May you live in interesting times!

You must have heard this phrase from somebody.

May you live in interesting times.

I have heard it quite a few times and wished others even more. It has chinese origin and was used by JFK in his Day of affirmation address at Cape Town, South Africa. As mentioned in wikipedia the phrase is a part of a curse Chinese curse the other two being

• May you come to the attention of those in authority.
  
• May you find what you are looking for.

Wikipedia mentions this phrase as a curse that could have come up from another chinese phrase "It's better to be a dog in a peaceful time than be a man in a chaotic period।" But I seriously do not consider this to be a curse and consider it as a good thing, which is the sole reason for me writing a blog on this issue.

Chaotic times is a perspective. It is a time of change and reconciliation. And this change can be good for some and not so for others. Most people despise the changes that they have in their lives. Almost everybody, has a part of his or her life which is routine. Be it work or home. And when a change is being forced upon, every one despises it.

Consider a case when one company gets acquired by another company. Even though the employees might realize that the changes that are coming in the company are for good, they despise the fact that is being forced upon them. And then the regular bitching at the water cooler starts. But I guess at these times, people who readily accept the changed circumstances and begin to play within the changed paradigm benefit the most.

There have been cases where change in single government regulation has wiped out hundreds of businesses. But many of them have still managed to thrive, since they started to accept the new reality and act accordingly.

Any change that occurs in life, when forced upon just changes the paradigm in which we play. It might open up issues unheard of, opportunities unthought of. The first step to handle the situation is to accept the new reality. The next step beings when you start devising strategies to coup the situation.

A fiasco called Cost Cutting.

It seems like life is going well and every newspaper in India talks about the changing face of India. I come to office everyday. Some days there is lots of work, and someday i spend time by the foosball table.
Then, suddenly you come to see that there are small changes that that are coming along the HR policies of the company. And suddenly the gossip mongers begin to utter words like "cost-cutting". And then all little changes in the company that you observe begin to make sense.
Cost-cutting always starts in a company when topline is stagnating/declining. It is in these times that the CEO begins to start with increasing the bottomline by decreasing the cost so as to please the shareholders.
I don't disagree with the right of a company to start cost cutting, but i believe that these things should be carried out with care or they might alienate the employees. But sometimes the company goes on a reckless haste that it stoops to low levels in its cost cutting binge, as it happened with my company.
Now, I am not going to mention instances where I have felt so for my company, but these actions show in general, the disconnect that the management is having with the company.
As it happens with every startup, initially you get a lot of freedom. you get to decide when to come and go, when you eat. All this is okay, till the time you are doing your job.
But as the company grows and becomes mid sized, these freedoms are taken away from the individual in the name of Corporate Policy, sometimes leaving people in front of a computer with no work and all time. How do you expect the employees to feel good about the company if you find yourself in a similar situation.
Bottomline is that bottomline is not everything for a company. There needs to be a connect between the top echelons and the people down stairs, for the company to be healthy. Or else it will remain more like a dysfunctional system where every individual is an island.

India Gyrating!

I normally don't watch Hindi movies. But have to watch them sometimes to give company to friends or too many people have suggested me. At my college, I had lots of movies at my disposal and limited time. By watching Hindi and English movies I have developed a liking for the Hollywood movies and a sort of disdain for Indian Film Industry(IFI). It seemed to me that all that IFI can dole out is meaningless crap that has little relation to the actual India that people live in. There is no shred of reality in the movie that the Indian audience can connect to. Only songs to fill in the sequence of drama by a few people who call themselves actors. The movies seem to be made for the NRIs who expect to see lush green/yellow mustard fields in the background with the actors lip-syncing in the front. Another segment of Indian movies seem to focused on groups who are in a sad state because of the BAN on Porn Industry in India. Therefore, the directors often attempt to make movies and try to test the line for the censor board.
But recently in the last 2 years a lot of new movies have come in which have given me hope that something is changing the mindset of people who are running the show. The movies that I have seen in the last 1.5-2 years seem to capture the mood of the current generation (at least myself!) and provide meaningful content instead of some song and dance sequence. I see a marked attempt by this new breed of directors to test new waters instead of sticking to the old formula of movie making. The best thing that I appreciate about movies is that every time I watch the same movie I get to see something new in the same frame, some thing that makes me think that how meticulous the people must have been who were responsible for it.
Take for example the latest movie I have developed an appreciation for "Khosla ka Ghosla". The movie doesn't have any big actors or people backing it, but it hovers around a concept that can happen with any middle class family. The first scene when Khurana comes in and talks to Khosla is a masterstroke of genius, and I am all for it. The scene where Omi comes in with his cane is some thing that looks very real. On seeing that movie, I started wondering how would I react if something like that happened to me. Now, how many movies can actually do that to me? make me think like that? I would definitely give 160 bucks for watching the movie.
The beauty of these new age movies is that the new thing not just shows in acting and plot but comes about in every facet of the movie. Today I was watching the Beedi song from Omkara. In the dance sequence one of the steps was taken from the way farmers cut paddy from the fields. Seeing that sequence I was just amazed and wondered how much thought must have gone to make that sequence.
Kudos to IFI and I want more of it.