambassador. And this gave us an opportunity to have a one hour interactive session with him. He is fit, smart, confident and speaks with full command. There was 20 question cricket quiz and when asked to take it, he just took few minutes to answer them.

What I didn't know that he can do good mimicry as well. His act included Madan Lal, G. Boycott & Caribbean taxi driver conversation and one of the incident where Javed Miandaad was talking to him at the end of the test match... All this was hilarious.

Celebrated deepawali and birthday together

October 17, 2009 Birthday and Diwali - what a coincidence. The last time something exciting happened on my birthday was sometime in 2004 when it was Sunday and I went to watch India Vs Aus cricket test match at Chepauk stadium in Chennai.

The best thing that happened on this birthday that I felt relaxed after a very long time. Somehow, days had been very tiring for me in recent past and I was not able to relax. So, I took a sound sleep after a delicious lunch at home. Meanwhile, received some telephone calls (birthday and dipawali wishes).

In the evening went for some shopping along with my mother. Then, the custom pooja at home and lighting, aarti etc. replied to some orkut wishes. Recieved the surprise gift (rasagulla, flowers) from sister. Good, first time this kind of high tech gift :)

On the eve of my birthday, I had dinner in Barbeque Nation along with my friends Mahesh, Biswa and younger brother Ajeet. The funny part about this kind of dinner is that you know how much you are going to pay - that is fixed.. so, you tend to take maximum out of it and finally end up with the heavy dinner :)

Time to regain the youthful look

I was trying Firefox thunderbird utility. I had installed it and gave my email id and it started downloading all the emails to my local desktop. While it was still downloading, I got to see some of my old emails (because it downloads the oldest mails first). I read few old emails (2002 emails) and had mixed feelings. For a second, I developed the temptation to read all my emails but there were so many things and I didn't want to just go back down the memory lane.

Here was the photo that I came across during that exercise. I think this was the first photo during my first visit to my hometown in Varanasi after I had started my professional career in Chennai (June 2003). I visited to Varanasi during Diwali (Nov 2003) and this had been taken during that time. I see myself in this photo and literally get surprized - I was so thin. What has happened to my body in all these 6 and 1/2 years. Overweight !!! If I have to describe in one word.

Good - Time to take inspiration and shed some weight to regain the youthful look :)

Blog description changed

Image via Wikipedia

I changed the blog description today.

Old Blog Description - 'It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting'. So I dream to be in that 1%. What about you? This world is a place full of life, beauty and fun. It's a wonderful journey where we meet new people, make new friends. Sometimes we miss the golden moments spent with our friends & parents. I can't agree more that it is an interesting journey full of challenges.

New Blog Description - This blog started as my first experiment with blogging and has now become a sort of my companion. I blog here my thoughts, reactions, emotions and happiness in this beautiful journey of life.

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The top ten professional attributes

Image via Wikipedia

Here is the top 10 professional attributes based on Subroto's new book 'The Professional'

1. Integrity
2. Commitment and ownership
3. Action orientation and goal seeking
4. Continuous learning
5. Professional knowledge/skills
6. Communication
7. Planning, organizing and punctuality
8. Quality of work
9. A positive attitude, approachability, responsiveness and
10. Being an inspiring reference to others, thought leadership

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Swine flu & I learnt how to sneeze politely

Swine, the deadly flu created the panic among everybody from the time it claimed its first victim. We received clear guidelines in our workplace what should be done in case a person shows any flu kind of symptoms. In a hurried decision, the support staff in our office were asked to wear masks. Next day, the decision was taken back, when the news flashed that swine flu can't be cured by masks. By the time, common people realized it, the masks sellers had done the business of their lifetime. Washing hands frequently was the very good suggestion and received wide acceptance. Time for liquid handwash and hand-sanitizers to make money this time.

What I learnt from Swine Flu? I got know the art of sneezing politely. If you are new to this, you can watch the video on you tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao7eyqoiIYs about 'how to sneeze' - What is this? Make a 45 degree angle by bending your head towards your right arm and bringing your right shoulder towards your nose. Then, sneeze in your arm cloth. This is considered a polite way of sneezing in society. Like any other rule, there will be exceptions - what about those sleeveless dresses worn by ladies!!!

Celebrating Jyotish birthday

Jyotish is a great cook. His birthday celebration gave us another chance to taste the fish fry, chicken fry and chicken curry.



There were three of us, Gopi, Jyotish and myself and we enjoyed to that extent that Jyotish's owner has to come in midnight to remind us that we are making lot of noise and that is disturbing thier sleep.



The height of the celebration reached when Jyotish called his friend Manish on his cell who in spite of commiting to join the party has not turned up at the last moment. The call started with emotional pitch and then Gopi and then finally I took the phone to explain Manish how badly we are missing him. (Neither I nor Gopi know Manish )



At last, at 3:00 AM in the morning after having the dinner, we went to bed - and only wok up at 10:00 AM in the morning.

Those 10 months - 5 at onsite & 5 at offshore

Some projects are demanding. Yes, my last assignment was one of those that brought a mixed experience and it was demanding. Read my earlier post Bye Bye after two years & New Assignment - August 4, 2008 where I had expected this to happen 10 months back. I completed my part in the project and handed over to the new member in the team to take it forward. UAT and Go Live is planned sometime this month and I wish the team all the best. They have really worked hard - day & night - sometimes working without knowing if there is any end. But, they have shown the character and I am sure they will come as a winner.

It was a good learming experience for me where I got a first hand opportunity to understand a customer need and expectation by being at their place for the first half of my association with this project. If we see it from a distance, they look rude and demanding but actually they are NOT. Yes, they are human and understand us. I learnt the importance of 'creating win-win situation'. And I know and I am confident that this learning will go a long long distance in my career. Thanks to all of those whom I had interacted there as a consultant. Everyday, there was something to learn. It feels great when you genuinely understand customer's concern and they acknowledge it. Then, you become part of one team and you yourself start understanding why this requirement is changing and so and so... I tried my best to do the justice with my role.

I came back on Jan 3, 2009 and joined from Jan 5, 2009 as a track lead for one of the tracks. It was not planned but I took it as a challenge and thought of adding value to this project with my full capacity. I would be lying if I said that I found it easy because I was having a first hand knowledge of customer need. The challenge was to excel in operational - day to day execution & planning the task and handle the dependency. So, it was as if I was getting a chance to see two different sides of the same project. This was the fun. I put my best foot forward to help the team with best of my ability. One thing I realized in my last 5 months that telling the team members upfront what is expected out of them clearly brings lot of agility and focus in the team. A captain of the ship knows where he is taking the ship and his crew members are just given the directions which they perform as part of their duty and the ship reaches to its destination. It was May 31, 2009 when I got released and will be joining a new team from the coming monday. Taking lots of good memories out of this engagement.

Abins marriage

All my friends are getting married and Abins is the latest in this category. Even though there were lots of problems at home but I managed to attend this ceremony as per the previous plan. In this way, it becomes one of those memorable moments.

The marriage took place in Ernakulam - Kerala. Myself and Mahesh went from Bangalore to attend this marriage. We started on Friday evening (5:30 PM) by train and reached on Saturday and we spent the whole day at Mahesh's house in Kottayam. This gave me a chance to visit the Kumarakom Backwater which was 45 minutes by bus from his place. A very good place. There were lots of houseboats that we just watched but we actually enjoyed the boating (Rs 300/- per hour for 5 person). It was evening time and it gave a good view of sunset.

Next day, it was marriage ceremony at Abins place which is around 1 hr train journey from Kottayam. It is totally different from all North Indian marriages where you spend whole night waiting to complete the function. Here it all started at 11:00 AM in the morning and by 3:00 PM you are back home with bride. Believe it!!

While coming back home, it was a comfortable journey by Kallada Travels to Bangalore. There seats are comfortable and customer service is good.

Recession 2009 in India

India has started feeling the heat of recession and I believe Indian Software industry is among the first to get affected by US economy. Around five months back, I got the first hand experience about it and then I had written about it in My earlier post about recession one of my Hindi blog.

When everything is going good, it doesn't matter how you perform or what work you are doing but the situation changes as soon as the economy changes. But as the time changes, there will be people who will question each and every action of yours. Sometimes, you feel bad as this is new to you and you never expected that it will happen toyou in your career. Why? Because, you have always followed your supervisor's instruction and have performed your duty as good as was expected out of you. No matter, how hard you try to defend, nobody listens. Surprisingly, the people who question you will not be your supervisors for whom you had spent sleepless nights in office but it will be some unknown face - your first encounter, who only means business. You cry, you shout on yourself, you think you have wasted your life here.

Yes, how much effort you put in making these processes that will safeguard everyone's interest, it can't be full proof. So, it is always good to work towards keeping yourself up to date always. Whatever you work, you should always balance your effort in updating your skills and contribution to the organization.

Time will change for betterment but this hard time will surely teach us a life long lesson.