The Moon

Jun30
We are getting serious in life. Our book value we hope that it will improve with this seriousness. All our life we have been meeting deadlines - initially for the fear of  being ticked off, then to prove our worth to our seniors ,thereafter to get home fast to spend time with a newly wedded wife sitting in a single room tenement staring at the four walls , working out the designs in the damp wall plaster.( no saying what the idle mind would be working on with nothing to do..-You didn't want a wife who was mad as a wet hen when you reached home after a particularly frustrating day at the office.

Later to get away from home and a whole gaggle of screaming kids ,Use the office as a reason to get away from home for some peace and quite- and since you were at office complete the task at hand as  there was nothing else to do. As we complete more than 30 yrs in service to the nation we work to prove our efficiency.We have run the gauntlet throughout our lives.

 Now at ASCI we were fodder for the cannon. Missing the swim time to complete a test with regard to our understanding the finances and  reading the balance sheets. One person who is under least pressure even after a time in the services is Himanshu or the moon. Like the moon he is cool and works well under pressure , does not lose patience ,handles classmates with aplomb AND more importantly his wife is far from home on foreign shores .What more can a man ask for?. and so when I asked him to contribute to the blog today he cheerfully acceded to do so even though the hour was late. I , along with all of you am very curious about what he will write..

Birth is our opening Balance

Death is our closing Balance

Prejudiced views our liabilities

Creative ideas are our assets

Heart is our current asset

Soul is our other asset

Brain is our fixed asset

Thinking is our current account

Achievements are our capital

Character & Morals, our stock in trade

Friends are our General reserves

Values, Behaviour are our Goodwill

Patience is our interest earned

Love is our Dividend

Children are our Capital work in progress

Education is brands/patents

Knowledge is our investment

Experience is our premium account

Aim is to tally the Balance sheet accurately

Goal is to pursue it actively.

The above poem (not my composition) sums up our understanding of the fundamentals of balance sheet ‘figuratively’. Professor M. Rafat’s brilliant insights into the world of finance and her tact of avoiding technical complexities wherever possible and giving detailed explanations and examples in simple terms precluded the possibility of us getting lost into the wilderness of numbers and jargons. Some aspects of finance can be daunting or pretty dry but the live examples used certainly adds to the ease of learning. Yesterday’s boxing bout turned into a friendly give and take, where the jabs instead knocked the concept straight into our nuts, resounding inside with a sense of achievement of treading the unknown terrain in in the dark. Finance can be a source of anguish  annoyance,fear headache and vexation - a somewhat tiresome subject for those who have no previous experience and for especially for people who belong to the armed cadre, as it is more complex than decrypting a cipher. But the fiery pugilist that she is, the onerous task of cementing the building blocks was successful with an assignment to ‘cure the newly laid bricks’. Post lunch, as always, Hypnos the god of sleep beckons us into his loving embrace while seducing us in the carefully woven web of dreams. But his might was yet again challenged by Prof. Subhashini (since past week, a frequent tussle between the psychologists and the god of sleep is being witnessed where the former usually prevails). We the ‘midnight's children’ (transitioning like the protagonist from one world to another) were pulled into the world of decision making down to the last detail. I wonder, the day I start theorizing my subconscious thoughts and verbosely describe the process of my rationale, I may come up with an alternative theory which many peers and seniors of fauji community may approve of. To think of,on a tangent though, these theories are only proven, tested & applied at work place but none of these social scientists tried these on their spouses….how could they; for instance Carl Jung fell in love with his patient, Sabina Spielrein, which Mr Freud disapproved of & this gave birth to ‘psychoanalysis’ (revalidation by experts required). Maslow married his first cousin Bertha when he was 20 and she was 19, and no pun intended, he stated that marriage was the true beginning of his life. Obviously, he had to get the theory of hierarchy of needs right!  (Food for thought)

Regards,

Himanshu Saxena

The Bout

Jun29
The stage was set . We were training for  this for past so many days. Advance publicity was already in place . The tickets sold out for the bout - a bout of monday blues. we worked hard over the weekend for this fight. In the red corner was Prof Mubeen Rafaat armed with the knowledge of finance . She had trained equally hard for this moment and possessed special weapons of the financial kind. Her ability to read the opponent and work on the weaknesses  of the opponent was legendary. She coud pick holes in the opponents defense and punch her way through three hours of finances. But she had to walk the tight rope and execute a "balancing act". Her mandate was to teach the opponent to balance so that he would not bite dust when confronted with the balance sheet. Her assets -non current and fixed and the investments , cash etc formed a formed part of a formidable inventory.
In the blue corner were a bunch of blank amateurs who were ready to be brought upto speed and be educated on the nuances of  balancing their accounts. Their only reserves being a surplus of patience and the ability to be written upon ,as a blank  slate.
 Round I
On the bell the class started with ploughing into the lessons previously taught ending with the last class on assets and liabilities smoothly being dovetailed into the present class. The punches came in a furious flurry with the blue being draped on the ropes by the end of the first hour. Blue was dazed by the onslaught with assets and liabilities floating in front of his eyes . The domination was complete. So much so that Blue started looking at the clock longingly for this round to end when he would be rewarded with a hot cup of tea and other refreshments. When the bell to end round one went off blue was heaving sighs of relief and a feeling that the worst was over.
Round II
Red changed her tactics totally in round II when the balance sheet was brought into picture. It was like being puched in the solar plexus . Reliance and Dhirubhai ambani made a spectacular entrance when second round was starting. The skills of  ambani were explained . consolidated balance sheets studied and finally some semblance of orderliness was brought in to the  hithertofore confusing moves being executed by the red opponent. Not that it gave any advantage at the end of the round...
Red was the clear winner.
Round III
Just when blue was rejoicing at having got away with his life after two rounds of unrelenting pummelling from finance then the new opponent in the form of Prof Dimple entered armed with an entirely different set of weapons on organisation behaviour. She did not come alone. She brought along Maslow - to tell us how impossible it was to achieve 'Nirvana' without first satisfying our physiological needs , safety needs , social needs and our need for self esteem. No amount of argument from us to the contrary would persuade Prof Dimple to think otherwise. in the end Prof Dimple prevailed...WE still think that Indian diasphora is replete with examples of people who achieved Nirvana without going through all other stages as prescribed by  maslow. In the end Edward and equity theories also made their appearance reinforced by the TED Talks.
Red Was the Winner
All in all an educative And learning class with Red being the clear winner

Past Present and Future

Jun28
There is a feeling of inevitability as the sun is on its downward path on a sunday afternoon. Sunday is coming to an end -as did saturday and the day before that. Often we hear people saying ' do not live in the past'. Is that really an option ? Can one forget the past and start everyday as if all of the past was wiped clean? Imagine what would happen if that were the case.
Waking Up- My wife would wake up screaming when she wakes up and regards me as a stranger. This would only come to rest after invoking the past and reminding her that I am indeed related to her. The downside would be that I had stood her up the previous evening to spend time with my buddies to have a drink. Complicated explanations and assurances of a bauble / clothes would alleviate the problem to a certain extent. AND if I had to do this every morning will I be rich or poor? better to let her remember the past and be resigned to the fact that I will not  change.
Day's Routine Since we are sharing a car pool , one would be hard put to remember whose turn it was to bring the car - and then- complications... We would be hard put to remember as to who is Prof Bagchi, prof Mahadik and all the others.. May involve learning all over again... Duration of the course would go much beyond six months. Time will come to nought. Past proves once again that it is important.
Interaction We in the class would forget our course mates. Re -mingle, learn about each other adjust with each other - only to repeat the process again as the next day would again be a new one. NOT worth it - people are remembered as they are filed in the vast data base of the brain and filed under different categories. Our data base would be wiped clean and there would be no reference point  in the labyrithine corridors of the brain. Past wins out again...
Food This I think is the only positive thing about forgetting the past as the same menu would be enough to satisfy our taste buds day in and day out. But then again - if you forget what was prepaed yesterday for your daily repast then how will one simplify the process with the same menu if one does not remember what was made yesterday. Remembering Past wins again.
Capabilities I for one would not know what I am capable of. Will be confused , will be unaware of my likes and dislikes, hobbies and habits, crazes and aberrations and- and I forget what else I will forget....
Businesses no statistics will be remembered , business worth is reset every day, no trends to follow on the stock market no knowledge whatsoever of happeneings yesterday... Business transactions of the past are null and void. World will come to a stand still. Retention zero ... interaction with jagpal banjo and I forget who else...
SO
next time you tell someone to "forget it" think of how this sort of encouragement would be counter productive and in fact go a step further and tell all concerned REMEMBER- it is the only way foward. As someone said "it is best to learn from ones experiences"

Banjo

Jun 26
Should I start with a joke? I believe that a joke is a good ice - breaker. Oh no ! I already lost the moment . In any case here goes...
Back in the time when I was commanding a body of men there was one person who came to me. (through Proper channel of course). The Time was tense and we were into preparing for an inspection by one of our superior officers. Letting a person off on leave -  for whatever reason " Mushkil hi nahi balki namunkin tha". During the interview the dialogue went something like this :-
Person- Sahab chutti jaana hai.
Me-       Kahe ke liye'?
Person-  Sahab bachha hone' waala hai.
Me-        ( it was a legitimate reason but the inspection was also important so I said)  Thik hai tumne               jo karna tha woh kar diya . Tumhaare na jaane se baccha to phir bhi paida ho jayega.
 of course I  did send him on leave later...

Hi ! I am Dilip.Better known as Banjo. I am the guest for today.I believe that all of us will have to contribute to the blog sooner or later. I took the option of sooner.I keep thinking of many things for which I am yet to get an answer Perhaps DR Vishwanatham Dr Dimple and Prof Subhashini will be able to clarify for me. We are small time players.psychological profiling of all of us has been done and we have been through the wringer prior to our selection. The services model of management is what is now being taught all over the world MBA. in fact if my memory serves me right it was adopted from the forces. WHY then the reassessment again at corporate level to test our ability to adjust to the company's profile? Strikes me as flawed logic.

 If any one has to be psychologically be evaluated it is the politicians. Why?? The stakes are much bigger at the country level and any person who is into politics is deciding the policies of the country which will see it into at least the next decade (if not more).  you can rule the country with out any psychological profiling but all others are repeatedly being put through the paces... And many other doubts which will I am sure will plague me in times to come.
Earlier
I had opted for this course because of the prestige linked to Admimistrative Staff College. I knew this because my better half is from hyderabad. After coming here I had misgivings of sorts . Moreover I could not join the course on the first day due to the predictable lateness of  indian railways. But when I did join I was more than reassured - the place was teeming with kolkattans . I immediately  felt at home and at that moment I knew that I would enjoy and in the process learn on the course. Jaggu was also there and there was this guy from agra who was six months my junior . our paths must have crossed in the academy. two years together in a pressure cooker situation undergoing the same training - one does not forget but one does "repress" unpleasant feelings. All others are pleasant enough and co-operative. All in all a fantastic course.
On friday we were determined to make a break for open spaces in an earlier time frame. This seemed well nigh impossible with inflation and other important aspects being on the menu.But everything fell in place- Happy Week end.                             

Verbosity

JUN25Hello there! Sandhya! Back again. We created a record of sorts today .I have been re -invited to post on the blog for a second successive day. I realise that my blog was short and to the point yesterday. So today I decided that I shall be a free bird and let myself go all the way. And give freedom to my expression to pen down my thoughts without the fear of the editing pen putting paid to my efforts. And thank God! I have a day during which a lot happened . Today was a day devoted to the inner workings of the mind. No MIS, no economics, no Finance and no punctured tyres . We reached well in time for the class with time to spare on the clock. It was one of those glorious mornings with the cloudy skies and a gentle breeze blowing . The age old trees at ASCI were rustling in the winds and it was a day for out doors. BUT there was learning to be done. and a LOT of it. And so it was that we found ourselves back in the class room...

In case you are wondering about the clock then let me demystify you. We were in the class well after the prescribed (1730H) and the class was still on . Emotionally we were drained learning about intelligence and Emotional Intelligence as part of interpersonal relationships. Amygydla, the right and left cortex made their appearance again during the class. Our self awareness increased and we learnt about self efficacy and the marshmallows experiment where cildren of the age group of 4-5 years were used as guinea pigs. I believe that longitudnal experiments proved that children who resisted the marshmallows were better adjusted in life. I wonder that if the experiment were to be carried out in India would they use Laddoos? My daughter does not like them much and This I am sure will show that she would be bettter adjusted in life in the future - if the same analogy of marshmallows -were to be applied here in India. Went through a battery of psychological tests today . Almost felt as if I was back in the services selection board(SSB) Subashini Madam is a hard task master and we ended up with a load of home assignments. The most interesting being watching 'Chak De India' and presenting our take on it.The faces of my fellow students was worth seeing. There was dismay and resignation written on their facial maps . As one them aptly summed up the whole situation (of home assignments ) saying "Bas Karo Madam Bachhe' ko Jaan Se Maroge Kya/". It was funny beyond compare.

During lunch we were given insights into the preparation of CVs by Mr Menon who had come on the invitation of Col Ravindra and kindly consented to enlighten us , since he was into helping companies to recruit. It was informative and helpful -to say the least..

Dr Dimple came on in the afternoon . She was well and recovered from her brief illness.  She took pity on us and used the afternoon to  explaining Perception to us in an innovative manner . She used a feature film (Full Length ) to drive home the lessons on perception.Very sweet of her... I/We Are learning...By the time I reached home the Nautica Watch I ordered for my spouse for his birthday,on Jun 20 had finally reached . So there was milk of human kindness flowing all round - in fact Amazon saved the day from any recriminations for my late arrival....

Now let us see who will have the temerity to accuse me of being brief, short, concise, terse, laconic, succinct, abrupt, clipped, to the point, pithy.....

Predictable Irrationality

Jun 24
Wednesday 24 Jun 15 was designed for MIS studies by Prof Bagchi. This class was of utmost importance keeping in mind the corporate world..but cudnt reach faculty on time due to FLAT TYR!!! BT HE MAN SHU...#NT TO GIV UP ATTITUDE# managed to fix d stepney.. Thank god...IN mis we focused upon# Decision support system # transaction processing system #system based function #3 tier architecture #___in between prof Mahadik emphasised upon COMPLETING the CV by d end of the week...

 Today's guest contribution is from Sandhya. As you would have noticed she believes in conveying the import of her thoughts very briefly and to the point. She succeeded in covering what I would take half a page to a few well chosen words and symbols. Thank You Sandhya for your input to this humble blog . Sandhya will be  a rising star in the corporate sector -  if she so desires -  with her multi hued and organised training in the armed forces for over ten years ...

Our condolences to Prof Bagchi - who- in spite of a personal loss, soldiered on through the day to complete the task at hand - which was that of educating us in a adroit fashion. WE compliment you for not letting your emotions interfere with your duty. It touched a chord in our hearts . The class itself - in spite of a complete day programme surprisingly went of very well. As is the case with adoption of tactics in war even the solutions we prepared for our presentation did not have a wrong solution, As per Prof Bagchi all answers are right - only it is a matter of interpretation and the ability of seeing the glass half full. 

There was a group of trainees on the lawns of the colllege who were colourfully turned out in multi coloured caps and were - as per our interpretation from the first floor windows - playing croquet. Though what lessons one could learn from this game was beyond us. Probaly team work and and strategy and tactics which could then be superimposed on the corporate world, to pay rich dividends....

Another group was grappling with environmental studies . We may have to request a class with them to learn as to how the governmental agencies were working to keep the environment of India intact.

A word about the CV. Many of us have limped through the process of preparing a CV full of predictable irrationalities. What we consider as choice career accomplishments may seem trivial in the eyes of the employer. What will - I expect - will stand us in good stead is a complete trained individual who will be adaptable and flexible to changes...

Fare Thee Well

JUN23

Ms Anjali Manda conducted one of her - in our opinion - most brilliant classes. A class which in a way was a mixture of what we should have done and what we should do to improve our lot on retirement from the services. The prognosis was so- so in our favour.Practical hints with regard to investments were given in a very clear and concise manner and this was one class which was of practical use for our future existence. By the time the class was over we were able to formulate a hazy picture as to how we would go about planning the 'life after'... At the end of the class we also got another shock when Sandhya stopped us from going for lunch and announced that Ms anjali had shot her last arrow and this was her last class. In the short time that she was with us she endeared herself to one and all. We decided that not having enough warning time we could only give her a send off by clicking photographs which would remind her of the last class in ASCI. We take this oppurtunityto wish her all the best in her life and hope that she will be a beacon of knowledge wherever she goes...

DR Grover fell ill and Ms Subhashini, her replacement , started off the class on organizational behaviour. And like all her collegues , she is also a highly qualified person who is working on her doctorate in psychology. The class was a a different kettle of fish from the previous one . One among us asked her in a lighter vein if this was not her last class too. on being assured that this was not the case we settled down to unravelling mind games which people play to prove their worthiness to the companies for establishing themselves in the heirarchy. It came to light that loyalty played little or no role in this process as long as the person concerned raked in the moolah.While the Family neighbourhood ,school and peer group played an important role in the determination of the suitability of an individual for a job it was also left unsaid that it is not difficult to beat the system to get accepted. Pedigree also played a role in judging a person . the second half of the class was spent in working out the desired qualities in a person to see his ability in performing a job. It proved to be a difficult task till we superimposed our services  method to ascertain task orientation . Surprisingly this made the exercise easier to perform. The services method is to look for qualities in a person in an alphabetical order eg: A- Ability, B- Bravery C- Competence, Courage of conviction , D- Determination to see the job through.....etc E- Efficiency....

The Mandarin

How does one achieve Nirvana? Some have the desire to do so right from the word Go! Some strive hard to do so by way of prayer and Meditation. Some do what they do best and reach the pinnacle of success - Yet stay Humble and self-effacing. Mr Narsimham clearly belongs to the Last category. He has in this diverse and multi hued country adopted finance as his religion and turned the country's economy around when India was reeling with little in its coffers in the early 90's.

M Narasimham was the first  Governor to be appointed from the Reserve Bank cadre, having joined the Bank as a Research Officer in the Economic Department. He later joined the Government and prior to his appointment as Governor he served as Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.

He had a short tenure of seven months. He later served as Executive Director for India at the World Bank and thereafter at the IMF after which he served in the Ministry of Finance as Secretary. He was chairperson of the Committee on the Financial System, 1991 and the Committee of Banking Sector Reforms, 1998.

Our instructors at ASCI tell us that he was instrumental in gettting a loan from the World Bank which helped the country rise from the ashes to what it is today. His single most important contribution to this country which is the reason that  this country is what it is today. 

We were fortunate to be part of the audience to listen to this distinguished speaker. His command over the knowledge of transition of from Licence Raj to a liberal country was indeed fantastic to listen to. Even at this age his razor sharp memory of the happenings in the country gave us a clear and concise picture of the economy of the country. What was surprising was his understanding the level of the capability of the audience and how he made the things clear for us. Thank you Mr Narasimham for your wonderful lecture-we will be ever indebted to you.

The rest of the day was taken up byFinance. About the decision Makers and their info needs. Financial accounting and management accounting - as to how to paint a rosy picture about the company's finances. Finances and their characteristics , Types of business and the score cards of finances , different types of assets and liabilities and to top it all a practical method of preparing a balance sheet and how to interpret it. To top it all was an assimilaion test to reassure ourselves that we were indeed assimilating something which was being taught... In the end we were quite exhausted by this battering through the day. The lecture was fruitful and instructive

On a somber note

Jun21
It was a few days back that I spoke to the man who slept under the stairs. He was limping. Normally when I passed by he used to stand and smartly wish me with an appropriate greeting depending on the time of the day. I noticed that he was limping around that day. I solicitously asked him what was wrong and he said that his foot hurt. I said to him that I hoped that he was getting it treated. He replied in affirmative. I told him that in case required I would provide help . He said that it was not required at that time.

He was a man of all work. He lived with his daughter in the servants quarter. Due to space problem he slept under the stairs. He did odd jobs like washing the car, cleaning, and any other job which no one else had the time to do. His disposition was pleasant and people around fed him whenever there was a chance of surplus food.

Yesterday when we were about to consume the evening meal my wife mentioned that he had passed,in a local hospital about two days ago. This gave me quite a turn. I silently lamented his passing. I remembered his goodness and said a prayer for him. I also remembered our last conversation and felt badly about the whole thing.

May he rest in peace 

The Interview

JUN 19
It was only after great prodding that Himanshu was persuaded to talk about himself. We decided to do the interview during the lunch break when the class room was empty with no distractions. Naturally I was excited at the thought of delving into someone else's mind . It offered an insight into the working of the mind of a articulate and intelligent youngster. it would also provide us an opportunity to understand the psyche of a person who was in sync with the present day world . On the civvie street we would be dealing with the likes of Himanshu in the corporate world . and I am sure that this would be a part of our continuing education. When we walked into the class on Jun 08 we were pleasantly surprised to see two youngsters in addition to others of my age group.
I am sure that others would be looking forward to this interview as I would in presenting it.
  The class today was on economics and soon we were lost in the micro economics as pontificated by Ms Ashita Allamraju who was a case in point when I said that a much more recent age group was ruling the roost whether it was education  , corporate world or otherwise. Her  achievements like the rest of her collegues are distinguished and quite a few. A cheerful and able instructor she held the class's attention right from the word go. She was also one among the long list of top lady instructors who were given the challenge of educating us.  soon we were immersed in the relationship between demand , pricing and supply and how they affected the business people in deciding as to  how the market was to function in furthering the art of making Money. Sometimes during the class we felt that there were no ideal solutions and anything that helped in the business goes ...
After a quick lunch himanshu and I headed back to the class for our interview.
Background.
He is the son of a scientist and has two brothers. Since child hood he was a precocious child and is deeply devoted to his family. In the quite class room with nothing disturbing us except the drone of the air conditioner . the interview started.
Interview
MR- Tell me something about your childhood.
HS- There is really nothing much to say...I was born in hyderabad and did my schooling here.
MR- Which school?
HS- I studied in a school close to home but later joined little flower High school at abids.Abids is a business centre in hyderabad as also for most of the christian missionary schools like St Georges, All Saints and Rosary Convent for girls. So in spite of my school being a boys' school there was no dearth of interaction with girls . In fact my wife is the alumni of Rosary convent.
MR- Was this relationship  incidental?
HS- Well you can say that to a limit. Because my wife's parents were landowners in Nearby village and she had come to town for studies.
MR- Where did you do your college?
HS- I did my Junior college in Narayanguda And my degree in Syed Hashmi college of engineering near hyderabad. Thereafter I joined the Indian Navy with training at Lonavla at INS Shivaji.
MR- Tell us about your life in the Indian Navy..
HS- The naval tenure is something that I remember with fondness and pride. I have worked on a number of projects and have been fortunate at excelling in my field . This was recognised by my superiors for which I have been suitably commended by my superiors. I have been -I am proud to say- instrumental in pioneering a number of projects which will I am sanguine be in effect in near future.
MR- That is a lot to do at such a young age;
HS- When one believes in something one should always strive to achieve that so that one does not have regrets for not having expressed oneself.
MR- Why if I may ask are you planning for a complete turnaround from the job you love?
HS- I am dynamic in nature . Added to that ( This after a brief Pause) my family is in the USA. After this course I will do A brief stint in the civil Organization before proceeding to join her there,
MR- What are your other Interests?
HS- I am often foxed when someone springs this question on me.( after a moment of reflection he continues...) I am in love with music. Before you ask me my preferences let me say that any music which is pleasant on the ear is worth listening to in whichever language. I am a great fan of Isaac Asimov, Carl Sagan And other science fiction writers. There is something about the infinity that appeals to me. I believe that it is in the nature of man to explore the unknown. These writers take you into the infinity and beyond,
I also am a humble devotee of good health and plan to participate in the marathon which is going to be held in the near future at hyderabad.
MR- While it has been a fruitful interaction time does not permit a more detailed discussion . What are your takeaways from this course?
HS - As it is for all the others I would like to understand the nuances of the civil street which I am sure will stand me in good stead in the future and which are being taught in an excellent fashion by the instructors here.
So there you have the views of the quintissential young Indian male .I hope you all will enjoy reading it as much as I did in conducting this interview.

The class ended with exercises to test our assimilation of teachings so far. For myself I can say that the mind is like a sieve... many hole have to be plugged before any fruitful retention.. 

Brainstorming

Prof Mahadik said'one picture is worth a thousand words.We think that a lot depends on the interpretation of the picture. At the moment I can think of many different interpretations for this picture. For example in this picture Jagpal and Banjo are discussing as to what to do with the problem child Sandhya. OR they are trading gossip Or they are stressed out about the impending superannuation from the service and wondering as to how to overcome the pitfalls of retirement ORThey are working hard at deciphering the Indian male.Which in this case is the truth .All the inputs with regard to buyers' cultural, social, personal and psychological were in place. This has given them an insight into the indian males' decision process whereby all available alternatives are being evaluated by them. Thereafter the indian males' purchase decision and consumptionn patterns are being established. Sandhya is working on the dissonance which might occur if the product does not come up to the consumers' expectations. Careis being exercised by Jagpal to ensure that the product is launched in the market at the right time and pricing suits the consumers pocket.

GJ, prasad and perumal are examining the personal factors involved working out the occuptions life style  and beliefs and attitudes of the buyer. They have come to the conclusion that the Indian male buyer feels good only if everything is being controlled by the buyer wherein the male is the sole bread winner of the family. Of course this will only succeed if  he is more than compensated for his job and the housewife is at home to provide the husband a hot cup of tea when he comes home after a tiring day. They are also of the opinion that since the children are part of the buying process and that the lady of the house has certain aspirations, she should be provided the oppurtunity to pursue her goals.

Himanshu has an entirely different opinion abot the Indian male. He is of the view that if a lady is given a free hand she can be of immense value to the family system. she should be an equal and this would provide a lot more to help decision making in the purchase of the promoted goods . Hence all promotions with regard to purchase of male centric goods should also target the women as this would pay rich dividends in the dynamic market, Here he is supporting his arguments with documented anthropological studies which as per him underline the importance of the family as a whole in any decision making process. Overall the class was interesting and hope fully as Ms Shahaida visualised generated a healthy discussion. We take this opportunity to wish the surgeon on the arrival of the month of Ramzan. It is the time when Hyderabad comes alive with a variety of cuisine which is famous throughout the world...

Chantelle and the Fridge

Jun 17
 Later when people asked each other as to the course of events , not many remembered what happened. Many claimed a hazy memory of the occurances. It took many hours of exhaustive nterviews and examination to bring out the facts. I shall try to recount them as faithfully as was recounted to me.
0600H
The day was gloomy with a slow drizzle ruining all plans of any exercise. The bright spot was cooling down of the atmosphere.
0800H
Sandhya lost her way while reaching the Rendezvous. Went off to a church ( Has religious inclinations?) before finding her way back-'Thank God'. Picked up Jagpal And Shivram and GJ. Reached ASCI just in time for the first class after some insane driving.
0900H 
We were sure that the professor got held up for some important task. The matter was cleared up when we realised that she was one day behind in the week . There was easy familiarity since this was the second class. We warded off the insistence for the presentation by saying that we would like to do theory in the morning session. For a change Himanshu was looking flustered as if he had some unfinished task. His in-laws dropped in unexpectedly the previous evening... No wonder.
0945H
Some of us realised that the last economics class was 5days earlier. Hope we do not forget what has been taught earlier....
1100h
Tea; The biscuits had some sort of crunchy lining all over them. The texture of the biscuits felt quite different. The class got slightly delayed . Lot of back and forth in the class . Time took a backseat during the discussions and hence the delay.
1120H
Attempt was made to dissect the amorphous behaviour of the consumer . Irrespective of what Nayyar said It was our understanding that even at HCL the consumer was the King. Merely empowering the employee to make quick decisions does not place him above the consumer and make him first. In our view this empowerment is only to facilitate quicker service to the customer .
1230H 
Mr Satish came good with making his word come true when he made the pool available to us in the afternoon.
1400H
After an invigorating swim and a good lunch it was back to class to dicuss chantelle and her Husband who were short changed by a canadian company in the matter of a defective fridge.Someone googled Chantelle. But the answers were available only on payment(sic)
1530H
By now we had worked out the case to a great extent. We had been in the classroom for almost 7hours before we gave up on the defective fridge and what should have been done or not before we got down to working on  the quintissential Indian male. We were wondering where we would fit...
1630H
We found that the time had come to reluctantly bring to a close moderated conversation and start working on the city based / rural Indian male and figure it out for ourselves this mystery which we are to deliberate upon tommorrow.
Overall an interesting period of discussion under the able tutelage of the Surgeon

The Evaluator

Jun 16
Aham Brahmasmi.I suppose that at some level we are all striving for this... When one realises this profound statement one is very clear as far as extra version/introversion judging/Perceiving, sensing/intuition and Thinking / feeling is concerned.I am reminded of this wonderful poem by shankracharya called Atma shatakam (Song of the Soul):-

I'm neither ego nor reason, I am neither mind nor thought,

I cannot be heard nor cast into words, nor by smell nor sight even caught:

In light and wind I am not found, nor yet in earth and sky –Consciousness and joy incarnate, Blissful am I.

I have no name, I have no life, I breath no vital air,No elements have moulded me, no bodily sheath is my lair:

I have no speech, no hand and feet, nor means of evolution –

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss in dissolution.

I cast aside hatred and passion, I conquered delusion and greed;

No touch of pride caressed me, so envy never did breed:

Beyond all faiths, past reach of wealth, past freedom, past desire,

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is my attire.

Virtue and vice, or pleasure and pain are not my heritage,

Nor sacred texts, nor offerings, nor prayer, nor pilgrimage:

I am neither food, nor eating, nor yet the eater am I –

Consciousness and joy incarnate, Bliss of Blissful am I.

I have no misgiving of death, no chasms of race divide me,

No parent ever called me child, no bound of birth ever tied me:

I am neither disciple nor master, I have no kin, no friend –

Consciousness and joy am I, merging in Bliss is my end.

Neither knowable, knowledge, nor knower am I, formless is my form,

I dwell within the senses but they are not my home:

Ever serenely balanced, I am neither free nor bound –

Consciousness and joy am I, and Bliss is where I am found.

On a question by Col Jagpal as to why Indian scriptures were not used to explain personality traits ,I have made an effort to bring out that our scriptures were far more evolved with respect to one of the theories to as to 'who Iam'. In the present day world, myers-briggs model holds equally good. We went to great lengths to learn this today , ably guided and efficiently taught by our extremely knowledgeable prof Vishwanatham. He has this endearing quality of driving home the lessons learnt in an emphatic fashion ensuring that all of us were clear about learning about ourselves. As was amply proved during the class there was more to us than we thought that there would be. The learning process slowly but surely progressed towards the aim set for ourselves: 'WHO AM I? We were amply supplied with examples- both personal and otherwise to arrive at suitable conclusions. In the end the personal  evaluation revealed a hazy picture about ourselves and left us both clear and confused ..... What was more important was our ability to understand as to which personality traits we had to stress upon if we were to be acceptable in the corporate world as a saleable package. The documented proof was by no means conclusive with the professor saying that I gave out mixed signals and my moderate assessment of extraversion may not be helpful in my possibly(?) chosen field of HR. This exercise of self evaluation left us exhausted because while we may have a lot of physical stamina, mental work still left a lot to be desired. The class was enthusitically participated by all concerned. In the coming times we hope to iron out the kinks in our pesonalities with the help of 'The Evaluator' . ..

Sudden Death/ The Blitzkrieg

Jun15
Prof mahadik took us deep into the subject of financial management. We are unlearning...and learning.. I think that all my colleagues - with the exception of Sandhya - are terrified of finances in any form. We shy away from this important aspect of day to day life from the sheer terror of doing something wrong and getting pilloried for for our omissions and commissions. To this end we were were somewhat reassured that finaces were not the monster we thought that it was..Financial control was here to haunt us the rest of our useful productive life. Calculations with regard to EMIs proved to be a bugbear. It was with relief that we saw the class through the morning, in the hope that the post lunch session would bring us something different - and different it was..

We were brought out of our somnolence by an entirely different class on organisational behaviour. The class was brought out of its complacence by a question on what we would decide on, if we were to set up an organization to further our business . The game was over before it started . it was like sudden death in football. Goals were scored by the opposition at will with our weak proposals being shot down ruthlessly . at some point or the other we were rendered speechless by structured arguments and logic and a vast knowledge of the subject which just could not be refuted. We started recovering from this blitzkrieg called Prof Dimple . when the actual teaching started and the nuances of psychlogy sociology anthropology and managment sciences were explained in great detail. Slowly but surely we got to grips with how increasing global business , multi national enterprise, changing management perspectives affected business and how through a leaner organization we could hope to improve the conditions. Resurgence through flexibility could be achieved by voluntary reduced worktime. Prof Dimple was bent upon helping us trasition from the dyed in green service personnel to multi-faceted civil functionaries. At the end of the day We are sure that she attained her goals of the first class to a large extent....
A word to all who read this; Your feedback would help us to contribute better .After all it is a matter of give and take -is it not?    
 

The Scholar

Jun12
'Bahut senior hai sahab par lagte nahin hain'; was the response to the query as to who was Prof Paramita Dasgupta. Among other things she was the dean of ASCI for sometime. 'Kyon nahin lagte' was evident from the sheer enthusiasm and knowledge with which Economics (Macro) was dealt with, by her. She looked like a person who got her way. The impeccable delivery of the lecture was what held our attention right from the beginning. And what we thought would be a drab subject was brought alive for us by her. We were in no doubt that she was the Scholar. Inane doubts were dealt with aplomb and patience and it was evident that notwithstanding her vast experience in dealing with the top rung of economists she could also deal with novices like us in a competent fashion. During the course of the lecture we started dealing with GDP, its calculation, real and nominal GDP and inflation with ease and as if we were doing it all our life. Our desire to understand the methods of improving GDP and consequently our own lifestyle increased manifold. The class of three hours finished in no time with most amongst us desiring to learn more and more... Hopefully this shall be the case in times to come.
The highlight during the tea-break was meeting with Mr. M. Narasimham. We could understand why he is held in awe by the faculty. In the short time that he interacted with us he floored us with his razor sharp brain.When I mentioned that I was from the Parachute Regiment his immediate reaction was that whether I was from 21PARA.(It is in news for all the right reasons). It was evident that even at his age he kept abreast of all the happenings in the country. Himanshu had a befuddled
 look on his face when Navy was dealt with in an equally competent fashion....The upshot was that he decided to lecture us on Macroeconomics of the country in the near future. We will keep pestering Prof.  Nirmalya till this happens...
The afternoon was devoted to the process of marketing ourselves to the firms who will have the fortune of employing us post the course. May not be an easy task considering that all our activities have little or no connection with the civil world.A brief resume of the course would read as follows:-

Executive Summary 

       Functioned in dynamic, unpredictable and continuously evolving environment; Adept at completing multiple simultaneous projects within stipulated deadlines. Defied conventions to complete the task at hand. Multi-Tasked to the maximum . Worked at unholy hours. Stayed away from near and dear for protracted periods to accomplish task at hand. 

Awards and Commendations

              Earned boquets for tasks well done and brickbats for percieved mistakes and omissions and commissions. Behaved responsibly towards all concerned.

Choice Career Accomplishments

                Many and multifarious.

Leadership & Positions Held

                Leading men and held positions of responsibilities at various installations. Spoon fed laggards and commended people with achievements with rewards and ensured that all went well.....

       Were Jack of all trades and did reasonably well on land , in air and at sea. 

Previous Work History

     With an average work history of  about 22 years survived professionally, socially and in reasonable physical shape in conducive, unconducive and adverse conditions to proceed on superannuation from the 'FAUJ'.

Education.

      Graduation, Post Graduation and Specialised studies...

Professional Development

      Did Professional courses to keep abreast of various updates in weaponry, man management, 

      logistics and other courses as applicable to keep the head above water.

 Aspirations

           Continue to perform as situation demands in a commendable fashion (conducive to change).

       

           Jaat na poocho sadhu ki; Pooch leejiye' Gyan!!

           Mol karo talwaar ki; Padaa rehne do Myaan!! 

           Thank You Padmashree Radhaswamy jee for educating us well.

Caveat Emptor! The Surgeon is here

Jun 11

Himanshu was told to cut down working on his laptop. Everyone turned round to look accusingly at him for this transgression . How dare he!!!! Dr shahaida is a surgeon without a scalpel. Her teaching was incisive clear and to the point.Backed with more degrees and achievements that one can keep track of, there was no reason for her teaching to be short of anything but brilliance. In the first 10mins she had 'sold' us the 'need for marketing 'creating' in us a 'want' for learning marketing which it was assured to us would 'end profitably' for all concerned. when himanshu shut down his computer it was a message for 'cavet emptor'. Soon we were like youngsters 'pestering' for more.After the initial onslaught, our 'impressionable' minds craved to learn more marketing.
We were satisfied as individuals as she skilfully 'ideated' the marketing of the goods and promoted them for our benefit. 'Functionally' we were benefitted in that the teaching would help us and 'emotionally' we were benefitted as we were learning something new. 'Monetary and psychic? psychological'?cost and benefis would come in later.... The long class ensured that it was not only 'transactional' but in the course of the day some 'relationship' was established between the surgeon and the taught. Showing great 'adaptability' and 'flexibility' we overcame our 'myopia' of 'rigidness' of arms discipline to ensure that we were not 'branded' as slow starters.
Hopefully 'Jim Collins' will help us with any other problems and through 'commuication' we would 'conveniently' cut our 'costs' to come to a suitable 'solution'. And unlike 'Walmart of Germany' , with our out of the box thinking come out with a 'variety' of colourful answers to mundane problems.
Our 'activities' would ensure that we would 'choose' the right jobs to provide 'value' for money and 'communicate' this to all concerned that we have arrived.
After learning so much, a case study- like a cooling drink at the end of the exhausting day - was in order. The doctor did not disappoint us.We were divided into syndicates and got dow to preparing for presentation on tuesday  .....

Dynamo

Jun 10
prof Mubeen Rafat was sitting at her desk wrestling with her computer when we walked into the class. It ultimately got ready to flash the slides on the screen. Turned out that she did not really need the powerpoint presentation at all. Her command over the subject of finance was absolute.The moment she started teaching she was like a human dynamo.She used other teaching aids like the white board to good effect. Prior to joining ASCI she was working in Bombay. Added to that she is advisor to lot of companies and so on... we as services personnel tend to shy away from finances . I think it is the fear of the unknown. Prof Mubeen alleviated these fears to a large extent.Though I suppose it will take a few more sessions to get into the grove to think differently.We are looking forward to more classes in finance. Though difficult to follow her advise to keep smiling...
Preparation of CV seems to be an entirely different kettle of fish. How we will convince the companies to look into providing jobs to personnel whose skill sets are different from what happens in day to day life on the civvie is difficult to understand. Though we are sanguine that with Mr Mahadik we will be able to find a middle ground....Looking forward to tomorrow

One and a half Hour

Jun 09
35 Years in the army. Celebrating work anniversary. Seen a lot of things in these years. Some pleasant some unpleasant some good some bad some happy some sad and mostly a rollicking roller coaster ride. Our gurus from ASCI tell us that in spite of the open door policy in the corporate world heirarchy is very much in vogue and fully functional.
The previous day we were - as part of the curriculum-made to introduce each other. This was to prevent any "I" specialists among us to wax eloquent about oneself. This was a novelty for us . Helped us know each other better. In the sevices we introduce ourselves based on a format issued by the Directing Staff (instructors in layman's language).
Today's class was on essentials of management. Our apprehension was  hour and a half long classes. Would our attention wander? We were programmed to classes of 40min classes with a 5min break. in any case our fears were misplaced . we were unduly worried. Dean Chandrasekhar has a mass of experience behind him.He has worked in banks and other institutions. His was a masterful performance and he was soon playing on us like stringed instruments with questions and anwers coming from us in a fashion that at least I did not know that I had it in me. Of course since it was management we could relate it to the way we did it in the arms and to our surprise most of the principles applied to the ones we followed in the arms. neverthless the class was very good followed by a case study of the delhi metro which helped us understand the finer aspects of management as taught till then... His ability to explain ensured that we did not feel out of our depth.
Following an excellent lunch we got down to understanding innovative practices and how in addition to good innovations marketing of these along with cost factor in mind played an important part in making a success of these innovations . motivation and teamwork were also taught by Prof Bagchi. The first day of learning brought favourable feedback from all concerned.
Were the instructors disappointed with the small size of the class??? Ibelieve not....

Birth Pangs

Jun08
A long course at a prestigious institution. Six months is a good amount of time to learn the ropes for starting a new life as a retired person from the armed forces and this is what Administrative Staff College of India has set out to do with nine of us from the Army Navy and the Air
force. This is a first time endeavour by them in training persons from the Armed Forces. The process for me started off with contacting Prof Nirmalya Bagchi over the phone . What struck me right from the beginning was the approachability of the professor while I asked him about the institution and his patience in explaining the curriculum and his conviction that he would be able to help us understand the nuances of the business world and help us ease into the new life with adequate preparation.
On entering the hallowed portals of ASCI one could not help but be impressed with the serenity and quite of the place.Unconsciously one started conversing in muted tones . ASCIis located at the palace of the erstwhile Prince of Berar known as Bella Vista at Hyderabad . in the evergrowing crowds of hyderabad the college is a green lung situated next to the Raj Bhavan.
The college is an autonomous organization and is not interfered with  by the government. 
we were directed to the lecture hall where the opening address was to be held that day. The lecture hall was an opulent hall which hosted many illustrious persons from independent India and abroad notable among whom were presidents and prime ministers and Fd Marshal SHFJ Maneckshaw.
Of the nine officers attending we had Col Jagpal,Col Banerjee, Col Shivram LtCol Perumal, Gp Capt GJ Rao, Wg Cdr Prasad,Sqn Ldr Sandhya and LtCdr Himanshu. After introductions the proceedings began with the Director General , Mr Ravi Kant giving out the opening address. I believe that it was thanks to him that this course was initiated . This was because he prevailed on the the Ministry of Defence to conduct the course. His list of achievements are many and manifold and a quick glance at these gave a clear message- Read these at leisure and when one has time on hand. This was the case with the rest of the faculty including the Dean, Mr Chandrasekhar and the chief Guest of the day Mr Nand Kishore,CEO Ramky estates the 600? crore enterprise..
Naturally all thoughts of an easy time were reluctantly bid a good bye. Questions like " will the old dog learn new tricks?" were also answered in the first hour itself. Some of the expertise and experience would surely rub off on us from this distinguished faculty... Mr Ravi Kant said that we would have to unlearn and then learn new things .I tend to disagree. We would surely learn - there was no need to unlearn....
The first day was capped with a small assignment after clearing a few formalities. The food was really goood at lunch.The other officers were also suitably disposed towards the course