A drop of Water

Some of us taken this substance called water, for granted. Me included. We have just assumed that it was, is and will always be available in abundance. And we all, some where deep, know that our assumption is wrong. Yes we do have a lot of water on our planet, but almost 97% is saline. And for our survival, we need fresh water, which counts less that 3% of water present on earth. Out of which ground water is less that 1%.Rest is stored in the form of snow/ice/glaciers/etc.(for more - Wiki Fresh water). The stats may vary a bit, but I am sure the point is still conveyed - Fresh water is not in abundance. It is limited. We also know about the fresh water cycle. Lakes and rivers to clouds to rains to ground to lakes/rivers. So if this cycle works well, why do we need to worry? Thanks to the human activities that are inhumanly disturbing these cycles. I don't want to get into the details of how and why are we disturbing those natural cycles. Point is we ARE disturbing them, and some times we are not even aware that we are doing so. The mere assumption that water is in abundance makes it an irrelevant substance whose accounting can be ignored. Now why am i even talking about this.

There is a village called Pachputewadi. It is a part of a larger village called Abhepuri located near Wait taluka in Maharashtra. During my internship, i was part of a project where we built spring boxes for natural spring around this village. These springs were the ONLY source of water for the villagers during the summer. They use to get around 4-5 buckets of water per family per day from the springs and they would survive on that. I recently got to know that some property builder has got some land on the other side of the mountain which holds these springs and he dug bore well in his piece of land on the mountain. This has resulted in drying up of those springs - and that village is deprived of the very basic necessity for survival - Water. And our politicians - they have a solution - try urinating in those Dams to fill them. But dear sir, from the mere statement u have made, we do understand the dearth of knowledge and wisdom in your grey matter. So let have the opportunity to enlighten you that for urination also, we need to CONSUME some water. How do we arrange for that?

Talking about water comes a thought. Its so amazing that every drop of water has so powerful memory. It never forgets where it has to reach. It knows and it remembers - it belongs to mother earth. Where ever you keep it, in what ever state you keep it - it always tries and tries to go out of your hold and reach down there. Nature has its own ways to make things happen. And that concludes this post - abruptly.

SD

You've Got a mail

Yes, this was the movie which some how inspired again to write and talk to the unknown world out there. Tom Hanks again influences me to the core of my heart. Thanks Mr. Hanks.

The movie somewhere relates me to some incidents. Don't get it wrong, its not flirting on internet! The way Katherine Kelly (Meg Ryan) thinks after she has said what she actually wanted to say and then regretting all over it. Even though she wanted to say that upfront, it hurts her. It is because that one moment of anxiety or anger, makes her speak things which could hurt the other person. This is against her normal behavior. She normally is kind and polite and not mean to say such harsh things.

This happens to me too. Some times under the pressure of throwing up that untamed anger out, I yell on random people for silly things. I remember, on a pleasant morning, there was an elderly auto rickshaw driver near our apartment and I yelled on him because I was not able to park my car. I realized it after a few moments that it was wrong. I wanted to apologize. But the harm was done and he was gone. I yelled real bad on him. Uncontrolled impulse of anger and frustration mixed with a pinch of harsh words was passed to that autowala. I am sure that would not help him with his already existing bagful of problems. He would have yelled on his other customer or on his wife. She on the other hand would have passed it to the kids who in turn might start hating their parents for no reason. Rather the reason might be me. I might have created a cascading effect of anger and frustration which might have caused irreversible damage to a calm system of relations. And this is not my typical behavior. I believe in making relations and not breaking them. I would have controlled my words and passed on politeness to the autowala and the world would turn a better place at least for that couple of moments. More to that, the same autowala might meet my boss and then he in turn yell on me for no reason! Now unknowingly, I was the initiator of the cycle of yelling and it came back to me in the same form.

This is not one incident. There are many more where I yelled at people for some silly reasons. I want to say sorry to them but now the damage has been done and they are lost. I think we should try to control our temper, be cool increase the tolerance and be polite. Swami Vivekanand said,' World is a mirror, it would show you what you show it.'And I truly believe it. It all comes back to you.

More Later,
SD  

FB - the new world

We - the Gen Y - were already so engrossed in extracting the information from the world of WWW, and they gave us social media. They started of with orkut, then the facebook and twitter. It has so changed the basic definitions of the real world. This is no exaggeration of my feelings but the experiences happening to me around.

Friends -
The term has been totally redefined by Facebook. It took me quite some time to befriend a stranger. We would meet by chance/choice for 3-4 times and then if we go along, we just thought that yes, there is a possibility of friendship between us. Today, once we meet, and the next day you find a 'Friend Request' on your facebook account. And out of courtesy, you have to accept the request, or the person might feel offended. And then, the person is able to view everything from you relations to mood swings, groups you are involved in and the games you play. Even my real friends do not know me to this extent! - well only till they were not my friend on FB. (Well, I just noticed that FB.com redirects to facebook.com)

Name -
Before FB phenomena, to change your name, you needed to declare it on paper and still you would be called by the same old irritating and annoying name for years to come. Thanks to FB, its not that hard now. In fact, the FB names become the real names of the unreal profiles of the real/unreal people. I have a friend from the 9-11 batch of my MBA college and we still call her 'Dearest Malini' (name changed, or else she will kill me!). Actually we first became FB friends and then a bit of real friends. And after we became real firnds, we still call her with her FB name. One of my FB friends, who happens to be my relative the real world is a self proclaimed 'cooldude'. The name stands like 'cool Manish Makhija' (Name changed again) on his proud FB page. One of my friend didn't like his name. Accidentally, we were real friends before becoming FB friends. I got a request from him for being FB friend. I really didn't recognize him! After a few days he called me up to ask why didn't I accept his friend request on FB. I said, I never received any! Then it was revealed that he has registered on FB with the 'new' name which he got during his job at a call centre! Total 180 degree shift from the core south Indian name to cool americanized name! and well, we've started calling him by his american name. - This phenomena happens naturally. The interaction of FB is many times more than real world interaction.

Assignments -
Well, this is the most interesting one that I've recently come across. e have a wonderful course on 'Process Optimization using Six Sigma' conducted by an equally wonderful facilitator - our Director, Dr. Raman. He gave us a a case study to solve as a class assignment and declared that if the solution matches to the actual solution, 10% extra marks would be given. The case was about identifying the non-value adding(NVA) activities of a process and converting it into value adding activity as far as possible. Our group was able to crack the key NVA. But that out of the box solution and 10% additional marks were yet to be achieved. All of us in the group are trying to find that solution and there it strikes - the video I watched on FB. It was a Tesco's video about the problem faced by them in South Korea. We discussed and applied the solution to the case. To our surprise 3 out of 8 groups had applied a similar solution. Eventually, we got the additional marks too. But the point here is - We solved a case / assignment with the help of FB! And scored 10 % higher marks by that! This is a shift- shift in the way education is going to be transformed using technology.

Imagine - professors conducting class quizzes via twitter and integrating the twitter inputs to the college application of online examination. The notes being circulated through facebook notes! Class videos being shared student feedback being taken though FB questions. There can be a lot more addition to this list if we start those threads of imagination ! I just have a word to say about it - WOW!

I don't know if this all 'FB Phenomena' is happening for good or bad, but the fact is It is happening! But the out outcomes are amazingly and tremendously amazing! - Well, enough jumbling up of words. I need to share this on FB too.

Till then, Njoy!
-SD

The Last post on internship

90 Days

A total of 90 days spent in Grampari. Still remember the day when I started from my college to come to Panchgani. A backpack, a jacket and the bullet - these were my companions. I never knew that these 100 kms would change my perspective towards life. A lot of thoughts in my mind, a lot of questions in my heart and a lot of excitement in my soul, with all of them, I reached there. My projects were a slight different from normal. It was an experiment for me. No one in my college had done such an internship. But I wanted to do it and there I was.

The three months went like flash of light - yes, now I feel so. lot of lessons learnt, lot of friends made and lot of food eaten! A truly amazing experience it was.

Anyway, coming to the last part of internship. we held a workshop and did the reporting work. I have written about workshop on Grampari's site - http://grampari.wordpress.com/2011/07/16/grampari-computer-workshop/ Do read it.

The report was, as always, a big head ache. Documentation is something I never liked. But thats the only thing people look at. So there I started it all. I thought it would be tough for me to write something of this volume. But once I started it, it all went smoothly. Let me know if you want to read the report. I would be glad to share it.

There ends my internship posts and the 90 days of pure fun.

Thanks for reading. Keep on reading :)

SD

Day 77, 78, 79

4th, 5th, 6th July, 2011

The atmosphere here is wonderful. The days here are bright and sunny and the place looks like heaven.The chirping of birds whistling of cuckoos make the mornings marvelous. Gentle whispers of winds and tapping leaves on the trees, the croaking frogs and old classics on the radio of my roomie makes the nights beautiful. Yes, this is Panchgani - an experience in itself.

This week I conducted one more Focused Group Discussion with the girls of Godavali Village near panchgani. The village is on the foothills of Panchgani and it seemed a prosperous one. But talking to people revealed that even they have water problems in summers. The problem of garbage scattered all over was also apparent. But the FGD went good. Thanks to Pallavi for handling the translation part and the small talk. I had really nice time with the ladies there. I have found that girls are smarter than boys in the villages. Their potential is being suppressed and eventually lost under the societal pressure. Something must be done to utilize the women power optimally. This can change the villages 180 degree. Go through the following video to know the girl effect.

-SD

Day 74, 75, 76

1st, 2nd and 3rd July, 2011

It was a weekend on the verge. A lot of reading and interviews went on in the last week. I wanted to take sort of break. What can be better than being at panchgani for a break! Well, I went into relaxing mode for some time. But then realized the list of things to be done before the end of internship.

These days Rajmohan Gandhi, Grand son of MK Gandhi, is here. It is just a different feeling being with a person so near to the father of nation. He himself is an author, a professor and a philosopher. But as with every celebrities' son or daughter, he too was with this tag of Gandhi. I always knew him with reference to Mahatma. But in last few days, I got a chance to know him beyond being Gandhi. Had wonderful conversations with him and his wife Usha Aunty. Feel blessed to be here and to know all these wonderful people.

-SD

Day 71,72,73

28th, 29th and 30th June, 2011.

I just don't believe this. It has been more than 70 days I have been in MRA. One of its kind experience, I must say. But that reminds me of the end of internship, college and Pune. Back to Pune after 3 months would be a great fun. The changed hostels, new rooms, Gym getting closer, the new semester, new teachers and professors and of course the new crowd. On one had is this set of 'new' things and on the other hand is the set of 'MRA' things, rather Grampari things. But I recently heard this quote from the Red Indians - Past is like Ash, Future is like wood, but the present is the flame. We need to be brighter each moment to be more useful to the society and ourselves ultimately. So coming back to present, yes, I have still got quite a few days to complete quite a few things.

The last week I was busy with the BPO Story. It was really wonderful to talk to a couple of CxOs running some rural BPOs. I talked to the member of management team of Desi Crew - Mr. Ashwanth. He helped a lot with the various questions I had about the working of the BPOs. I also interviewed Mr Prashath, CTO of Sai Sewa Business Solutions Ltd. Let me give you a gist of the talks and a bit research that I did.

I was surprised to know that the total demand of business processing is estimated to be 1 trillion by one of Mckensy reports with a growth of 30% annually. If rural villages become a part of this growth story, it would be a great transformation for the villages. Talking about the rural BPOs, there are three major challenges faced. They are HR related, infrastructure related and business related.

The HR can be subdivided into acquiring and training. HR is a vital part of such services as they are a direct point of contact for the customers. They are the face to the customers in most of the cases unless it is a low skilled job. Both the companies mentioned that for acquiring the HR, they have stringent processes. Once they are acquired, they go through a rigorous training program. But both these sub processes are a big challenge for rural BPOs. The training starts from what to wear and reaches to SEO! But as Mr Prashanth said, the warm up period for rural graduates is quite long. But that may be due to lack educational infrastructure.

The second part is the infrastructure. It is not necessary to have 24x7 connectivity for low level jobs. But 24x7 electricity is definitely required. Moreover, when we talk about business to the clients, they expect us to be complete. We can not argue that just because we are a rural BPO, we cannot deliver as we did not have electricity!

The third aspect is the business. The initial push can be obtained from the networks, but sustainability is the key word. And the client would only come back if timeliness and quality work is delivered. Again we cannot say them - please understand, we are a rural BPO so can deliver only 80% quality!

The interviews also talked about various aspects like affect of BPO Job on coventional jobs. We got a few cases where 1 person is milkman in the morning and agent in the evening! That's interesting now! But the community has been affected a lot - positively. The Sai Sewa has the women to men ration of 6:4. The kids earn more than their parents. They have a white collar job. The economic condition has improved a lot. Moreover the conventional BPO malpractices like graveyard shifts have been avoided.

Thus overall if we see, the BPO would be a good option. But to make it run smoothly, the BPOs should make business sense! Only then they can think of the foreseen transformation.

More Later
SD

Day 67, 68, 69, 70

24,25,26,27 June, 2011

These few days had been great. I had been working on quite a few things. It includes GP website, Rural BPO story and Abhepuri website. We visited Abhepuri on 23rd. We had made the teams. Ashok and the team were quite enthusiastic about the website. But the excitement seems to be dampened as soon as we left the place. I had been following this up with them since last three days but got little response from the team. But thats how work happens here. We need to do a lot of follow up to make things work. The good news is that 2 of them had almost finished their work. Probably would be visiting abhepuri again for the website and one more FGD.

Moreover, I mailed a lot of people from the rural BPO sector. I got a few responses too. I interviewed Mr Ashwanth of DesiCrew management team. He was a wonderful person to talk with. I got a lot of insights from the interview. More interviews inline. Mr Prashant from Sai Seva Solutions is to be interviewed tomorrow.

In these days in addition to the above, I got opportunity to interact with RD Mathur. He is amazing person to talk with. He has an anecdote for every question. That hows how adventurous and amazing life he had. He is almost 85. Till date, he hadnt had a proper salary in his bank account. He started building the MRA centre in 1963 with 1800 Rs in the account. Still, he had never slept empty stomach. He had been guests of the prime ministers and kings of various countries. JRD tata offered him to live in Taj for 6 months with every thing free. On the other hand he has also lived in a shattered roof leaking homes. We talked at length about topics ranging from Anna Hazare to youth of India. I find myself really lucky to be here and meet such dignified personalities. He is and had been instrumental in many changes that have happened in India and abroad. Be it the formation of Meghalaya of independence of Morroco. A fact is that Morroco's flag was brought to MRA centre before hoisting it in that country as they believed that MRA played a big role in getting the independence.

Anyways, the days are getting busier and busier with the end of internship coming closer and closer. and a lot of work to be done yet.

More later.

SD