Naduvula Konja Pakkatha Kaanom - Winning is not everything

   

     A 3200 KM bicycle race spanning 21 days. 22 Teams and more than 200 riders competing against each other. Tour de France is widely considered as the most demanding sporting event. Most of the cyclists dedicate their life for it. They prepare round the clock with this one event in mind. The Mountain stage is the most gruelling. Imagine riding up the mountains under pressure, chased by hundreds of competitors and cheered by fans. Tour de France is going on since 1903. The monumental race never caught my attention until a cancer survivor took the sport by storm winning ha-trick of titles.

    Frankly Tour de France hardly mattered for me. I used to engross myself following other sporting events Cricket and Tennis in particular. After his ha-trick of titles Hindu published an article highlighting Lance Armstrong's revival. It was inspirational. I made sure I kept myself updated about the Tour results thereafter. I rejoiced every time he wore the yellow jersey (the race leader of Tour de France wears yellow jersey while the stage winners wears green jersey). The respect for Armstrong kept growing. I was following my hero as he went on to win 7 titles on the trot.

    It was a really inspirational story. I was curious to know more about him. I grabbed a copy of his autobiography "It's not About the Bike, My Journey Back to Life". Its the same time we were building our new house and I lost the book while we were shifting.  I hardly finished 50 pages from the book and developed a strong sense of closure to know more about my hero. I kept on looking for the book but couldn't find it. Mean while Lance came back from retirement to compete again.

    By the time I located the book, Lance was stripped of  all his 7 titles and banned for life for doping. I refused to accept it until Lance himself confessed the same on Oprah Winfrey Show. For starters this may be just another news. Be noted that cycling is always under doping cloud, every year someone or other gets suspended for doping. That only reinforced my admiration for Lance. They couldn't beat him despite the extra mile they got by doping. Armstrong had been a hero for nearly 10 years and I invested lot of emotion on him. For me Armstrong's victory mattered more than Tour de France itself. How could he cheat millions like me making us believe he is a hero?  I felt devastated and took a while to accept the truth.

     The strong sense of closure I had to finish his book has now diminished. Yeah he won't include the doping part in his book and as I stare at the book now I can't help but tell myself:

                    "Naduvula Konja Pakkatha Kaanom"

Moral of the story: Winning is not everything. Armstrong went all out to create a level playing field for himself by cutting corners. No matter what we do in life, we need to answer our conscience. Armstrong could have done that. More importantly the message "Winning is not everything"  applies not just for the performers but for followers too.

   

      

One Hour Crush

Location - Chrompet bus stop

Date - 9-Mar-2012

Time: Around 7 PM

                                                   

A tired boy was returning home from college hostel after a hectic week. He was waiting for the connecting bus (M52) for about 45 mins and was getting increasingly frustrated. That is when a gorgeous looking homely girl appeared. She was dressed in a glorious White Salwar. Our boy cant help but to sight her without her knowledge. She came and sat at the very section where the boy was waiting. Having stood all the while, our boy sits carefully at an angle from where he could glance the girl. His heart started beating fast. He hoped that she would board the same bus as he and the bus would be delayed for some more time. Suddenly the wait is no longer frustrating. Every minute he turns his head left and right - left to sight the girl and right to see whether bus is coming. The scene continued for another 15 mins. 

Every other bus except the one the boy was waiting for passed. The girl didn't board any of them which convinced the boy that she also waits for M52. Is it going to be a Meghna - Surya first meeting in Vaaranam Ayiram kind of  thing, the boy wondered. The boy started day dreaming for a while which was halted briefly when the girl started running towards a bus. But the bus which came was a extension service of M52 which goes elsewhere. So she stopped and our boy was relieved. The girl sat again. And the same left right movement of his head continued this time though with an increased frequency - once every 30 seconds. He was loving every movement of hers, especially the way she adjust that single lock of hair that pops in front of her which she tries to rest on her ear. She was attending a phone call. There was no BGM or bell ringing like in movies. But the boy's MP3 player randomly played Oru ooril Azhagae azhage from the movie Kakka Kakka. The song was very apt for the occasion.

  

After a hour M52 appeared on boy's view. Convinced that the girl would board the same bus, our boy runs and manages to find a seat. The bus was already crowded. The boys starts a 360 degree search to find the girl. He managed to find the white salwaar. Our girl was still talking on the phone. Another guy attending the phone in front seat waived his hand towards our girl. They both cut the call, pat each other and sit on the same seat. Our boy was shell shocked. No thunder sounds. The boy's MP3 player was playing 'Marudhaani' from Sakkarakatti. Though it was one of his favorite songs he was humming a different one - 'Kaadhal Seidhaal Paavam' from Mounam Pesiyadhae.

P.S: Inspired by a true story and no guesses for who our boy was ;) No reels only feels :)

The curious case of Fan following

The topic is straight forward. Its a dossier inside my heart for quite a while now. It started from the time the film 7 AM Arivu released when actor Surya's body posture was compared to a undressed chicken. What followed was intense war of words between fans of all popular stars glorifying their own. Gone are the days when it happened only at the time of new movie releases when Kamal and Rajni fans fought to tie their star's banners or do Milk Abhishegam. Its the age of photoshop and  facebook. It doesn't require great skills to replace the boy's face in complan carton with Surya signifying that he is a dwarf.

What these people forget is that the director has a wonderful script for him with a producer to back up. And he gives his heart out performing. So what if he is dwarf? I feel its a strong marketing strategy to throw dung on the other stars in social media to promote the films of their own. Negativity publicity about each other is the order of the day. The more you damage the other film the better for your own to do well at the box office.

Ah ok, if I publish this blog just with case of Surya being insulted, there will be other fans who might feel offended that their star was the one who got more offended and I am sympathetic to Surya, so I must be a Surya fan. I dont associate myself with any of them. I appreciate good movies and stop with that. And I was not impressed when Ajith's belly was compared with Vijay's good structure either. Stars are not God. Cinema takes the next dimension when actors appear like boy next door. Why is it that we always want our hero to look good and the girl that he bangs into while moving in train must be a gorgeous one like a Hansika, Anushka or Sameera? 

People are pointing fingers at each other  like a child, "telling the other group started it and we wont give in without a fight." As a regular user of social media one cant help but getting exposed to all these war of words which at time is so undiplomatic. After all movies are meant to entertain us and relieve our stress and negative emotions. Is that what really happening these days? We pay 90 bucks to watch the movie. Producers are trustees of our money. They collect our money and distribute to the parties involved in the movie who entertain us in return. It ends there. Where is the place for emotions beyond the screens?

Why is it that we expect our stars to jump into politics, do social service, fight injustice, etc? The fact that someone voices for a social cause or does something  good must by no means make us feel proud to associate with him.We can rather sponsor the education of a child than studying about a cine star distributing free notebooks and feeling good about him.Why are we giving them a larger than life image? Why is the fanfare blinding and tieing our senses? Its time we appreciate all good movies, enjoy our self and see stars as mortals and just another human being.Most importantly be responsible users of social media and not being a part or victim of this negative publicity.


There are 1001 things to worry about. Our stars are going to make money no matter what. Time is so precious. Why waste it in unnecessary gratification that leads us no where. What if Mr.A or Mr.B is numero uno in the industry. What mileage does that give us?

P.S: The views expressed are my personal and not meant to hurt anybody. I'm sorry if it does so. 

Arindhum Ariyamalum & My Grandpa

Writing this blog while I am watching the movie Arindhum Ariyamalum on TV. Good movie it is and I have seen it many times. It's a movie etched in my memory for wrong reasons though. It is best remembered for my troublesome childhood. During his last few years my Grand Father was mostly bedridden and he became a regular viewer of some of the dumbest TV serials (which I thought to be dumb and he didn't). One fine day this movie happened to be the Week End evening movie on Sun TV. I liked the songs very much and couldn't wait to watch the movie on TV. The movie started and my grandpa too watched along with me. I was totally gripped with the movie when to my surprise Grandpa asked me to swap channel during climax to DD to watch Chitti (Yes the very Chitti which was aired previously in Sun TV). I hesitated and he raised his voice in anger. I had to give up eventually and was angry with him for few weeks. These days when I watch the same movie I badly regret for the same. I realize I could have made him happy then. I never apologized to him for my bad behavior. I have realized my arrogance. I would love to tell him 'I'm sorry'. He is no more. He is a great man and realized his values and significance more in his absence than presence. I'm sorry thatha...

MBA and Work Experience - Its a wonder what goes into an MBA

It’s a very tricky question. Why we go for MBA and when is the right time to go for an MBA? I remember my brother's words, “There is no course on earth that can put you in a difficult situation by its own. The very matter a course exists on large scale is a testimony to the fact that demand does exist for the course. A course does not make you employable overnight. It’s your application that leads you to success". Words of wisdom from a man with rich experience. But I believe his words represent an idealistic state. On superficial grounds, very few can reach such a state. Practically people do believe a lot in the course they choose and expect it to do a lot of good for them post completion.

In response to the big question Why and When for an MBA, my response would be on diplomatic grounds, "It all depends on your aspirations and preparedness. Moreover there cannot be a generalized answer for the question. It’s something everyone has to ask themselves and some soul searching is needed". Work experience will equip you with necessary insight which with proper application on learning can make you a better MBA student and much better Manager at latter stage. Now, I'm not tending to say that people with work experience enjoy a monopoly over fresh students or only managers with MBA are bound to succeed. For people with work experience, opting for MBA will bring down the steep slope of learning curve and possibly transform you from unidimesional to multidimensional. For freshers, if you are willing to put the necessary hard work and go the extra mile you can very well nullify that gap. It all depends on what you want from the program. You got to conceptualize class room learning with actual reality in corporate life and keep you updated. If the interest fades then it’s just another PG degree and 2 years of your life. Remember the opportunity cost of an MBA. Honestly MBA is like starring a beautiful Women's portrait. If you look at it as one that could benefit you at the end of 2 years it will and if not it won't. Remember Monalisa :D

 

The word preparedness is the key. I came with good work experience behind me after learning some critical skills on the job. People do ask why then an MBA after a long gap:

1. I wanted to back the skill with knowledge. I had a feeling that learning different facets of a manager on the job takes a lot of time. It might get unidimesional at times. The learning depends on various factors like the business you are in, the boss, the team you work for, etc. 

2. I thought some Team Management Experience would be an invaluable asset before opting for an MBA program. You can correlate whatever taught with practical experience rather than just assuming how an organization works. It gives an opportunity to learn the difficulties of subordinates in a much better way. I always believe that makes the difference between a good and effective manager.

3. Learning on the job without knowledge to back up can be a lengthy process and mistakes can prove costly:  

a) I still remember how I tried too hard in making those beautiful presentations and drilling down the data. Good Statistical knowledge is an asset for any manager. Accuracy becomes critical here. Frequently changing an already published data will create negative impression on customers. Now as I learn Statistics, I get a good idea on areas I need to work on and where I need to be careful about and learn better ways of doing the same thing. Work experience is a very big plus here.

b) The first thing I realized after the Economic class, “Why the hell this subject is not taught at lower levels in school and comes only as a specialization?" Such a wonderful subject and its pure common sense. I always felt taking accounts group after class 10 will make us an accountant. I ended up studying science that in an essence took me far away from the day to day life. What’s funny in studying about time travel without knowing how our economy works and what governs our choices? Corporate experience helps one connect more with subject especially on aspects of resource allocation. 

c) Needless to say accounting knowledge at least basic level is essential for everyone. It’s a sin to have reserved to it only as a specialization subject at school level. I am no expert in accounts but after studying the subject I understood how better organized I need to be in recording basic facts. I am still running and hitting the wall harder to understand accounts. I am confident of breaking the wall one day.

d) Quality subject is again common sense. At job you open a specific software or website, key in the number of defects against opportunities and arrive at sigma score. That gives an indication on how well the team or organization is performing. Below a particular score you get red and that would raise a few eyebrows. While in the course you learn it in depth. It’s far more fascinating and gives a better insight while we connect the learning with what we did blindly on the job. And I understood the scope for improvement and things done on the job.

e) Legal Aspects of Business reminds the Spider man dialogue.  It's as if you've reached the unreachable and you weren't ready for it." 

The subject is so good when you are in the class at the same time when you open the book for exams you see there are hell a lot of things to remember and you start feeling you are not ready for it. You feel stronger and weaker at the same time :D But it does equip you with several things needed at latter part of your life as a Manager/Entrepreneur. Gradually I am realizing that though you can’t remember everything taught in the class, you can get the gist of it and while you run/work in a firm you know where to look for details. Law is commonsense again and helps you develop a strong reasoning skill. 

f) One subject that excites me the most in MBA is Organization Behavior. I must admit we were prescribed a wonderful textbook written by Stephen Robbins. I have a strong feeling that it must be made a bible for People Managers. Needless to say it’s very closely related to corporate life which people with genuine work experience like me would relish.

So what is the conclusion? Ask yourself and get the answers. Whatever it may be, please don’t look back after joining the course. Commit as much mistakes as you could and learn the maximum here. Because once you are into job you will be under the scanner every time. Corporate world expects a lot from an MBA and you are required to be excellent in whatever you do and inspire your team to greater heights.

As one of my teachers said, “Treat these 2 years as a rehearsal for rest of your managerial job.” How true...

 P.S: It's my first blog and I understand I expressed a lot. Will make my best efforts to cut short while writing the subsequent blogs. Thanks for reading.