Tumse hi...Tumse hi

Everytime I hear the song "tumse hi tumse hi", a very strong emotion takes me over. It is a little sad and nostalgic but very haunting. I just cant get away from the tune and the song. Here are the lyrics. Its from the movie "Jab we met" starring Shahid and Kareena.

na hai yeh pana, na khona hi hai
tera na hona jane, kyun hona hi hai
tum se hi din hota hai, surmaiye shaam aati, tumse hi, tumse hi
har ghadi saans aati hai, zindagi kehlati hai, tumse hi, tumse hi
na hai yeh pana, na khona hi hai
tera na hona jane, kyun hona hi hai

aankhon mein ankhein teri, bahoon mein baahein teri
mera na mujhmein kuch raha, hua kya
baaton mein baatein teri, raatein saugatein teri
kyun tera sab yeh ho gaya, hua kya
main kahin bhi jata hoon, tumse hi mil jata hoon, tumse hi, tumse hi
shoor mein khamoshi hai, thodi si behoshi hai, tum se hi, tum se hi

aadha sa wada kabhi, aadhe se jayada kabhi
jee chaahe kar lu is tarah wafa ka
chhode na chhoote kabhi, tode na tute kabhi
jo dhaga tumse jud gaya wafa ka
main tera sarmaya hoon, jo main ban paya hoon, tumse hi, tumse hi
raaste mil jaate hai, manzile mil jaati hai, tumse hi, tumse hi
na hai yeh paana, na khona hi hai
tera na hona jaane kyun hona hi hai

Mentoring

At work you will meet two kinds of managers. Those that mentor and those that dont. I think there are huge advantages to mentoring and hope that the day will soon arrive when every person has a mentor.

A mentor is a midway position between a boss and a teacher. It is someone who helps more by way of example. (s)he should be able to manage people well and supervise their work to see if they are on the right track. Just delegating the work and following up to check on the closure status is not the same. You need to be involved, have the necessary know-how and be ready to help out if required.

Another important aspect of mentoring is for the mentor to have an open mind in disseminating knowledge. Don't treat the tricks you have learnt as a top secret, share your expertise with the mentee. It is good to see someone following in your footsteps or even taking after you!

Having good listening skills are also a must. As a mentor, you should not only listen, but also be able to understand the situation. You should never be overbearing or make your advice mandatory. Give the person room to disagree, your role is just to provide helpful suggestions not to enforce them.

As a mentor you should have excellent interpersonal skills. A wide range of experience can make you an interesting person to be with and to learn from. A good knowledge of the world and the way things work is necessary if you want people to look up to you.

Successful mentoring can bring about a drastic change in organisational working and culture. It can encourage new aspirants and minimise corporate jealousies thus making way for an open atmosphere where learning abounds both for the experienced and inexperienced alike.

The MMTS option

I've decided to give a try to the more greener and stress free MMTS mode of travel to and from office. Today was the first day of the experiment. I have taken a one month pass between Secunderabad and Lingampally. Irrespective of the time of the day it takes about 1 1/2 hrs. I am planning to take an auto to the Secunderabad station, MMTS from there to Lingampally and the office shuttle from the station to office. The time for the train journey is about 45 mins, 15 mins for the shuttle to office, 10 mins to the station from home and rest is transition and waiting time.

Its not a bad option when compared with the driving to work option, where the stress of driving in Hyderabad's traffic is killing! Time wise mornings are worse off compared to driving but evenings are on par or better. The real advantage though is the stress factor and I hope the energy I conserve through the MMTS option can be focused on other more important things.

Hyderabad's new airport

The new airport at Hyderabad is commencing operation from today. Ashwin is traveling to Pune today and he has the unique opportunity of using the airport on the very first day of its operation.

To me decision of closing down the Begumpet airport and moving all operations to the new airport smells fishy. While I am not against the starting of the new airport, I dont see any logic behind closing down the old airport and shifting all operations to the new airport. The civil aviation ministry and state government together should have put the necessary infrastructure in place before taking such a drastic decision. The commute time to the new airport from the center of the city is anywhere between 1 1/2 to 3 hrs depending on the traffic situation. Also, the cost of operating out of the new airport is much more for the airlines (and ultimately the customer), than out of Begumpet.

Inspite of some airlines and the public asking for the older airport to be kept open for some more time or for operation of some of the low cost airlines, the decision was still made (in haste) to move all operations to the new airport. Obviously someone in the ministry has vested interests and this kind of blatant biasing is still not being checked in this day and age!

Healthy babyfood recipe - Ragi Soup

We have started Ahan on a healthy homemade recipe of Ragi soup in addition to boiled apples and ripe bananas. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:
Ragi flour
Water/ milk

Procedure:
1. Sieve ragi flour through a muslin cloth. You can tie a muslin cloth to a container (not too tightly) and pour the powder on it little by little. Collect the powder in the container that has passed through the cloth. The powder that remains on the cloth needs to be discarded. You may use it for adults, but it shouldn't be used for babies.
2. Take a teaspoonful of this powder in a glass, and add a little water to make a paste without lumps. Then add 3/4 glass of water or milk and make a thin solution.
3. Heat this solution on low fire. Bring it to a boil. Keep stirring. As you keep boiling and stirring, the colour of the solution will change slightly indicating that it is done. You can continue to boil till the desired consistency is reached.

Feed the baby this soup when it is lukewarm. Initially you can begin with a thin solution and slowly increase the thickness of the soup as the baby grows up and gets used to it.

Who gets the credit?

One of the most important aspects of managing a team is recognizing the contributions of the team and sharing credit appropriately. Responsibility and accountability comes from owning the mistakes and failures and not hogging the credit on successes.

It is of paramount importance that the team never gets a feeling that the manager or senior management is not fair in all transactions. One often sees managers socializing based on gender, culture or other interests and it is very important that this be controlled. I remember an episode from the TV serial "Friends" where Rachael takes up smoking to be around with the Boss because her boss and her colleague (who both smoke), keep taking all the decisions when they are at the smoking lounge. I am sure we all have witnessed this in some form or the other at our place of work.

There is no doubt that the manager, being at the helm of the team is the one who is responsible for everything that the team does. (S)he owns the successes as well as the failures, but it is alarming to see managers take responsibility only for the success and point to others when there is failure! Worst still is pointing to the team for the failures, then working with them to fix the failure and take the entire credit for the success!

Ahan starts on solid food

Yesterday, at all of 5 months and 10 days, for the first time Ahan tasted food other than his mother's milk. Anand was in Hyderabad on his way to Dubai and it seemed as if everything came up aligned for this. Geeta had checked with the paediatrician earlier in the day about starting Ahan off on other foods and he was all for it. Ahan too has been showing inclination to eat for the past couple of weeks when he accompanied us at the dinner table. With the "mama" at Hyderabad it was the opportune time.

After much discussion and debate over what to start with, I won (for once) and we gave him some boiled apple. I thought it was better to start off with natural and fresh food when compared to packaged food like Cerelac.

Ahan enjoyed every moment of the first "dinner" he had! He attacked the spoon with gusto and was even ready to eat straight from the bowl! It was good to see him enjoy his food and I am glad we started it when he was ready for it.

IT IS NOT EASY

To Apologize
To begin over
To admit error
To take advise
To keep trying
To face a sneer
To be unselfish
To be charitable
To avoid mistakes
To be considerate
To endure success
To keep out of a rut
To forgive and forget
To profit by mistakes
To think and then act
To subdue an unruly temper
To make the best of little
To shoulder a deserved blame
To recognize the silver lining

BUT IT ALWAYS PAYS