It was an afternoon in May 2007 when my phone rang. I was at my office in SDF Building, Sector V. As I picked up the call, I realised that my very good friend, Asif was on the other side of the line. After exchanging the usual pleasantries, he said that our good friend (and an old roommate during our college days), Sabyasachi Das was in town and he wanted to spend the day with us. I was a person who hardly took any leaves from the office. So requesting a half-day leave and getting it sanctioned at such short notice was not a problem. So, there I was all set to meet Das after a long time. In fact I had not met him after 2003.

It was a mini-reunion of sorts and I later realised that Das came to Kolkata to invite us for his marriage in June. After picking me up, we went to Aquatica and from there we went to City Centre Mall to do some marriage shopping. Sudden decisions have always been the forte of my good friend, Das’. So out of the blue, he proposed that let’s go for a movie. It was almost 9 PM when we went to the INOX counter and we got the tickets for a movie called, “Life in a Metro”. I was not so interested to go for a movie but then with friends around, one shouldn’t think much but should rather go with the flow.

That was my first experience of watching Irrfan Khan. It was not a great movie but the chemistry that Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma reflected on screen was very unique and made you love the movie. The comic timing of Irrfan was a relief in the movie which had serious undertones as a theme. Irrfan definitely in my books was a bright spot in that movie other than of course the super hit song, “Alvida”.

As soon as I heard, that Irrfan Khan passed away on 29th April, my first thoughts went back to the above incident.

I have not been a regular movie buff post my college days in Bangalore, so frankly I have not seen most of the movies that Irrfan Khan acted in. But whatever I saw made me like him a lot. His simple looks with an obnoxious smile and his way of getting into the teeth of the characters he played in were very likeable.

The movies of Irrfan Khan that I have seen in theatres after “Life in a Metro” are:

• The Slumdog Millionaire
• D-Day – Made one fall in love with the spy. His portrayal of the character was the best among the lot even probably better than Rishi Kapoor.
• Piku – Frankly went to see the movie for Amitabh Bachchan but came back with the memories of Irrfan Khan. 

Over the past couple of years, I did see a few other movies of his either on Television or on OTT service and they were:

• Billu
• New York
• Talvar
• Hindi Medium
• Qarib Qarib Single
• Blackmail
• Karwaan
• English Medium

The best part about Irrfan Khan’s last 3-4 years was the kind of movies he did. I guess over time he realised his forte and signed movies where his wings of acting were not clipped. Though Hindi Medium was a big hit and many around the country would have seen it but he was equally good in small-budget movies like Karwaan and Qarib Qarib Single. Both these movies I saw last year just by chance and I thank myself for that specially, Karwaan. The journey and the relationships between a parent and son were so subtly handled that they will bring tears to your eyes.

English Medium which ended up being his last movie couldn’t get an extended run in the theatres because of the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19. The makers smartly released the movie digitally and it was another movie with Irrfan Khan’s stamp all around it. Another movie with the underlying theme of the Parent-Child relationship.

One of my favourite dialogues from the movie, Anand was “Babu Moshai, Zindagi Lambi Nehi, Bari Honi Chahiye!” You truly lead a “Bari Life” Irrfan Khan. Thank you for all the movies that you gave us, which will make you remain alive in everyone’s hearts forever!

Earlier today, I got an opportunity as a speaker in a panel at SKOCH Summit which was aggregating opinion on the challenges faced by MSMEs in India due to Covid 19. My topic was “Salaries & Fixed Expenses”. Due to Covid-19, the summit was held over Zoom, something that we all have to get used to but with such digital summits one thing is time management and hence, I was unable to speak of all the matters that I had thought about due to the paucity of time.

 Hence, I thought of publishing my thoughts here on my blog.

 So here is my full version of the speech:

 “Good Afternoon Everyone! Its a pleasure to speak to all of you at this summit.

We are truly in an unprecedented zone right now. People who are debt free and have cash equivalent of 12 months or more can think crystal clear. Rest are all grappling and having a nightmare of the future ahead. I call this, the mother of all disruptions something probably none of the business schools would have taught. A disruption where economic activity is interlinked with personal health. A true black swan event!

Problem Area:

1. This is a pandemic and there is no sight of a solution just yet. It’s important that plans are in place for any organisation for a period of 9-12 months. 

2. Fixed cost expenses have to be reduced. For a company like us which is into Software Development Services, our fixed costs broadly are:

a. Salaries

b. Office Rents

c. Electricity & Internet

d. Office Maintenance expenses

e. Tools or softwares for business processes (Accounting/HRMS/CRM/Project Management tool/Adobe and Microsoft Licenses etc)

f. Marketing Expenses

g. Hardware Resources expenses.

As we got aware of the situation, we had basic plans in place the end of 2nd week of March and infact got 90% of our employees to work from home from 19th March onwards. There is no denying the fact Human Resources (our employees) remain our top most priority. Their health and well being remain our first priority. Thereafter with all working from home from 23rd March, we got our finance team in action to come up with a 5 step plan for this financial year. 

We are ofcourse in an industry and we feel extremely humbled and lucky to be very busy with work during this Black Swan event. So our 5 step plan was calculating our fixed costs. 65% of our total expenses is salary. The rest 35% is divided as told above.

Plan of Action

1. Electricity & Internet bills will be NIL because no one is going to office.

2. Office Rent: We spoke to the landlords and agreed on 50% payment of rent till situation normalises with an additional cut of 25% if situation doesn’t normalise in 6 months time. All of us are in this together.

3. Office expenses will be once again NIL because offices are closed.

4. Salary: Continues as normal (including admin staff who has no work)

5. Marketing: Continues as usual (We are eternal optimists).

Based on 5 different parameters of cash flow (Collection from clients) we had 5 different sets of decisions. None of our plans include layoffs. No employees will be laid off. If we are able to achieve 80% of our revenues as before then there is no change and we continue with Plan 1. Plan 2-4 is mainly reducing marketing budget in % terms. Only if the situation goes to the worse level, we are looking at a salary cut which will be percentage wise based on who draws how much. But that only gets activated when the situation gets further worse in the western world because our business is very much dependent on how the world recovers from this pandemic. As of today we are in Step 1 and based on the pipeline we have, the next 3-4 months we can sail through. At this point, I must thank all our employees for the stupendous effort they are putting up from their homes. Our cash flow is rock steady and a robust pipeline is available only because of their acceptance of this new normal and working to their level best and sometimes more than that. But this problem is not going to be sorted in 3-4 months. It will take more than 9 months to get us back to our feet. And there lies our biggest problem.

Just like we are in lockdown to flatten the curve, if the Government supports MSMEs with a percentage of their Fixed Costs then the companies like us will be able to elongate our survival.

Some Ideas:

1. Using PF/ESI data, give 50% of employee salaries of MSMEs to their corporate accounts.

2. Give a moratorium of 9-12 months after which the EMI can start with a reduced rate of interest.

3. Give a catch that no one is laid off.

4. Refunds of IT and GST (Process it ASAP).

5. USA and Australia are doing it in this manner for their small businesses. This not only helps business continuity but it also helps the employees. Even the UK has a plan in place of a similar nature. If these countries can do it, I think even India can also do it. There is liquidity in the system but there is not a process in place which will ensure that all companies are taken care off. I heard an interview of Mr. Harsh Goenka recently and he says that banks are lined up to give him special loans due to Covid-19 and when we write to our bankers for the same (3 banks) none of them have replied back. 2 banks has categorically rejected (though we have good credit history) and the other bank is doing lip service over the phone with no formal commitment.

6. So where is the money going? Are we going to see another scam with money being pocketed by a few big businesses?

7. Why not just a blanket help to all the registered MSMEs based on the GST/PF/ESI data that’s already available and help with their business continuity plans?

I think the Government needs to think about this very quickly. We are already 30 days and counting related to the nation wide lockdown and MSMEs are not flushed with cash for Business Continuity. We can’t allow job losses in the middle class category as well because this category takes care of the consumption boom in India. I hope someone is listening and executes a plan which will help the whole MSME sector.

Thank You!”

So what do you think about this, my dear readers? Do suggest your ideas!

I consider myself very lucky to have seen Sachin Tendulkar play. Right from his debut series in 1989 till he hung up his boots in 2013 I have followed his journey. I am very sure many in our generation of cricket lovers would have done the same. Mathew Hayden once said, “I have seen God and he bats at No. 4 for India”. Today being the Master Blaster’s 47th Birthday, I thought of writing down my views on what I personally feel are his Top 5 Test centuries.

A person who has scored 51 Test Hundreds its difficult to choose the top 5 of them. Certainly many will disagree with this list that I have chosen here and I have my reasons for the same which are given below. So here is the list:

1. 114 Runs Against Australia at Perth 1992

This innings showed the world why Sachin Tendulkar was special. He was 18 years old that time and WACA was the fastest and the bounciest pitch in the world. Australia was having a great pace attack lead by Craig McDermott & Merv Huges though Mike Whitney actually ripped through the Indian Second Innings. This was the 5th Test Match and India were trailing 3-0. One must remember that India lost the Test Match by over 300 runs and there is nothing to remember for an Indian fan but the great innings of Sachin makes us never forget that test match. Even Sachin considers it one of his best innings. The footwork against the short pitch bowling was exemplary and his parallel bat shots were a treat to the eye. It was a counter punching innings from him with wickets falling all around him. He finished with a strike rate on 70+ in that innings and none of the other batsmen (from both sides) were anywhere close to that strike rate. Sachin’s love affair with Australia began in 1992 and it continued throughout his career. Over the years he scored many centuries against them but this innings in 1992 takes the cake for its beautiful shotmaking and counter punching the Aussies on the fastest pitch in the world.

2. 169 Runs against South Africa at Cape Town 1997

By 1997 Sachin had already become the backbone of Indian batting but India’s record against South Africa in South Africa was always bad. Sachin’s personal test record against South Africa is also not very good. This match at Cape Town was another match where India were handed a 282 runs drubbing. But the sheer entertainment that Sachin along with Azharuddin gave in the post lunch session on Day 3 was unforgettable. Those were our college days in Bangalore and almost 8-10 of us watched that session awestruck. What a counter attack launched by both of them. Sachin came to the crease with India at 24/2 and Azhar joined him with India at 58/5. From there the fun started. It was great till it lasted because India scored at over 5 runs an over in the session between Lunch and Tea with Azhar scoring at over 100 strike rate. Azhar finally got out at 115 off only 110 balls. When he got out, India was still 49 runs adrift from following on but Sachin with the help from the tail enders took India past the follow on mark of 330. India finally folded at 359 and incidentally Sachin was the last wicket to fall, courtesy a brilliant one handed blinder taken right at the boundary line by Adam Bacher. Most say Adam Bacher’s only fame in his short cricket career was this catch. Nevertheless, this innings of Sachin’s remains very close to my heart because it was another innings which was played under severe pressure and he came out trumps counter attacking.

3. 136 Runs against Pakistan at Chennai 1999

Another great innings by Sachin which most would remember because we never forget India-Pakistan encounters, do we? But this was another great innings which ended with India being in the losing side. This was a typical turner at Chennai and with India to bat last it was always going to be a tough battle. Chasing 271 was never going to be easy against an attack lead by Wasim Akram supported ably by Waqar and Saqlain. When India started the Day 4 at 40/2, there was hope that if India goes through the first hour without any hiccups, we will win it. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and within the first hour India’s score read 82/5. It was an uphill battle and a real grind. Thankfully Sachin got good support from Nayan Mongia who himself scored a half century. But a moment of madness after crossing 50 lead to Mongia’s downfall. Sachin was left to take India home along with the tail enders but the biggest problem was his back spasms. Throughout the innings he had to be on medications because of the severe lower back pain. With each passing ball, his physical condition worsened but he fought on. But with 17 runs away from victory he got out. A magical 136 knock came to an end and silenced the vociferous crowd in Chennai. I remember the collective grasp that we left watching him get out. India still had 3 wickets in Hand but unfortunately the tailenders couldn’t take India home and we lost by 12 runs. A match to remember and an innings to remember. Afridi had scored a century on the third day and should have been the prime candidate for the man of the match but it went to Sachin and the reason was the sheer determination and his will to play on even under adverse conditions.

4. 103* Runs against England at Chennai 2008

9 years later, Sachin was back at Chennai. Once again India was chasing a big score on the last day. This time Sachin not only took India home but brought back smiles on the face of millions of Indians. Just 2 weeks before this match, 26/11 attacks happened and the whole nation was terrified. This win did wonders to the whole moral of the country. And I think this incident along with the loss against Pakistan 9 years back at the same venue spurred Sachin on. It was apt that he made the winning runs. This win of course wouldn’t have been possible without Virendra Sehwag’s brilliance. Chasing 387 in less than 4 sessions that too in India was a tough ask but the blazing start that Sehwag gave India on the 4th day evening changed the entire complexion of the match. He scored 83 of just 68 balls and his knock ensured that India needed only 240 odd runs on the last day with 9 wickets in hand. Though India lost Dravid early on the final day, but Sachin’s partnership with Gambhir initially and Yuvraj later in the day ensured there were no hiccups. This was also an innings to remember for Sachin because this was a match winning century while chasing. He didn’t win the Man of the Match though because that went to Virender Sehwag because he was the one who changed the complexion of the match. Andrew Strauss, the English captain said later that India was no where in the match for 11 sessions and then won the match in the last 4 sessions because of the audacious stroke play and counter attacking punch by Sehwag. 

5. 241* Runs against Australia at Sydney 2004

Many will argue that the innings of 241 against Australia at Sydney was not a great innings. I also agree to that argument and I in fact think its his worst century of the lot going by the quality of batsmanship. But the only reason I kept this innings in the top 5 of my list is because of the sheer determination shown by Sachin against adversity. Sachin was in a treacherous form in this series and he got out nicking the ball outside the off stump in the previous tests. In the final test at Sydney, Sachin made a strategic change to his batting which was very Un-Sachin like. He didn’t play a single cover drive right through the innings. Left all balls outside the offside. Never got lured into a false sense of security and even left rank half volleys. It was a scratchy innings no doubt but when one analyses the greater scheme of things then one can understand the greatness of the man. Being on the crease for more than 10 hours, facing over 400 balls and not touching a single ball outside off stump. Exemplary stuff! He is truly a legend and we are lucky to have seen him bat so many times.

This innings is so relevant in today’s times, isn’t it? Government and civic authorities keep telling us to stay at home to fight CoronaVirus but we keep roaming around in the roads (atleast many are at various places in India – though reduced now). We all need to be as determined as Sachin Tendulkar and stay put at our houses so that we can flatten the curve and reduce the number of infections.

So what do you think about the list above? Do you agree? or do you have any list of your own? Do let me know.

Till then Stay Safe and Stay Indoors! 

We are truly living in very uncertain times. A month gone working from home. Is this the new normal? Should we treat this as the new normal? Or should we still believe that things will go back again to the old normal after a few weeks or months? As the critic is out on whether there should be a blanket lockdown or not, one thing is certain that the world won’t be the same again. This lockdown has taken the “social” part out from our system. People will think a hundred times before joining a party, going to a pub/discotheque or to a restaurant. Infact visiting friends’/relatives’ houses might not be so common in this upcoming “new normal”. One thing is for sure that Covid-19 is a Black Swan event which I call it as the Mother of All Disruptions. A health challenge coupled with a business challenge has never happened before and hence we are all in an uncertain territory.

Change is the only constant. And the winners always embrace change and make a difference. So here are a few fundamental changes that I think are going to happen post COVID-19.

1. A significant percentage of people (more than 25%) will work from home.

2. Companies don’t need huge campuses and they won’t need many offices.

3. People don’t need to migrate to a new location for a new job (People can be interviewed remotely and hired remotely).

4. With a significant part of the population working from home, there will be less traffic on the roads which would mean less pollution.

5. More and more companies (especially the small businesses) will embrace technology. Digital Disruption in the truest sense will start happening.

6. Video on demand services will be the to go place for entertainment. Data is the new oil.

7. Aadhar based services will get a further boost and can be further expanded.

For the IT sector, I believe it is a great opportunity. Every small business would have understood the importance of going digital. The demand will only increase for IT companies in the near future. Digital Marketing is another segment where the need will go up. People who embrace these changes quickly will turn around quickly. And for that to happen, its important that we utilise this time in developing our skills, Learn new things and build a big and great network.

I am expecting a lot of new and innovative products in the Edutech and Health tech space. Some of my ideas which are at a nascent stage, I will share in my future blogs.

One thing is for sure that companies which were dependent on a few clients and few domains/verticals will face a huge challenge right now. All understand that the airline, tourism and hospitality industry is at a standstill. The demand in these industries will take more than a year or two to come back. So the companies who are dependent on these industries will face a lot of problems. So it’s very vital that you never have all your eggs in one basket. Diversify is the keyword.

So are you ready to embrace the change and make a difference? Looking forward to your views!
Till then, Stay Safe!

Over the last 20 years, I have heard the word, “Disruption” multiple times. Various political and economic disruptions have happened over the last 2 decades. The world had been left shell shocked by these events, be it the 9/11 attacks or the Lehmann Brothers going under but the resilient human spirit has ensured that we have fought back. But the disruption that has left the world crippled due to COVID-19 is unprecedented. And hence I consider this particular event to be the mother of all disruptions. We have had Great Depression in the past and After Covid-19, decades later, this event will be known as The Great Lockdown!
Just like in the past, humanity will innovate and bounce back. As happens with any disruption, the way of life will change, and more so in this case, because this is a disruption that is way beyond anyone’s imagination. It’s quite understandable that many businesses will be wiped out. Some new businesses will crop up and many others will survive and come out stronger than before. So what are the strategies that one has to adopt to come out stronger after COVID-19?
Topic 1: How to run the business?

1. Companies in debt and struggling with cashflows will find it difficult to survive
2. Companies should have a minimum of 6-9 months of cash in hand.
3. Improve internal processes. Digital transformation is needed across all business processes.
4. Improve decision taking time.
5. Work on a leaner & smarter workforce.
6. Get rid of legacy problems of hierarchies.
7. Reduce fixed costs.
8. Innovate & change existing business models.
9. Management should be resilient & responsive to changes.
10. Reduce average age of workforce because younger people adapt to changes better.
11. Reduce CPP (Cost per Person).
12. Focus on team-building with the flexibility to learn and adapt quickly.

Topic 2: Survival Strategies (Planning for the worse):

1. Create a temporary financial plan for 1 year.
2. Cut fixed costs (Office Rents, Internet, etc.)
3. Communicate with the team and get them on board to ensure that seepage of work is at the minimum during Work From Home. All should plan and work smarter.
4. Future plans should be based on the fact that 25%-30% or more will work from home for more than 18-24 months.
5. Superior Customer Service.
6. Create innovative business plans to reach out to customers. Create win-win situations for both.

Topic 3: How Government can help?

1. Focus on Small & Medium businesses. These businesses are most vulnerable.
2. Income Tax and GST refunds should be processed as soon as possible.
3. Work with the banks and arrange more working capital for these businesses so that they can survive this onslaught.
4. Through EPFO accounts provide income support to the employees who are part of the MSME segment. This will help the companies as well because a part of the salary burden is taken care of.
5. For large companies arrange loans with a moratorium period.

Topic 4: Human Resource Functions during COVID-19

1. Effective Communication with the entire workforce.
2. Making the managers understand their roles & responsibilities effectively.
3. Arrange training for new skill development (Working with a younger workforce will help because they will be more interested to learn and adapt).
4. Make people understand that Work from Home is here to stay so take this as a new normal.
5. Be more technology adaptive and cut unnecessary meetings.

Most importantly, the managers/leaders should keep motivating their team not only to keep their spirits high but also to make employees understand that it’s important to learn new skills. Learning, sharing, and staying together as a team will ensure business continuity.
So what are the trends that we are expected to see in a business, post this Great Lockdown?

1. Customer Service will get better.
2. Companies will have leaner and smarter teams in place.
3. Managements are expected to be more flexible & take quicker decisions.
4. Contractual work will increase.
5. 30% or more people will Work from Home forever.
6. Productivity to increase due to Work from Home.
7. Some business functions will cease to exist and the workforce in those functions would need to get themselves re-skilled.
8. Enabling technology across departments.
9. Time management will improve because coffee shop meetings will cease to happen.

Do you think I have missed out on anything or any points? I would love to hear your views!
Till then, Stay Safe all of you!
 

The COVID-19 Pandemic have made people across the globe think differently. Over the last few weeks, many companies have adopted the culture of Work from Home. For many companies, specially the ones in the IT space had been having this culture previously as well. Its true that the adoptability of Work from Home has been a bit smoother for the IT folks. But here also, having the entire workforce working from home is a first time learning for most companies. For non IT companies it has been a very difficult challenge to overcome all-together.
Its a nightmare of sorts for the HR department across all companies. The pressure of keeping all employees happy and motivated during such a huge disruption is a big challenge. Here are a few tips which the HR department across all companies can do to keep motivating the work force. After all a motivated work force will ensure greater productivity which in turn would mean happy clients.

1. Vitual Games: Pick a group of people each day (at a preset time) and play a virtual game. There are multiple online games available which can be played with a group of people working remotely. For Example: Dumb Charades, Antakshri or Pictionary. One can create groups and make it more fun and lively for all participants. The idea is to take the mind off from problems and get the brain refreshed.
2. Virtual Birthday Celebrations: Most companies celebrate birthdays of their employees with cake cuttings or greeting cards etc. With the lockdown in place and everyone working from home, this activity can be taken up remotely. Get some team members on board and do a video call with the concerned employee(s) and celebrate his or her birthday by greeting them online and singing the birthday song together.
3. Virtual Tea Time: During normal office times, people take tea/coffee breaks. Have a similar activity remotely. Have a group call via Skype or Zoom with tea/coffee cups in hand and gossip. This is plain gossip time. try and make this a daily habit so that all feels to be together.
4. Virtual Festivities: A few festivals just went past us but a few are in front of us. Try and celebrate all festivals virtually. Unfortunately due to the sudden lockdown, some employees are stranded alone, away from their families. These people are the most vulnerable group. As an HR team, its most important to connect with these employees and make them feel that they are not left out. Call them and talk to them and make them feel that they are happy at a time when others might be atleast celebrating with their near and dear ones at home.

The idea should be to take all company events which are possible online and use innovative techniques to get all feel connected. The bottomline should be to make everyone happy.
What else do you think can be added to this list so that all feel engaged and get used to this New Normal?
Lets hear from you! I am all ears!
Till then, Good Luck! Stay Safe and God Bless!

Three things happened today:

1. The honourable Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi extended the nationwide lockdown by another 19 days.
2. On the occasion of Poila Boisakh (Bengali New Year Day) a short movie in Bengali was released, Jhhar Themey Jabe Ekdin (Underlying the theme of “Stay at Home” & “Social Distancing, conceptualised by The Honourable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Smt. Mamata Banerjee).
3. I Spoke to one of my cousins after a long time who stays in Mumbai.

During my discussion with my cousin today about the current state of affairs specially in Mumbai, a few things stuck me and so thought of writing that out. Both of us spoke about it briefly and I will try and explain it in detail here:
One day when the lockdown is eased and little by little people go back to their daily routined life, what will be the new routine as far as socialising is concerned?

1. When one goes to office, will we go straight to our workspace or do we sanitise ourselves first?
2. When we visit a relative’s home, will we be given a glass of water first or a sanitiser to clean our hands first?
3. When a new recruit joins office will he be asked to submit a doctor’s certificate of his Rapid Anti Body test to prove that he is COVID-19 negative?
4. Will we ever shake hands again with colleagues and business associates?
5. Will we ever again hug and embrace our near and dear ones?

Once the world settles down to this new normal, our lives will change forever as we embrace these new changes. There will be multiple other things that would happen in the short term after lockdown eases and a few of them are:

1. Airlines will fly with no middle seats (or middle seats vacant).
2. Just like security check there will be scanning of passengers before anyone enters the airport. This will happen at railway stations as well.
3. Road travel via private cars will increase because people would try to keep themselves out of the above hassles (Including heightened flight prices).
4. Webinars and Video Conferences will replace the seminars and conferences.
5. Online classroom teaching will become a must have feature in all schools.
6. Star studded movies will release over digital platforms.
7. Tournaments won’t be played in jam packed stadiums.

Who knows we might end up having parliament sessions through Video Conference Tools and elections might be digitally conducted.
Most people around us have taken the lockdown seriously and all knows that flattening the curve is the only way, we can win this war against Coronavirus. But, there is a world beyond us and India is having a huge poor population. How do we address their problems? There are multiple places in India where 10 families share one bathroom. How do they implement social distancing and good hygiene? There are lakhs of people in India who doesn’t have a home to stay, so how do they “stay at home”? This vulnerable section of the society needs to be spoken to and the basic necessities of these people have to be taken care off. 
There will be a lot of new technological interventions that will come up in the near future. Healthtech, EduTech and FinTech are the three spaces where I am expecting a lot of innovation in the next few months. Life will be very exciting for those who see this challenging period as an opportunity and use this period of lockdown to plan his next move.
Having said that, I believe the Government needs to come up with a solid economic booster for the downtrodden and the middle class. It can’t be “One Size Fits All”. I am sure, our country is blessed with great economists and we will find a solution to come out of this huge mess! We are a young country and we will come out of this crisis stronger.
Lets keep motivating each other, every day and we shall overcome!
Stay Safe! Subho Nababarsho!

Work from home amid Covid-19

Covid-19 has created havoc across industries. There are various industries which are completely shut with no production at all. This has created a major problem with cash flows. Quite naturally for companies which are in Travel & Tourism, Hospitality (Hotels/Restaurants), Aviation etc., life has come to a complete stand still. I am not surprised to hear that multiple companies across various sectors have already laid down employees or have made significant cut on the pay packages.

 This period of lockdown has pressed the reset button on many people’s lives. Life post Covid-19 won’t be the same again. I am very sure, people will understand that one can live with less. So, a fancy dress, a fancy car or an European holiday is not needed to keep one happy. This will also make people go more frugal. The lavish parties and exotic weekend getaways won’t be a “must have” part of life anymore. This would further effect the Travel, Aviation, Hospitality and Restaurant businesses.

 With many businesses facing a severe rout and based on how the scenario is unfolding, many companies won’t be able to recover back to normalcy till 2021. This would also mean that we are staring at a huge job loss and this would effect the Indian and World economy in general. In my frequent discussions with friends and cousins who are in the space of Aviation, Hospitality and Manufacturing/Construction domain, I can feel the anxiousness thats creeping in. As the lockdown period increases, its becoming very clear that many people in these industries will lose jobs. Most of the people in India is having some kind of EMIs be it a house, car or education/personal loans. Each passing day is making them nervous about how to survive. Unfortunately, Indian middle class today has no one to turn to. Much is for them to blame though. Trying to create a life by borrowing money is always risky and most middle class people are now faced with a major crisis.

 I feel extremely lucky that I belong to IT industry. This is one industry which for the time being is 100% working from home. Its ofcourse a big question – for how long. If the client companies are facing cash crunch or their businesses are shut then the IT companies will suffer soon with lack of cash flow. But as I said, as of now we are being kept busy. Other than of the rush of leaving for office each day in the morning, rest of the day seems to be the same. Infact with Work From Home scenario, I am ending up being online more than 12-14 hours every day. One big advantage of saving time in travel has been that I am able to attend many webinars and online conferences every week. Though people from outside will always feel that life is cool with Work From Home, but ask the managers and business owners and you will find that things are not that simple. Managing staff remotely in not so easy and there are many challenges when it comes to work from home. More on that later.

 One of the biggest challenges that we have faced over the past 10 days has been to provide remote system support. Atleast 5 of our software engineers had problems with their systems at home. Our System Admin staff tried to help through remote and telephonic support. Thankfully problems for a few were sorted but for one of them the hard disk crashed and nothing could be done. With client updates on the line, it was a frenetic one day to find out a solution. With lock down in place and people living so far off from office, it was very difficult to get her the spare laptop or spare PC. Finally an idea stuck and we must thank our Co-Founder & CEO, Mr. Asif Ahmed for this. One of our past acquaintance, who owns a car and drives for West Bengal Police was contacted and he was ready to help. He took his car and drove to one of our system admin’s place. They then came to our office, took the spare machine and drove back to the software engineer’s house and delivered the system. After one day of non-productivity, the software engineer is now back to full steam and working on projects. As the saying goes, “Tough Times Never Last, Tough People Do”.

 All people who are working in the IT industry must consider themselves extremely lucky that all of us has full time work during this extended period of lock down. Believe me, I know people who are getting frustrated with no work. Quite naturally, life had become a race and all were running. Now suddenly everything has come to a halt. Its very difficult for people to keep themselves busy for extended period, staying at home. Hence, people in IT industry should count their blessings and continue doing what they are best at and that is to remain humble and keep delighting the customers!

Stay Safe! Stay Healthy! God Bless!

India has been under lockdown for the last 5 days. Mental stability and keeping a cool head during a crisis is very important. These are difficult times, more so because we have never been through a crisis of this magnitude during our lifetimes. Some of us might have heard stories about World War II and other epidemics decades back but we never faced them. So its quite normal for human beings to get frustrated in the current scenario. Social media and 24/7 news is not good. Too much of negative news wreck havoc with your mental balance. So its better to keep away from such negative thoughts.
In the last 2 decades of my corporate life and specially in the last 10 years, I have heard multiple people say that they are compromising their family life for a great future for their children. Its also true that our daily commute from office to work and vice versa takes a lot of time. COVID-19 is a precarious situation for the mankind and for a country like India where there is no social security, its a big economic disruption for lakhs of people in this country. But, this current lockdown has multiple positives as well if we stop thinking too much ahead of time.
First things first, its important to stay positive. Don’t look or think far ahead and neither start a countdown to 14th April because the lockdown period can invariably increase if new COVID-19 positive cases doesn’t stop. Hence, treat it as a problem which we all will overcome one day but don’t keep a target date because otherwise frustration will increase. Treat each day as a new day and go ahead with your daily activities. I would like to talk a little bit here about Stockdale Paradox which I read in the book called, Good to Great by Jim Collins. You can read more about James Stockdale, on whom Jim Collins based his theory, here. James Stockdale was a Prisoner of War between 1965 to 1973 in Vietnam. James Stockdale and his wife later wrote a book, called, In Love and War. After reading this book and understanding the level of distress and torture that Admiral James Stockdale went through during his period as a POW, Jim Collins met him and here is a small snippet of their discussion:
“If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did you deal with it when you were actually there and did not know the end of the story?” – Jim asked.
“I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.
“Who didn’t make it out?”
“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”
“The optimists? I don’t understand,” I said, now completely confused, given what he’d said a hundred meters earlier.
“The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”
This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
So in a nutshell. Stockdale Paradox means, “you must retain faith that you will prevail in the end and you must also confront the most brutal facts of your current reality.”
Naturally with lockdown in place, one can’t go out of home other than purchasing essential items which might be once in 3 days. So, its important to break up your day in parts and start doing things which you were unable to do in your busy schedules.

1. Exercise Daily
2. Chat incessantly with your family
3. Play with your kids
4. Read Books or participate in webinars
5. Pick up new skills.
6. Help out your spouse in the kitchen or other daily chores.
7. Put some extra effort in your work because you are working from home.
8. Listening to songs or watching movies.
9. Call your friends and talk with them.
10. Start a new hobby or restart a hobby which you had as a child.

For me on a normal working day, I used to spend about 4 hours on the road (to and fro office). This current lockdown has turned out to be a huge time saver. Getting an extra 4 hours everyday is a blessing and it gives me immense pleasure to spend time with my kids. Walking and exercising with my son on the terrace in the mornings and playing ludo with my daughter in the evenings are specific highs for me in this lock down period. Seeing my kids excited to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with me everyday gives me a lot of happiness. I personally like to read a lot and this period is allowing me to do that. Similarly I love to write and I am having enough time to think and write on various topics.
So friends, lets realise that we are locked down for a significant amount of time. We all have a lot of problems in life but right now we are fighting against an unknown enemy and whats most important is to win this battle first. Each and everyone will have difficulties in this lockdown, some less and some more but all are in some or the other kind of difficulty. As our honourable PM, Mr. Narendra Modi said, “Jaan hai toh Jahaan hai”, hence lets stay inside and utilise this time to the best of our abilities.
I will appreciate if you give me any ideas that you think I missed out of this post. Lets try and make this as interactive as possible!

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