"...dedication ho toh iske jaisa..."

"...dedication ho to iske jaisa..."

...said the leader, putting both his hands on the guy's shoulders. ["One should be as dedicated as him"] Let's call this guy Ahmed & the leader....erm, Gabbar.

It was a Monday. Gabbar had called for a meeting. He was one of those kinds who loved a big cabin with a lot of white boards. For every small thing, a meeting was called. Everyone had to sit & brainstorm about something or other. Gabbar would take notes on the 4 white boards and, at the end of it, take snaps of the art using his phone.  

He started the meeting by talking about how a situation had come up over the weekend in which he & Ahmed spent the Sunday in the office. "I needed one of you to come. I called up Ahmed coz I know he is very helpful & I could bank on him." he said, adding what I quoted above. Ahmed was a nice guy. Very humble, very helpful. The go-to person for everyone.

We had a five-day work week, but Gabbar loved going to the office every Saturday too. Ahmed started visiting the office every Saturday for a few hours as well. This, after working till 9-9.30 pm often.

One Friday morning, Ahmed walked into the office dressed up nicely. A brand new classy blue shirt & his favourite jeans. "Birthday hai kya?" asked one of the friends. "Nahi re, it's my parents' wedding anniversary. I am treating them today. First time since I started earning." he said, with his wide & humble smile.

Gabbar called us for a meeting at 6 pm. The clock touched 6.30 and we signalled Ahmed to leave. Ahmed behaved as if we did not exist in the room. Around 7.15, one guy gathered courage & said out loud "Arre Ahmed, you had to leave early for your parents' anniversary dinner right?" Ahmed just smiled. "Wish them on my behalf too Ahmed" said Gabbar with a wide grin. "But on Fridays all the restaurants are packed. I suggest you take them out for a lavish lunch tomorrow at a nice place, instead. Or do you need to leave now?" asked Gabbar, looking at one of the white boards. "No Sir, I'll wait,'' replied Ahmed, still smiling. The meeting continued for another 40 odd minutes. 

One day, Ahmed did not turn up at work. One became three. We then found out that Ahmed had been diagnosed with very high blood pressure along with some other heart related ailments. Stress was blamed for his condition. Ahmed did not report to work for another week. "Ahmed is a strong guy, he will be back with a bang soon,'' said Gabbar in one of the meetings. Ahmed resigned 4 days later, requesting to be relieved immediately. He took a 3 month break to recover from his ill health. After 3 more months, he was able to land a new job.

Last week I bumped into Ahmed (and that's why this incident came to my mind). "How's work & life?" I asked. "Dono ekdum mast" ["both are good"] he replied, flashing the same humble yet wide smile, just as a little girl came running from behind, holding a stick loaded with vibrant pink cotton candy, staring cautiously at the stranger that was talking to her dad...

Alt text

𝗔𝗹𝘁 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁. The provision that needs more awareness and use. 

Also referred to as an alt description or an alt attribute, alt text is critical for those with disabilities because it describes the function and appearance of a photo or graphic they cannot see. For the last couple of years, I have been trying to add alt texts to all the images I share with my posts on #LinkedIn. I am aware some of my connections use screen reader software and I need to write better alt texts to be more #inclusive. While I have so far only used it on #LinkedIn , yesterday I realized I need to start using it on all platforms and pages that I publish on. 

Yesterday #NASA posted a beautiful image of galaxies never seen before. While looking at it on #Twitter, I wondered what they had added in the Alt text for the image. On reading the alt text I realised how beautifully they have described the image and, as a result, I went about checking the alt text of all their images shared yesterday. Great work by the #NASA communications team in ensuring these spectacles are savoured by those who have visual disabilities. 

Infact, #Leena Nair, CEO of CHANEL always goes a step ahead and adds her alt texts in the post body just at the end.

Do you use Alt Text while sharing images on social media? If not, today is a good day to start being more #Inclusive .

[While I am able to add alt text to all social media pages, am yet to figure how to add it to this blog.]

"...time hi nahi mila..."

"...time hi nahi mila..."

Simran : Did you do book your routine medical check-up?

Raj : Nahi yaar, time hi nahi mila...

Simran : Did you research about that health/life insurance policy you need to buy?

Raj : Kahaan yaar, itna time kiske paas hai...

Simran : What about that course to upskill?

Raj : Course wourse ke liye time nahi hai...

Simran : What about visiting the bank to foreclose that loan?

Raj : Maybe next month, abhi ye sab ke liye time nahi hai...

Simran : Did you take the kid's watch to the repair shop?

Raj : Let's just order a new one online, market jaane ka time nahi hai...

Simran : What about joining that gym you've been talking about?

Raj : Kaam itna hai aajkal, gym jaane ka time kiske pass hai?

Simran : How many books did you read in 2022?

Raj : Office aur ghar ke kaam se fursat mile tab na...

Simran : Car servicing was due last month, send it this weekend!

Raj : Ye weekend bilkul time nahi hai...

Simran : Last day to pay school fees is tomorrow!

Raj : Okay, kal I will pay, aaj time nahi hai...

Simran : Did you call your brother to wish him for his birthday?

Raj : Subah se time hi nahi mila aaj...

Simran : Were you able to crack the Wordle today? I get to learn so many new words by playing it daily!

Raj : Haven't played it for past 3 days, time hi nahi mila...

Simran : Did you read that story posted by Jimish yesterday?

Raj : That dude writes very lengthy stories, itne lambe posts padhne ka mere pass time nahi hai...

Simran : Btw, the latest season of Game Of Thrones dropped. Lets watch an episode daily?

Raj : It was mind blowing! I binged the whole season yesterday night 🤟

For those not well versed with Hindi, all of Raj's responses indicate he does not get the time to complete those tasks. Perhaps we all have given such a response atleast once in the recent past. Was it really about lack of time? Maybe we could have done that task had we prioritized it over other trivial tasks (like infinitely scrolling on social media for example). I guess it almost always is about prioritization and not time.

Social media addiction often makes us lose sight of our productivity & goals. Monitoring screen (& apps) time is definitely a good start to realize the extent of the rot. Enable and start tracking it right away if you don't. 

"Time nahi mila" is the biggest & most frequent lie we so often tell ourselves (& others) without realizing it. I wanted to write about this since the last 14 days, but till this moment, time hi nahi mila....

"...this tailor dude charges so much! Pakka he must have built a nice bungalow in his village..."

"...this tailor dude charges so much! Pakka he must have built a nice bungalow in his village..." 

...I told my wife, as I was leaving yesterday evening to visit him. This tailor sits in a small lane with his sewing machine. Lets call him Prabhu.

Prabhu is very talented. He has been operating from the same location for the last 30+ years. He looked 25 then, he looks 30 now, if you discount the salt and pepper look he sports. The guy is very jolly and always smiling. I have been visiting him since I was 10. First, with my elder sisters whenever they had to get some alterations done and then for the wife's requirements over the last decade. Yesterday, it was to get my daughter's jeans altered. 

Prabhu asked me to wait for 10 min. Having nothing to do, I realized how little I knew about this bloke I have been meeting for over 30 years. So I decided to strike up a conversation. 

"Bhai, you always work till late daily. Don't think you leave before 11 pm any day! Doesnt your wife get annoyed?" I enquired, cheekily. "Sir, my wife passed away a few years back" he looked up at me with a sad smile and continued to push the piece of cloth under the rattling needle. I felt my foot in my mouth and went speechless for the next few seconds, not knowing what to say next. 

After a pause, I tried asking a neutral question. "Do you stay alone here then?" "I have a daughter. My mother looks after her. I come to work around noon, so I see her in the mornings. By the time I am home, she is in bed." he said, as he picked up a brown thread and passed it through the needle hole effortlessly in the first attempt like a magician. "That's nice, I have a daughter too,'' I said. "By the way, I have never seen you missing from work except for Mondays (the weekly off here). Don't you take a break to go out with your daughter and mom on some trips?" I asked. "I am burdened with a huge debt sir. Providing for my daughter's education and my mom's medical needs is all I can think of,'' he said, as I shifted my gaze towards the box of colorful threads, with my other foot squarely in my mouth as well now. In the background, I continued to hear the sewing machine needle at work. Piercing the jeans on the sewing board and piercing the presumptuous thoughts in my mind with equal intensity.

- There are people who are always positive and smiling and there are people who are always grumpy and negative. Perhaps both kinds may be fighting their personal battles, but the former are very good at maintaining a happy facade - a great capability.

- Asking questions for the heck of starting a conversation isn't always a great idea. Questions like "Aren't you married?" "Dont you have kids?" can be so inappropriate besides the ones I asked.

- It takes such experiences for us to realize that sometimes we aren't grateful enough for what we have. #Gratitude.

"He doesn't have a bungalow in the village, I was wrong..." I told the wife after reaching home...

"..Guys, I am f%#@&.."

"...guys, I am *&?%₹#... I am unable to withdraw my money..." 

... posted a guy in one of my WhatsApp groups earlier today.

If you are on Instagram, you will see influencers ( atleast the moral ones ) use these #Hashtags - #ad #collab #paidpartnership whenever they promote or collaborate - basically making money from the promotion. It is a very transparent way of doing business. Your followers know you are paid to promote the product/service. 

Cut to LinkedIn/Facebook. You will see a lot of influencers posting epic shit and opening their wisdom hatches about how to make money via stocks & cryptos and how investing in FDs is a cardinal sin ( which our fathers and forefathers committed ). Yet, they will never once disclose that they are promoting something they are paid to promote. "10 apps I use the most" they will post and sneak in the 1 app that has paid them to make that post. "7 ways to make 15% per annum with ease" they will say, while a lot of their own money is locked away in fixed deposits and liquid funds.

- Be careful about who you follow 

- Be careful about what you believe about the content the folks you follow publish

- Be careful about the fake empathy/sympathy posts they will make over the next few months as things start cracking.

The job of an influencer is to influence, so you can't blame them. How much do we get influenced is a reflection of our gullibility. 

"....kya be chakke..."

"...kya bey chakke..." 

...screamed Johnny Lever, about 12-13 times in the entire movie, leaving the audience in the theatre in splits each time.

It was 2001 and the movie was Nayak. Johnny Lever, being the great that he is, ensured laughs came through in the otherwise heavy movie. His character was scripted to yell out "Kya bey chakke" as a reflex action each time someone poked a finger at him. For those who do not know the Hindi term, it is loosely used to refer to the members of the transgender community.

Back then, the term "chakka" was often used in a derogatory way, often used to mock/insult someone. While we all laughed our hearts out each time Johnny Lever screamed that line, over 20 years later, I realized how inappropriate it was – to consider it funny, to accept the usage of the word ( as an insult or otherwise ), to be insensitive towards the non-binary gender.

I recalled this movie and Johnny Lever's character while listening to Kalki Subramaniam a while back, during the webinar hosted by my employer as part of the #PRIDE month initiatives. Kalki is a transgender rights activist, among other things. While she had a lot of things to share, here are a few: 

- at the age of 12-13 there was intense trauma between my authentic self and my physical self

- was born as a boy & came out at 13 and the family could not understand

- told mom I wanted to grow up as a woman & eventually the family accepted

- family acceptance was of most important

- Most trans people are begging because they have been abandoned by their family

- some land up in sex work due to exploitation

- faced a lot of bullying and shaming throughout, especially in college. 

- In the Mahabharata, Arjun was a trans for 1 year -taught martial arts and dance to a prince

- the presence of trans members in Mahabaratha/Ramayana and other mythology shows we were always a part of the society

- joined an IT firm and saved money for my gender transition.

- I feel I was privileged as I was accepted by family and was independent

- we have a lot of anger built up but I channeled the anger I had within into art/creativity – to make a change, you need to be the change

- role model is Sridevi

- love writing poetry

- corporates need to ensure they develop a safe environment for trans coworkers

- treat us as fellow-human, fellow-employee and not a transgender

- people still comment about my voice, not realizing I like the way I sound

- people say I don’t look like a transgender and look like a real woman – it is stereotyping and not a compliment

My takeaway - If they are not unkind to you, there is no reason to be unkind to them or dislike them. They deserve to be treated as you would like to be treated by others!

"...there is no green tea in the pantry..."

"...there is no green tea in the pantry..." 

...declared one of the leaders. I was very surprised. Such small things were never an issue because we always had adequate running stock of all office and pantry items.

But here is the other side of the story - the supply side story.

"...we are unable to send people to all our sites due to a surge in active machines. We also are not getting supplies on time." says the coffee vending machine vendor.

"...we are replacing your relationship manager that replaced the prior relationship manager replacing the one before that...sorry, too much attrition and hence the drop in response time and service levels..." says the account manager of our mobile telephony partner.

"...we are finding it difficult to replace the resigned staff and our systems are undergoing a change. Cards will be delayed..." says the corporate credit card RM.

"...many drivers never came back post the pandemic. The waiting time for new cars is too high, so we do not have enough cars or drivers to serve you seamlessly...also - we need that hefty hike we've been requesting as fuel is expensive and drivers are now demanding more money.." says the cab agency.

"...we are short staffed for the sudden surge in travel demand, please bear with delays..." says the air travel partner. I am sure everyone is aware of the long VISA delays (due to a spike in demand) as announced by VFS.

"...we are struggling with staff and stock availability..." says the vendor of a snack vending machine.

"...Sir, I am personally delivering orders now as my labour keeps running away.." says the stationary vendor.

Due to the gradual return to the office this year, there is a surge in demand for everything and the supply side is struggling to cater to the demand - be it the smallest bread/butter vendor or be it the high-flying travel/credit card partner. Everyone is struggling with the double whammy of manpower/labour shortage and a rise in input costs. Outcome - Organizations are having to shell out more for services that aren't yet up to par with pre-pandemic times.

Hats off to all the facility management & admin staff across all offices everywhere. At first, they were entrusted with keeping the offices safe during the raging covid waves and now are hustling and juggling multiple vendors to try and keep their colleagues insulated from these supply side pangs as much as possible. All of this with a smile on their face.

By the way, how many of us know April 21st is celebrated as Administrative Professionals' Day? I did not. 

Cheers to all the admin/facility management folks out there. Keep rocking!