Attrition Explained!

Attrition Explained!

Guru was in deep meditation.

Shisya hesitated a little to disturb him. But Shisya was troubled by the eternally bothering on the  subject called 'Attrition'. He was not able to understand an iota of reasons behind attrition.

He knew Guru very well. He kept a big bottle of rum and pack of cigarette as an offering to Guru. Then in a whisper he tried to awaken the Guru. But Guru opened his eyes even before that, by smell of rum and cigarette, which he could sense from a mile.

He opened a rum bottle sipped a bit, then lighted a cigarette. Peacefully looked at shisya and that encouraged shisya to open up.

He asked Guru "Guruji, now a day I hear lot of attrition, especially in IT and BPO. Could you be kind enough to explain me in layman terms?"

Guru was more than kind enough that day and was in good spirit.

He said " Shisya, employee moving out of company is called employee attrition. And there are mainly two reason for attrition. One, employee leaves the company after knowing worth of the company and two, when company kicks employee out after knowing true-worth of an employee!!!"

Shisya never-ever had a question or confusion on attrition after that!

Was I sane?

Ms. Ranjana Acharya was a beautiful woman. She was middle aged (40-42 years old), medium height, wheatish to fair complexion with slight marks on her face. She never used to apply make-up and always used to be dressed in a simple Saree. In-spite of this description, she looked beautiful to me. Not just me, but also to some of my friends. My only guess is her dark eyes in contrast to her face made her look beautiful. She looked very healthy.

I am Joy. I was studying for my engineering degree in a very reputed/costly college in Ooty. Putting an end to all guesses, I couldn’t be termed as smart from the general society perspective. Society feels that way as I didn’t get good marks in 12th exams. Didn’t get, sounds like somebody didn’t give me what I deserved. Ha! Ha! Nope, that was not the reason, studying of those text books, for the heck of scoring marks didn’t appeal to me and hence resulted in my low marks. Like any other family, my family had hopes of me doing well in life. My father being autocratic in nature wanted to make something out of his stupid son. He gave loads of money and got me admitted into this Engineering College.

I was not sure what to do with my life, and had heard Ooty was a nice place, decided to go ahead with my fathers plans without much of a fuss. I used stay at the college campus, which was run on the principles of a prison. Some of my early friends in college told that, the college was built on IIT principles and was the next best thing under the sun. Who cares?!! I didn’t make many friends later on.

The college had strict rules of attending classes and students going out of the campus. Hence, invariably I used to spend my energetic young age in classes drawing crap on my note books. I was what you can call as sub-dued individual.

It was during the start of my 8th semester classes, One day Ms. Ranjana entered our class as she was supposed to teach Operations Research (OR). Though, I had seen her around in the college earlier, that day, in the full view on the class platform, she looked very beautiful to me. She was wearing a simple Saree and no make-up. I watched her closely through out the class. In fact, my eyes were always concentrated on her and her movements through out the hour.

Incidentally, one of the subjects I like is Mathematics. God knows why?!! Aimless playing around with numbers and formulas to achieve nothing made sense to me. Somewhere, I had read, human mind will find a liking for something even when put in a no-hope place like prison. I can relate my scenario to this statement now. Operations Research was a subject which is application of Mathematics and it was very obvious that I would like it.

After the classes were over, I aimlessly wandered around the college, as per my general habit. Went to some quiet places, burned some cigarettes, played with ants, disturbed some grass. It was a summer day and had got dark an hour back. I wandered into Mess, had my dinner and went back to my room. State of my mind was what can be termed as “Blank”. I was on my bed, reading a national geographic magazine. It was a nice article about the mating habits of Lions. Suddenly, the thought struck to me that, Ms. Ranjana was “sad”. God knows why?!! How?!! But, a sudden clarity appeared in my mind that Ms. Ranjana was sad.

Over next few days, I attended all her classes with complete concentration on her. I also enquired about her with some class mates and seniors. It looks like Ms. Ranjana topped the gossip list in our college. It seems she was divorced from husband, and living with her daughter in staff quarters. Nobody had any conclusive stories though; it was like any other gossip in college. I started relating the “sadness” of Ms. Ranjana to this story and felt an element of truth in the rumour. This thought of sadness, bought me closer to her.

After 3-4 weeks of my concentration on Ranjana, I noticed that every 5 minutes, she would glance at me. Initially I was embarrassed, and used to turn my head in other direction. This was a surprise, which I had not anticipated and was not sure how to handle this. I started noticing that, Ranjana started glancing towards me more often. I cannot explain the emotions I was going through, but I guess it was a mixture of elation and fear. I was not sure what was happening and my next step in life was unknown.

I wandered around the campus with the same emotions for 2 weeks. During these 2 weeks, my boldness increased and I also realised that I had not studied even a bit of Operations Research. I shortened my evening walks to the mountain and started studying. Unfortunately, my concentration on Ranjana didn’t allow me to concentrate on the subject in the class.

As I was having my lunch one day, I felt a huge urge to see Ranjana. I finished my lunch quickly, went to my room and jotted down some doubts I had in Operations Research. I went in search of Ranjana in the staff room. She was surprised to see me in the staff room. I stumbled a bit while entering the room and with hesitation asked her about my doubts. She was very calm and gracious and explained me the solutions to the problems. But, I couldn’t understand very clearly what she was teaching me. I guess, my anxiety had increased my heart beats and clouded my mind.

The staff of the college stayed in the quarters around 1.5 KMs away from the student hostel. Anybody can guess that the staff didn’t want to live in a Jail like environment. Near the staff quarters were some shops and this used to be the place where most smokers bought there cigarettes. It was around 7:30 PM in the evening and I decided to take a walk to buy cigarettes. I bought a pack of cigarettes and as I was walking back across the quarters, saw a big tree and stood below it. I lighted a cigarette and started taking long drags. I saw Ranjana walking down the pathway on the hill with her daughter. They were both dressed in track suits. I waited for some more time, under the tree, saw them entering the house. I could see the silhouette of Ranjana walking around in the house.

I dreamed of her the whole night.

No points for guessing, I started going to Gymnasium. I figured out in just 2-3 days that Ranjana and her daughter used to come around 7 and leave around 8. I scheduled my going to Gym everyday at the same time. I was in pretty bad shape by then, and had gained 20 Kilos compared to my days of 12th. It was difficult days initially and I didn’t dare to talk to Ranjana. Most of the people in the Gym would leave by 7:30. After 2 weeks of going to Gym, I dared to say a hello to her. She responded back with a Hello. I thought she was a bit conservative in the Gym because of her daughter. She used to chat and talk about things when I used to go to clarify doubts in Staff Room.

During this period, I felt she was getting closer and closer to me. We used to talk about weather, movies, college life, etc. in the staff room. Though it only used to be for 5 mins, I used to feel a high after the talk. I used to go for a walk around staff quarters and enjoy the silhouette of Ranjana once in a while.

One fine day, Ranjana came to college well made-up and wearing a beautiful silk saree. She was looking beautiful. I don’t know how my eyes, stopped from popping out of sockets. She looked very cheerful, and I felt was more cheerful when I went to ask doubts at staff room. The trend of her dressing up for college continued for next 2 weeks. We were nearing the exams, and I was worst prepared compared to previous 3 semesters. Anybody can guess my state of mind.

God knows why, I got up at 5 o’clock in the morning. I was full of energy and couldn’t let myself to sleep again. I went for a long walk on the mountain and was having a smoke. I was trying to think of what was happening with my life, I was in love, probably infatuated to an older woman. She was probably divorced and that didn’t matter to me. I started thinking clearly on what’s my future, and how I would continue with my life. I was sure; my parents would go mad hearing the news. It was funny imagining my father’s response to this news. I am sure he would have hit the ceiling in rage.

Next 2 weeks of life was filled with negative feelings. More or less I always used to think about good or bad and what does future hold for me. One of these days, Ranjana entered the class and announced that, she would be on a leave for 2 months and Mr. Selvatheertam would take our Operations Research to conclusion. Who cares?!! Needless to say I was disappointed, and Ms. Ranjana never glanced at me during the announcement. The rumour factory came with the news that Ms. Ranjana’s husband was indeed alive and abroad. It seems she was taking 2 months leave to go abroad.

My thought process of right, wrong and future continued vigorously after hearing this news. This is when, I realised; I even do not know Ms. Ranjana’s response. There was a good probability of me imagining that Ms. Ranjana finds solace in me. She has a daughter who is probably 14-15. For me, it didn’t make sense and the end was unclear.

In this confusion, I went for evening walk to the mountain. After lighting my second cigarette, In the sane environment of setting sun, I realised that I was not considering the whole picture. I was not sure, what will happen to my life?, where will I live?, whats my relationship with her daughter?, how will she react?, where will we work?, what will neighbours say?, what if society doesn't accept us?. There were questions and only questions, and there was no way I could think of getting my relationship to work.

I realised my childishness very clearly.

I could see the end.

I was getting sane.

I continued with my not-so-studious studies and went on with my life. I forgot about Ms. Ranjana and my love for her in a short time.

Today, on the eve of my 40th birthday, I am thinking,

“Was I really Sane?”
"Was I afraid of barriers?"

by Madhukar Hebbar

Note to reader: If you want to know more about Ranjana, read "Me and my friends" a short story.

Dust Bin, an essay

Dust Bin, is one of the wonders of the modern world, which has been under-valued by the people of the world. One can see Dust Bin in every nook and corner of the world. It can be seen in every house, office, railway station, bus station, space ship, water ship, air ship, 5 star hotel, no start hotel, palace, hut etc. etc. One can name a place in this world and there certainly will be a Dust Bin, quietly doing its job of collecting waste without complaints.

The necessity of Dust Bin is even needed in a virtual world, and hence every computer comes with “Recycle Bin”, which does its job of collecting waste. Though the primary purpose of Dust Bin is to collect and segregate the waste, unfortunately, in computers, people named it as Recycle Bin, which is a secondary use of a Dust Bin.

Dust Bin’s come in various sizes and forms. In a typical Indian house, it would typically be an aged plastic vessel which has retired from its primary purpose (Water Bucket, paint box etc.). It’s funny that in an Indian house hold, a vessel which has retired never gets classified as waste, but gets used as waste collector Dust Bin. This is a very interesting nature of enterprising Indian house hold I guess. From an Indian view point, any vessel like structure which can hold piece of matter can become a Dust Bin.

Modern people have shown ingenuity in creating Bins in new shapes and forms. Some examples are, Bins which can opened by foot pedal, bins with swiveling tops which helps in automatic closure, bins which come in colourful pictures, etc. etc. Dust Bin’s have been made from plastic, steel, copper, silver, gold (anything and everything) etc. Reader might be startled by seeing Gold in the list. Rich people in India, used gold or silver bins to spit the Pan Juice (Juice created when one chews betel leaves with nuts and tobacco). In the modern world, the quality of Dust Bins, also determines of the status and culture of an individual, hence, has gained value in its status.

It is difficult to say, what point in time of the human evolution, Dust Bin was invented. In the historic world, the collected waste was used as manure in the farm lands or in the Garden. One could guess this was one of the reasons, why people started collecting the waste. As the world created lot of crap in the name of science and ease of use. Usage and processing of waste became a bigger challenge to the modern world.

One of the interesting characteristics of Dust Bin is, every individual at some point of time in their life have skimmed through the contents to find something. Most searches for lost materials in any place either start or end at the Dust Bin. It is also interesting, the amount of useful things which can be found in a Dust Bin in searches like this. One can relate Dust Bin to Pandora’s Box in such scenarios.

There are a lot of professions in modern world that are dependent on Dust Bins. The collection of Dust Bins of the clients and skimming through them for information is the first step of any detective assignment. Interestingly, detectives do not have a hesitation in skimming through waste of their targets. This is one of the professions which value the Dust Bins and the content within it.

In the bigger cities, big business institutions have been born to manage the huge amount of waste produced by the population of the city. Dust Bins are a bread earner to people employed in these industries. These organisations deal with Dust Bins of various sizes and shapes and can be called as experts in the area. I guess if there was a God for Dust Bins, people in these industries would be worshiping them. Interestingly, India being a country of multiple Gods has not created one for Dust Bins. It is shame on the modern India for not having created a God for Dust Bins.

Other than the formal professions, there are individuals who have made a profession out of searching through the Dust Bins of streets, area etc. These people make a living by searching, finding and selling material found in these Bins. These people can be typically be found in cities skimming through the Dust Bins, in search of plastic, wooden, metal, paper etc. Dust Bin is such an instrument, which holds the things which are waste for one set of people and also things that are valuable for another set of people.

Dust Bins, have been the source of art also in the modern era. Various artists have created wonderful art works out of the stuff from the Dust Bins. House wives of 1970-80 eras, were very skillful in creating art out of the material from the Dust Bin. This breed of artists, have increased the status of Dust Bins in the modern era by seeing art in the contents of the Dust Bin. Thanks to these artists, peoples knowledge of Dust Bin has increased.

Dust Bin, have been reason for humour from age old times. There have been funny scenarios enacted in movies, dramas, stories, showing the incidents around searching for material in the Dust Bins. The scene from the movie Pushpak where an individual finds a neatly covered package in the Dust Bin, and ends up in a mental asylum is part of the folklore in India.

Dust bin is a symbol of equality, in this god-forbidden world of in-equalities. This is the only place, which can hold gold, paper, religious texts, non-religious texts, money, dust, etc. etc. without worrying about the perceived value of the material. It brings equality to all matter, by segregating the perceived false notions of material from truth.

Next time, when you see a Dust Bin do not get disgusted by it, instead remember the values offered by it and say a small prayer to God.

by Madhukar Hebbar

Smile everywhere- SMILE plsssssss

smile is a smile no matter what part of the world one is from and so often used that we take it for granted.It is the single greatest gift that can be given and the purest form of joy that can be
expressed.Look around; smiles are everywhere.None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it, and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it.Smiles can make your worst imaginable day into something that is bearable. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and is nature's best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away.It is a need to communicate understanding and sympathy. Words over a telephone line, no matter how eloquent and beautiful cannot convey the same feelings as a honest smile

A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business, and is the countersign of friendship.A smile helps us display our feelings to the world wether Rich or poor, black or white, boy or girl everyone deserves a smile. Smiles all convey some type of emotion that is tangible and real. A joy that can be felt and almost held. A smile is as warm as an embrace but as simple as a sunrise.Smiles can be one of the most romantic things in the world. A communication without words. An understanding of emotions and character. A smile reflects a feeling that is so universally understood that it is too hard to define. Without smiles there is nothing in life to look forward to.

A smile is like a time machine. It can bring you back to the days of your childhood.It will fill you with so much raw emotion that you just wanna scream out to the world that life is good. Sometimes a smile from a close friend will make you break down and cry or just burst out into hysterical laughter. Smiles are contagious. They make a complete stranger sitting next to you want to smile. Just try it some time, smile at a stranger and see the reaction you get.

Why do you think that people smile when they have their photo taken? Its to capture a happy moment. A moment that can be looked back upon during a day of hopelessness and despair so that you can forget your worries. A way of saying, "Hey, that was one of the best days in my life!". Its a way to block out all the negatives and reflect on all the positives. An extension of the soul that is so easy, so right and so pure that anyone can do it and no one can deny it.

Smile Forever...!!!!!!!!!!

Happy New Year 2009 with lots of fun and Smile.

Santa Clause and Forrest Gump

Santa Clause and Forrest Gump

This is based on true incidence that happened on 23-Dec-2008 at 23:00 Hours.

Katte boy Anand wanted to play Santa Clause. He sent a SMS from Goa to all of his Katte friends,

"discount sale happening here in Goa on all brands due to less crowds. u guys can tell me the choice"

In true katte style everybody sent a SMSes asking for wine, whisky, Goan Fenny etc.

One renowned essayist (self confessed fan of Forrest Gump), I don't know what he was thinking at that time, sent a SMS saying "I want two casual shirts of 42 size :-)".

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Before Anand could reply, Quickly he realized his mistake and sent another SMS saying "he wants half sleeves shirts" :-) Ha ha