Reflections

THE CHARACTERS Sundeep Srivastava : Anything Goes Swaminathan : Mr Ethical - Smart, Intelligent, Sharp and Straight Kalpana : Mrs Swami, and his biggest support Natasha : Mrs Sundeep, mature and balanced Aditya : The Real Kingmaker  Naresh : The string puller, unscrupulous and unstrustworthy THE PLOT If God Was A Banker is a story of 2 methods - ethical results vs results by any means, and acts as a salutary warning to all corporate honchos as to what can happen if things go awry. This is a tale of Corporate India, where one needs a Guide or Mentor who watches over you, and gives you the opportunity and chances to grow. It is a tale of your choices, and how you use the chances your mentor provides you to make your own life and career. It is a tale of character and internal priorities, weaknesses and value systems - and how you adjust these value systems to the external realities.  It is a tale of 2 friends and their spouses, and the story ...

Author : P. R. Ganapathy The Author is a former management executive, having held leadership positions in India and the US. He now supports entrepreneurs working to alleviate the problems of the poor THE CHARACTERS Rohit Gaekwad : Lover, brat and an idiot in that order. Unfortunately for India, also PM-designate Sunaina Gaekwad : Disillusoned Pavithra Munjal : Sunaina's duaghter - nondescript, but beware! Vikram Munjal : Swine - of the first order Varun Mathai : Troubleshooter with a... well, lets keep this a secret, shall we? Pushpinder Singh : Minister, and invisible... Anwar Islam : War Hero, indebted to another... Colonel Gupta : War Hero, and a Hero, Period.  DIG Karandikar : A rarity - a police officer with a conscience. Also smart. Very Smart Indeed THE PLOT The book centers around a political family : one matriarch, and her son and daughter. The son is slated to become PM, but is just not interested in politics. He further wants to migr...

The Second Book Featuring Mehrunissa Khosa By Manreet Sodhi Someshwar THE CHARACTERS Mehrunissa Khosa - Art Historian, Intelligent, Resourceful, with a troubled past RP Singh - Sr CP, Police, straight but tough, with a deep and silent passion for Mehru Raghav - Quintessential straight tough cop Mystery Guy - Find out who in the novel. Cant say more! Babur Khan - Also a mystery. American Muslim, Ex-US Army, but a terrorist. Methinks we might meet him again... Jag Mishra - RAW boss. And a raw boss, if you can get a dual application of terms For me, this was the most awaited book of this year. And to cut a long story short, it was worth it. And in more ways than one. A book which, to me, conclusively establishes Mrs Manreet's credentials in the .fiction world. A book which is a let-down in one way, but a huge, huge positive in another. A let down since you expected another chase through clues and hints - a-la Dan Brown; but a huge positive since you are tre...

Book Review : The War Ministry By Krishan Partap Singh This is the third and concluding book of the Raisina Series; and is the best of the lot. The journey, begun at a steady pace in Book One (Young Turks), and ably supported by the absorbing but different book Two (Delhi Durbar) is taken to a crescendo, a rapid and heady speed that will leave you in awe of the writer’s skills in terms of penning words as well as his understanding of international and Indian political realities and byplays. This current book is the fastest paced among the three, the most enthralling as well as the most engaging book of the entire series. As you close the book, you are left wanting for more,  alongwith a tinge of sadness that never again will you have the pleasure of wondering what happens next to Azim, Karan and Raj… For those new to the series, the main characters are:  Azim Khan : Steady, Ambitious, Idealistic Yet Practical, Patriot with a dream Major Karan Nehru : Karg...

The trend in Employee - Organisation relationships, as brought out in a few recent surveys, shows a majority of the employees are not engaged with the organisation; that the dissatisfaction levels are very high. Alongside this fact is the lament - or statement from organisations that they are making the organisation more employee friendly. And yet, there is no discernible impact on dissatisfaction levels in general - which are, if anything - rising.  Reason for that is not one single attempt has dealt with the core issue/s at hand – why are the employees dissatisfied? Why are they disengaged? In my experience no one has even tried to attempt this. As a result, the efforts at engagement are centering around employee activities, rewards and recognition, feel-good programmes, dress-up and dress-down days, cafeteria enhancements, remuneration and emoluments, Saturday half-days which are applicable only to the HO, Gift programmes, intranet links and mailers, parties etc. Not one o...

The Quit India Movement - The Background The Quit India movement was carried out in the backdrop of a rapid escalation in tensions - both with the british, and societal communal tension. Also in the background was American pressure against The British to free India,  as well as the increasing tensions caused by an attack by Japan. On top of all this came the Cripps Mission - which no nationalist would accept in his right mind. None except Jinnah, that is.  By April 1942, it was looking as if the British would lose the war; they were under severe strain across the entire spectrum of WW2. Japan was already knocking on India's gates, while Malaya was lost, with a humuliating British withdrawal. Everywhere one looked, from an Indian standpoint, defeat had seemed imminent. The Empire had never looked as weak as it did then The was moving hand-in-hand with the the increasing anger in the people, as wartime restrictions began to impact the people - in a war that was bas...

It is a commonly held notion - by almost every section of our society - that English is a key to success - at least in Corporate India; that English education (especially the Public School variety, or the convent variety) is a pre-requisite. It is thought that English is a basic quality that is the key to unlocking doors as well as understanding complicated concepts and acquiring advanced skills. The importance of English, thus, is thought to be both in unlocking further doors, as well as acquiring skills that enable a person to succeed in life.  Fine, List functions, roles, specific KRAs in your experience where English is mission critical - that cannot be outsourced to the secretarial staff. List the languages used in the normal course of business. Most of the times, it is a mix of local and English! So why the hullabuloo regarding English? And as regards English... who needs English? In 14 years, I am yet to conduct a single business deal in English. 14 years and 10 m...

I am a corporate guy, with experience in teaching MBA classes as well . And I categorically state: there is no skill gap. The only gap is in our approach, at least in the general sense of the term. What is the difference between the 2 statements - Skill Gap and Approach? When you say Gap, the onus is on the student; when you say approach - YOU are the culprit. This is not splitting hairs, this is the core issue. You say students are not corporate-ready. Fine, Enumerate steps taken by your organisation to tackle this. And please dont list A-lister colleges. Till date, I have not seen a single corporate aligning with universities, If you cant get in, dirty your hands and solve it, stop crying and face the music! Do you seriously expect a greenhorn to come raring out and write perfect code? Do you seriously expect a greenhorn to come out raring and bribe a government babu with impunity? And dont tell me corporates dont bribe, please! Do you seriously expect a new guy fresh out of co...