WOW: Write A Poem Using These Words

‘Write A Poem Using These Words‘ – Fear, Ready, Wide, Tie, Will.
 
Fear, of the unknown future in the nameless oblivion of life and where it would eventually lead?

A fear which created a crevice so wide, which seemed infinitely stretching into the dark corners of space

Where mental strength lays down its arms even before the battle begins.

Where the results of failure, tie themselves to the stones of dejection deep into the depths of sea of the subconscious mind.

The will to not give up, tugs the sleeve of the heart , asking it to give it one more shot.

Like life depends on it.

Like I would not live another day and this is all I have for now.

Like the warriors who go down only momentarily only to be back again.

I tell my heart, “Yes I am ready”

Ready to give it my all.

Ready for the moment when I can hold my head high and say, “ Yes , I gave it my all”.

Whats this about- The moment when it seems in life that all has been lost when your every effort goes in vain and you think of calling it quits forever..these lines ask to give it one last push with all you have got.

‘This post is a part ofWrite Over the Weekend, an initiative forIndian Bloggersby BlogAdda.’ 

How the inefficient Amazon India turned my simple shopping into hell

This is my recent experience as to how Amazon India turned my simple shopping into a hellish experience and it proves the fact that it is one website which doesn’t listen to its customers despite placing misleading ad about being a customer centric company. The issues were very simple- only 2 of them but the 3rd grade attitude by Amazon turned it into a complex snowball of issues and I grappled with them for 10 days with multiple calls, tweets and mails.

The first issue which I have been telling Amazon India since very long, five years back at Delhi and from the past 8 to 9 months in Lucknow which they don’t listen and take no action is that their delivery guys while handing over the products to the customers don’t give the smart phone to the customer to sign it post delivery for the signature. They fraudulently sign on behalf of the customer. If you’re not vigilant enough they won’t hand you the smart phone or either park their vehicle a few houses away from your home, and over the package to you and by the time used to look up from the package they would have sped off. I had complained about the same to Amazon India 'N' number of times and all I got every time was the bloody “We’re sorry sir this won’t happen again” which had no meaning to it because it happened again the next time. Well I’m no loyal customer to any website because I go by the line which says that “Don’t love your company too much, you never know when it stops loving you”. So I had placed orders for products around Diwali and Amazon automatically created 3 different order numbers for the same. On the next day after Diwali I received a delivery of two products and the guys who came to deliver the product handed me the package and when I asked them about the signature they said “Sir no need” and by the corner of my eye I could see that he had scribbled something on the phone. Due to it had been a festive atmosphere and didn’t wanted to make a scene I let it go but immediately I contacted Amazon India through phone and chat support and re scheduled all my undelivered 4 products to the next Saturday instead of the coming Monday and Thursday. All I wanted to take the delivery of the products myself and check whether they do the same thing. I had also warned Amazon that in case on the next delivery if I find the delivery guys doing the same trick I would hand over their guys to the police and register a complaint against them for making fraudulent deliveries.

I was given the go-ahead from both phone and chat saying that all deliveries had been rescheduled to the next Saturday i.e. 7 days from then. The next shocker came when on Monday morning I got a message that my products are out for delivery. Shocked at the drama going on I again contacted Amazon, gave them an earful, they said rescheduling has done and no delivery would be attempted but the guys attempted delivery irrespective of that . I had already warned my family to turn the guys back saying that rescheduling had been done well in advance. They did so and for the whole day there was a stream of attempted deliveries and we had to turn all of them away. This was a Monday and after talking to customer care again Tuesday passed peacefully but the problem started again on Wednesday when some Monday items were again rescheduled for delivery on the day. Again I had to go through the whole drama but nothing happened except for numerous customer care calls. On Thursday morning when I received the notification that one of my product was out for delivery I immediately called up the delivery guy and told him that the product had been already rescheduled and no need to go. He made me talk with his senior who after listening to all that had been going on with me, suggested that he mark that product as delivered, will keep it with him because due to some issues he can’t keep a product more than two days with him, after that the system would lodge it to be returned back. He gave me his personal number and told me that only after talking to me on Saturday would the delivery be made. I did not want it to go into another hassle so I said yes and this thing was final.

In all this meantime drama, one delivery guy instead of rescheduling it for Saturday had marked the product as “customer refused, return to seller” instead of “customer refused, delivery rescheduled” and what that did was to mark my products as being returned back. When in the next 72 hours hours I had to start getting the delivery I was getting confused by this new development so I contacted customer care. The lady on the phone understood or try to understood, God knows what she understood and  initiated a dummy return request so that I refuse the guy who comes to pick up the product as a replacement and the same product which has not been delivered to me in the first place is delivered finally. Problem started the next day when the guy came to pick up the product which was not there in the first place, he started calling and pressurizing me to cancel the order so that God knows what happens? When I opened my Amazon account I saw that another replacement had already been shipped for 2 of the same products and here is one guy who was telling me to cancel it and I was confused that which to cancel and which to let it come? Finally I did nothing and frustrated by the fact that nobody at Amazon India (I call them deaf, blind and idiots) was listening and all I was made to do was make rounds of customer care executives who were not even patching me up with their higher management in the first place when they clearly understood that my problem is well above their pay scale.

Frustrated, angry I sent my whole email transcript which had been going on with the social media escalation team to Jeff Bezos at Amazon US (with no hope of any reply ever). To my surprise by the evening I got a call from Amazon India, the person into the executive customer relations team which they term as the highest level of escalation. I was so angry that explaining the whole matter again I minced no words with Amazon and how a simple thing had turned into a nightmare for me. He said that he would be looking into it and he admitted the fact that customer care people messed it up in the very first place from the very beginning. Next day another person from the same team called because as I replied to the mail that all Amazon India deserves is a negative rating and I won’t rate my experience ever with them. I gave him my peace of mind too and although he said that the dummy transaction and the promise by that executive to personally deliver were both against Amazon SOP. I don’t care what is within the rules and what’s against… All happened with me was just pure crap. The delivery senior did keep his promise and he was well before time at my home personally delivering the package. While talking he told me that that’s the problem with Amazon that energy scheduling information is never updated to the local delivery hubs.

Just 6 simple items due to one serious issue of not making deliveries properly lead to rescheduling which in turn was so screwed up that it created a lot of problems in between. After all the drama that you have read being unfolded, here is my observation and complaints regarding Amazon India-

1. Do make sure that either you or any of your family member does sign after taking delivery, don’t leave it to those guys, in order to save time they might forge signatures names.

2. Don’t fall into the trap of “we’re sorry sir this won’t happen again or I personally make sure sure that you receive the product on time” lines spoken by customer care executives.

3. Be careful while rescheduling your deliveries because the centralised servers would be updated but you’ll have problems with the local delivery hubs.

4. Amazon India does not have a proper escalation, nodal or appellate authority where you might escalate your complaint. The customer care executives would try to act as if they know everything but in reality they know "Ghantaa".

5. All you would ever get is copy pasted responses on either email or Twitter. The alarm bells did not ring up in Amazon when they clearly knew that I was in touch via calls, tweets, mails simultaneously. The escalation team did not try to look into the picture even then.

6. The very top level of Amazon India management seems like people who are sleeping because I have doubt whether or not they actually even know that what’s going on.

7. In the extreme case you are frustrated just like me with Amazon India and no resolution in sight I suggest you to kindly drop your correspondence email to Jeff Bezos at Amazon US (just Google his email ID and you’ll get it). His team at US would forward it to the concerned people here in India and then somebody from the higher-level escalation team might call you up and discuss your issue.

8. Even after so many years of Indian operations, Amazon India behaves as a whatever is happening with you is happening for the first time, they are part bunch of totally ignorant people who have no clue with the problems faced by the customers.

9. Even when the issue was urgent, the social media escalation team was sending me standard replies that it would take 3 to 4 days to come up with an update and I was like “the war will get over the next three hours and I will wait for 3 days??

10. Expecting them to help you out with your issue??? Forget it...

That’s the reality of the so-called customer centric company in India.

My experience guide into the world of DSLR with the Nikon D5200

There are a lot of guides on the Internet regarding the usage of DSLR cameras and all but more or less there are technical in language and not easy to understand for a first timer so here is my guide into the world of DSLRs in a very simple language. Please note that I’m no expert in DSLR so what ever I have written here is as per my hands on knowledge and this post might be updated in the future. You may or may not agree with my views. 

I have the Nikon D5200 with me and whatever I would be telling would be the basis of this blog post, it might/might not be applicable to your camera as well. 

· Please don’t shoot a DSLR with the mentality of a point-and-shoot camera. Even the auto mode in a DSLR is a bit complex than your point-and-shoot with a tons of buttons and functions so it would take you time to actually get used to the camera. 

· This is one expensive piece of equipment and subsequently of expensive piece of hobby as apart from the camera body in the future all your investments would be in the lenses so please bear in mind that as you go forward to new lenses according to your interests or requirements, be prepared to spend money. 

· In order to save money I have never purchased lenses either from third companies or compatible ones. Whatever lenses I have are all original Nikons. 

· It would take you time to develop your interest and requirement of lenses. It’s up to you whether you want to switch to a new lens after you have mastered an existing one or you want to have a variety of lenses and then try out your full shooting potential and likes and dislikes. I got the standard 18-55 kit lens with the camera and over the course of one year while shooting I realised the fact that I needed to go beyond the standard lens because it was restricting what I wanted to really shoot. It could not shoot a wide canvas into a single frame nor it could zoom very much. During my planned vacation to Malaysia and Bali I realised that I needed a wide-angle lens to capture as much of a landscape as possible in a single frame and I bought it before I ventured out. Similarly, before the Diwali of 2018 started I had decided that I needed a zoom lens to capture close-up shots at night or even in the day. Both these lenses have cost me a bomb but I don’t mind it now that they fulfil its purpose. 

· As a newbie its okay to use the screen to point-and-shoot but as you get slowly familiar with your camera, you would slowly switch to the standard view by the camera. 

· As you handle a DSLR, be prepared to use your mind on different things all at once. The learning never stops with this camera. You’ll be adjusting the zoom, while working out with the ISO, shutter speed and various things if you’re operating that in manual mode or the subsequent not automatic modes. 

· It would take you time to actually develop your most favourite mode. It can be the manual mode, aperture priority, shutter speed. As you go deep into the automatic mode you will actually realise that what is the limitation of each of the preset automatic modes and how much creativity can those manual modes give you. 

· Depending on the space in the memory card keep the image quality in the setting as normal, image size depends on you but medium is okay, I haven’t used the high dynamic range is in yet so I keep it off, same with active de-lighting. 

· A lot of people get confused with ISO, in technical terms too its might seem a bit confusing so here it is in simple language. It’s a setting which determines how much sunlight is exposed to the sensor to develop that frame finally which are taking. If you’re shooting in very bright sunlight then ISO 100 or 200 is more than enough. The brighter the sunlight or artificial light in the day the lesser ISO is good, otherwise as the light fades you need to notch up the ISO counter to compensate for the drop in sunlight or light available. 

· White balance is all about giving the balance of white light in the picture. Prefer to keep it on auto but you can tinker around with it to give a creative feel to your pictures instantly depending on the position of the subject. For example I shot a bird which was in sunlight, I was in the shade and I chose white balance as shade and click the picture, the resulting picture was this the bird in a brown shade background. 

· Keep the focus mode as autofocus automatic if you’re not sure about the movement of your subject, let the camera decide. Choose autofocus S if the subject is a still, C or continuous if it’s a moving subject and manual focus if you want to determine yourself that what you’re going to do. This manual focus mode is good when you want to take that bookeh effect and want to focus each and everything and not let the camera interfere. 

· Exposure compensation is used when the need to make the frame light or dark according to the light available. You would use this mostly as you get used to the manual modes and feel the need to control the exposure of light. 

· Capturing those moving objects in a still frame is every person’s interest and that is achieved by a either the sports mode in automatic or the shutter mode in manual. Capturing moving objects with a fast shutter speed would capture the subject in a single frame and it would appear as if the subject has stopped, capturing the same in a slow shutter speed or would leave a trail of either your subject or its lights if you’re shooting at night. So choose what you want to shoot and then adjust the shutter accordingly. 

· There is nothing definite setting wise to know that what is the perfect setting and it takes a few test shots to get everything perfect for the click. Don’t be afraid to experiment or practice. 

· The camera views colours a bit differently than what human eyes can see so if you love the dark monsoon clouds the camera would shoot it quite a lot darker than what it is actually. Factor in mind that you need a contrast of colours to make the frame beautiful. If you’re taking a shot of a hill then try taking a green tree in the frame to highlight the object and the colour. Same colour background and foreground would come out terrible in the final shot. 

· With the more advanced entry-level DSLR from Nikon, the new AF - P lenses might be your answer to cheaper affordable lenses. Majority of these lenses are compatible with the D 5200 also in the regards that they don’t come with the automatic/manual focus and vibration reduction switch on the lens itself. These settings would have to be controlled from the camera itself. These are fully compatible with the D 5300 onwards and so models. For the compatibility, check out the Nikon website. 

· If possible invest in neutral colour filters as well to protect your camera lens from dust and all sort of things while shooting outdoors. 

· Enroll yourself with Nikon workshops to understand the working of the cameras and to be more familiar with them 

The investment in DSLRs and the learning, both never stop.

How Border made me discover my interest of military hardware and tactics

People learn a lot from movies and one Bollywood movie actually showed me the way I was looking for and started an interest into something which I do even today.

Year 1997, a Bollywood movie, a geographical place made famous in just three hours, a tale of heroism against all odds (not taking into consideration the various controversies around) - the 1971 war in the Battle of “Longewala”… Yes that’s Border. The blockbuster which put 120 Indian soldiers against tank regiment of 45 tanks and 2000+ soldiers heroism on the celluloid screen. Now if you’re wondering that how does one movie start an interest area, here it is.

I cannot help you Major, यहाँ सिर्फ Hunter जहाज़ हैं जो रात को नहीं लड़ सकते. I`ll be there with the 1st light of the morning.

There’s was one epic line by Jackie Shroff in the 45 minute important battle scene in the movie which started very basic question the moment the assault on the screen started…Why couldn’t the hunters fight at night?? That time there was no wikipedia, no YouTube or anything which could answer my questions. Hell..It was probably the first and only war movie I had actually seen since growing up. The only memory I have of actual war is probably the BBC coverage of the Gulf War of 1991 . So for me everything I saw in border was THE thing which mesmerized me beyond anything. Somewhere around the line found my calling of interests in military hardware but I could not put a name to it even though could pinpoint it that yes, I liked this thing. In 2002, in the final year of high school, cable TV at that time was quite common and Star movies was the key to all action. Would you believe that till then I had realised that I love everything air force but still hadn’t watched the must see movies like Top gun or Vijeta?

At the same time I got my first PC and in that era I realised that there are things called computer games which actually have a genre known as combat flight simulators. In 2001 the Owen Wilson starring Behind enemy lines released which actually gave me a very good look into the working and systems of F-18 Hornet. That was my Pandora’s box…. This was what I was waiting for. By luck just two months after I saw that movie, Star movies showed Top gun and at that night my sleep vanished. This was what I had been searching all those years, a movie which showcased fighter jet instruments, dogfighting and everything associated with jets to the limit. I was so engrossed that I saw that movie numerous times until each and every scene became etched permanently into the memory. In between I also played PC games and that actually helped me get the answer to my border question, “Why no night flying”? Some of the adversary fighter jets in the game had almost no modern systems, they were not real-time in terms of instrumentation so things would show up on the screen seconds later after it had been initiated. That was when jackpot answer as to why no night flying in the 71 war meant that the jets were not capable in terms of instrumentation, avionics and other things to do a night support mission as shown in the movie.

A closer look at the Hindi movie Vijeta brought me closer to the fighter jets of the 1980s used by the Indian air force. These are really vintage when you compare it with the modern jets of today. By then my interest had really settled permanently into the world of military hardware and tactics. An in-depth working of the systems was provided by English novel writers like Joe Webber and other authors like him where there were absolute details about dogfights, tactics, missions to the very grittiest of details in their stories. Continuing this forward coupled with my curiosity of the why of things, I delved down into the Indian wars of 65, 71, 99 and believe me I have discovered heroes in the Indian Armed Forces who have defied odds in the face of imminent danger and displayed acts of valor and supreme sacrifice.

Many of my friends and people ask me that how do I have this must knowledge of everything military and here is your answer- Border. Had it not been that movie I would have never discovered  the question of why Indian jets could not help at night and never would have subsequently ventured out for the answers of the various following questions. 

Border made me discover Behind enemy lines which discovered Top gun which discovered Vijeta , U 571, Crimson tide and a lot more movies. For a lot of serving Indian soldiers border was the movie which made them join the Indian Army and fight in Kargil just like Top gun had done the same for the US air force in 1986.

Ragging - My #metoo moment years back

This is my story in the world of ragging and how it destroyed my confidence, social interaction for the years to come. Don’t compare it with the ragging of engineering colleges. This is 2007, more than 11 years back, the time when anti-ragging was unheard of. I was pursuing my MBA. The starting 2 days were quite good, nice interaction between students, seniors. I was a hostelier. All things ended on the 3rd day when before the program officially ended, we were dictated the basic details of seniors which were supposed to be mugged up in double quick time. I had issues with mugging up details of 100+ seniors which included both locals and hosteliers. There were camps- locals and hosteilers. So called anti-ragging management was pure shit. For safety security guards were placed for the starting 7 to 10 days outside our hostels(not much use) to save us from ragging- codenamed PDP . I won’t say it was purely healthy PDP, not by my reckoning.

The man in charge of overseeing that we were not ragged, Mr S infront of us used to be like he’s the biggest well-wisher but otherwise he used to send a seniors to take the PDP. I remember calling him up, all frightened various times at 10 or 11 in the night asking for help and he used to be, “okay okay I am sending help don’t worry” and instead he used to telephone the seniors standing outside to be relentless. The only unspoken rule of PDP was that you can’t physically harm a junior and that was the only saving grace otherwise every imaginable thing in those times was done. Memorising database, some weird crappy songs, dance steps and a lot of things. The horror used to start after 10 in the night and continue till early morning. I had gone into a shell of my own, walking past people on the streets wondering who might turn out to be a senior and god knows what. The camp system meant that hosteliers were not meant to interact with the locals much, this was the rule from the hostels side and I was the most hated for seniors because in spite of being a hostel wallah I was equally at ease with the locals and somewhat more interactive with them as we had been knowing each other since even before our session had started (all thanks to social media then).

I was looked upon by my seniors primarily due to this fact, also because I used to find ways to face my seniors as less as possible for PDP. Sometimes it used to be that the horrors of last night used to be very visible on my face the next morning in my college and I could do nothing about it. I used to be in college for as long as possible but dreaded going back to the hostel, it was a long night to pass. At the peak of the trauma, my mother had to come for three weeks to stay at my relatives place so that after my classes got over I could rush back to my relatives place and enjoy a at least a night’s sleep. My hostel mates (7 living with me), biggest support system and my biggest help during those days. They used to make sure that I was out of the gaze of the seniors whenever they came. I so badly wanted to enjoy my hostel life but just couldn’t because the initial 3 to 4 months had shattered me beyond belief and it never recovered for the next 7 years. I can’t talk to my classmate just because he’s a local, if I used to speak with someone in the class, some hostel wala chamcha used to complain about the same to any senior and he used to pull me up for this. This happened with me many times and I had to make sure to watch what was I speaking because anything could be quoted out of context to any of my senior for some brownie points and I would be taking hell.

Things improved a bit only after my seniors left. I had started interacting my batch mates only after an year . Its not that all seniors were bad, I got in touch with some of the best seniors and super seniors that I’m still in touch with and respect them from the bottom of my heart (these include both from local and hostels). Whenever the seniors used to come after having passed out I used to give the same respect to everyone but some of them won’t talk to me and I was okay with that.

Forbidden to talk to our classmates on social media then (males and females included), now 9 years down the line I have a much bigger social media and blogger presence than anyone could have imagined then. This might seem like very trivial when you compare it to engineering colleges but at that time for me it was straight from hell with no help in sight. Had it not been my relatives, my hostel mates, my batch mates then, I would have surely attempted suicide.

I want to say to Mr S whom was supposed to be a trusted man, he was surely not and my seniors - some of you surely did not earn my respect then and even after so many years also won’t.

Pirated computer games: Market would forever exist in India

The world of PC gaming is captivating in general and its addictive to say the least in India and its always a war between original games versus pirated discs since years and what I would write on my own thoughts on the FPS Department. For the majority of 17 years that I have been playing computer games, 99% of them have been via pirated CDs (DVDs now) as they were damn cheap and affordable (even today). The pirated DVD game market would never die in India inspite of even super cheap steam or origin sales. 

In Lucknow’s computer market games are priced at Rs. 50 per DVD now. The cost of the game depends on total number of discs in that. When the era of CD was prevalent and DVDs were still expensive, the price was Rs. 40 per CD and DVDs were 100. Over the years when games have been evolving and contained only single player computer games were cheap. In the present era when there are games like call of duty and battlefield which have huge content, the total collective cost would spiral when taken things into account. Let me give you my example- I bought Call of duty Bad company 2 via steam because it was very very cheap at 99 bucks when the original discs at Amazon India were being sold at 1200+. I bought original of battlefield 3. It came into discs and started the drama of downloading and installing origin. 

The nefarious world of call of duty and battlefield games meant that I had to download around 8GB of updates even before I could play campaign. With my home broadband having the free usage limit which is more than enough for normal tasks but not for downloading game updates which are huge, I resorted to use Vodafone dongle recharges where I got 6 GB for six days for only 90 bucks. So in reality I spent 180 more to play battlefield which had cost me 999 from amazon. In contrast I had bought modern warfare 2, Black Ops 2 games(pirated cracked) priced at just Rs. 200 and 150 respectively. I’ve played modern warfare 2 which was all duly cracked and ready to play. Once installed it did not necessitate steam activation or whatsoever in that regard. This does not mean that I haven’t bought originals as in yet. I have done that when I could no longer find my most awaited games anywhere. They were Wolfenstein, Hawxs series, Assault horizon, UT2004, Far cry 4 and the likes. I held up buying original Doom, Wolfenstein Colossus and New order just because it was 25+ GB of game updates even after the disk installed. I vividly remember downloading updates of 2 GB for Max Payne 3, an original buy. 

I’m looking forward to buy quake 4 but even on steam it’s priced at 550 whereas I know that in the pirated market I’ll get the game at maximum Rs. 200 and even after buying of 550,  download that game from steam for which I don’t have the time so I save both the time and the money. All these concerns would rest now that I have gone back to pirated discs once again because there are very easy on the pocket and instant play.

* This post does not promote piracy but states the hard reality of the gaming market in india where high hardware specs and still expensive original discs and huge digital downloads force people to turn to pirated discs which are easy on the pocket and come pre cracked.

Running your own business is no easy walk in the park

These days everybody thinks that he or she is fed up of the professional job and as a way to get out of thinking of starting their own business and dream of becoming the next Amazon or flipkart. While its good to dream big part there are a number of stories of well-known companies going down the drain or even day to day dark areas of business which need to be dealt with, business is no easy walk in the park by any stretch of imagination. Today I would share with you in real life practical aspects of business so that you may be well-informed if you’re thinking of quitting that 8 to 8 and taking life a bit easy. 

This comes from my personal experience of having handled business with my relative in delhi, not just any small sellers who was selling on any e-commerce website, we are a fully registered company so that experience comes from all that I have seen and have personally dealt with. 

Things change drastically once you go from that side of the table to this side, mean that things become increasingly difficult once you become an employer. As an employee all you’re looking forward is when the month would end so that you can get your pay check, as an employer you are wondering why there are only 30 days in a month by not more so that can get more days to arrange cash for various activities and payments. 

Honesty takes a bit of a back seat in business not in terms of morals and values but in terms of payments. However punctual you might be in real life when it comes to clearing debts but once it comes to business you can’t afford make payments of suppliers and all whenever cash is ready. Then you try to extend the payment of the supplier till the very last day of credit cycle as your business and situation would allow. If by any chance you make the payment of any goods to your supplier well within the expiry of the credit cycle, the next time he would expect you to make the payment as early as possible and he won’t understand that the early payment last time was just an exception. He would make this exception a norm. 

There is no such thing as cash received until and unless the actual cash is bailing in your cashbox. I had seen many plans falling through because said amount of cash as payment in advance was expected to come but it did not come. So until and unless you get it – by just a verbal reassurances or talks you can’t estimate the actual amount in your bank. 

Tax evasion seems a very tempting affair because whatever amount you are billing to the customer with tax is of no use to you because at the end of the month or quarter the full amount you charge from the customer as tax would be deposited to the government so you’ll be left with no extra cash in every sale transaction. 

In spite of the fact that you think that business is a bit relaxing you are all wrong, you have to constantly think about business 24x7 because how fast the day ends and the other day starts you would never know. Even if you’re taking holidays you have to plan a lot for the business by the thinking well in advance about what could happen in the days you are out of your office, be in touch with your team over the phone, monitor them so they don’t lax their work. It’s a whole lot of things and takes advance planning to the next level. 

Employee attrition is unpredictable. Its one of the worst things to encounter in your company. No matter how much loyal employee has been in the past he can quit in a matter of seconds and the reasons can vary from his whims and fancies, his attitude change on any new employee joining and if they know that they are important to the company they will hold you to ransom, be it a the job profile or salary increment and then you have to take a hard decision as to whether you should let them go and recruit a new person at a much lower salary. 

Every business has its own calculation done when it comes to a minimum amount of earnings needed for the day. There are a lot of times in a month when you’re barely able to achieve that minimum amount of cash you need to earn in a day so that you are in a position to pay the salary of your employees at the end of the month. 

It’s very useful if the owners of the company are tech savy in terms of software and hardware of the company’s IT systems. As a sole proprietor or a small company thousands of rupees can be saved in case any issue is encountered because otherwise the technical people in the market would charge you a minimum of anywhere close to 200 and on words for even a simple diagnostic of a computer system. There had been instances in my working when I had to actually replace laptop hard drives, reinstall corrupt Windows and many most things. All I needed was simple things- but to set, a Windows installation disk, a bootable USB drive etc etc. things which can tell you what is the problem exactly. 

Apart from the fact that you have to keep a close eye on your competitors in this same line of business, it takes a lot of diplomacy to reach out to them for any urgent supply that you might need for your business/Project while making sure of all the secrecy that you can maintain that they don’t know about you deal. The moment they get a whiff of the work you have bagged, they will reach out to your party and caught them prices so low that you can’t sustain that project and the customer would eventually shift. Every business line is quite dark and dirty and you will never know who stabbed you in the back. 

Probably the only one thread to survive or growing business is to trust nobody (maybe your immediate family if they’re helping you in the business) out there. There are no friendlies here. 

You can’t be saturated in your product line, at some point of time your product would eventually become the same product which is out there in the market and available at very cheap rates despite the fact that you are selling may be OEM products which are the best in the quality. After a time it seizes to be a star and you have to introduce a few products which are fast selling to ensure that there is a regular supply of funds and chance for you to grow your portfolio. 

The most frustrating and probably seeming to be the most on rewarding thing of any business is pitching the product to the customer. Don’t take it otherwise but there have been instances where I had to make multiple rounds of corporates , customer all because of followings various leads. Travelling in the car whole day in Gurgaon in various sectors just because somebody had called up to meet and when you meet them you come to know that the quantity which they require of your product is very minimal and you have probably used up fuel more than what you would actually earn in cash. 

A friend of mine while doing his own business also encountered a few months many had to actually terminate the fixed deposit of his child creaming surely and transfer those funds to the bank account of the company because there had been very poor sales in the past few months and there was no fund to pay the salaries of the employees. He could not let a cash crunch terminate his company Sony had to take a drastic step and it took him 18 months to actually earn the FD amount through his business and take a new FD in his child’s name. 

Irrespective of the fact that many operations and many records today are computerised but believe me there is a lot of paperwork involved and you have to keep track of them all, there are numerous diaries, notebooks filled with records and remembering important transactions and dealings. 

If you are a small company you need at least one other person apart from you, preferably your employee who shares the same passion of growth of the company as you. This is because there would be trying and testing times coming out of nowhere which could give you lots of cash for your hard work in an instance but the problem would be so complicated that it were required to heads to actually get together and brainstorm through the mess. 

So these are just few practical real-world insights and experiences of mine which I gained in 10 months while handling business engineer that while it’s very easy to dream of becoming the next big company but in reality it’s a daily struggle to keep a company floating.

आपबीती : पेट्रोल के लिए जूते घिस दिए

लोगों को चीज़ों के लिए चप्पल वगैरह घिसते तो सुना होगा मगर क्या आपने यह सच में किया है ? तो आईये चलिए आपबीती के दूसरे खुराफाती किस्से पे.. 

बाकी शहरों कि तरह मेट्रो की खुदाई ने लखनऊ का भी बेड़ा गर्क कर दिया है और इसी वजह से लगते हैं लम्बे लम्बे जाम. बात चंद दिन पहले की है. स्टेशन से घर लौट रहा था .. सीधी सीधी दूरी 12 km है मगर अब डायवर्सन की वजह से 15 मान लो. तो सबसे बड़े चौराहे हजरतगंज तक बिना किसी नाटक के पहुँच गए एक्टिवा से. पापा तफरी में गाड़ी तो ले आये मगर पेट्रोल की सुई न देखे थे. स्टेशन पे सुई रिज़र्व की शुरुवात पे थी यानी कि 1.5 लीटर मगर कमबख्त थोड़ी खराब है तो सही हिसाब पता नहीं लग पाता. खैर गंज से 2 रास्ते हैं घर को – एक तो सीधा निकल लो या मेट्रो से चक्कर में थोड़ी खराब सड़क से गंज से बीच से होते हुए निकल लो जोकि कोई 5 km लम्बा रास्ता है. अब न जाने उस दिन शाम को क्या बात हुई कि बारिश न होते हुए भी भयंकर जाम . हम पहले ही कुछ ताड़ गए थे जो बायें से काटने के मूड में थे मगर अपनी धुन में सवार पापा, “ न सीधे चलो अब कोई जाम नहीं होगा “. चौराहा पार करके कोई 250 m आगे गए होंगे कि लग गयी लंका- लंबा जाम. पीछे आसानी से मुड़ भी नहीं सकते क्यूंकि गाड़ियां आ गयी हैं पीछे. 

अब सुई देखकर मेरे पसीने छूट रहे हैं कि अगर टंकी खाली हो गयी तो घर से इतनी दूर हैं कि कहानी हो जाएगी.. मोहल्ले से पहले रूट पे सिर्फ 1 पंप है मगर वो भी सड़क के दूसरी तरफ और जाम इतना है कि.. उस दिन ट्रैफिक इतना खराब था कि 100m चलने में 45 मिनट लग गए थे. वो तो शुक्र है कि मैं मौका मिलते ही गाड़ी बंद कर दे रहा था मगर इतने हौले ट्रैफिक में भी इतना ब्रेक लगाना पड़ रहा था कि मुझे लगा कि सारी टंकी ब्रेक में ही निपट जाएगी. तो रो धो कर पहुंचे गोमती के पुल पर और रेंगते हुए ट्रैफिक को देखते ही मेरा दिमाग सनका और समझ आया कि कोई दूसरा रास्ता लेना पड़ेगा वरना घर न पहुँचने वाले. यकीन करेंगे कि घर से सिर्फ 5 km दूर मैंने गाड़ी मोड़ कर मैंने लम्बा वही हज़रतगंज के बीच वाला लम्बा रूट लिया ताकि मुझे खाली सड़क मिले और ब्रेक न लगाना पड़े. हाथ accelerator कण्ट्रोल पे, निगाह सुई के इकोनोमी mode पे और गाडी को रोकने के लिए मैं लड़कियों कि तरह पैरों से रोक रहा था .सड़क तो खाली मिल गयी मगर लखनऊ यूनिवर्सिटी रोड से आगे तक का रास्ता वही मेट्रो की भेंट और मैं हर आगे गाड़ी वाले के पीछे पागलों की तरह हॉर्न बजा रहा था, जूते घिस रहा था यहाँ तक  कि लड़कियों के पीछे भी हॉर्न बजाये जा रहा था कि  झल्लाकर सब मुझे साइड दे दें क्यूंकि रुकना मैं अफ्फोर्ड नहीं कर सकता . 

जूते घिसते घिसते, हॉर्न मारते मारते मैं जानबूझकर उस चौराहे से निकला जो 1 km ज्यादा था मगर जहां पंप था... अगर टंकी उस सड़क पे भी खाली होती तो घसीट लेते. जब पंप पे टंकी खोली तो मुश्किल से कोई 100 ml से ज्यादा तेल नहीं होगा- यानी बिलकुल ऐन मौके पे पहुंची. पापा तब बोले, ”गलती हो गयी यार , पहले ही बायें काट लेते तो अब तक कबका घर पहुँच चुके होते ”. उस 1.5 लीटर ने उस दिन मेरे जूते पूरी तरह से घिसवा दिए, कंधे दर्द करे सो अलग और घर पहुचने में लगा 2.5 घंटा..

Mainak Dhar : Sniper`s Eye

“ Shots fired…shots fired” ..this is what your mind starts screaming the moment the first few lines of Sniper`s Eye go by. 

This book is the perfect pace in itself when you compare it with the more pacy action thriller Line of control or the a bit slow setting 03:02 by Mainak Dhar. 

A man is killed infront of Aditya in a busy mall when he is there with his girlfriend Zoya and given his past as an ex Indian Army Paratrooper Special Forces, he begins the hunt and kills the spotter out of the sniper team of two while the sniper gets away. What follows is a simple yet deadly game of cat and mouse where the hunter becomes the hunted when your adversary is a well trained sniper. The storyline might seem to be out of some yesteryears` movie plot to some but it has its elements of things happening in today`s times. You have the jihadis, ISIS, the urban chaos, police… elements which might remind you of urban combat somehow. Its the perfect description how soldiers and mercenaries are used as pawns by those in power to clean out all the traces of their black deeds and those blinded by the truth are brainwashed to do the bidding. You don’t know whom to trust in the chaos when you are stabbed in the back. It has glimpses of everything for maybe every reader. In just about some 200+ pages this is a comparatively fast read (depending on how much you engross yourself in the story).. mind you that its part of a series so although it might be a standalone plot in itself, its not finished as in yet. It puts you right into the thick of action where glimpses of the special forces training is shown to survive. He is not Rambo who can take an army by itself but he has to think about survival tactics even when he is cornered by 2-3 people with simple things such as hockey sticks and he is unarmed. Away from the chaos spanning multiple cities, you also get a glimpse of the other Mumbai too, which is still human and still carries big hearts inspite of being short on money. Where else could you find acts where a poor family of four does this: 

“We joined them for dinner, a simple fare of rice and vegetables. We wolfed down what was placed infront of us. Then as I looked up, I felt guilty about not leaving enough for the family, which had shared its meal with us”. 

To win a a battle you have to have a situation awareness of everything and Aaditya does everything…he can be quietly thinking, improvising with things on hand, gathering intel. It’s a switch of him living his life as a civilian and going back to his training and duty days when survival is at stake. 

The characters are relatable to us in everyday life… Aaditya , the ex Para SF trying to settle himself into the corporate civilian life wishing to leave his “dark” past behind when the truth was hidden and as soldiers he was crucified by media and human rights from across the border for the same old diversion tactics. The man who like any other normal civilian falls in love with that one girl and yet is afraid to confide in her , his past or the extent of his love for her. Its said that a trained soldier is lethal in his job but he becomes even more dangerous when it comes to people he loves deeply..and that holds true for both the characters you encounter. 

Zoya is the perfect modern yet sensitive girl of today, she takes time to open up, is possessive, cares deeply, stubborn , knows how to defend herself in tough times yet has her own limits of taking it all, she can crumble just like any other girl. The sort of girl whom every guy wishes to have in his life as a girlfriend or wife. 

Then there are the supporting yet important characters of Padhke and Thapa in the police and you are unsure of whom to trust with your life with things playing out in exact replica of how ISIS operates.

The title gives you two ways to look at it- you being in the crosshairs of an assassin who can shoot you anytime even before you can blink, death lurking over your shoulder every moment and… a job done to perfection…a bullseye..whats known in sniper circles as “ One shot, one kill”… 

Get your copy : Sniper`s Eye

If I could be any character from a book or movie....

If you could be any character from a book or movie, who would you be and why? 

Ok so this would be no sugar coated answer or trying to be perfect but the truth.. If I could be any character from a movie , I would definitely be Akash from Dil Chahta Hai. He is sort of the guy I really wanted to be since my schooldays when this movie was released in 2001. He is confident, doesnot want to lead his life in a boring, scheduled way which is what I was the exact opposite of. He showed me the way to be confident and taking life as it comes. He is always there for his close friends which is very rare in today`s times to see such kind of a bond. 

The best thing is he has the care and love for shalini – a thing which I always say in real life that you have to be on the brink of really losing the one person you love, to understand the real meaning of pain and love you probably not might not have felt before. Its absolutely magical to have him confess his love for her in the climax of the movie, something which I would love to experience it myself too… that pain in the song before that , the realisation that all your pre conceived notions about love are falling apart and yes you are falling in love and by the time you probably realise it, she`s gone. 

Really speaking, probably I want to be Akash is because maybe I want my very own Shalini, a girl who can destroy all my pre notions and change me a bit for the better. What better way to be go get your girl by baring your heart out when you know that you have one of your best friend around with you for support. If I could summarise it in few words it would be due to an attempt for having all those positive qualities which I don’t have and ofcourse… for falling in love with someone and never letting her go… 

““THIS POST IS WRITTEN FOR NOVEMBERSCHILD IN ASSOCIATION WITH KALAMPEDIA – QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE”. ”. 

WOW: 30 Things That Make You Happy

Well thinking even 1 thing is a tough job for aalsi people like me and 30 seems like climbing Everest every hour… nevertheless , I will try to reach 30 and see whether I reach there or not? So lets get started.. 

1. There is a dialogue of Gulshan grover , “ज़िन्दगी का मज़ा तो खट्टे में ही है “ .. So there you have it. This khatta comprises of the street food I can relish of any city and if its tangy in taste, then it’s a perfect icing of… chaat masala or lemon… take the pick. 

2. I am rediscovering music once again as I try to find some me time in the busy work life and its back to ghazals, the extinct Indi pop culture and the classical songs. My room, no lights and music…nothing is more bliss than this. 

3. Nothing is more fast paced in sports for me other than hockey and formula 1. I love watching live hockey matches in the stadium whenever they are held in cities I can reach. Nothing beats the atmosphere of a charged crowd shouting India India backing the players for the fast paced action for full 60 minutes. 

4. Coming from sports to attending live events. It gives a feel of doing something different. I am happy attending various programmes on different topics because it helps me think in a different way. 

5. I joined facebook in 2009 with the sole purpose of finding lost people and friends from as far as I can remember . Its always mission accomplished for me whenever I manage to track down people from my childhood days. That’s my sole purpose of being on fb. Relatives/family members/office colleagues are always blocked. 

6. Get me a do not disturb time and I can spend all my free time playing my old computer games all day/night long. 

7. I try to complete my whims. Whether its sudden interest to learn sign language or even French, I make sure to do that on DIY basis. When my sudden interest might spike in something new, even I don’t know. 

8. Although I am not a big fan of air travel but the only thing which excites me the most – takeoff. The sudden acceleration on the runway full throttle and the pull up gives me a thrill like no other (second only to me being around fighter jets). 

9. Give me time and throw me into any historical place and I`ll discover probably every mm of exploration space until my legs give away due to constant walking and exertion. I get lost in a place when I visit it and they take hours to complete. 

10. I love photography as it gives me a view to shoot from a different perspective which probably no one might have thought before. Although a dslr camera feels like a mix of quantum physics and organic chemistry but it gives me a wide range to shoot from. 

11. I love reading in my free time, if I am getting bored I pick up any book and finish it off. Be it Premchand`s novel, or Indian fiction- doesn’t matter. 

12. I love visiting places, the more landscape scenery it has, the better. Skyscrapers don’t excite me that much as sea, forests, greenery. 

13. I liked to write poetry…liked because poetry brings me some memories which pain a bit so I tend to stay away from writing but once in a while I pen something. 

14. A big bowl of custard in dessert at any time of the day and year can surely brighten up my heart. 

15. Claiming my childhood back, I dive deep into the comics world with all the characters I grew up with. 

16. At late nights away from the maddening world, I take out my cycle and just paddle on the deserted roads. 

17. I have heard the names of many classical and must watch movies which I haven’t seen yet…So whenever I more gets ticked off, its a delight. 

18. People might say that its related to blogging but I say that I love writing…my thoughts , ideas etc. Blog is just a place where I keep it safely away from the prying eyes of the family and yet close to people who feel related to it after reading that. 

19. I day dream a lot.. and it can be on anything but my fav. subject to dream – Katrina…and my family knows about it very well. 

20. Don’t need it really kind of shopping. Well that’s done only in fairs and exhibitions from stalls where the products have been made by underprivileged children or people, I buy items in bulk just for the heck of it for use to make sure that the amount I pay to them would bring happiness to their efforts, although majority of times I donate all the stuff to the needy. 

21. Minimum 8 hours to sleep to make sure that I am not cranky the next day. 

22. In summers I love to gulp down one glass of “Aam panna” from every thela in a different locality when returning home from finishing some chore. 

23. My experiments with spices in recipes. I love doing experiments in the kitchen and also when I get a chance to prepare even a most basic dish for myself if my mother does not send me into exile from the kitchen. Normally I am not allowed there. 

24. Staring into a star filled night sky. 

25. Cuddles with my soft toys. 

26. Getting drenched in rain. 

27. Trying to get the pitch right in singing some of my most fav and yet toughest songs to copy. 

28. In this era of tweets, whatsapp… getting replies through emails. 

29. Gardening. 

30. खुद के तो बहुत काम किये, कुछ उन बेचारों की मदद करके जो ख़ुशी मिली उसकी बात ही अलग है. 

‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’