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 

Wood

Why? Asked Dharma’s son, astonished and upset... Why are you cutting down this line of trees dad? Haven’t you taken permission to cut trees on other side of the road? This is illegal, he exclaimed.

My Son, calm down. Why are you worried about it? Yes, the actual road widening is on another side, but with my influence, like every time I can chop all the trees in the vicinity. The road planning is still under discussion and using that uncertainty let me move all trees to our yard, it’s valuable for us and can mint money. I was eyeing this woods from long time.

Dharma was one of the leading road contractor in the city also running timber yard, which was supplying woods for various requirements. He was rich but greedy and never thought second time if any chance of making money arises, even its unethical, illegal. Using his connections, used to cover it up and flaunt his assets and power.

This city had many well grown trees, thanks to the planner’s decades ago, giving a canopy of greenery around the main roads, parks, residential areas. Now it has become the target for people to make money and with context from roads to fallen branches, they were chopped and wood was used.

The main road entering the city was next to a large lake, covering thousands of hectors. The tank bund was dotted with huge trees which gave a perfect driving experiences – canopy of trees, on one side the scenic water front and the highway to drive.

As the city expanded, the need to increase the width of the highway was felt and thus entered the greed Dharma. Though the road expansion was proposed on the other side, he planned to cut down the trees on both the sides and was in the site with his son when he made this objection.

No Dad, don’t do this. This is a beautiful stretch of road we have with hundreds of trees and thousands of birds making it home. Please don’t look this as wood but as life line for those birds as well. Also, do remember, this trees are also protecting the people on the highway, otherwise they may plunge in to the lake and many times we know trees have stopped cars by holding them. This is not fair, let’s not do it.

Dharma was upset with his son, for not having business mindset. He replied, don’t get in to such emotional things, I am here to make money and not serve people. You mind your business, I made mistake by getting you to the site today. Let’s go home now.

Before leaving the site, he didn’t forget to instruct his laborers to cut down all trees by morning, before the news is spread and they obeyed the orders, promptly.

Next day the commuters where tormented to see the left over trunks, pocking out of the soil, reminding them on their past existence. The site was also witness to fallen nests, broken eggs and mourning birds which resembled to screaming at humans. Nevertheless, as usual they didn’t bother much about it and moved on in their life.

The fallen trees were shifted to the timber yard overnight and stocked as woods to be sold in market. Dharma also got the road contract awarded, earning him good money as well.

I am not coming home for two days, I am going to nearby city with beach for a party on winning this new project, I am going alone from here, friends will be joining directly – Dharma informed his family and went driving in his luxurious car, alone.

Just as he was leaving the city, the car lost control and plunged in to the lake directly and by the time public went to save, he was drowned.

The trees, if had not chopped would’ve certainly stopped his car, but now the woods from the same trees stocked in his timber yard are getting ready to be used in the final rites. 

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

Once upon a time...!!

Part 1:

Who cares, it’s not my problem, were the statements made by Dharma as he was reviewing a proposed construction plan and some locals warned him that it was a lake and not safe.  

It was one of the largest project in this growing metropolis city. Every inch had value and each options of encroaching nearby vacant places was rampant.  The proposed site of this project was also a lake bed once up a time and in mysterious way the water flow stopped, leaving small patches of water bodies.

Dharma, always eyed this prime land. Many nearby people used to collect fodder for their animals and it was kind of lung space for neighborhood with variety of birds flocking there.

He came from a rich family and wanted to own something big in this city which will be his launch pad to become a well-known person.

With his influences and nexus, he was able to grab it and decided to build residential and commercial properties. Pledged all his other assets, made huge loans and started investing on this project. He also planned for a palatial house, for himself.

Construction started by dumping elsewhere demolished building materials to the lake and killing the remaining water springs.

Part 2:

I hate this city. Small rains will clog the entire area, this is not what I expected when I moved here, Karna exclaimed. He had studied in a tier 2 city and had relocated for a job here and found himself in one of the office space in this Work Zone from past few years.

He was working in an MNC’s India branch, which was in to giving solutions to various cities across the world on issues like pollution control, water harvesting, green transportation etc. and he was expert in debris management.

He was well organized, loved his work cubicle, where he spent more time than his home, kept lot of memoirs on his desk and aspiration to grow fast, in money but cynicism towards social happenings nor connected with larger set of people.  He enjoyed being critical of everything.

What Karna didn’t know was his building was on a lake and water had no place to seep in to its natural stream, hence chaos. He was not aware how systematically it was killed and later converted in to his office space on top of debris.

 Part 3:

As heavy rain continued, people working in this premises were asked to vacate and on a terrible night water seeped in to the buildings and the basement became weak and tilting.

People residing had to rush out in middle of the night, same with Dharma. Without time to collect valuables, documents, he started running from his penthouse and by the time he reached ground floor, had few fractures, falling due to panic attack.

Emergency services were called in and after thorough inspection, they declared, all the buildings in this premises were to be uninhabited immediate and can’t enter again, as it might collapse anytime.

Part 4:

Dharma resting in hospital, had no clue how to solve this issue. He had lost all his valuables, pledged properties and now had to take care of demolishing his damaged buildings and negotiate with his tenants and customers.

Karna finally realized, it’s not the city to be blamed and felt miserable for his thoughts. An expert giving ideas worldwide, little did he realized, on his work place.

Meanwhile, someone gave Karna’s contact number to Dharma, for debris management.  

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

Back to Office - The Work Place Challenges

The corporate world seems to be getting back to normalcy, after spending two years in an unprecedented era in modern history. Unless any unexpected variants are back to haunt the business and people, most of the organizations have started planning their strategies on employee work models and communications.

As mentioned in my earlier blog,The Next Wave , one of the biggest challenge, management should be ready is with millennial as the future work force and ways to manage. Nevertheless, there is one bigger challenge which also should be dealt with – the Current Work Force.

Yes, while we may need to think about the future work force, are we ready with the task in hand now, the present employees of the organization, the very pillar on which companies need to run. This blog is not about the great exoduses happening, which was already covered in one of my earlier posts in August 2021 The Great Exodus

Till Feb 2020, companies had built their own process, procedures, culture and employees had amalgamated themselves by accepting the way the system and job works.  However, the pandemic made companies to scramble its resources to ensure business continuity and employees had got adjusted to this ‘new normalcy’.

While the experts in the industry are predicting the hybrid model is here to stay (at least for some more time), even calling people back to office for two to three days will have its own tests, especially from people management.

Below are the few challenges Managers need to be ready:

1. Integrate of New Joiners - One of the biggest test will be to integrate the (new) joiners to the organization, in person.  Most of the companies have hired huge workforce in past two years and they were working remotely with limited in person contacts.

With back to office, those who have virtually interacted but not completely merged with organization way of working, will need attention and support on various issues which might arise when the new set of associates starts meeting those who had seen the organization  before pandemic.  

2. Cultural Assimilation - Every company will have its own defined and few undefined cultural aspects. People were working in office, spent time in person and over a period of time an air of culture and way of working would’ve got built. This is also one of the core essence on which employees get connected with their organizations

The virtual work has changed the demand, time lines, people interactions etc. This change in culture will be required to re-calibrate to the earlier values / established values. This is not only for new joiners but also for everyone working.

   3. Policy Readiness – Although the virtual working made companies to change its policies, the hybrid work model will need a whole new thought process of defining the organization policies, encompassing life cycle of an employee, to avoid any ambiguity  leading to employee issues and conflicts in understanding the process.

4. Benefits – How do you define the benefits given to employee who prefers to work partly in office vs. someone needs to work daily in the same office due to the nature of the role? Will organization be ready to differentiate the benefits and support, given to its own set of people? This will be a larger issue leading to change in the enter work model, forcing all to come to office or introducing different policies / models for each set of people.

    5. Employee Well-being – Most of the people managers may need to become counselors addressing the employee issues, work life balance topics, coming to office, managing commitments, apprehensions on meeting people etc. Companies need to train and develop the Managers on making them empathetic without losing focus on business, which will a big challenge.

Also, companies need to redefine its well-being programs like yoga, motivation talks, and hobby clubs covering hybrid work models since not all employees are available in one platform now.

 6. Workplace Support – Past two years didn’t have much challenges on the physical work place requirements. With people back in their campuses, companies will have to start reinventing on the application systems, seats, breakout areas, transportation, food etc. With the headcount of most of the companies grown unprecedented, they need to be ready with this infrastructure, accommodating all of them.

 7. Managerial Development Programs – one of the greatest challenges will be on the people management, especially millennial and trainees who have joined organizations in past two years and didn’t work with larger team in office premises, thanks to virtual world. Those who have become managers to handle people for first time in this past two years will also need managerial programs, to manage employees.  

 8. Redefine the Work Expectations – One of the most debated topic in this two years was on the extended working hours and productivity levels during WFH. With team members back to office or on hybrid model, managers need to reset their expectations and outputs, considering the working hours. Leaves will also increase, since employees will not be able to manage minor household issues from office and will start applying leave (like pre-covid era). Thus it becomes a much required activity for all managers to reorganize their project plans and timelines.

 9. Recreating the Vibrancy at Work Place - Activities on Floor, Traditional Events, and Fun Fridays etc. will need a reconsideration and checks, if those activities are still valued in new normalcy. How do we engage people who are in different sets of work mode – complete WFH, Hybrid, and Complete WFO?

Though the list may be still long and looks tough to handle, every challenge will also come with an opportunity to explore, to create unique ideas. Organizations have evolved from the unanticipated historical event and grown multi-fold times becoming stronger and bigger in past few years. In such situation even this will be addressed successfully.  

How it will be addressed? It will be yet another important paradigm shift in Human Resources Management, which we will be witnessing, soon.

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, interaction with people managers, reading of articles on evolving situations and experience gained in people management domain. 

Coming Soon - The Next Wave for Corporate

With the world wide pandemic entering the second year now, organizations across the globe has transformed the way of working. Companies which can afford remote working has defined new rules and definition which is new for work environment – Hybrid Model, Remote Working, WFX etc.

Organization in manufacturing,FMCG and related processing industries are also redefining their workforce and related policies, process since they can’t afford the remote working considering their business.

Last two years has been a big roller-coaster for many enterprises, while some like in digital,  transformation , online business, tech related goods and services making good advantage of the transformations, there are few like travel, tourism, hospitality, transport , retail etc. are trying to survive  or innovate themselves in new domains.

Amid all these changes and waves after waves of pandemic which is making business to be on the edge, there is one big thing which is gradually happening with possible impact forever, which needs deeper focus, renovation of the current practices by every organization.

This is not about the ongoing covid pandemic impact, but larger issue which will have major impact across the industries – The Entry of Generation Z in to the workforce.

Yes, with the Gen Z born ( between late 1990’s to early 2000’s) getting graduated and entering to the work arena, are we ready to face the new gen aspirations, thoughts and process to align them to our business requirements.

With most of the students studying online/ hybrid from past two years the new graduates will need focus to handhold them in their initial work days. The post graduates would have spent most of their course time in lock-down, they will need greater support and companies can’t expect the same output like from the previous batches.

The ambitions and the fast-track life style will also make project managers to realign their thoughts while managing their new team members. They can’t expect the strict, time bound work schedules which they underwent 10-15 years ago.

The average tenure at work will further get reduced as the job changing will happen quickly if the current role is not matching their interest and will not wait for the natural 3-4 years period we had for any role change as part of career progression. They will quit quicker than earlier batches, so brace for impact!!

This will make companies to make the IJP’s more attractive, time bounded, inclusive, cross skilling. Even the simple policies like leave, attendance will require a relook in this regard.

Employee engagement may need new definition. In addition to the conservative approach we have, innovative ideas, resulted oriented, tech based initiatives will be required to keep employees engaged.

The HR analysis of data will also to be done keeping this age group in mind. The general way of breaking down the information and arriving at some suggestions will have to done in different levels, specially addressing this set of employees.

With only Gen Z will be joining the organization henceforth, its high time companies get ready for the next wave which has already hit the workforce. In this VUCA world, with curiosity embedded employees, they will need a new workplace. The existing employees will see a brand new work culture evolving in front of them, which is here to last for many decades to come.

Closing note – Gen Z Workforce will also join with different thoughts, alternative ideas, quick actions, which can bring positive additions to our existing process and work-styles, however, how we adopt to them will make the difference for the growth of the organizations.

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, interaction with people managers, reading of articles on evolving situations and experience gained in people management domain.