Many people have their own views of why the Congress ended up winning records numbers inspite of many exit polls showing neck-neck fight between UPA and NDA.
In so many years, UPA (Congress) almost touches the magic figure inspite of many factors doing round against them. India being divided by socio-economic factors, giving a review as the whole nation will be difficult and not right. Regional issues plays main role rather than National Issues at many times and many places.
For example, UPA defeated NDA badly in Mumbai because Mumbaikar felt more safe in hands of Manmohan Singh during this period of economic uncertainties. The NDA doesn't have any stalwart who can match that of UPA. Second thing, effect of MNS who eats out many votes of BJP-Shiv Sena as both Shiv Sena and MNS has the same origin and goal so trying to differentiate between two will be difficult and confusing.
For small place like Manipur, the rule party always win whether there is issue or not. Seeing an opponent party winning was a rare chance in many elections.
But, there were few national agenda according to me which finally decides the outcome :
1. (Desperate) projection of LK Advani as PM candidate : It looked like a desperate effort from BJP to make LK Advani at least once as PM as if it is his birth right before the age catches up finally. The effort was unnecessarily too much that it started looking like a desperate measure. Add to this, hitting below the belts of Manmohan Singh calling him "Weak PM" didn't go down well with common man. Personal attack should be avoided if you are looking for top-post.
2. Economic Slowdown : NDA didn't have any big stalwarts who could match Manmohan or Chidambaram when it came handling economy. The economy was hitting the bottom. For a common man (urban), what is most important is safe job, good return and good sensex run. So, the common man prefers to be with the safe hand instead rather than trying with new hands of NDA. See how the sensex hit the upper circuit on the next day of UPA mandate.
3. Hindu Politics : BJP at times go beyond the limits of the understandability of common man. The brutal attack at Mangalore Pub was uncalled for. This separates the working youth class almost forever. This created a fear deep inside the mind of everyone of BJP coming to powerful and putting so many restrictions. The attack on churches at Orissa, Mangalore was highlight of BJP intruding other religions. No wonder they almost drew blank in NE India which is dominated by Christians. When this issues were dying slowly, the hate speeches of Varun Gandhi hit the headline of all National News which refreshes the memories of everyone of Hindu Politics of BJP. Denying the candidature of Varun Gandhi might have done wonders to the common man conscience but, BJP wanted to keep the other Gandhi in their pocket. This eventually confused everyone on the thinking process of BJP. The closeness of BJP with Bajrang Dal, Ram Sena etc. was another important factor. People worry that Bajrang Dal, Ram Sena may become too powerful with BJP giving them a free hand when it comes to power.
4. Nuclear Deal : Everyone understand that Nuclear Deal was really good for India except for Communist party. The opposition to such a good deal was like digging the own graves. The CPI(M) was the main opponents who even pull out support of UPA. This was total disconnect with the ideology and thinking of common man. Due to which, CPI(M) was even beaten badly in home grown also. NDA should have supported such deals but, being in opposition and wanted to rob congress of their good work, they also did the same things as CPI(M). This hadn't gone down well with the common man also.
For the above 4 reasons, I won't vote of BJP this time even if I'm a supporter of BJP every year and every election.
PS : I didn't vote because my constituency is more than 3 days away from my working place.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
PMS stories continues
The PMS was over long time ago. The feeling of depression, shock,angry etc. with me has sunk a bit. Get better with everyday.
Like me, there are many unhappy people in my office. The stories of how appraisal was done finally (by so-called HR council) started tumbling down slowly from many sources which are very reliable as far as my experience counts.
The story doing the round is that there was no measurement of your performance done exactly. It is your relation and how well can you butter your boss and superiors was count at the end of day. Favoritism, bias ,personal ego, bad blood, personal grudges etc. all come into play while evaluating someone performance inspite of all the hype which was doing for past 1 year due to the new HR team. It's like old wine in the new bottle.
I don't want to believe this story as I'll lost interest and trust in future PMS and my superiors if I have to. But, looking at the kind of data and backtracking the same, I'm completely sure something is true and done in a very unprofessional and unethical way.
PMS is basically making mockery of someone's performance. PMS is like deciding who is better "blue-eye" boy rather than deciding who has done well and better.
This is bound to happen unless it becomes truly objective based, measured per given standard scale and devoid of human emotions and touch.
Like me, there are many unhappy people in my office. The stories of how appraisal was done finally (by so-called HR council) started tumbling down slowly from many sources which are very reliable as far as my experience counts.
The story doing the round is that there was no measurement of your performance done exactly. It is your relation and how well can you butter your boss and superiors was count at the end of day. Favoritism, bias ,personal ego, bad blood, personal grudges etc. all come into play while evaluating someone performance inspite of all the hype which was doing for past 1 year due to the new HR team. It's like old wine in the new bottle.
I don't want to believe this story as I'll lost interest and trust in future PMS and my superiors if I have to. But, looking at the kind of data and backtracking the same, I'm completely sure something is true and done in a very unprofessional and unethical way.
PMS is basically making mockery of someone's performance. PMS is like deciding who is better "blue-eye" boy rather than deciding who has done well and better.
This is bound to happen unless it becomes truly objective based, measured per given standard scale and devoid of human emotions and touch.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wrong Strategy : Tata Sky Plus ad
Yesterday, I was doing my best to keep myself awake to watch the Grand Finale of Uefa Champions League between Manchester United and Barcelona. The timing as per IST was pretty odd like any other soccer matches. Starting at 12:15am and full-time (normal play) would dragged upto 2:15am. With a office next day, watching such a match remained the challenge but, many times I somehow make it to watch till the end.
Before the start of the match, same ad of Tata Sky recording was shown repeatedly. In the ad, Aamir Khan going to sleep letting his Tata Sky plus to record the live match as he have office next day; he was leaving with taunting voice to viewers to keep on watching till very late and go to office next day late with the prospect of boss shouting.
I think the whole idea of this ad is wrong. Recording features has come and gone but, none succeed. What Tata Sky is doing is nothing inventive or innovation.
Such recordings are shown next day in many channels but, you don't find that excitement to watch except for some wonderful actions. The whole idea of watching a match live is to catch the excitement, thrill, suspense rather than the actions which you can catch in highlights.
Once you know the outcome, such things like excitement dies down immediately. With internet, news channels and phone which has update of news every second, it is really difficult not to bump to news of such great finals.
Perhaps, the Tata Sky needs to understand this "true" fact and feeling of a sports-lover to sell their product in a right way.
Epilogue : Barcelona beat Manchester 2-0.
Before the start of the match, same ad of Tata Sky recording was shown repeatedly. In the ad, Aamir Khan going to sleep letting his Tata Sky plus to record the live match as he have office next day; he was leaving with taunting voice to viewers to keep on watching till very late and go to office next day late with the prospect of boss shouting.
I think the whole idea of this ad is wrong. Recording features has come and gone but, none succeed. What Tata Sky is doing is nothing inventive or innovation.
Such recordings are shown next day in many channels but, you don't find that excitement to watch except for some wonderful actions. The whole idea of watching a match live is to catch the excitement, thrill, suspense rather than the actions which you can catch in highlights.
Once you know the outcome, such things like excitement dies down immediately. With internet, news channels and phone which has update of news every second, it is really difficult not to bump to news of such great finals.
Perhaps, the Tata Sky needs to understand this "true" fact and feeling of a sports-lover to sell their product in a right way.
Epilogue : Barcelona beat Manchester 2-0.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
New Pants !
Today, I went for shopping for new pants. Not because I don’t have but, because all the pants I have is very tied at the waistline. Perhaps, sign of prosperity. Four years back when I started working it was 28 inches. But, this has grown to 34 inches for better or worse.
My tummy is coming out a bit. A T-shirt will be thing of past very soon as it is revealing the tummy too much.
I plan to start jogging the next morning before I go to sleep every night. But, getting up early is something not in my gene at least it seems. Getting up before 9 is really difficult for me even there is office.
Going to office and returning on foot everyday which takes more than 15 minutes each way is not helping me either it seems.
Perhaps, another shopping stint for pants is in offing with this laziness in me.
My tummy is coming out a bit. A T-shirt will be thing of past very soon as it is revealing the tummy too much.
I plan to start jogging the next morning before I go to sleep every night. But, getting up early is something not in my gene at least it seems. Getting up before 9 is really difficult for me even there is office.
Going to office and returning on foot everyday which takes more than 15 minutes each way is not helping me either it seems.
Perhaps, another shopping stint for pants is in offing with this laziness in me.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
My PMS
Appraisal for anything is something which I really hate since a small kid. I hate to be appraised by someone who doesn’t fully understand the context of my situation but, still trying to say something. I hate it more when someone started telling me what was wrong because this de-motivates me a lot. Due to which, I never read paper when my favorite team or player lost in a match as the paper carry lot of post-mortem of what went wrong. To me what is more important is self-introspection.
In the history of our company, the result of appraisals and bonuses were announcement in first week of May compare to traditional of announcing in August or November.
HR department had lived up to its own promised and delivered things on time. The whole process started some 45 days before at the full steam with a trial run in December with the name mid-term review. For a change, the biggies (my super boss and above) were taking it very seriously for the PMS process. I happened to sit with my super boss for lunch one day. He happened to ask me about PMS completion from my side which was bit un-natural for him. In so many years, he had never asked me such questions other than projects and completion deadlines. That perhaps, shows the seriousness this time.
But, when the result came out it was the same old story. Old wine in new bottle. Because many of things were beyond justifications and answers.
After many rounds of discussions, debates and suspense the results were announced. Many of my colleagues were happy and elated and some were dejected and disappointed. One of them was me. The result was truly unexpected for me at least. The reviewer comment for me was really great and good but, at the end it was bad.
Many of the grading both for low and high are still difficult to understand including mine. The explanation given by my appraiser was shifting the blame to other and the so-called bell-curved rather than giving me the right answer. After getting the letter, I blasted my boss and told what I felt. They showed a worrying and concerned face to me. He insisted me to speak to HR for more clarity but, I declined because I knew it couldn’t be change and getting unwanted explanations and good words at this time was least invited.
The next day I skipped the office on the pretext that my wife was ill but, the real answer was due to feeling of dejection and disappointment. My boss knew it. He called me and many of my colleagues also called me with his courtesy trying to console.
Perhaps, I have grown a bit mature because things sunk faster than I thought. Next day in office, I kept quiet and did my things which were expected but, avoided all the possible debates with my boss inspite of his best effort to get me talking.
Yesterday, there was annual party of my office. I also skipped the same. HR with my boss itself was in full force to appease me. But, I avoided all the debates because I didn’t have the capacity to listen any explanation other than myself. I’m keeping things to myself including the disappointment for now.
Currently, I’m doing self-introspection for what went wrong and what went right for the last year. One thing is pretty clear that I helped people before being asked for help and many times I volunteered myself for my things. Perhaps, due to this I had been taken for granted. This is going to be changed.
I remembered when my father told me that “Never help someone unless asks for the same because this lessens your importance and value.”
In the history of our company, the result of appraisals and bonuses were announcement in first week of May compare to traditional of announcing in August or November.
HR department had lived up to its own promised and delivered things on time. The whole process started some 45 days before at the full steam with a trial run in December with the name mid-term review. For a change, the biggies (my super boss and above) were taking it very seriously for the PMS process. I happened to sit with my super boss for lunch one day. He happened to ask me about PMS completion from my side which was bit un-natural for him. In so many years, he had never asked me such questions other than projects and completion deadlines. That perhaps, shows the seriousness this time.
But, when the result came out it was the same old story. Old wine in new bottle. Because many of things were beyond justifications and answers.
After many rounds of discussions, debates and suspense the results were announced. Many of my colleagues were happy and elated and some were dejected and disappointed. One of them was me. The result was truly unexpected for me at least. The reviewer comment for me was really great and good but, at the end it was bad.
Many of the grading both for low and high are still difficult to understand including mine. The explanation given by my appraiser was shifting the blame to other and the so-called bell-curved rather than giving me the right answer. After getting the letter, I blasted my boss and told what I felt. They showed a worrying and concerned face to me. He insisted me to speak to HR for more clarity but, I declined because I knew it couldn’t be change and getting unwanted explanations and good words at this time was least invited.
The next day I skipped the office on the pretext that my wife was ill but, the real answer was due to feeling of dejection and disappointment. My boss knew it. He called me and many of my colleagues also called me with his courtesy trying to console.
Perhaps, I have grown a bit mature because things sunk faster than I thought. Next day in office, I kept quiet and did my things which were expected but, avoided all the possible debates with my boss inspite of his best effort to get me talking.
Yesterday, there was annual party of my office. I also skipped the same. HR with my boss itself was in full force to appease me. But, I avoided all the debates because I didn’t have the capacity to listen any explanation other than myself. I’m keeping things to myself including the disappointment for now.
Currently, I’m doing self-introspection for what went wrong and what went right for the last year. One thing is pretty clear that I helped people before being asked for help and many times I volunteered myself for my things. Perhaps, due to this I had been taken for granted. This is going to be changed.
I remembered when my father told me that “Never help someone unless asks for the same because this lessens your importance and value.”
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
