For those living in Bengaluru these days, the one major source of discomfort is traffic on the roads. It is remarkable how much vehicular traffic seems to be increasing by, every few months! Obviously, we have not done a good job with executing on plans to improve the infrastructure in time for this increase. The Metro project may well be one of the most delayed of its kind, anywhere in the world. It seems like the Namma Metro has been in progress forever and all we see are new dates for completion every few weeks in the newspapers. The whining about the traffic is never ending, just as the traffic on the roads. For a daily commuter, the stream of vehicles, the abrupt lane shifts, the late decisions to turn, the bus and/ or truck breakdowns seem never ending and ubiquitous. Sometimes, I look at newcomers to the city, from smaller towns and villages and notice their lost look. They
The Fun in Testing
I look at my daughter as she goes around testing waters every where. Given a pencil and told to not write on the walls, she tests us out. She spends a little time scribbling on paper and then, slowly, she starts scribbling on the wall. She runs a test on us. Are we watching? What repercussions will she have to bear? Given a new toy, she will play around with it for a little while before trying to take it apart. The curious mind of the toddler is fun to watch. Quality Assurance is very much like that. I am reminded of an ad for the LYF phones on TV nowadays. They bounce a Table Tennis ball off the screen, the drop it down from a height and show that it still works. How fun is that? The child in us would love to try all these little antics with our phones or whatever other equipment that we may have.
GenNext of Cricket
Nowadays, I see Virat Kohli being idolized in the way that Sachin, Rahul and MS Dhoni were not so long ago. The difference in the personalities between Virat and Rahul or Virat and MS, could not be more stark. It is also quite telling that Virat is liked by all the kids. He has a certain bravado about him, the way that he talks, his body language – he knows that he is being watched and he plays his part perfectly. The nod of his head, the swagger, the carefully cultivated beard – all of these are vintage Kohli and are a part of the package of the Indian Test Cricket Captain. I was an ardent fan of Rahul Dravid. Or as I like to look at it, I was an ardent admirer of Rahul. There was something about the way that he seemed to struggle and work hard at his batsmanship that would strike a chord with me. He would
Change the world!
Many companies have a lofty vision which all boil down to a single point – “Change the world”! It is very much like all Hollywood potboilers that “Save the world!” How many of them succeed in doing this? To be fair, many of them do. Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Amazon are four that come to mind right away. Each and every one of them has done their bit, earning their respective CEO’s fame and renown for their exemplary vision and drive to succeed. Of course, my list of companies is skewed towards the technology world, but I would argue that the major transformation in the world in the past 20 years has been because of technology. I read somewhere, that one has to be the change that one wishes to see in the world. Very true. So how does a leader transform his or her team if he is only taking care of changing himself? First up, of course,
A L I V(F) E
My grandmother passed away recently, after spending the last few years of her life fighting all sorts of maladies. She was touching 90 years of age. From the last 15-20 years or so, she would always bring up her impending death during every conversation. She would have one thing to say – “when will I die? I want to die”. Of course, the curse (or blessing) of choosing the moment of death was only given to Bhishma in the Mahabharata. So it was, that my grandmother would spend her years lying in wait of the moment when it would come to pass. Her last 4-5 years were spent on the bed, with a nurse/ maid for company. She had lost her memory, could only eat semi solid food and was yearning for a life support system. Eventually, old age and fever conspired to relieve her of her bond with life. Her condition towards the end begs the question – do
Mithun's Musings 