What gives

Anyone travelling by Indian railways will wonder at the sincerity of the waiters in the pantry car.You hardly ,if ever, see them sitting casually.It defies simple Indian logic that a host of public sector employees should work their guts out for their salaries.I don’t deny the fact that there are public sector employees who are committed and do their work with sincerity but this is certainly not a norm.You even see the waiters trying to convince the passengers to order something.I had to get to the bottom of this.It could very well hold the key to a major management issue. A little research gave me the answer.I believe the waiters have a nine percent haul for the sale of the day and no steady salary.Each individual takes home a packet of around three hundred rupees a day.That is a little more then a daily wage worker who earns half the money in the same time.When they don’t work their lot is less ,could even be naught. The driving factor here is the money…or rather livelihood ….as i...

This is a 48hrs journey to Delhi and back to attend the thanksgiving service for 40 years of EHA. A simple ceremony,inspiring … The journey back was in Tata-Muri ,jam-packed as usual. Two things that struck me from an observation of my colleague during the journey….so much for the mineral water bottles and the strict instructions to destroy it once it is used..the urchins seem to make a meal of it….they collect the bottle ,fill it with ice-cold water from the station water-coolers and sell it to the passengers in the general compartment for five rupees each-I hope the common sense behind it will take him or her to heights of business glory in the coming days. I found myself leaving the water-bottle with great care on my berth….hoping it catches the eye of the genious. The station at Daltonganj was flooded with village folks working on leaves,sewing them together to make leaf plates out of them….apparently they travel all the way from their village every night to make use of the e...

The winter's come in . So it seems-today is a bundh and I still have to make a quick trip to Delhi and back in a 48hours time.In JKD where the temperatures go up to 49 degrees in summer,my fingers have started freezing. DO I like winters ,I don't actually know.I guess it depends on the situation sorrounding it. Last several winters,I have been travelling all over and have been to colder countries,but the thrill of seeing new places ,having new experiences and the adrenalline that goes with it somehow leaves me unqualified to answer the simple question-do I like winters? I like the sun as much as the next person around i like the winter sun more,I like the snow and the feel of it.I get fascinated by the ice crystals during winters that drip down ,frozen from the hanging cliffs ,in a sub-zero temperature. I like the crackling fire wood in the fire-place and the warmth of that hot drink that warms the bones ,slowly bringing it to life..i like the warmth of the winter hearth w...

What a beautiful message in the chapel today from the most unlkely source-a meek staff nurse!It was restating the gospel we have heard a hundred times over but came forth with clarity from a pure heart-not an extra word,not an extra intonation just a pure simple message....crystal clear. How rejuvinating and beautiful it is to be in such a company even for a little while.

I got a mail from my sister the other day.She has just lost her mother-in-law.She was a pillar of strength for my sister and the family.She said one thing which struck me .She said she was still fragile!! Our chidhood was a protected one .I had not seen death in my family till I was in my late twenties and that was of a dear uncle,well-loved and truly missed.Life was one picnic with the greatest struggle being the exams one had to sit through and occasional skirmishes with friends in the boarding school. I literally grew up in Tumbagara! In Tumbagara,a small village with a hospital which I guess is all it can boast of even now,I learnt the ABCs of life....I saw life in all it's gory detail....lived it,lost it,found it and perhaps ...somewhere along the way it struck me that this was actually life .... ..if ten years ago my sister would have used the word 'fragile' to describe a state of mind it would have gone over my head...now I sort of understand. Fragile!,what a ...

I am just trying out my hands in putting photographs into my blog to see how it works!!

India was at the brink of becoming world champions in cricket (BCCI ranking)and predictably,has lost the series to Ricky Ponting's Australia.Now an australian player Shane Warne has put the blame squarely on Jharkhand's blue-eyed boy Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captainy. What's with Dhoni,a simple boy from a small town middle-class family sailed smoothely to captain the gentlemen's game with a lot of poise,and a definate level of cool-headedness and intelligence.We cannot really say India played badly.The players had their days! I remember when ,a few days after India lost the world cup(T-20),and there were a lot of flaks being thrown on the cricket team,Dhoni coolly sailed into Ranchi with a brand new H2 2009 Hummer with some of his team mates.My old mother wanted to know what the budge was all about,my brother was patiently explaining to my mother how the captain of the cricket team which had just lost the world-cup had bought a car worth Rs.one crore .This car appar...