Fight for Internationalism

It was all easy, on schedule, smooth till 24th Feb 2011 1000 hrs (the day when I was suppose to make my first international trip to Dubai) and then the Fight for my Internationalism began....

Level 1: Connecting flight to Mumbai was delayed - so I had to take a flight which was at 11.30 am, and I came to know about this only at 10.00 am when I was sitting in my computer chair managing some music on my mobile phone, it rang and I had to fight the time - just reached airport in time (didn't even get time for a tight hug from my family, damn!)

Level 2: On flight - fighting the gravitational forces with really bumpy landing - still alive.

Level 3: Mystery - Harit (my colleague) lost his cell phone, we went searching for it from corner to corner of Mumbai International Airport, but even with the help of security forces and house keeping staff we could not find that dear phone of Harit. We fought till the end but could not clear the level, mystery unsolved! Who do you think it is?? 

Level 4.1: Species - My Internationalism was about to get wings and it did on time but then something else with the wings was waiting for me in the flight - MOSQUITO (sucker), I guess it lost oxygen as we went on higher altitude.

Level 4.2: A small little stage i had to fight was my back pain - UGELSIC was a booster.

Fighting and clearing  the domestic levels I landed in Dubai - DXB - its so much organised and planned and beautiful, just too good a city!

Level 5: Face off - this was with the Customs and Information bureau of Dubai to get our brochures, Cd's, folders all the crucial crucial material out from their custody. Savitri (my colleague from Dubai) help us overcome this battle and my fingers got uncrossed!

Level 6: Marathon - this was an endurance test, walking walking and walking in a huge huge huge Deira city centre mall - but we loved this level as I got my gadgets in this one :D

In between I and Harit got one more small bonus - short lived luxury with a stay in Sheraton :D

Level 7: Battle Royale - D day was here - Assessment Summit. The challenge was to ensure 35 Tablet PCs run well on Wifi and it become damn difficult challenge with only 13 tablets up and running, rest refused to comply with us. Plan B came into action and we got all the laptops in, to ensure the Mindspark experience to all the tables. We got through this level too but it could have been better if the IP would have not behaved like an ***.

Level 8: Black or White - this was an experience that was not challenging but frustrating for we were not allowed to enter a night club just because we are Not Whites - this fight cause of your skin colour is still on - sad!

Level 9: Sand hills - This was the most exciting one, the fight to handle all the jerks sitting in an SUV and riding like crazy in the desert - super cool!

Level 10: Heavy weights - 32 Kgs mammoth was being dragged along from a store to the hotel to the airport to the bus to the baggage to the customs to the home - but anything for the people you love <3

My Fight for Internationalism - KICK A$$.

Credibility is the key

Having gathered a littleeee experience in a particular work domain you walk into a new organization with full of enthusiasm and millions of ideas, thinking that you can contribute like nobody else did to this organization ever, by implementing millions of ideas you have, make things work much better by changing them upside down and getting everybody else also to believe and engaged in what you are doing and then…… all of a sudden you hit a REALITY ROADBLOCK – crashing your fast moving innovative ride into something called ‘RESISTANCE TO CHANGE’. This crash quickly turns the Optimistic and Creative innovative thinker in you into a CRIBBER who all of sudden starts believing that this organization doesn’t deserve his supreme talent and skills.

And such situations and resistances will not change till the time we have halos on our heads signifying people as ‘Innovators’, ‘Thinkers’, ‘Strategist’ etc etc..... But I have realized that there is another different kind of halo which actually develops around you over the time and which empowers you to implement the ideas you believe in, bring in the positive change that too without too much of resistance – halo of Credibility.

Ohhh but this halo of credibility just doesn’t come with time it also needs to be supplemented with few other ingredients like performance standards, high quality benchmark, discipline, ethical and moral standards in dealing with people, honesty and integrity etc and making them non-negotiable will have the credibility graph going up. But once you get there you feel more empowered and elevated :)

EVENTful Years

2007 - Economic Times Gujarat Logistics Awards | 2008 - Times Ascent Job Stop | 2009 - Times Ascent IT Job Stop | 2010 - Mathcovery powered by Mindspark
2011  - Will Make It Large!

Certain things never change

I would consider myself as an above average student who would study for his test and do all the projects and assignments in time only because it had to be done and not because of any great love for it.

Recently my latest innovation - SMS based assessment took me to one of the schools to pilot it. Was quite thrilled to see how students would react to Mobile phones replacing their answer sheets but my excitement was bit curtailed by the thought of ME making students do something that I really never enjoyed - take a TEST.

On observing the students taking the test, I have realised that in a class we may replace blackboards with smart-boards, answer sheets with mobile phones, add computers and so on....but one thing which will never change is that COPYING :) - it seems to be in DNA of most of the students :D

Fearless Generation

There have been so many incidents/thoughts that I have wanted to post for past few days but unfortunately the busy schedule for past month has not allowed me to do so. But today what I experienced was too good to be lost in my memory. Today I experienced the exuberance of today’s school going teen – my ASSET Ambassadors.

The times when I was in school and if was asked to introduce myself I was like most of other use to be Conscious and always Ensuring to Say the Right Things about myself, my friends, family and of course teachers. But today when I meet a generation which is just decade younger then me I was just taken back and impressed by the way they would speak their minds out. 18 ASSET Ambassadors who introduced themselves today in front of more than 30 people were not at all conscious, not fearing to say what they like, what they DON’T Like, and absolutely no sugar coated words – just honest opinion.  Some of the introductions like ‘My friends call me saddy, cause they think I am always sad’ – I could atleast not say something like this in front of people I don’t even know. I might just get too bothered about what they would think of me, but I believe that’s not the case with these fearless teenagers of today, they don’t bother to bother of what others think. Or something like that My friends think I am very good at everything and so do my teachers, but I don’t really believe it and I feel I need to improve – the desire to improve and set your own benchmark was unheard of during my school days. 

And I am also sure that all what I am posting would not relate to you till you be in the company of this fearless generation. Spend just 2 hours with them, hear them, know their thoughts and all of us who are in 20’s would start feeling that this generation is far more fearless and clear headed in their thoughts and actions.

Who is the Greatest Teacher of the World?

This video is part of the campaign we did for 'Who is the Greatest Teacher of the World?', wherein more than 500 students participated with different opinions in a form of an essay ranging from mother to nature, spider to dog, sachin tendulkar to swami vivekanand. However mother and nature seemed to be an obvious choice for most of the students. It was really interesting and fun to see the amount of effort kids put in even for a simple thing like writing an essay, many students decorated their essays not only with words but with beautiful borders, pictures of their greatest teachers - mainly their parents. Never thought we would get such an overwhelming response and like everytime the kids and their energy keeps on surprising me. It also infuses some high energy in me! Winning entries can be viewed on EI India Blog

Je voudrais avoir un bon professeur

When you turn 25 and go back to the class to learn something new, you expect things to be easier then when you were in the school, don't we? Atleast I thought so when i decided to take up french, but I felt no better then what I felt when I was in class 6-7-8......feeling of being not sure, thought of being ridiculed for asking a question and proving myself stupid all came back to me. I tried to analyse the situation on what is going wrong and why am I finding it difficult to learn with ease. Was I not paying enough attention? Was I not gaining interest? NO, the problem is that I am not understanding completely what I am learning. But who is responsible for it? Is it Me or my Faculty? I might sound biased but it is surely my faculty and I have a strong reason to say so 1) The faculty is moving at a pace to finish the course in time and not to ensure that all the students learn 2) Asking questions / doubts seems to be banned - cause when you do your faculty goes on a different trip and starts blaming everybody around. After this experience, I have totally realised that it is so important to have good teachers who teach you for understanding. I would like to thank all those teachers who have helped me understand and would like to gift a book on How to teach effectively to my French teacher (I might actually do that at the end of the course). But there is a silver lining in this too, I have started believing in EI's vision of Learning with Understanding :)