Working With Small and Medium Enterprise

It's been few weeks of working as interns with a relatively small company based in Hyderabad,expertized in management consulting, business analytics, and outsourcing solutions. My keen interest in small and medium enterprises and philosophy of entrepreneurship in growing countries like India has allowed me to look closely and analyze the two sides of SMEs. Working with smaller companies has both positives as well as negatives

Positives:

• It's exciting
• You get to do a bit of anything / everything (if you want to, and sometimes if you don't)
• You'll usually find the management aren't rigid and jaded, and are willing and able to take on new ideas and new ways of doing things. This means you get to have a say (to some extent, depending on your position) on how things are done.
• You don't spend time working on horrible legacy code/model. You get to start from scratch, and (of course!) do it right...
• Rules are flexible, processes evolving. So you get to see how things are done even when its not fully organized.

The negatives:

• It's highly risky (check out how well funded the business is before you join)
• Lots of start-ups have a good technical idea but no idea how to market it. That's fatal and depressing for employees.
• Young techies running companies sometimes get it right, but just as often get it horribly wrong, so you may find yourself the victim of their inexperience / experimentation
• You don't get much respect from clients and partners (but on the other hand, you might actually get to interact with them on a meaningful level, if you want to)
• At times they lack in basic infrastructures at work place, that may well mean that you may not have air-conditioned, amiable work place. You may well be denied the very basic working conditions which will be expected of any established organization.

I'm sure there are hundreds of other positives and negatives in a relatively small sized organization like this. Problems and opportunities lives together conjointly. It's pretty common to see employees being unhappy in morning over some salary related issues and celebrating in the evening with a movie ticket organized by company. Life runs on and so does the organization. Wavy, as its journey's usually are, togetherness, management's personal touch and care lies somewhere in the core of the organization that in turn keeps employees bound and may be loyal. My overall summary is this: if you can afford to take the risk (or for some reason you believe it's a highly risk-free venture) and you enjoy the thrill of a roller-coaster ride, go for it. If you want stability instead, then go for a big, established company.

Bihar Election 2010: Ek Vishwas

When it comes about Bihar, almost every Indian knows it with a preconceived notion, more or less in the same way as you have always known the last ranker in your school.

Having been born and brought up in a small village of Bihar has been more of a privilege to me than anything else. If nothing, since I started knowing the world I always knew that I need to do more as I may not be on equal ground. As I grew up, I worked in more than 10 states and 5 countries. I travelled across India and visited more than 20 countries. Still, a travel to back Home (Begusarai District) has always been the journey with more excitement for me. It brought new perspectives, thoughts and fresh enthusiasm in my mind and soul of the complacency. And of course, there were the charm of home food dahi - choora and litti-chokha.

The last travel to home was different however; it was more purposeful, more determined and with sense of purpose. A purpose that has been there ever since someone asked me "Bade hokar kya banoge?" In the world of fierce competition and rat race of finding something, I realized late that "Ab main 28 saal ka ho gaya hoon!". Stoppages in the path have become goals and goals started looking distant. It was a journey of self realization. Thoughts hover around things like "Has something really changed in Bihar, outside Patna and other urban cities?" If yes, do ordinary people, especially from the lower orders, notice these changes?

The experience of being Bihari has taught me not to go by perceived notions and wisdom. Statistics are dodgy, the national media is either deceivable or unfriendly and the local media suffers from an urban mindset. It was obvious I wanted to see things myself.

Changes were visible and at least a part of the answer was clear soon, as the vehicle and its occupants survived the many forays beyond the highways. Earlier expedition from Begusarai to Cheria Bariarpur (My Home Town!), a 24-km stretch, used to take two hours. The roads in Bihar have changed. They may not be the best in the country, but they are way better than what they used to be a few years ago. Does the quality of road make a difference to "Aam Admee – The Mango people"? I asked this question and was promptly silenced by some passengers waiting for a bus to Rosera. It used to take them a full day to transport a critically ill patient to the hospital there. Now it takes two hours.

The improvement in law and order is no less dramatic. Gone are the days of brazen rangadaari, of extortion, loot and kidnappings with open political patronage. These practices have not completely disappeared. Even though it's not completely vanished, yet the contrast with the past is there for everyone to notice. And it matters even to the landless laborer who can now ply his rickshaw without the fear of being dragged for begaar (unpaid labor).

As part of election campaign later, I visited the Musahar tola of a remote village to check if 'development' had reached the last person. Most of the students in the two-room school get books, uniform and a mid-day meal, but perhaps not much education. Elsewhere, people had reported that government doctors have started attending the rural health centers, but there was no hospital around this locality. Yes, every family had a job card under MNREGA, but could not recall the last time anyone got work under that scheme. Migration to Delhi and Punjab by large remains the main source of livelihood. There is still no electricity here. We have gotten cycle, and chawal (Rice), let Nitish come back to power, they said, and this time we will get real electricity, not just the solar lamps.

It was not usual of Bihar and more unusual of a Bihari to talk like this. Changes were reflective and the last person could also notice it. At many places even the opposition party candidate, deep down the heart had praise for Nitish Kumar and the changes that he has brought in last five years. This election is not about vikas (development) or even about bipaas (bijali, paani, sadak). This is really about Vishwas (Trust). Bihar is still a long way to go for the kind of change that could better the life conditions of every person. We are not talking about good governance, just governance. The five years of Nitish Kumar government — his government, neither NDA's, nor JD (U)'s --has earned the trust in Biharis, perhaps after three decades. This trust is shared across the caste and class divide.

Earlier Bihar elections were measured by the cast equations and now people were talking development. It was heartening to see that development work is primary reason for voting decisions for many voters. By all views, it is not caste versus development in this election. It is not as if Bihar has taken off the lens of caste. It is just that the power of this lens has changed, allowing for a better visibility of development and that is a really powerful change.

My love is calling!

Ever had that weird feeling that someone out there is watching you and
caring for you? Who knows your love is just calling…

In my little heavenly abode
Often listening to those silent voices of God
I see glimpses of a pretty face
This paralyzes all time and space

In the nearest temple, as the bell rings
I feel her prayer and care for all small things
Suddenly all stops and there is no sound
But I still know she is just around

The two beautiful eyes are watching the moon
Says something, screams out, before it falls in my room
I sense, the eye drops rolling
And I know my love is calling

Each breath becomes a thousand sighs
As she gazes into my eyes
The hand of love and the pain that touch my soul
And the bell of destiny begins to toll

Wave of love begin to toss
Like the brilliant rainbow arching across
She is somewhere here, I need not roam
God help me find her and take her home

Women's Kiss Simplifies Our Olympic Heroes Pick!!

Someone ought to inform Michael Phelps that no matter how many gold medals he wins, no matter how many records he obliterates or primal screams he unleashes, he cannot emerge as the hero of the 2008 Olympics.

We already have a hero. Make that heroes.

Phelps can swim his way to eight gold medals, eclipsing the record set by Mark Spitz , and still pale in comparison to the achievement of Nino Salukvadze and Natalia Paderina, neither of whom is destined for endorsement riches or the guest seat alongside Regis and Kelly.

One is from Russia, the other from Georgia. If you've been watching CNN , you know there are problems between the two countries.

Let's hear it for the girls, who with an embrace and a kiss on the cheek showed the world that the Olympic ideal, perhaps a flicker, not a flame, cannot be extinguished. We can only hope their leaders are watching, appreciating and downloading the message.

Their countries are at war. People are dying. They're suffering. How fast things change.

It was just last week that Russia's Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, was in Beijing, inside the Bird's Nest stadium, waving to his country's Olympic athletes during an opening ceremony for the ages.

And now Putin oversees the Russian Army's movements into South Ossetia, a disputed territory of Georgia. We will not address right and wrong, at least not as it applies to warring nations.

Compassion, Sympathy

We will, however, stand and applaud athletes who demonstrate a great deal more compassion, sympathy and common sense than our world, uh, leaders.

These athletes shared a medal podium. No glare. No ire. No hate. The 32-year-old Paderina, who serves in the Russian Army, took silver in one of the air pistol categories. Salukvadze, 39, won bronze.

It's not their medals we should celebrate. It's their mettle. And conviction.

They were friends before the tanks, missiles and bombs, before the killing and carnage. And they are still friends,

sharing a simple act they had to know meant so much more.

As their nations declare war, they say enough, already! Stop.

The picture of their embrace is, indeed, worth 1,000 words. Here are 44 more.

``If the world were to draw any lesson from what I did, there would never be any wars,'' Salukvadze said during a press conference. ``We live in the 21st century after all and in the 21st century we shouldn't really stoop so low as to wage wars against one other.''

How is Phelps supposed to top that?

The National Rifle Association likes to say that guns don't kill people. People kill people. Well, here are two ladies with guns who are trying to save lives. Remarkable.

``There should be no hatred amongst athletes, and there should be no hatred among people, either,'' Salukvadze said. ``The politicians should certainly sort out the situation. If they don't, we'll have to get involved.''

They're already involved. Pictures of their embrace are being beamed around the world. Naive, perhaps, but maybe it can change hearts and minds.

And to think, so much of the chatter leading into these Olympics focused on whether the athletes would make political statements. There were a range of topics to choose from, from bad air and human rights to Darfur and Tibet.

Political Talk

The International Olympic Committee made itself clear, that sports and politics don't mix. The U.S. Olympic Committee showed its cowardice when it failed to voice support for one of its own, former gold medal winner and human-rights activist Joey Cheek, whose visa was rescinded by the host government at the last minute.

Paderina pointed out that she and Salukvadze, both mothers, by the way, have been shooting together for a long time.

``Sports are beyond politics,'' she said.

It's easy to roll your eyes and harrumph when IOC President Jacques Rogge starts in with the mumbo-jumbo about the Olympic movement, better understanding through sport or, as is plastered on billboards throughout Beijing, One World One Dream.

Sometimes it's just easier to forget the outside ugliness, to wander inside the magnificent Water Cube and marvel at one man's drive for eight gold medals.

But then two women, friends from warring nations, share an embrace. The heroes of these Games have already been determined.

And to think that neither has a shot at eight gold medals.