Dec 9, 2009

Employability Potential Assessment

Employability Potential Assessment is probably the next big thing to have happened to India after India opened its gate to foreign companies which resulted in a liberalized corporate India.

Why is this topic so important? That's because often Intelligence and Qualification are given too much importance and the real thing gets missed out. An ideal candidate is the one who is not only intelligent & qualified but also employable.

Else, lots of companies recruit, train, spend time and then realize that they are not a good fit because of:
poor interpersonal skills
poor communication skills
poor emotional quotient

Therefore, a test like this can result in companies getting the best among the smartest. This improves efficiency & effectiveness.

To summarize this, lets talk about a sample scenario. We all know Sachin Tendulkar as a remarkable player. Imagine having him play a game against England and he doing miserably. Not in one game but in 100s of them. Why? Because we placed him in the Indian football team! See what I'm trying to convey? It is very important for the candidate and the employer to understand the true skill set of a candidate and place them accordingly in the right job profile. That's how you get a Tendulkar in Cricket. For football, pick Baichungs...

Overall, this assessment will help in:
> To identify the true potential of candidates
> Being able to have a benchmark that can be used across various corporate scenarios
> A recruiter can quickly find out the most relevant profiles in a particular segment of candidates
> Increases efficiency and that means, reduced cost through the cancellation of training drop-outs, etc.

Dec 1, 2009

Farmville, the new-age-old-fashioned-online game.

NFS, Need for Speed was the first computer game I played and sure enough, it was very impressive. The game was very good and became even more realistic with every passing year. The effects were amazing and I was like, what next? Then of course, Star Wars, The flight simulator and then, I finally I lost track…and I didn’t care. I was out of this as it seemed to be too kiddish.

And then a few months ago, I bumped into Farmville in Facebook. “Quite silly” I thought, it didn’t make much sense and the graphics were like cartoon and I was like, ‘who plays this silly game?’. It is now 3 months later that I’m completely addicted, singing praise songs and eagerly waiting to see what else I can do in the farm and how many more levels I can cross and how fast.

Farmville, a farm simulation game allows users to maintain and grow like a real farmer, in a virtual world. You are given a piece of land on which you can cultivate crops of your choice by buying seeds. You are given a few coins (currency and when these crops grow, in a few hours or days, you can harvest, sell and get more coins and grow more). That’s the gist but the entire graphical presentation, the levels, the way you plough, sow, harvest and sell, you get the hang and you get addicted. But unlike the usual ‘high end graphics, this is simple, down to earth, literally and yet very addictive. Here are the top 5 reasons why I love this game:

1. The graphics effect is not high-fi but simple and soothing
2. I love gardening & greenery and this is the closest I could get because I can’t afford to buy a property with land
3. The number of choices make me go ‘WoW’, rice, wheat, berries, fruit trees, spooky trees, animals, air balloons, sheds, picket fences, wow, all so amazing.
4. Even though it is addictive, the game can be played for a maximum of a few minutes every day because once you plant and harvest, there is nothing much you can do. So, this is not making you a player geek straining your eye and hands.
5. This is one of the first games to have partnered with a virtual currency company that has integrated advertising and gaming and is helping grow a new robust virtual currency economy. One reason why I have a job now :-)

Nov 29, 2009

New Age Photography

From camera-obscura to the latest in Digital SLR, the world seems to have come a long way. I used to carry a roll camera (analog camera) until a few months ago and I always wished I had something more easy, comfortable and quick and bang, there comes the digital camera. It makes clicking so easy.

And yet, a few months down the line, I've already seen crowd cribbing about the missing features and soon enough, even I joined the gang. How I wish I could capture photographs through yet smaller camera. Or may be, I wish I could take snaps whenever I wished without pulling out the camera and waiting for the lens to take the long 1 second...

And yes, I'm sure, in the decades to come, there will some genius who will probably connect the human eye to some wireless digital technology that will allow you to take snaps at the blink of your eye. And then transfer the images to some 'hard disk' kind of storage device to play around. Sounds like fiction? Give me around 200 years and I'll prove you wrong. Be alive, until then.

Oct 3, 2009

Aug 30, 2009

Have a heart

It was the Monday I was waiting since a few days. My uncle and his family were visiting us from Middle East and I wanted to show the children that Bangalore is much more than busy traffic, chaos and garbage. So a nice little taxi was booked and then at the last moment, uncle and aunt also wanted to join as we had decided to visit Christ college, where their daughter would be studying next year. We paid the taxi driver Rs. 50 extra for one extra passenger and off we went to Koramangala. Took a break and went into Forum just so that the children could buy stuffs for their friends back home. As we walked out after paying, uncle walked out of the washroom visibly tensed. We rushed towards him and found him sweating. Aunt asked for help and I rushed down to the ground floor asking for help at the helpdesk. Forum's helpdesk at the reception did a good job and sent a wheel chair in less than 5 minutes, called for a doctor and also arranged for a taxi to visit the nearest hospital, which was St. John's. Two assistants helped uncle from the lift and brought him down on the wheel chair and in 10 minutes we were in the hospital emergency ward.


I just had to explain the nurse that this was a potential heart attack case and we need immediate help and he was whisked away to the emergency ward and within 10 minutes, he was on an ECG to check for heart problems.

They didn't ask for money and neither did they check for anything else.

And yes, in 15 minutes, it was confirmed that he is having a heart attack and a massive one! Aunt almost broke into tears but the doctors wanted answers, history of the patient. Luckily, I knew uncle a bit and though he was not a heart patient, I knew that he smokes often and also drinks. While I was wondering if aunt would lose consciousness, the doctor wanted permission to operate his heart in less than 20 minutes. And it was angioplasty, which from whatever I understood was the best thing that can help save his life.

That's it, in the next 5 minutes, he was taken the operation theater and within 25 minutes the doctor gave the good news!

We finally were relieved. From happy-merry trip that began at 10 in the morning, the next thing we knew was my uncle resting in the ICU with a metal stent supporting his heart's narrow artery. From the moment we were in Forum, it was just 1.5 hours that the entire story unfolded and ended fairly. When I called parents, and by the time they could reach hospital, it was all done, much to the shock of all.

Amidst this chaos and the relief, the doctor wanted 2 days of ICU and his wife and I decided to stay back in the hospital, just in case there is an emergency.

Aunt & I sat through the night & we had a long conversation about life, married life, health, money, and other related facets of life. It was nice.

Later, I kept wondering why aren't humans a little more careful....



1. If we have a family history or if our life style is sedentary, then I guess we should go for a check every few years once we cross 40. The doctor had specifically told after the operation that if this was discovered earlier, medication would have helped.

2. Insure, life and medical expenses. We spend thousands of rupees every year to insure our car and bikes. We should do the same with our lives as there are others who can be seriously under a lot of pressure not only due to the loss of life but also due to the financial crisis that comes along with it.

3. Why don't we live a decently healthy life? Quite debatable but yet worth the thought. Walk a lot, eat lots of fruits, think about interesting ways to cook vegetables (they are the best), don't smoke or drink, be genuinely positive about life, relationships and try and find happiness in the little things. My cousin always made fun of me on my low-end cell phone but I'm extremely glad to have been able to spend on her father's emergency situation and that extra 10 k that I had was probably due to the 'low-end' cell phone that I've.

At this stage, am very pleased because the doctors were like, if not for the timing, the situation would've been much worse. He is now healthy and raring to go and I'm sure there is at least a decade of life left in him, thanks to new age medication and of course, his will to live healthy!

May 10, 2009

Hair raising truth . . . about hair.


Commercialization affects as so much, we sometimes wonder how we could live without products and ads, isn't it? When you have this doubt, do a flash-back. Imagine your parent's life... how they lived and how they brought you up, without any major hiccups.

While women are more conscious about their physical well-being, men are not far behind. The latest skin-whitening cream for men doing well in the market says it all. I always wondered how it will be like to have your face all glowing white when the rest of the body is tan.

Anyway, just like all, even I'm conscious about how I look and it was Typhoid that made me feel the pinch as I heard stories that Typhoid can kiss your hair from your scalp good bye. Sure enough, I did see a few extra hair strands when I was recovering. All throughout my life, I've believed in cleaning hair, at least every 2 days with lukewarm water and keeping it clean. An occasional shampoo once or twice in a fortnight.

With this new fear of losing hair, Hair and Shampoo ads started looking more attractive. Coconut oil or Amla, Rose water or Eggs, I was wondering how I should 'nourish' the hair. Instead of heading to a pharmacist, I chose to visit the Doctor.

What I'm going to describe here might invoke a lot of criticism from the Hair Oil and Hair Care products.

1. Typhoid does cause hair fall but this can be easily controlled by a good diet.

2. Hair is often abused in the name of 'care'. Hair is like any other part of our body and needs nourishment through what goes into the mouth and not what goes onto the hair directly. Else, people would bloat just by applying chicken pieces on their body, lol.

3. Don't complaint that your hair is dry, that is how it is naturally. Nothing wrong with it. Yes, applying a conditioner/gel helps to style but that doesn't do any nourishment and should be restricted to select special events.

4. The focus should be always to keep your scalp and hair clean. Plain water is good and occasional use of Shampoo is also recommended, again not for nourishment but for cleansing.



So, next time buy a Shampoo with eggs, vitamins, proteins, minerals, try making omelets. Remember, what goes into your stomach makes most of the impact to your body. Nutritious food, reasonable amount of physical movement, stress control, etc. all make life more enjoyable, mentally and physically.

May 8, 2009

Dreaming - The reality behind dreams

Rich or poor, smart or differently abled, we all see dreams and love it. There have been so many studies on understanding and analyzing dreams. This is going to be one of the most happening unresolved mysteries ever...

But then, here are some pointers about dreams that you may or may not have known and one amazing trick to see a dream at your will.



1. Until sometime ago, it was believed that dreams appear in black & white. I've been writing and recording my dreams and all my dreams appeared in colour.

2. We are ourselves in our dreams (true, not only this, we do what we may not do in real life but whatever you do is what you can actually do - something like the movie Mask, your real character comes well with no inhibitions).

3. If you think about something or someone before you sleep, you will dream about that/them (Not true, else Asin would've been always with me)

4. You are not sleeping when you are dreaming.... this means, even though you are dreaming, your brain is working and is giving you instructions on what you should do in the dream but you don't have full control. For e.g., if you are on a diet in real life and you are dreaming about a Chocolate Ice Cream, you will sense the pressure building but you are more likely to eat the ice-cream.

You have to really focus to understand and analyze point 4 and try and jot down the dream in your diary to see a trend. It helps!

5. If you think about something or someone before you sleep, you will dream about that/them (Not true, else Asin would've been always with me). But you are very likely to dream about aspects that are related to you 10 years + or -.

If you are 25, you are more likely to watch dreams about:
- sports
- exams
- failure
- friends
- fantasies
- flying (it is a subconscious effort to let you know about your freedom)

If you are 45, you are likely to watch dreams about:
- family
- money
- and more responsible aspects of life

If you have your share of experiences, do post as comments below or shoot

an email over to ajDOTmenonATgmailDOTcom

6. Would you like to dream at your will? This is now possible with a tried and tested method. You cannot however choose what you wish to dream being positive about life helps you dream good things/good experiences.

Here's what you need to do:

- Analyze how many hours of sleep you generally require (lets say 7 hours). This means, anything less than this will still make you hit the bed.

- Wake yourself using an alarm or something in the 5th hour or so. I know it sounds stupid but it worked every single time with me. Once you are up, try and come to your senses, get-up, switch off the alarm and realize that you were sleeping and you are up and hit the bed again. That's it. You are very likely to watch a dream now. Try it; it has never failed me.

May 3, 2009

Ghar ki baat - Shah Rukh Behind this hilarious comedy program


When I watched 'Ghar ki baat' accidentally while surfing, I was pleasantly surprised. It was after a long long time that we are being treated with good clean comedy.

NDTV Imagine's latest Comedy program, Ghar ki baat is now a popular program as of February 2009. With time, this blog will either be lost in the wide world of Internet or people will flock here to learn more about this program. Let's begin with some spice. Did you know that there is Shah Rukh Khan's hand in this program?

The show is all about the typical husband-wife issues in modern living. The show is good and much better than the 'hum-paanch' kind of quality because of:

1. Concept (Husband-Wife, that's an evergreen comedy concept)
2. Story line (A story line-up that is contemporary and well directed)
3. Casting (They did a good job in roping in one of the best talents).
Remember Sarabhai Vs- Sarabhai (yet another amazing 22nd century Indian Comedy)? Well, Sumeet Raghavan, the Saahil from that show plays Rajdeep Yagnik in his typical 'good husband' styled character. A mallu who we are all proud of for his exceptional non-mallu speaking style.

Anyway, Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai deserves a blog to it's name and we'll leave that for another day.

The wife's role is played by Juhi Babbar (daughter of Raj Babbar) and is known as Radhika Yagnik. She does a tremendous job. Her age, her looks, the thought process and her voice. Perfect for the role.

Swapnil Joshi as Kapil Kumar is Rajdeep's saala (Radhika's younger brother). We all know Swapnil from the amazing Comedy Circus. He is the typical young smart but rich and therefore slightly spoilt brother.

Jayati Bhatia plays Dolly Ahluwalia and the well known Ali Asgar (who also did an amazing job in Comedy Circus) plays a very interesting role as Mr. X. Why Mr. X because this is one character that changes every episode to fit into that particular story line. In one episode he is the 'sabzi waala' while in the other, he is the 'Watchman'. An intelligently thought about role. This effect has been used in the widely popular Jaspal Bhatti's Ulta-Pulta.

Why does this show bring such intelligent comedy? Because of the people behind it.

Director: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan
Creative Director: Aziz Mirza
Production: Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Idiot Box
Lyrics for title song: Pritam
Singer for title song: Sukhwinder Singh

Aired first on: January 30th on NDTV Imagine
Days: Friday to Sunday
Time: 21:30 hours
Repeat: Still checking...




Apr 21, 2009

The dreaded layoff

"Hire & Fire" a phrase that India inherited from the western world is something we should never give much importance to. Our work culture and our culture should blend in. We cater to the needs by blending in job skills with people management ability. The moment you decide on fire, the first thing that happens is you are giving a strong signal for others to move. So, should you retain during difficult situations? Here's how we can possibly handle this situation...

1. Don't ever let dead weight get into the system, this means recruit very carefully. Let HR, Operations and even technical team evaluate a candidate for all aspects.

2. But even if you hire a non-performer, impart training and document the process to change him/her for good.

> At times, the end customer may decide to downsize a team because of past imperfect performances. A strong team can help you decide in your favour

So yes, if this member doesn't improve in course of time, let him/her go but this movement is more open and candid and this is creating a healthy pressure. But the team manager should take the team into confidence and let them know clearly on what basis the action has been taken. A document KRA always helps (Key Result Areas)

3. But sometimes when the client wants to downsize, you don't have much options and this is where the senior management should show exceptional people management skills.

> Scan internal processes widely and see if anyone will fit there
> Tie-up with consultancies and discuss the situation openly and let these employees be shown the direction to another great opportunity. (It pays to be a good guide master, the impact of positive publicity always outweighs the time and effort)
> If you an afford, let the best employees be kept on the roll even if they don't have a job for one or two months and keep scanning for opportunities

More to follow...

Apr 5, 2009

Thyroid & Skin care

I'm 28 now and a few years ago, this is what I would do to wash my face:

1. Wash face after getting-up
2. Use a face soap while under the shower
3. Wash face again after reaching office
4. Wash face again once I'm back home

And my diet was pretty neat, mostly vegetables and plenty of fruits and I also tried the most advised (drink lots of water) strategy and YET somehow, an odd acne would spring-up every week. It wasn't a bad situation but I wanted to know why. A blemish free skin is always more appreciated than almost anything else in life.

I went to Kaya skin clinic and they advised that I needed a treatment worth Rs. 8,000 through glycolic peels and what not. I was like, 'my situation is not all that bad' and I walked out.

Somewhere I did read that hormones do play a role with certain body functions and just for the sake of it, I had been to the Doctor, and bingo, that nailed the problem. Everyone goes through hormonal changes and so did I but in my case, there was a little over production and that resulted in the unwanted Acne. He gave me medication for a few months and voila, the results were stunning! My face wash blemish free and there wasn't any more acne story. Once in a while, there would be a small one, but that's nothing unusual. I felt so good.

And interestingly, the doctor told me that there is no need to wash face so many times a day, two times a day, with simple clean water will suffice.

Basically, if you have a acne story, visiting a Doctor is a much better proposition if all the routine things fail. A blood test will tell the story. The Doctor may also recommend yearly check-ups as that is anyway a good practice if you are over 30. If your thyroid glad cannot produce its own thyroid, a simple tablet is all you need to give your body what your thyroid gland cannot and this medication is unlike others, there is very little or no slight affect and the best of it, you gain all the confidence and live a normal life as usual.

staycation, the new vacation

With recession running over our heads, it is a little difficult to actually 'enjoy' a vacation. It is like spending for a part-time pleasure with guilt that might sink in deeply if you lose your job. While the right thing to do is to evaluate oneself and get stronger for the job-market, the truth is, one can't avoid the gloomy feeling.



Staycation might just be the right vacation for you. You stay back at home, take rest, spend quality time with your children, wife, family and just take care of the little things at home.

You could:

1. Till your garden
2. Do a little window gardening
3. Play with your kids
4. Go online socializing a little
5. Walk, explore your surrounding a little more closely
6. Take-up a hobby, go cycling
7. Take care of the little things at home