The Chennai Start

I moved to Chennai somewhere in March 2012. In this 1 year (1 year and 6 months) at Chennai, I experienced new things, let me put it in points,

1. Train journeys:
As my hometown is 500 km from Chennai and my office is 30 Km from home. I almost travel about 1200 kms per week and I commute by using trains. (as it takes Rs. 250 to travel home and Rs.10 to office). I used to observe a lot of people. Sometimes I used to start conversations and I allow them to speak. One thing they teach is life is not fair. [but life is not fair to everyone and that is life]

2. Learning to Enjoy the solitude:
Seriously, being alone in a room without any disturbance is a luxury nowadays. That helped me spend time on thinking. Though lots of things run in mind, after a certain point you start to focus.

3. Visiting Government hospital, Police station and Court room:
That was the worst days of my life. My friend died of poisoning. I visited government hospital for autopsy report, police station for closing or taking action and court room for altogether a different issue. It is very hard to work with government agencies. (Thanks to CCTVs at least now people do not ask bribes open)

4. Step to change the way you speak:
To make other people understand what I think and to understand the exact meaning what others speak was really a tough task. So to express myself properly I found a mentor and to understand the exact meaning for what others speak I started to ask questions.
The first golden rule to speak. Listen to others carefully when they talk to you. Understand their needs.
(this was really a new learning)

5 Run Lola Ruuunnnnnn.....
When I was in Gurgaon, to run 500 mts was a big thing. Now I can run non stop for 3 kms and with little pitstops, the maximum I have run is 7 kms.(I call that as endurance run)

6. Karting and Driving in Race tracks
I have spent about 4 years in test track testing cars which has too many safety rules.But the best way to enjoy car is taking it to test track on a sunday morning and driving  it crazy with max speeds. WOW you will feel GOD.

7. Meeting with Chandoo.org
That was one of the best meeting I had. He is expert in Excel (IIM graduate too!!) I love his website and I will create one similar to him.

8. Teaching others how to drive
I was trying to teach 3 new people how to drive. (may be against their wishes, as I asked them to take care of petrol cost which they wanted organisation to take care). But one thing I learnt out of it. This is one of the simplest thing that can be taken out of the closed business of Automobile Industry.

9. Joining Toastmasters
ha ha!!. I thought public speaking is easy. But when I saw some prepared speeches, it was stunning. I wanted to be best in public speaking. It is my hobby now. Listen to speakers and present speeches in front of the crowd.

10. New Friends:
I have new friend circle at office and I meet random people at toastmasters who are good speakers. I get energy when I meet people and trying to understand them. 

2012, A year to remember!!!!

2012 it is one of the best year which turned my life.

January  - I realized that I was getting angry for simple things. Started to note down few mistakes in my life

Feburary - Good bye to the company that was turning me into an aggressive manager. I was very very happy that I am not part of it anymore. Well the organisation is good. The best thing I like is the discipline in many departments. But the exposure to American, Europe culture, working methods makes the younger generation difficult to adapt to their self made methods of working. Also I wanted more. Not just a test driver or testing group head after years. I wanted more, CEO :).

March - Took a break from professional life for 45 days. Learnt tennis. My childhood dream. I can now rally, serve and play. I could lose around 5 kgs :)

April / May / June - Joined a Automobile OEM new to India. They believe that the power comes from the skill of their employees and they give perfect training. They gave me books to read for 3 months. Training how to drive cars, and even Excel (advanced course like how to wrk in VBA)

July - Got a chance to visit Japan on my Bday and the first day in my professional life I wore a blazers.

August / Sept - Confirmed that we will be working for a luxury sedan for next 2 years as part of training and then may be shifted to any other departments


October - worked to establish Library for 40 lakhs with only condition that it should be with vehicle dynamics books, NVH and Crash testing. (a very different work). It seemed easy in beginning but it was tough and time consuming. I would say this was the first project that was given to me with just one statement.
I made the rules and direction for the first time.

November - Training by IDIADA. The best and the costliest training I have attended.
12 Lakhs for 3 days. I think that would be half of the total cost spent on my education from 1st grade to undergraduation. he he!!!!

December - Month full of rest. No work. Getting ready to go to Japan. But this time we are going to do some serious business.

But yes I consider this year was the best year that I spent some time thinking and took some good life changing decisions.

I consider being born in this world itself a blessing and I am very grateful to my mentors who made me realize this, in 2012.

I lost and I found it

A year back one of my senior (I should say old senior who is expert at managing things) gave me about 6 GB of Automotive presentations, ebooks and management books too. He also gave his lectures that he used to share with college students which he usually does as a part of social service.

I had for a long time in my system and one fine day I arranged them based on subjects in 10 folders. Next day I lost where I saved them. I thought I deleted them unknowingly as I was seriously clearing data from my laptop. I really felt very bad for losing them. I found it very difficult to collect information without it especially on automotive subjects. And today I found them. eeeeee :) Cloud computing where are you???????

Values of life is not in degree certificates

A wonderful article from The Hindu. Author : Sriram Balasubramian.

I strongly believe this article is a fact. I am also to an extent victim of the Indian Education System of studying books without understanding, mom forcing to study English though I never knew why I was forced. But after my college and in my professional life, I got chance to meet and see some best people who really made me realise the value of life.

There is one instance I remember during my 12th std school. My good friend asked to memorise all Thirukural (poetry in Tamil) so that I could answer my board exam and get additional marks if we could quote the same words. I told her that, what it says are principles in life that has to be followed in life. I will remember them for lifetime and I need waste time in memorizing the actual words. (And hidden fact is that, Language marks are counted for admission in Engineering or medical colleges during my school days!!!)

I am happy I also had some brain!!!! I am proud of it!!

Dropping out has always fascinated me. Dropping out of college is always something that has intrigued me a lot. The reason being that quite a few of them who actually drop out go on to become not just world beaters but path-breaking innovators who actually improve humanity as a whole. While my intention is not to encourage people to drop out, I feel that this actually works for a certain section. Here's why:

Education is defined as a process in which we gain knowledge, values and skills set that can aid our future lives. In today's educational systems, we are told that these three core competencies are imbued in us, unfortunately that is not always the case. The fact is, in quite a few cases, we are stuck in the illusion that we have obtained these under the garb of a degree certificate. A degree certificate is largely (not always, there are exceptions) a reflection of our memorising ability, our ability to study local author books to pass the exam somehow and also of knowledge which eventually gets diluted once we enter the working world.

In essence, our educational experience fits the person who is comfortable with adapting himself to a structured system. The structured system is efficient in its own ways but it suits only certain types of people. On the other hand, the person who has dropped out, ironically, attains all the three competencies with his experience with the practical world.

First, the dropout experiences downright humiliation from society. Our society would decry and despise him for his inability to cope with the Engineering/Medicine demands. He then goes through a stage where he is mentally cornered and he decides to pursue the unknown. He starts to explore himself more since he has the time to do so and doesn't have much of a choice.

Once in the exploration process, he decides to explore the unknown in his area of interest. He is not confined by the structures set by either society or the system; thus the exploration covers a much wider area of study since that individual never takes anything for granted.

For example, if I was an engineering student, I would forgo some chapters in my syllabus since these would not be covered for the “exam.” On the other hand, the dropout would try to explore the practical implications of this subject and explore the unknown within this subject by reading on his own. As such, this allows him to study beyond the realms of structural education which narrows down our intelligence to a streamlined path. This immense exploration enhances that individual's knowledge in a much wider perspective, a perspective that would enhance his skills set also.

Skills set is a very crucial aspect of education. In fact, the focus on education should be on the skills set more than the academic jargon. Once an individual starts to explore and settles in one specific area (owing to his own exploration and not what the system pushes him into), then that individual will look for skill sets that can help him out. Additional courses can help him gain this practical knowledge that can directly help his area of interest.

When the dropout ventures out to earn his skills set, he comes across the wrath of social prejudice at a very early age. The impact of social inequality and social prejudice sets into that person very early on. As such, the dropout understands the need for finding ways to enhance the fundamentals of long-term success. Most of the dropouts generally look for role models and they realise that the values system is the base for any success at any stage in life. The fundamental importance of values, which the educational structure often overlooks, is imbibed by the dropouts at an early stage. The practical hardships of surviving without anything also make them yearn for more sustainable success mantras. As such, life corners them to imbibe values within since their survival is at stake.

My reference here is to people who want to succeed but they are not able to do well in the structured and rigid education system we have. In no way do I encourage people dropping out, if given an option it should be avoided. However, if someone is forced to drop out (or feels that's the way out), then the world is equally at his feet. It offers him enough possibilities to gain knowledge, attain skills set and enhance their value systems.

Just because you drop out doesn't mean the world ends, it is just the beginning of a whole new exciting world!

(The writer's email ID is: rams7777@msn.com)

Best of 2011

My Bday

I had the best surprise for this Bday. All my school mates together in chorus singing me a Bday song at 12 noon through phone. Wow!!! That is the best thing that happened in 2011. My college roomies also gave a wonderful ‘blast’ at Gurgaon.

Trip to Manali and Agra

My mom, dad, sister and brother in law were here for a trip. We started early to rothang pass and the road was even skidding. Wow that was the best experience. I made them play in ice. I made them have an experience of para-gliding. Wow!!!! Wow!!!! Wow!!!! The best trip of my lifetime.

My best friend wedding

It is a beautiful love story. Arranged marriage though. He was not interested in marriage at all. But his mom forced him to her house. I still remember his words, “When I saw her, I could not refuse”. The best one is that she wanted him to write a poetry and the William Shakesphere searched in internet and sent to us for grammar correction. Ha ha J

Well there were other school friends wedding though but I could not attend.

I was very happy to see many happy faces.

Trip to Rishikesh for rafting

We were about 21 college guys having a get-together. We enjoyed to be best. The pics at facebook talk louder than anything else.

Pushing my swift hard

The pleasure of driving in beautiful road 2 lane road in Tamil Nadu. I travelled 400 kms just to take my dad home for new year early J.

My colleague words

He joined my team beginning 2011 and he introduced me to his friends one day as “Mentor”. Ha ha. J That was the first time I realised that I should teach him.

He made me refer books.!!!! Later during end of the year, he said in a meeting that, “Naresh sir is responsible for whatever I am today” Wow!!! I never expected these words from him. (I think the truth is he is best. He was sincere in learning. He had the urge to learn, work. Any kind of work )

I consider it as an achievement in life. Also there are other people who have told me, “Sir give us orders, we are there at your command” ha ha J I felt too good though it was for fun part.

I am happy that I could team up with people

The urge for money

There were many of my friends who has a BMW and one with posted with a Lexus. I could not resist the urge going abroad, especially after visiting Japan. I was mesmerised with the perfection and the quality of living of the developed world. The easiest way is study there and get a job.

It made me sick. To come out of the madness, it was very hard. It was very hard to convince myself that job is same everywhere. One should compromise few things if we want something. I was completely convinced that I was not the guy for taking up "research" for rest of my life and fooling myself. I will take the research on what I like :)

I found very difficult to convince that I should do what I like and prepare every step for a long run. It is one life and I rule it not the environment or the money.

The professional life

I had the bad time. I was seriously angry on my boss, the systems we followed and some rules which I could not accept. I grew lazy and I stopped working. It made me feel low at working place too. In professional world problems are not like 10th std Maths question paper where you try to solve by yourself, we can work in groups and solve them. The only thing you should have is the willingness to work together.

2011 was a big year in my life. It made me think to take me to right path.

Rotang Pass trip

This is the trip of lifetime

The trip to Japan

I visited Japan for a week long trip. My school friend commented that I was too casual in packing things to Japan. The trip was a big eye opener in my life. I really loved the developed country and it was a learning as soon as I landed there.

All I did in the week was to observe people and work. If I need to communicate something I had my boss to interpret for me :)

The office was looking too old but the 'proving ground' was rocking. It was with banking and cars can fly at 200 km/h or more. It is the best testing place I have been.

Well the important learning was the about the Job. How the same work which is done at Japan is done (oops messed up) at India .

The office was very silent though it was packed with people , unlike my office which will be like a fish market sometimes.

Each and everybody is alloted the definete job, planned work and work is made simple. The best part is there is definite procedure in which each and every job has to be done and is done the same way. "Each time every time and flawless". And yes to cap it all, they are technically very very strong.

Do you know how I was working?

A bit of job 6 people were doing at Japan.

And hence every thing, is not perfect, incomplete and in hurry.

We also do planning but it never worked.

We also have procedures in written but its clause keeps changing with respect to time, boss and whether the person is willing to do.

Well that was the first time I felt very bad, about my working at India.

The next was when my senior returned from Japan after learning their testing methods. He tried very hard to teach people to work on specific way, but nothing worked.

That is the same case with all my seniors, some give a push for 3 months some 6 months but later everyone changes to Indian style.

In fact they were frustrated after learning the Japanese systems and may be this is the reason why even after 25 years of collaboration things do not change here. Each department fighting with each other!!!!

I think my Japan trip is my life changer. (As I started to fight with my boss or anyone who just makes testing standard in air and on the spot)

Seriously the Japs are great, I have a special respect (Indians are too below their standards) for their way of life. (simple and loving!!!!). They are patient and the repetition in testing or experimenting with things is on very higher scale which a few at India also follow.

To put it in one line, "Japs are like monkeys and Indians are donkeys" A famous quote in our working area. he he :)

The passion for driving

This kid is one of my best junior who has "invested" all his money for his passion for cars.

Actually what makes him special is, he does not know driving but he has too much of passion to race. Good luck junior enjoy every pleasure of driving.

Professional ??? - who wants to be one

3 years into an automobile sector will definitely make u the so called PROFESSIONAL.

I remember my friend when he left for higher studies said, " the only best thing I learnt in my job is 100 different ways to screw people".

Well, that was not the learning I wanted to have or I never aimed at it.

The only time I think I was serious in learning the job was the first year. I loved it. The next year I was handed over the best team, 3 people to work with me. They are the fastest at work in my department, very young too(with better technical skills and exposure than me). So all I need to do was to tell them the work. The project we are associated is a milestone for Maruti." We design and we test" the model that we are going to launch 3 years later. Hence the board is very strict.The test reports that I used to make in a hour ended after 3 days. The work I do is small but heavy documentation and observation remarks were expected, which I have never done nor my 'fast' team.

We were slowed downed in every report that we sent. And if any query sent by Japanese officials, we are screwed. Just to answer his query, I would have to spend 2 days. But when I recieved so many queries (imagine questions like what is the ambient pressure in test track?), at one point of time I stopped answering them.

But working with this team, I would say is the biggest lesson. All my life be it school or college or my first 2 years at Maruti, I never aimed for perfection. The 100 percent.

Now whether I like it or not, I should be perfect.

I thought becoming professional is simple. (Talk less. Smile less. Ask as many why and how questions). But the biggest factor is like I was taught in college is the'common sense' or Leadership.

I think that is for the individual to think and develop. And I think I will make it in this year.

This is my target this year and I know I will die to make it.

(and one more target, changing the minds of few assholes who still think we are a government organisation)

Our First Road Trip. Pleasant memories!!!!

he he :)

This is one good memories.

'Working for' a company ????

I remember one of my conversation with my dad (when I was a school kid) at a small hotel while we were eating there, I calculated how much the hotel earns and how much is his profit approx. I told him it is as equal to what you earn or more than that. ha ha.

That was a good conversation. He told me a lot of things his experiences and learning about business. He said the target is earning money only, and people generally go to any extent for achieving it. The basic quality one should have to do business is to lie.

Well that created a bad thinking on my mind on people who do business. (I even thought that the people who do business are rich because they suck the money from the commons by cheating)

But later when I joined college, I could meet good people and it questioned my basic beliefs. The best one is the above. It made me to think on how each and everything can be turned into business though I was not interested much in starting up own immediately after college as I seriously lacked direction.

A big truth is that in most of the families (in south India especially) are brought up by saying study hard and then one can get good 'job in esteemed organisations'. Entrepreneurship is not a term used at all. It is actually looked down. Usually people who do not get jobs try their hands in it.

That is not the scene now. One of my friend in college, is now a CEO of logistics company. What he did? He invested in lorries and he is having considerable amount of profits now. And one more guy, left his job and started a drinking water purifying plant in Coimbatore. Well I can list down more and more people I have known who are now 'real young masters of business administration'

I had a conversation with one such young entrepreneur, and few important things I could find is,

-- he was not interested working for a company (he indirectly abused me by saying they are giving peanuts to what we do)

-- he went to streets of India to understand business. (The guy drove a truck for a month to understand pros and cons)

-- the risk taking ability

-- the best one I found is, the urge for money. He spoke to me like as if he wanted to turn time, space and his life into money.

It made me feel great. But when I asked myself about it, I was still a BIG NO. In fact many. Hence we are "working for" company. ha ha. (we are people who like what we do!! ha ha)

My Car

Finally I bought a Wagon R.

Took a 12 ‘o’ clock drive on the same day along with other friends till the needle showed some ‘empty sign’ for fuel. Ha ha.

Let me tell you about my confidence builders in buying a car.

Test Track – My first confidence builder

I learnt driving after coming to Maruti and my love for it increased when we (only lucky 3 guys out of 268 people in my batch) were put in department which owns the test track. We were first asked for government license. I did not have and I went to a training school for learning and “making” a licence.

Actually licence at Haryana is very simple process. Pay Rs. 2000 and you get the license in a week. Everybody knows that. But unfortunately for me I did not even have a “government ID card” as proof. I did not have Voter ID, or Pan Card or even my name in the home Ration card (as we had just shifted out house back to Coimbatore and I shifted to Haryana). I was allowed to drive with a Learners License that I had got during my college final year.

I learnt driving on test track. Initially a small patch was blocked (so that no vehicles comes in the way) and we were allowed to drive with “experienced” persons (actually they all have experiences of banging their car during their 20 years of driving). Later after weeks we were allowed to drive with hazard lights ON. (Indication to other test persons that some “hazard” is driving) I used to drive after 5:30 pm as there will be fewer vehicles in test track. (But some seniors do not permit as it gets dark).

Driving in a test track is very easy. Broad and perfect roads and you are sure that there is no vehicle close to you, no vehicle opposite to you as well. And one full year went driving inside test track. I have taken my vehicle in all kinds of tracks, muddy, sandy(this is the best one I loved it is hard sometimes), rough road, high gradient etc. (I still remember when I was practising stop and go in gradient, the cluch burnt very badly and there was heavy smoke from vehicle. poor vehicle!! 4.5 lakhs burnt out in just 1 hr and no body used it after that).

The accidents – Second confidence builder

I have seen accidents in test track. (How did I see matters more).

In codriver seat. I remember it still. It was an SX4 and its suspension was completely altered and was out for trial. The vehicle swayed like hell, went out of control and in fraction of seconds we were into bushes leaving a long tread marks from tyres. That is a huge learning. It thought me morals of driving. From that day I respected “seat belt” and safe driving. I am sure I would have been out of front windshield if I was not wearing it.

(I think this will be my only order to loved ones, “wear your seat belt else you are not coming with me” )

I should also mention about my boss, I do have broken some headlamps and body dents etc. He always asks, “Are you OK?” and no action / lectures from him.

Once the track in charge made a complain for speed driving and he replied, “New guys are doing high speed turns huh. Good yaar, they have learnt it fast”

He has been our motivation and he always asks us to be cool when driving.

“The outside driving” – the ultimate confidence booster

3 different routes of 200 km each in Haryana and Delhi, one to simulate high way, other for traffic condition and third for rough road simulation. (I finally got my licence by actually driving in front of the authorities.) I really loved driving on the roads of Haryana. I should thank my seniors as they have taken responsibility for my driving and the vehicle also. That was the best learning. My urge for buying a car increased exponentially after I started to drive on Indian roads. I my first 3 days I was bit slow and was sweating, but after that I became a very cool driver. I have driven all vehicles be it small car, sedans or the MUVs from Maruti.

I would have covered around 2000 kms on Indian roads and I would have at least clocked 10000 km of driving in my 2 years at Maruti. What else you need to buy a car? (Apart from money, which I think I am paid enough, to quench all my thirst)

And finally I ‘feel’ my car. Ha ha.

Sports and Me

I think it started very early. In my dictionary Sports always mean fun and smiles. I had people with me to play cricket and badminton even at 1^st std. Chess, carom, video games, cricket, football, volleyball and even I tried basket ball and every other game that was there available at school.

I think sport is the best thing I learnt from school. I walk to my school till 5^th std when at Chennai.(I mean my home is so close to the school so that we can play till late evening) I think that was the best period of my sports life. Every body loves to play. There will be schedule for competitions all over the year. I think that is the best part of Chennai schools. (at least the one I studied)

Then got shifted to Coimbatore and I could only find bookworms in the new school though there is good ground. The truth is there are no sports activities. Matches come once in a year and after that no body goes to ground except people like me who loves to ‘relax’ after several hours being in class.

Like most of the Indians I am also impressed of cricket. Well for playing rather than watching. We played in streets and even in smallest possible places. I was one of the youngest to be in the school team that usually gets lost in either first or second match. I remember playing 50 overs match and we were all out in 15^th over.

My childhood heros for me were the best players and the sports staffs in school.

College it was different. I was not even selected in top 20 list for cricket. (Actually I was not that interested as I thought college is the best and last chance that I have, to show to the world that I have some brain.

So did not turn to sports till I got placed) :((

And in final year, back to the ground, quenched all my thirst for games. 3 hrs in the morning then go to sleep and 3 hrs in the evening and have a nice dinner with friends and sleep. This was my routine after I got placed. (And in 7th sem I think I got my least marks )

Still after coming to Gurgaon we sometimes find time to play. If late night it will be football and in holidays we played cricket especially during winter. The best part here is the company organises events and hence it would have waving period of lull and peak.

And one more, there is an automatic alarm set in my brain - when ever my waist exceeds 34 inches, I start to work out heavily in gym. I think it first happened in college when I became a 82 kg idiot at the end of third year and brought it down to 72 kgs (sporty) at the end of final year.

I am sure I will take care of my waist as it is the confidence meter for me I guess.

I love sports and be sportive. Ha ha

My Junior in College joins as junior at Corporate as well

From the day we joined Maruti we 6 classmates (brother from another mother!!!) are staying together in a rented home. After our one year of training, 2 guys got the opportunity to leave Japan for another one year of training. So our count reduced and we badly needed at least one person to share the home (at least the bills). Fortunately we had our junior joining in the same month.

What good things happened to be after that?

1. He gets up early and wakes me up on time. (it is six sigma till now. No errors)

At least once in a week I will be late to office. I sleep late and hence one alarm is not enough to wake me up the next morning. In fact he is better than alarm. Sometimes I used to have shock treatments (shocks but not electric) and wake up baffled.

2. We burn out in gym. We get motivated by each other. The attendance has terribly improved to more than 20 days a month which used to be 5~6 days a month

3. A good source of information also. Our conversations sway from anything to anything on earth. Just out of college !! they will obviously be very very curious about industry that makes us to think.

Well these things are not because I got a junior; it is because of the person. (And these are what I have mentioned others will even write more)

I remember when I was in college I used to dump him with all club activities and at last I took him for a grand dinner in one of the best hotels in Coimbatore (as a way of telling him a big thanks for his support).

Being with college mates (hostellers in fact) itself is a real blessing and when ‘best’ junior also joins the club, ha ha, my personal life is rocking with fun.

Thank you junior.

You have been a positive change for us.

Car, car and cars

I think of most of the people in India, buying a car is really a big thing at least in my family. From the day I joined Maruti I force my dad to go for one. I suggested him an Alto as he can learn driving and may be after few years we can upgrade. But his answer surprised me.
“Naresh I think, Alto is little puny and I think I will go for SWIFT”

This happened at around 2008. And I succeeded in end of 2009. And still he feels that it is something a sort of expense rather than a need. (Unfortunately the SWIFTs have become hot selling car in recent times that we have a huge waiting period).
This is one part

Second one, a car for me, to use in Gurgaon. (Gurgaon has one of the worst weather conditions, best roads and good must visit places in just a 6 hrs drive which makes it a need rather than a pleasure toy). I started to hint for a car to dad once I finished my training. My dad never refused but he did not comment as well. I saw some of the second hand vehicles Altos, Wagon R etc (but only Maruti cars as I can understand and service small issues by myself) but every thing I felt like shit. I told my father I am going for a newly launched vehicle and he said OK.

Now the confusion starts.

Should I go for a vehicle that costs about 3.5 ~ 4 lakhs or should I save?
Am I going beyond my limits?
Will a car turn to be a burden?

And to add to that my sister also confused me.

“Naresh do you really need it? You are so young to own one? Save money? What will happen if there is economic slowdown again? What will happen if you bang somewhere and cry for help (Ladies have their own imagination)”

I also think car is not a necessity.Also I love cars. I want it. So I need it. I trust the future is great and I do not go bankrupt because of buying a car. I feel I am missing a car badly.

Ohh sister I am buying just a car, not an airplane.

Upset? Are you feeling low?

For everyone there can be a great period of joy and success happening. But a period of lull is also not avoidable. That is the testing period of a person. I think the best time to attack a person is when he is confused / stressed / mentally sick / when he is angry.

By my personal experience, I think during those lull period every person needs support. And that 'support' is very crucial. Some fall prey to other people who takes advantage and become masters of them. The best example are the "gurus"(so called gurus) who say they give salvation and peace to souls. You can see many big industrialists and many professionals falling pray seeking that "support"

This is a wonderful mail from my inbox. Dated somewhere around end of my college final year.

This email was written to me from my senior when I went through for a period of lull and when things were all out of my hand.

Hi Naresh,

It was nice to have that long conversation with you last night. Just want you to keep a few things in mind:

1. We have limited/no control of our environment - what we have control over is our performance and only excellence speaks in the long run.

2. What would be required is that you make sure you understand yourself first, then it'd be easier to understand the others .... what I mean by this is know the strengths and weaknesses (not a placement question!) - in other words, know the possible mistakes and flaws - let me illustrate this - say you know that you can do 98/100 things to be done right and there's 2/100 you do wrong - then it'd be easier to make sure you do not make these 2 mistakes rather than think of the 98 you can do right - in this way you never go wrong. If you make a mistake, 1 out of the 2 in 100 - then you still learn. You can make yourself 99/100 right .... I'm not confusing you with length nonsense, but think about it ... winners don't take the joy ride to the top, people introduce bumps on the road below and don't be surprised if they introduce the bump from above also!

3. I like eagles - for one reason - (I'm not speaking like a maniac poet ;-)) - do you know that mother eagles drop their offspring from great heights and see their little offspring scream as it goes crashing towards the ground? The mother catches the offspring before it hits the ground - it does this maybe 5 times, maybe 10 times, but the next time - the little offspring soars high on its wings!

4. I'm not sure if you'd like this example, but I like it - The Bible. Look at the life of Jesus - he was killed and humiliated by his own people (the Jews, not his disciples/believers). What did he do wrong? Nothing other than speak the truth and heal and bless people.

5. Reality now - keeping these and making one self strong is not at all easy. It can be traumatic. I still get disturbed and irregular heartbeats when someone knocks/bangs the door in the dark. But, the end result for us is that we come out a stronger person.

Please take whatever would be of use to you from this e-mail and discard the rest.

Pls do keep in touch.

I came across this mail today in my Inbox. Wow it gave me a great feeling that I do have good people who can "support" me.

Please friends if you are upset about something all you need is 3 good friends for support

KRA - Key Result Area

This is the most used abbreviation in the month of March. It tells whether the person can be promoted in 2 years or 3 or 4 depending on the grade he gets.

I still remember my immediate superior tearing his letter of appreciation (as ‘good’) when my boss delivered to him. When I asked him few days before about the grades, he said he wasn't interested in it. He he!!!!!

My KRA is over. I tried not to fill stories. I tried to quantify the work that I have done (like 10 testing, learnt xy testing procedures and so on and was ready with back ups too. Let me tell you the best and worst of my first year

The bad ones first,

- I was late to work for 44 days out of 285 days. (So roughly 20%. I am still in college mood. My boss tops the list with more than 80 days. Well this is not taken serious in our department but in some departments it is considered a half day holiday)

- Twice had minor accidents in test track and twice had near miss case. (I one such case I even tried to kill my boss but somehow he managed to escape. You know accident is really a good term rather than calling it as brutal killing)

- Documentation and me are always at last minute.

- My boss told me to organise for review meeting but never did it happen.

- I went home even when I did not achieve my daily targets(because no one in my department work with daily, weekly or monthly targets. Whatever comes with a tag "important, urgent" is done rest postponed)

- I could not get the work done. Well it includes all new age engineers. My boss always used to tell me it can be got only by experience.

The good ones, I have only one

- I cleaned all the mess I created. (I stayed back which is not usual for my department) I could prepare documents such that the Japanese are satisfied (seriously in my department if Japanese are happy boss is very happy but if they ask any query then we are on toes)

On the day of giving grades, he invited me inside a separate hall (ordered a cup of coffee) and he was really cool to give feedback. He started asking me about our department,

how happy are you here?

(I am sure very few department heads dare to ask such a question)

Are you comfortable working with the present team, give your feedback about me, department, senior managers ?

I did not give negative feedback on individuals but I gave him stings. (Actually this is the perfect time to give because he asked for feedback) I told him we plan but things never go according to plan. I think either we should plan robust or have some contingency plan so that the work does not suffer. It sometimes makes me that I am an Assistant MIS-MANAGER. He gave me stare and noted what I said.

Then he started his feedback on me,

I am happy with your work ....(I think it is the repeat dialogue he tells to everyone)

Please improve your network........Get the work done from others.........

And finally,

If you have problem talk to me man. You do not talk to me at all. Many times you give me a feeling that I dumped a lot of work on you.(J)

So what good thing happened to me because of the sting?

Ha ha!!!!!! I have the bare minimum responsibilities on my head (I compare with my friends KRA where a similar project is just 20% his KRA) for this financial year. I have a diesel project which is 60% of my KRA and the rest 40% is only to learn the durability basics and Japanese testing methods. (These were not in our text books).

I think I will have a happy learning. J

My Friend's Book

This is a great work from my friend who studied with us during college. Well I am not sure we have studied together but we stayed in hostel together. We had a hai-bye relationship except while watching "Da Vinci Code" movie where he already studied the book and explained to us how the movie is different from book.

This novel will be available in market in July.

Game Theory - example

I remember talking about game theory with one of my friend. He was explaining to me about it. Beautiful Mind movie……. John Nash…….. they were the only two words I understood from his long lecture. (But I was shaking my head because he was in a mood to make me understand about game theory). But he developed enough curiosity that I came home and checked some of its basics and some case studies. The best and simple example I have just copied for you. A really good one.

Courtesy : Internet

Prisoner’s dilemma

Two criminal accomplices are arrested and interrogated separately. Each suspect can either confess with a hope of a lighter sentence (defect) or refuse to talk (cooperate). The police does not have sufficient information to convict the suspects, unless at least one of them confesses. If they cooperate, then both will be convicted to minor offense and sentenced to a month in jail. If both defect, then both will be sentenced to jail for six months. If one confesses and the other does not, then the confessor will be released immediately but the other will be sentenced to nine months in jail. The police explains these outcomes to both suspects and tells each one that the other suspect knows the deal as well. Each suspect must choose his action without knowing what the other will do. A close look at the outcomes of different choices available to the suspects reveals that regardless of what one suspect chooses, the other suspect is better off by choosing to defect. Hence, both suspects choose to defect and stay in jail for six months, opting for a clearly less desirable outcome than only a month in jail, which would be the case if both chose to cooperate.

Blogs

It is great to see many of friends blogging. I really love to read their blogs. (And I still expect few more who are really great people to blog) They show the same character as I knew when studying with them. Some choose to write about their Job, some about their passion and some always has a sad note attached to it. Be it anything it is great to read about their work and their thoughts. I think blogs have also become an important feature to networking among friends.

My 2 years with Auto industry – Part 3

Yes the Engineers returned from Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan.

Every one who visited Japan, at least for their next 3 months talk about only one thing, how the same work that is done in India is different from how it is done there. As per them, the amount of work that we do is almost the twice that that of what Japanese do, but the lag is at the quality of working. They make big reports presentations and forcefully make us sit and listen and make us try to implement in our work.

I should appreciate one person. Certainly one of the gem that Maruti has. He is very systematic in work. He is not the god with high technical background but he can screw any one, to be precise he does not mind to kick anyone if he finds it is a flaw.

“If it is his boss the kick will be on his face, if he is a subordinate like me it will in our butt”.

He was so brute with work (only with work) that our head calls him for every problem that he has and I have seen 99% of the time it will be resolved by him. I will definitely call him perfect. (But I always consult him for critical issues that I face). He breaks every problem into bits and find out the way. I will definitely call him the best guy I have met in MSIL. I think I can call him a mentor rather than boss. Well he is just 2 years elder to me and I always loved his sincerity in work and commitment. I have become his follower though I rejected to join his team. (as I felt he was too perfect and I will not have the luxury to experiment with my style of managing / mismanaging the work)

My 2 years with Auto industry – Part 2

My 1.5 years at Dynamic evaluation group

I still remember the first few days in Dynamic evaluation group, I was nervous and could not digest the fact that I was not into static group. The group head was in SMC, Japan for some official trip. So we were free for about one week. The only work that we did in the first week is keep chatting with immediate seniors and see what kind of work is done and I was keen going home at 5:30 pm ¹

The first meeting ² with my boss was interesting. He gave us a mail, which said time, date, venue and the agenda. He was sharing a lot of things with us. His experience and some general rules and what will be our training at the department and what he is expecting from us. He also specifically mentioned do not fear about the punch timings and said that he is interested in work and do not mind about when you do it. I took it as a golden statement and I was late to company 44 days in 280 working days in the previous year.

I was in training again. But this was different. There were only 2 engineers, immediate seniors and other engineers were at Japan for projects for a year. I joined a small team with one Engineer (whom I knew as we used to play badminton together) and one supervisor, which was looking after RITZ project. The vehicles were at the final evaluation stage.

I remember my first on the job training. Since I was new they asked me work with hands. The first work I did is preparing the vehicle for the test. The person incharge asked me to change the tyres (as the tyres were old and test that we are going to do, required new tyres) and set the pressure. I managed to remove it but during fitment I changed the direction of the wheel nut and tightened it. At first glance he did not find it but when I was about to finish the final wheel he found the direction of the nut different and commented with smile. “Welcome Engineer”

I think he ³ did not know that I am an automobile engineer else he would have laughed more.There were many instances, like above happened. I have a good knowledge on only systems that fail or show some observations. Some systems like speedometer, Airbag, sensors never failed in our test and hence even today I am at the learning stage.

My immediate senoir during training was also very good. We were not in good terms initially as I have not spent time with him. But when I said I was very comfortable working with him he was happy and we started to work together. He was really fast and capable but lost interest in work as time passed. (May be as he was fast more and more work was dumped on him) He was the coordinator for Ritz, the new Wagon R and the new Alto where we have the BS4. The Wagon R project was at initial stage and I started to work with him. I asked him that I will work for Wagon R and asked him to take care for other models by himself (as they were not sexy and not many tests were planned). I learnt a lot working with him especially the technical stuffs and whom to contact for what issue.

The work load went high with new upcoming models and every project was not within time line. I think that made the difference. I learnt the work and I could manage with his help. I concentrated only in Wagon R and he did for the rest. Later the departmental structure was changed as there were too many projects because of BS4 norms and I became the model coordinator for Wagon R and he was given in charge for the review meetings and another new model.

I can say I was over enthusiastic about my first project. ( I still remember his comments that I will lost interest after one year. May be because he said I was keen not to lose) I raised very small observtions as issues in meetings (Once our senior boss asked my senior to teach me, to quote his exact words, “yaar please teach that kid yaar he is raising unwanted issues. He is not given this project to take a benz out of Wagon R. He will make his and our life miserable”

Then the remedy, I never raised issues as critical in meetings but discussed directly, personally and in informal conversations with the concerned.

My boss has a specific style. If work is to be done he comes to our seat, catch us and have a cup of tea with us and discuss. I soon became an expert at this. Like many I also find it easy to discuss a serious issue during tea breaks than discussing as critical.

Things changed when other engineers returned from Japan after their projects and learnings.

I will update in my next blog.

1. I quote this line “I am home at 5:30 pm” for the past 2 years to every software engineering friends and I love their reaction as manytimes they also have some weird scoops and make me gape. I do remember one of my friend called me up at 3 am in morning and said he will be in Delhi by 8 am and asked if I am free. At the end of conversation he said sorry man to call you at this time I forgot you would be sleeping

2. Later I became allergic to meetings. I hate it. I remember one of the meetings with our Japanese counterpart from SMC. He knows a little English and we were discussing the issues in new Wagon R. That is the longest meeting I did. It started at 9:15 am and went till 2 pm. My ass was paining sitting in the chair without moving or giving it some air. That was a painful day but my boss appreciated me for the work just immediately after the meeting in front of other senior people. It became a painful good day.

3. Well, he is not a engineer but diploma holder with 6 years of experience and one of the best person in our department. He is a fast tracker who gets the best grading every year. He taught me driving and how to work and resolve the problems that come during development of vehicle. Every engineer in our department is dependent on people like him to understand the defects and to resolve. Still we are their boss by hierarchy, a degree makes the difference!! Only different work that we engineers do more then them is we try to understand how countermeasures are taken and we approve that it is effective. I felt really proud to sign in the document when suspension tuning was done.

My 2 years with Auto Industry - Part 1

Come June 2, I will be completing 2 years in Indian auto industry. If I turn back I remember,

The KICK start

The 4 months class room training (the best period in organisation as you do not have responsibilities). I will write a separate blog on how we enjoyed.

The FUSION (Confusion)

I belong to people who were confused to choose their departments. I had one lovely senior who said every work here is important (it did not click at that time that any organisation will do the work if it important) it is up to you to choose what you like.I found in R&D, one will be confined to very small part in an automobile but understands the design of the component. I was not really interested to design a small bracket in engine for one year. But still “R&D” a brand name I wanted. It would be sexy to say for a automobile engineering student. I told him that I wanted to have good exposure to all automobile systems and learn about the organisation its structure.

But few statements from HR changed my mind.

There is a requirement of 200+ engineers at R&D (our batch strength is 270). Also I confirmed that it is not that only charming technical people enter R&D.

I felt I do not want to be with the crowd.

I wished to take service department for only one reason that I can go back south. But I found that we will be transferred every 3 years, it made me rethink.

Also working in industry atmosphere, experience is unmatchable. That is the best part of the job. I can bet on my experience in future. This made me think that I should be in Gurgaon though I was not happy with its scorching sun temperatures.

(I love the winter though it is also severe. The best part is winters are dry. There will be no rain. The rain and cold combination makes me dull)

Finally I choose Quality Assurance department (you can find stamped signature of our Manager in the letter head that is given to every car buyer)

Two groups out of five were looking sexy. Both deal with new model evaluation. They play with the babies (proto cars). One takes care of static check and other the dynamic part.

(static check include appearance, checking for any body dents, color mismatch, emission checks and measurement checks and dynamic check where they drive the vehicle as worst customer and points out the issues in proto cars)

I underwent training in one group who does the static check. I found the department very organised and it is very small department and work is also very small. They work for 2 hours and make reports for next 2 hours and they show output as double. (I mean they make reports of how work was done to highlight it to management). I liked it as I was there for one month and it became my obvious choice.

But I did not get that group “fortunately”. I was put in Dynamic group and it gave me a power start.

(I divided my blogs into parts as I felt a long blog is not very interesting to read)

Gurgaon - My Experience

Since I am from South India everything in Gurgaon (Haryana, India) is a learning by experience. People, food, culture even the climatic condition, almost everything.

But still it is India!

Long queues which are now slowly disappearing because of advent of Information Technology. Crowds even at places where we expect privacy and people who are necessarily interested in gossips and rumours then minding their own work. Rules are always ruled out here. (Well not only traffic rules, every rule).

Ha ha :) but we Indians always adjust.

Cars and roads are the most beautiful things in Delhi apart from girls. BOT and BOOT reforms from the government really improved the roads in India. (I should say Delhi and NCR to a great extent). I really enjoy the ride in car and enjoy the speed. (Every time it will be my boss who drives all official trips as I do not have a license thou to drive though I am professionally trained driver). You will find too many cars (cars like Porsche, Bentley, Ferrari are also common) in Delhi roads. I have seen a Hummer parked next door. I wonder where the money comes from! But public transport (Buses) is pathetic I can say it is very bad in Haryana. People sometimes take pride in breaking them for even simple reasons. So may be government thought that it is better not to have than to lose them. So everybody is forced to have a personal vehicle for transportation. And thanks to Metro trains. They solve a very huge traffic.

I am living in the best part of Gurgaon, really in a sweet home, perfect place to rest after work. We have a cook from West Bengal and she is really an expert in Sambar. Believe me we every day ask her to make sambar and rice for dinner (and no other dish). We also have a house keeper, without whom our house would have looked like a hostel. Still our house owner sometimes shouts on the neatness and sometimes says guys I wonder how you are going to manage your life in future.

The market place is the real happening place. The malls are huge and the best part is they have the crowd who can spend huge sum of money. There are about 8 malls in the distance of just 3 km in Gurgaon (that would be the total number of malls in south India). People really earn a lot and spend a lot. (but in south I think most of the money is still in lockers. Still economic liberalisation made in 1993 has not hit the doors in south)

I should tell about the people and their work culture. I like the dressing sense and outlook. Mannerism is very different. Respect is given only if and when required. Even kids love inviting trouble. Some take pride in it as well. Work culture, similar to developed countries, avoiding work after working hours. Work is given to people who work and many times the credit as well. (sometimes shared to everyone in team)

And the best things that I loved here (and I never dared in south) is dancing in streets during marriages. Marriages here are vibrant. I really liked their wedding style. The best part is the dancing. The bridegroom is made to sit on a horse and friends and relatives dance on their way to wedding hall. I have attended about 4 wedding, all are guys who are bright engineers just 24 years old.(I mean wedding is very early, 27 years for males is considered late in many families). I have every time danced on streets and I loved it. I even remember in one such wedding(in fact a rich wedding), a relative of the bridegrooms was distributing alcoholic drinks to everyone and when I refused, he gave a staring look as if I have committed a sin. (well I mean to say drinking is very common, unlike south it is not “assumed” that the person who drinks is a bad guy or would one day die of cancer only)

I must tell about women also. They are really brave and on par with guys (and as idiotic as we are as well). They are more sociable compared to the south. I was really happy when a girl invited me for coffee. I think that is the first time a woman has invited me in this 22 years of my living. As time passed these things became very common and one never takes pride or stress saying, “a girl invited me for coffee / lunch /dinner”. Nor do they. I never know women can be so cool and could make jokes as well. (As far as I knew women and jokes are really far apart).

I think this is the best time I am having in my life. I really feel free. (I feel like as if I got independence after coming here to Gurgaon). I am soo sick of bloody South Indian rules and their mindset. (I still remember my mom force me go for temple in Friday evening but I always loved playing cricket in ground). But, I also learnt to praise south for the clean government, their values and ethics and the way it bought me up.

"Bees that gives honey gives stings too". There are positives and negatives. I liked learning both at gurgaon.

Birthday Bash

A new beginning

I am really very sorry for posting some really boring posts in my blog. (I myself felt bored reading it). It gave me a feeling that I was so obsessed with work (at least in my blog. I am now luckily free this year. I will update some of the best things I have come across in my future blogs.

Training at Maruti

I joined Maruti with a pride on 2nd June 08.

We were given a good training schedule. And training is good though I would not rate it best. There was another best thing happened, immediate pay rise by 30%. It was like a real boost to us. I saw a lot of happy faces taking home the cash with a huge smile in hearts.

Training period was the best, we were divided into batches of 20-25 each and we followed a “rotational” training. (getting trained in all the departments). I never expected my training program will include some management development, Time management classes, and training program in MS excel. (when I was in ‘on the job trainng’ under production, I worked with one single excel file for one full month). The best part of my training is the On Board Training. We were take to a very nice place Gym Corbett, a forest, santury famous for tigers. we were served with excellent food as well. we had very adventurous type of sports. I would rate it the best moments in Maruti

The best part of training is also we left at 5: 30 pm everyday. There would be a good number of people who used to stand at the punching machine (for attendance) even 10 minutes before. This was how my first 4 months of training went. We were so bored without work that we started playing NFS in IT department. (Thanks to the person who installed it.

Though the training period for juniors remains the same, they have gone really strict and they have cut the cost wherever required.