The Change

 Part 1:

When I got in to this business, inherited from my father, it was natural decision as per the expected tradition of those days in 1970’s. It was good for me as well since I was not much interested to study further nor get in to work elsewhere.

Before moving in to this business completely, I used to visit shop after school and help my father. It’s a traditional grocery store you will find any locality across India, serving most of the household goods to regular customers.

Customers, I need to talk about them. They are the reasons for me surviving in this business for so many decades. I have seen many of the kids visiting shops holding hands of their grandparents asking (rather, demanding) for chocolates , growing up , learnt cycling, coming independently in it,for pulses and grains, followed by visiting with their spouses, later with their kids.

For nearly fifty years I have seen generations of such family members whom I treated as my extended family and vice versa. I was invited to their family occasions, part of their sorrows and happiest moments.

For many customers I was the go to person for instant materials without money. I used to maintain a note book, entering the items they bought and beginning of the month the elder used to settle the accounts. No arguments- No doubts, it was trust we had on each other.

This shop also gave me life, I built a small house nearby, married and got my son educated. I should indeed be grateful to my father for building this base and handed over to me which settled me.

As my son started going to college, he showed curiosity in art and wanted to become artist. Though he used to help me in the shop, I didn’t want to stop & forcing him to get in to my shoes.

There is another reason why I didn’t stop – the growth of big stores and malls in my neighborhood. It started attracting the new generations because of range of options they got and I sensed, one day my business will shut down for sure, let me not put my son in to this and make him face uncertainty.

Thus he chose to become artist ten-fifteen years ago. He started getting assignments to do designs, sketches and illustrations for various purposes and I am proud of the imagination he can bring life with human touch.

As expected few years ago, my business has gone down significantly. Not only due to big stores but the quick delivery by large companies, sending everything and anything to the door steps in few minutes.

The customers whom I had seen growing, have moved on to different locations. Their houses have given space for multi floor flats and most of them don’t even know about my shop’s existence.

I know the days are counted for, my shop…….

Part 2:

When I told my father I want to become an artist instead of shopkeeper like him, I expected him to resist and object. He must have dreamt of me getting in to some full time job or run his business. But surprisingly he encouraged me and I am ever grateful to that.

When I started this artistic work few years ago, I was very busy with new assignments. My work got highly appreciated by customers for the creativity I was delivering. My work had human touch, expressions and colorful thoughts. Each assignments were taking many days to complete, patiently illustrating what customers wanted through my imagination. There was no hurry to deliver and allowed me to be on my best. This business also gave me recognition in various forums and awards.   

Indeed it was blessed life to do what I wanted to do in life.

Got married and blessed with a kid, was leading a happy life along with my parents and yes, my father still running his business which may close any day.

But, the world is crashing around me. The dream life I was leading is getting ready to be collapsed.

Yes, they say change is the only constant and I am in midst of it.

The advent of AI has taken away my work drastically. The customers who were waiting for days to get my design and art work are happy with their new found love called AI which gives them instant illustrations.

I never imagined this day will come, to lose my Original Intelligence to an Artificial Intelligence sitting inside a system.

I have seen that work generated through the system. It is good and astonishing but they are not able to see the human touch to the designs I delivered in it, off course customers are not interested in it, since they are able to save time and get the work done.

My business is falling so as my fathers shop. He thought our family is safe even if his business fails due to my different work area, but who imagined this day might come.

Both of us have realized, only constant in life is “THE CHANGE”.  

Travelogue - Shivanankareshwara Temple – Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary

Bengaluru – the city denoted for IT industry, numerous Government Organizations, Defense Establishments among others is also a tourist destination.

City known for green coverage, internally, is also surrounded by forest, rivers across directions and in this series of travelogues, will try to share some of the well-known destinations along with some hidden places, to explore.   

In this blog sharing the information about one such location which might be useful for travel enthusiastic looking for a day outing.

Located around 90 kms from Bengaluru, Sri Shivanankareshwara Swamy Temple is a perfect combination for a long ride comprising of highways & mud roads, serenity amid forest and spiritual blessings of Lord Shiva.

If you are travelling from any part of city through NICE road, take exit at Kanakapura road, hit the National Highway 209 (now called- NH 948 ), crossing Art of Living, Kagallipura. The newly laid Highway ensures a good drive bypassing Harohalli and Kanakapura town and ensure to follow the direction boards towards Sangama (another well-known landmark)

In most of the junctions you can see the signboards for either Sangama or Madivala Shivanankareshwara temple, which will help you to navigate seamlessly.

On the way you also can quench your thirst with a pit stop at Nandini outlet at Shivanahalli with some exclusive snacks just outside the  KMF mega factory before you proceed further in to rural roads.

As you continue on the Sangama road, you will be entering the Cauvery wildlife sanctuary and clear the forest department check post by sharing your purpose of visit to the temple.

Enjoy the drive in well maintained roads sailing amid greenery around till you reach a junction at Kaggedoddi, where the road splits to Sangama and Hiri Madivala on to the left which leads to a bridge with a beautiful view of River Arkavathi.

Cross another check post, leading a forest trail with mud roads, carefully navigating for five km’s to reach the temple premises. 

As mentioned above, the temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva along with other deities.  Believed to be centuries old, it has huge following of devotees from across Karnataka and Tamilnadu (just across the border). 

We do get information on various events been organized by authorities / trust attended by large number of people.

The location of temple itself brings in calmness, connected to nature, surrounded by hills and forest.

A getaway spot if you are looking for long ride, explore new destinations for a short trip.  

Additional places like Sangama (confluence of rivers Cauvery and Arkavathi), Mekedatu (private vehicles were not allowed, need to board bus from Sangama) can be covered, depending on the timings. 

Do follow instructions from Government Authorities on entry, timings, and permissions while planning for any additional locations.

 

 

               

Antenna, Signals and Corporate World

Part 1

The word TV antenna will make Indian kids of up to 90’s nostalgic and if you are one among them sure you will recall some of the best moments with smile.

The earlier version of TV’s in India was dominated by Government run Doordarshan , which used to be relayed through signals and every household having TV was supposed to install a good antenna on their terrace to catch those signals.

It was simple technique for sure, but the challenges were during various occasions, unpredictably.

If any large birds use that antenna as it’s pray spot or resting place, it would rotate while landing or take off!!

Similarly, during high wind or rain, the direction will change hampering the display quality and sometimes making it as no show.

What followed it was a family saga of every Indian household.

• ·  The elder ones will be in front of TV, inside house
• ·  Middle age will be in balcony or outside the house
• ·  The younger will be given chance of their adventure , going to terrace, be a signal man

As I recall not every house had a good staircase for terrace and some houses were made of tiles, so some kids had additional task of climbing terrace by scaling compounds, neighbor’s house etc.

The moment signal is gone, everyone knew their tasks, and no one complained and were ready to their part of communication and synergy.

The terrace person adjusts the signals, the one seeing it relay to people inside home who will be adjusting their tuner a bit but keeps communicating on the quality of picture.

Till the quality is good, the one in terrace kept on changing the direction of antenna to capture better signals and would come down once he gets confirmation and with the sense of satisfaction at every level for ensuring their task is done perfectly, entire family continued to enjoy the TV programs.

If we decode this scenes, who was important? The one capturing signal at terrace or the one relaying the message in middle or person watching TV, adjusting the tuner.

Everyone is important in this chain of command.

Adjusting antenna and receiving signals needs ground level work, patience to get feedback and sense of feeling since he would’ve climbed to correct it and standing there in difficult conditions of wind, sun, rain or space constraints or even keep an eye on incoming birds which might strike.

The one relaying signal must be attentive as middle level person since his communication is crucial for both the ends on what is happening, otherwise all will be lost adjusting, endlessly

The main person sitting in front of TV was supposed to be supportive, patience, directing on the quality of signals and knowledge of tuning the TV, achieving the end results, quality of picture, which entire family can enjoy together.

Part 2

If we equate this to any corporate world though most of the houses have moved to digital world, there is similarity in the way it’s operated.

The ground level staff is often the signal catcher, flexible to move across and relays the ground level information. They will be the having less knowledge of overall picture but they know their work is helping the end results and need to work towards it.

The middle level will be the channel who drives the communication top down and bottom up , managing bot the ends of the command chain, with clear expectation, messaging skills and knowledge of the purpose of what everyone are trying to achieve.

The senior most, often someone who had good experience of catching signal in terrace, communicating in middle, in past and due to the position, role, and knowledge would’ve moved to the position of driving the end results. He also would be someone who can decide if the issue is due to signal problem or any other problems, before assigning task to team (family members). His action will ensure the entire company is enjoying the end results.

Again, here everyone is important, the ground staff need to deliver their action, middle level for clear communication and senior for knowledge and direction, keeping everyone happy.

While TV antennas have disappeared in most of the households with advance of digital signals, nevertheless, have we moved away from the human intelligence required at different levels in corporate world? This is an undecided question, a topic for another day.

Disclaimer:  None of the above points are related to any particular  organization. This write up is based on authors understanding through discussion in various forums, reading of articles on evolving situations and experience gained in people management domain. Images credit chatgpt tool. 

Camaraderie at Workplace - Hidden Net for Retaining Talents

Recently met an acquaintance of a friend. Last time when we spoke, two years ago, he was a bright graduate, just out of college, with an offer to join well known MNC.

While discussing about various factors, understood he had resigned from current company. Being HR, was curious to know the background and conversed around it. What started as simple dialogue led to ponder on this subject – “Camaraderie at Workplace” and is it an “Invisible net for retaining talents”?

This individual was doing extremely well in job, under fast track lane, good exposures to skills and stakeholders, and despite that resigned, the reason was – my friends have left the company.

He was not a campus fresher with batch of classmates together in same company, but an off campus select, built his bonding around people and felt deeply connected with them. So when his friends resigned due to their own reasons, he resigned citing personal reasons, without any strong traditional exit reasons we usually tag. However deep inside, the trigger point was, loosening of inner strings due to few exits from his circle and it started falling apart.

Similar incident I could connect was with one my contact, stayed in the same company for decades, decided to quit and pursue his own business (though it was big risk). In his case, the trigger point was his set of close friends at work place had resigned to pursue individual’s aspiration and without having any issues in his current job, he too plunged in to the bandwagon and exited.

While we keep analyzing various data numbers, identify the solutions to retain people and offer various ring fencing options to make employees stay back, not many discussion happens on the issue of diluted camaraderie at work place as one of the core resignation reasons.

It is not easy to track as well. Only those who are part of such groups will be going through such dilemma of moving on triggered due to exit thoughts among others and when they actually resign, managers will tag them to any of the standard reasons – better prospects, personal etc.

As a social being, humans are tend to connect with people across spectrums, and along with that, when they spend maximum time with their colleagues, team members,  unseen to us will be a select set of people around whom a web will be built over a period of time. It’s not something happens in a day or month but a gradual growth of the trust, dependency, common areas, issues or time given by each other which leads to nurture of this network among people. Having such network at any organizations will be common but the scale might be different.  

This web of people helps in various forms for individuals and organization.

• A safety net for people to depend
• A cushion to let go any frustrations, unhappiness and not allowing such issues to turn in to desire to quit, at least immediately
• Better engagement of team and people
• Informal channel – for communications by stakeholders

While it’s important for organization to nurture individuals career aspiration , creating plan for growth and retention,  should it also make efforts on retaining the larger set of people who are n this web and what is the effective way.? A food for thought, for another day.

Disclaimer:  None of the above points are related to any particular  organization. This write up is based on authors understanding through discussion in various forums, reading of articles on evolving situations and experience gained in people management domain.   

Memoir of Cricket Club – a Startup Story

 Well, let’s do one thing? Instead of playing randomly like this, shall we have an organized cricket club and we will play matches through it?

Thus born our yet another childhood adventure. This is the story of Modern Cricket Club (MCC) an informal startup, more than 28 years ago in a traditional neighborhood in Bengaluru…!!

For an average Indian kids, especially growing in 90’s, cricket was not only a sport but also a passionate dream, and relatable to many activities we were doing. Especially if you had facility of playing in a nearby ground or had space within house compound, it used to be a bonus.

During my primary school days, due to my passion for cricket, I was enrolled to a prestigious cricket club where many national and international players had got groomed and used to coach. Though it was far away from residence, parents had put lot of efforts and money, encouraging to learn to become a cricketer.

That experience, musing material for an another blog, for some other time.

While I was attending the coaching sessions, we also used to spend lot of time playing in neighborhood as well and that inspired the idea of MCC.

Those were the days when kids still played on street and we had big number of friends spending time.

Having the privilege of staying in a house with good space within compound to paly short pitch or in the same lane which had  big ground to play the actual ones, it was always bustling with friends

Since had the benefits of owning the complete cricket set including multiple bats and guards, with experience of attending the coaching, one fine day while doing homework and followed in dinner time got an idea of starting our own club using those materials.

When spoke to family, though they encouraged, asked to write down the conditions of the club and then they will decide of letting me do anything formally.

Same night prepared an application form, with few conditions. 

• Membership fees - Rs. 2
• No refund of the membership fees if anyone cancels their application.
• Time - Sunday 11 am to 4 pm and Saturday 3 pm to 5pm

Next day morning presented this to my uncle, with a smile, he said leave it on table, I will get it done.

Evening, back from office, had a surprise, he had got the application form, printed from a shop and handed over few copies. That was a green signal.

Next few days did a campaign of my new startup, MCC, in school, neighborhood and got 12 members in a month and further growth as well.

In the club we had a register to maintain the forms, timetable and eventually bought some books on cricket rules which was circulated to the members.

While playing on weekends, using the money collected, we used to buy tennis balls and occasionally pay for chocolates and ice-creams, a self-sufficiently running club through the membership money.

There were also occasions, some used to quit and new people wanted to join and since we had shortage of forms, there are cases of overwriting the new names as well!!

Though it was a short-lived club for 2-3 years, after which the paths changed, the longing and joy of doing something decades ago brings back the nostalgic feelings.

With the ongoing Cricket World Cup bringing back these memories, this reminiscence is dedicated to all those who were part of the journey of 90’s…. directly or indirectly.

PS: Fortunately, have kept few forms safe!!

The People

It’s becoming tough to live hand to mouth, we need to do something for long term, exclaimed Karun. Being a farmer he was managing to grow seasonal crops which was sufficient only to meet his basic needs.

He was not alone in Kshetra, a small village in remote corner of the country to have this concern. Depending on the monsoon, rain, season, demand for the crops etc., almost all the villagers were able to sustain themselves just to continue living.

What can be done to make ourselves financially strong, asked Karun to Dharma, who had better knowledge than anyone else in the village with a good heart? He said, give me time will research and come back soon on this.

Dharma didn’t had much land, he owned a small shop catering daily needs of the villagers, due to which he was well connected across sections of society and go to person if any help required.

Meanwhile, Government announced Panchayat (Local Council) election to all the villages in the state and Kshetra was also supposed to elect a member as its representative.

Dharma was encouraged by his friends to contest in this election, since he had good contacts across villagers. Stimulated by prospects, he did apply for the contest and went around promising good work for the village if he is elected.

While campaigning, Karun reminded him, what about the long term farm benefits they can expect from Dharma if elected. After much deliberation and thoughts, Dharma announced, if he is elected, he will ensure villagers will be rich in few years and that’s his promise.

Trusting his words, and been a known person, Dharma indeed got elected and as promised he started working on making the voters rich. He visited forest department, procured hundreds of Sandalwood saplings and called for a meeting of the villagers.

Look, as promised I am back with the plan which will make you and this village rich. Here are the sandalwood saplings, newly introduced in our part of the country. Though this is famous in state like Karnataka, for our region this is new, recently introduced. Trust me, this will be giving a good yield in a decade and with patience we can sure overcome our difficulties.

People were skeptical of this plants and some were disappointed.  They were expecting cash incentives, goodies and short term plans and this new plant which they never seen was not a prospect for them. Nevertheless, they planted in in their fields, hoping for good days. Dharma also ensured it was planted in the Government land along with other saplings of Teak and Rosewood. This also helped in improving the nature and create green coverage.

He acted promptly as elected representative, addressing grievances, introducing schemes, emphasizing health and education programs.

Time flew and fresh elections were announced and Dharma stood again for the election. He reminded people that by the end of his second tenure, most of the villages will see the benefits of his plan and requested them to vote once again.

By now, he had a competitor, Bablu, who had moved to this village few years ago and had political ambitions.

Bablu announced, elect me, I will make all of you instant rich , will give cash benefits as well, which stroked cord with villagers and eventually elected him by defeating Dharma.

The new leader as promised within few days decided to fulfil his promise.

He got a timber businessman to the village and asked people to surrender their trees to him, which will be rewarded with instant cash. He also informed, all the trees in the vacant government land will be chopped, to make money for development work.

Voters are confused, should they rejoice with fact of getting money, now or being trapped of losing their long term benefits.

Meanwhile electric saw machine from the businessman is busy chopping trees after tress.   

Disclaimer: All the incidents, characters, names are fictitious and any resemblance to anyone or event is pure coincidence.

Indian Music Experience – a Museum with Melody

One of the common question from people visiting my city is to guide them on various places. Though it’s easy to route them to the much known shopping streets and hotels. However, being Bengaluriga, I always felt we need to showcase the hidden places in our namma city.

Herewith starting another series in my blog under #thirugata (wander around, in Kannada), to record all such places which might be interesting to visit. Will be covering historical, spiritual, landmarks, museums and stories of our city and beyond in this series along with ongoing Indology, Current Affairs, Management and Short stories.

How many of us are aware that namma city is house to one of the most unique museum in India, dedicated to Indian Music and Heritage. Introducing, to those who are not aware - Indian Music Experience Museum - IME.

IME is India’s first interactive museum dedicated to music. Established in 2019, this should be considered as must visit for anyone who loves music, of various genres. If you want to get musically nostalgic, for sure this will be a place to spend on a weekend.  

As you enter the premises, you will welcomed by the chimes of various crafted materials made of Wood, Stone and Metals, kept in the Sound Garden arena, and people can try playing their own music compositions. The uniqueness is also that stones kept there makes sound when you scour it in wet hands.

The lobby area architecture grabs the attention as we progress to the third floor, to start with. You are greeted with colorful walls and a short musically animated movie experience in a dark room in a wide screen theater. Here you will find various information of different forms of music, its history, evolution including western but with more emphasis on Indianness.

As it’s an interactive museum, you can also hear various compositions from different timeline. If you are kid of 80’s and 90’s, sure it will push you in to a nostalgic feeling with many albums, of that time is made available.  It also hosts variety of details of Indian musical history dating hundreds of years, the compositions, information related to composers etc. , The interiors are highly decorated, colorful and mesmerizes. You can also map your favorite genres of music and band to the city name, even from remote corners of country like Kohima.

As you move to 2^nd floor, the gigantic wall greets you, with wide collection of musical instruments of various forms, shapes, sourced from different places. It’s a definite must see with rare devices made available and also through an interactive screen, you can play and hear through headphones.  It has lesser known stories, and histories of some of the instruments as well.

It also as a section dedicated towards how music played important role in the Indian freedom movement. Do spend time to go through the minute details been captured and songs played there.  

This floor also has various folk songs, arts of storytelling from across India and puppet show artifacts along with some of rare pieces and collections of instruments and belongings of world renowned Indian musicians like Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ustad Bismillah Khan, M S Subbulaksmi, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi among others.

Not only music, but this museum has kept a dedicated space for Indian cinema and its development till date. You will enjoy the communicating screens, short films and yester years film making materials kept around in a richly designed walls.

In 1^st floor, with vide variety of things for sale as souvenir, you can shop any memoirs for the visit.

It should also be appreciated for the upkeep of entire museum and courteous staff, guiding you in every step in right way.  

If you like to hear stories through songs and melody, spend some time here. As you step out of the building, you will be having a sense of misty thoughts of Indian music, favorite’s bands, humming songs, and chimes running in your mind.

Below are the snapshot for ease of reference:

Location: J P Nagara, 7th Phase 

Distance from Majestic: ~ 13 km

Nearest Metro Station: Green Line - Yelachenahalli , Kanakapura Road- ~ 2.5 km

BMTC bus services: Yes, Brigade Millennium Stop

Parking: Yes, slots available

Entry is fees based: Yes

Timing: 10 AM to 5 PM

Weekly Holiday: Monday