The Newspaper boy came unannounced today to inform that he can supply newspapers from tomorrow. He was interested to know if I would restart taking newspapers. I politely told him no. The last 70 days, I have gotten used to consuming news digitally. Not that, I didn’t have this option earlier but reading newspapers in the morning was a habit.
During my school days I used to be very weak in Languages. One day, my class teacher spoke to my father and asked him to subscribe for “The Statesman” and advised me to read the newspaper daily. Initially I avoided but my father kept forcing me to read. Finally I got into the habit of reading newspapers. Initially, I used to read only the sports pages and later moved to the front pages as well. Over a period of time, I became an avid reader and it reflected in my writing as well. I stopped making spelling mistakes and my marks improved. This habit continued and reading the newspaper along with a cup of tea became a part of my lifestyle.
Good or Bad I don’t know but over the last few weeks my life without newspapers didn’t seem any different. So the decision not to continue with the same.
What do you think? Are Newspapers required? How is it different in reading the same piece of information on your mobile device?
I was recently reading an article which said technology doesn’t always bridge the gap & that personal relationships suffer due to social distancing. I somehow don’t agree to this logic in totality.
If you are an able communicator then relationship thrives. I was not a person who used to meet the entire workforce in distributed offices before Covid-19 stuck. I generally left it to my colleagues to do the needful and had a more hands off approach. But this lockdown changed me. Its not that I am having Video Conference everyday – I have just kept it at the most 2 – 3 per week. But, what I have worked on is sending emails and keeping everyone in the loop. Something which I always thought was a must, got implemented due to the lockdown. Email communication worked like magic. After I started writing these emails, I realised what a big mistake I have been doing for so long by not communicating.
Communicate! Communicate! & If required Over Communicate! Thats the best success mantra for remote working.
The lockdown due to Covid-19 has actually helped me in rectifying my mistakes because I got the time to think over my mistakes & took necessary action!
How have you coped? Have you been communicating more during this lockdown period?
During our last college reunion in Bangalore, Mansoor Khan was the keynote speaker. There I heard him speak about “Third Curve”.
His speech was part of his theory from his book, “The Third Curve”. His theory is, why we won’t see global financial growth for decades to come. The golden period of growth which started in 1750 hit the peak around 2007. The slowdown that started from 2008 will stretch to decades but Governments across the globe are trying to paint a different picture. Perpetual growth is only in books. Growth happens with resources & resources are like a belly curve & we are passed the top most point so we are in the shrinking zone & it will continue.
As we get in terms to the black swan event of Covid-19, I wonder how prophetic Mansoor Khan was that day. Today growth across nations have fallen & it will take decades before we start rising again. We need to accept this reality. How we manage our finances will define the next generations’ future. People who always kept saving for this type of Black Swan event might be riding through this event comfortably. “Save for the unknown emergencies” is staring right at us today.
How are you placed? Did this Black Swan event effect you? How are you navigating it?
I was recently speaking to a friend in London and he told me that the UK government is paying a good amount to all citizens during LockDown. Wondering how it will motivate people in the long run doing no work and still getting paid?
For businesses asking their employees to work is backfiring because many employees are not giving so much importance to assigned work since the Government was already paying for doing no work.
The money doled out is huge. Just imagine, all employees of airline companies are being paid GBP 2500 per month till September. India is truly a poor country! We are unable to even take care of the lower strata of the society, forget the middle class.
Loans to Small Businesses in the UK are almost like grants with an interest rate about 1% & a moratorium of 12 months. No wonder all Small Businesses are opting for it. In India it’s so different! Here the banks say, “Pay up your EMIs as per schedule otherwise we won’t give you loans in the future.”
Is the UK model of paying and keeping everyone locked in, a better option or India is doing this better by telling her citizens that be “Atmanirbhar” (self sufficient) and adjust the lifestyle to “Live with Corona”?
What do you think?
Infosys seems to be going flatter. The current 5 levels of hierarchy is being planned to be reduced to 2. This is being done to reduce time in decision making and to make the senior management more accessible.
I wonder why it took Covid-19 to make such a change when it’s a known fact that if you increase hierarchies then you, the senior management will lose access to the ground realities.
When Covid-19 stuck, I was lucky to join webinars where Mr. Murthy, Mr. Nilekani, Mr. Mohandas Pai were the keynote speakers. All have been speaking about reducing fixed costs to elongate survival. Mr. Pai being an EX-CFO was very clear about having cash in hand for 18 months. Hence, I am not surprised that Infosys as a company has decided to reduce their fixed costs because the Managers and above have the highest salaries and many of these positions are generally overlapping each other to some extent. So by removing these positions, not only the old culture of Infosys will be back but the company will also save a lot in salaries.
What does it say for the smaller companies? Remain leaner. Don’t get yourself top heavy. Don’t allow company culture to deteriorate in pursuit of growth. Remain accessible to employees. Have an open door policy.
Thoughts?
The feedback & review system plays an important part in any business.
When you take an Uber ride you are always be prompted for rating & review. Personally, I generally don’t give reviews. Late last year when I went to Bangalore, I used Uber and Ola services a lot. Almost every day 2 to 3 times I availed their service. Twice the Ola Driver kept me waiting and I made sure that I not only gave a negative rating but I wrote a bad review as well about the unprofessional attitude. I didn’t do the same for my other rides which were OK.
One day while coming back from Rajaji Nagar, the Uber driver was very friendly and was very accommodative too. I was extremely pleased with his service because most of the time these drivers tended to drop me at the main road and tried to avoid going inside the lane where my in-laws’ house is. Not in this case though, because he went happily inside the by lanes without any prompting. It was quite late at night and I was really happy with his service. I made sure that I not only gave a 5-star rating but wrote a raving review as well.
Later on, I realized that it’s a kind of human psychology. We criticise quickly but we don’t appreciate it immediately. We have all the right to criticise if we are not served well but then where does our adrenaline vanish when we have to appreciate good service.
How do you react?
Do you write reviews (positive or negative)?
Do you give positive and negative reviews with the same zest? Or do you follow some different methods?
I was an introvert throughout my life. It was always difficult for me to start any conversation with unknown people.
A person who could hardly talk with unknown people meant that his career in sales was completely out of bounds. On my first solo call during my first job more than 20 years back, I was outright rejected (I couldn’t even convince the receptionist to allow me to meet the concerned person).
I started getting frightened about cold calls. Rejection after rejection gutted me.
Then I decided to talk to my boss & told him about my problem. Over the next few days, he spent the whole day with me making cold calls & I shadowed him. After a month my ineptness vanished. I learned how to not only convince the receptionists to meet the concerned person but also successfully close deals.
My roles might have changed now but inside I still remain the same person who weaves magic when talking to customers.
Over the years I have understood that I love solving customer’s problems. When the intention is to solve problems, resistance vanishes automatically. For me, my boss helped me in removing inhibitions about cold calls & how to successfully navigate resistance.
How did you get over your inner demons?
From 1st June 2020, I started writing regularly on LinkedIn. I write on varied topics but the bottomline is story telling in a format where it has undertones of culture, ethics, values etc.
After writing on LinkedIn, I started sharing those posts on FaceBook too.
Recently I started posting them on Twitter as well.
One thing that struck me recently was that I am putting up my own creation on platforms which I don’t own. Nobody knows what’s gonna happen in the future. I can lose all the content that I have written so passionately.
This made me decide to upload all my Social Media posts one by one on my blog.
This not only makes my content safe, it also ensures that the original creator of these posts are validated against any plagiarism in the future.
Having said that, please keep checking my blog to check out my stories as they come up one by one.
If you like them, please comment. If you dislike them still comment. If any story resonates with you do comment. Lets build a wonderful community where we discuss our lives in an open format.
Let’s make this world a happy place.
Stay Safe Everyone! God Bless!
The last night of any tour is generally quite emotionally exhausting. It was no different for us (Asif-Mukesh-Sourav: In short AMS) as well during our last night at Kalimpong. As the IPL final came to an end, we prepared to hit the bed. The next day though was not supposed to be an exhaustive day since we would be breaking at Siliguri. In hindsight, it was a wrong decision because it would have been better if we took a break at Malda instead because that would have meant we would have covered 200 KMs of our return journey. More so because we really didn’t have any work in Siliguri other than lazing around.
It was 30th May and we got up around 8 AM and took our time to get ready. Had a couple of cups of tea before going for Breakfast. The breakfast spread at Sinclairs is a real food lover’s delight. We took our jolly good time to finish our breakfast and then got ready to check out.
We started from Kalimpong around 10.30 AM and we expected to reach Siliguri by 12.30 PM. This time of course we had our booking at Sinclairs Siliguri since it was close to the highway. Once again it was the same reason as before that we wanted to hit the Highway on our return journey as quickly as possible.
My love-hate relationship with Google Maps continued and once again we were navigated to the back of the hotel at Siliguri. Thankfully we realised the problem quickly and turned around and reached the hotel without much ado.
Sinclairs Siliguri was a much smaller hotel than the one in Kalimpong. We of course didn’t mind much because it was just an overnight stay. We just needed a clean room and that’s all that mattered to take some rest so that we can hit the road the next day fully fresh.
The restaurant was also pretty small compared to Kalimpong and we had our lunch there and then took a small walk around the area. After that, we just lazed around in the room chit-chatting among ourselves. In between, we decided that we will leave by 3 AM the next day so that we can cover a big part of our return journey without the need for navigating traffic congestions. Also our experience at Farakka and Malda while coming made us believe that it would be better to take the route via Dhantola – Bhagalpur – Dumka towards Kolkata. So we felt that if we start early it would be better for us.
We spoke to the banquet manager to arrange for some sandwiches, boiled eggs, and bananas which we could carry with us in the morning. I must appreciate the hotel authorities to arrange it and keep it for us all packed when we were ready to leave at 3 AM.
It was pitch dark when we started at 3.30 AM. With Google Maps in tow, I felt like the best navigator in the world. We got into NH 31 immediately and the roads were very good and we made great progress driving through Kishanganj and Dhantola. As the day broke, we took a break at a fuel station to refill the car. We also had some tea and the sandwiches that the hotel had packed for us.
We felt good thinking that we took a great decision of not taking the Farakka route when we entered the Bhagalpur alternate bypass. We took a turn which took us inside Bhagalpur city. We faced terrific traffic congestion inside the city area and by the time we navigated ourselves to SH 25 we were quite exhausted. Anyways, SH 25 connected us to SH 19. As we entered SH 19 we found the road to be very smooth. Google Maps showed that it’s about a 35-40 KM stretch leading us towards Dumka. We felt we had made good progress but suddenly the road became dusty and before we knew it we were facing a horrible stretch of road. It’s difficult to explain how bad the road was but what I can say is that the road was literally filled with craters. The car was moving like a boat, sometimes the left side was inside a crater and sometimes the right side. A couple of craters were so big it felt like we were in some “Off-Road” rallying competition where the craters have been specifically built to understand the strength of the cars and the associated drivers. Once in a while, I felt we will be head over heels. The notion got particularly stronger after I saw a truck in a similar condition on the road.
We thanked our stars when the bad road ended after a 2-hour journey. A 30 KM stretch (and supposedly a State Highway) took us 2 hours and one can imagine how bad the road must have been.
We sighed a breath of relief when we hit the good roads which meant we were on the outskirts of Jharkhand. We took a small break at Dumka at a nondescript dhaba. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any food and so we just drank a bottle of Pepsi and decided to drive through and take the next break at Shaktigarh.
The roads from there on were very good as we crossed Massanjore Dam, Suri, then Bolpur and Burdwan to hit NH2.
Around 4.30 PM we reached Shaktigarh and parked the car near our favorite “Mama Bhagne Langcha” shop. We had a plate of puri-sabzi along with samosa to quest our hunger. We didn’t forget to take packets of Saktigarh’s famous langcha for our respective families.
NH2 is always a smooth drive and we were able to reach our respective homes before 6.30 PM.
Thus ended our memorable journey to Kalimpong which included a total driving time of close to 36 Hours. We passed through 2 states which included Bihar and Jharkhand. Quite a lot of memories and a lot of experiences in road travel.
Going out on a long drive and taking a holiday is far out of our thoughts during this period of Covid-19. I hope things change over the next few months and we go back to normalcy which would mean another road trip to another hill station.
Till then take care, everyone and God Bless!
Hills always attract me. As a child I had been to Puri (Beach), Betla National Park (Forest) and Darjeeling (Hills). Somehow the hills always felt better. Probably the climate in the hills and the atmosphere makes me yearn for a hill station trip every year.
Every year from 2013, whenever we (Asif, Mukesh & myself: shortened AMS) planned a trip, I always suggested Hill Stations. We had been to Darjeeling and Gangtok previously so this time we opted for a different place, Kalimpong. Kalimpong though is a hill station, its mainly a place to relax because there is not much activity per se.
Anyways, the previous day’s hectic travel meant that we couldn’t wake up before 9 AM. Good thing was that our hotel was very near to Savok Road so we knew we didn’t need to navigate the traffic congestion inside Siliguri. We got ready by 10 AM and checked out of Saluja Residency (our overnight halting point at Siliguri). There was a nearby fuel station where we got our car refueled and we were now ready for our onward journey towards Kalimpong.
Our navigating friend, Google Maps predicted a 100 minute drive but me and Google Maps always have a love-hate relationship. I love it because it navigates its way even when mobile internet is not available but hate it because it always ends the journey at some odd location. As we reached Kalimpong, it kept navigating the roads and then it declared that our destination is at the right. The problem was that on our right what we found was a steep hill and nothing else. Where did the hotel vanish? I wondered. There were no major landmarks to help us as well. The road was deserted and finally we found a couple of young guys walking along the way whom we asked to guide us to Hotel Sinclairs Retreat. They were kind enough to inform us about the route, which we understood will come after a couple of more turns up the hill.
This time we were able to reach the place without any more hassle and as we entered the property it delighted us. Sinclairs Kalimpong was situated in such a nice location that one could forget all the worries in life and stay for a few days in absolute tranquility.
We checked in around 1 PM and after keeping our luggage decided to take a walk around the area. The Resort is on a 5 acre property filled with greenery and has all the amenities that you can think of. With the majestic himalayas surrounding the place, it’s an ideal place for anyone who wants to spend a few days away from pollution.
We were hungry by now so decided to go to the restaurant. Me being a pure non-vegetarian by choice, Sinclairs had a lot of options to choose from. After finishing our lunch we decided to take some rest before Mukesh and Asif decided to go for a swim. I meanwhile took a quick afternoon nap. Our room had a nice balcony which was a great place to chill out and that’s where we spent till the sunset, chatting over a few cups of tea.
In the evening, we decided to go to the lounge. The indoor play arena was already filled with other guests so we took a place away from the din and Mukesh ordered some chilled beer as me and Asif (the teetotalers) accompanied him over Pepsi. We had some tasty snacks as well. I must admit the food at Sinclairs was very good.
We spent the rest of the evening at the lounge just enjoying the atmosphere. We took dinner a bit early and went back to our rooms. Our nights do not end so quickly and we continued chit chatting till 1 AM before calling it a day. We of course planned a trip to Lava & Rishap the next day.
Next day we got up nice and early and were welcomed to a massive breakfast spread at the restaurant. We ate to our heart’s content and then asked the travel desk to arrange a driver for Lava & Rishap. We left around 10 AM and we first went to Lava. These are places which are relatively less inhabited. The roads were very bad and we patted ourselves for deciding not to drive ourselves.
The natural beauty of course was very good. The temperature was cool and it was cloudy with a steady breeze blowing across. After taking a small break at Lava we decided to go upto the Rishap crossing. The Rishop crossing had a very mystic feeling to it. We halted near a small tea shop and took a walk around for an hour or so just having a feel of the tranquility around us.
We had a plate of maggi along with tea and then started our journey downhill towards Kalimpong. During my childhood I had heard that the bakery items of Kalimpong were very different so wanted to taste it first hand now that we were here. The car took us near the main shopping area of Kalimpong and we walked around the place before stopping near a biggish bakery. The cakes and the cream rolls were very attractive indeed and tasted nice as well.
It was late afternoon by then and we decided to go back to our hotel. It was the IPL final day and the rest of the evening was dedicated to the same. As the match started, it started raining cats and dogs at Kalimpong. I thought such rains in the daytime would have looked great from the hotel. It was a great final by the way. RCB showed another way of losing a match from a winning position. The ever reliance on 3 top batters cost them the IPL.
Our stay at Kalimpong was coming to an end. The next day after breakfast we will be checking out.
So what happened next? How was the Return journey? My next blog will unravel the rest of our Kalimpong Trip.
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