My Wedding Invitation

Cost Cutting in Corporate Offices - A Case Study

Disclaimer: This article is a work of fiction and bears no resemblance to any person or a firm either living or dead. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.



On a humorous note, I had a discussion with a bunch of my friends about the cost-cutting methods and techniques that are now prevalent in many IT companies in India. Due to the down sliding economy, my company had decided on cutting down costs on paper cups which were used by our associates (that’s how a corporate worker is called) for drinking water and coffee.

In order to initiate this process, my company had given away flasks and mugs to all associates as annual gift. Silently, after a day or two, paper cups vanished from their usual location, near the water-vending and coffee-vending machines. Of course, the purpose cited was larger in scope, for saving the planet earth, from where the trees were cut down solely towards making these paper cups.

Hence, from then on, all the associated of our company carried a company stamped mug, a beautiful corporate advertisement strategy. Legend says that there was a controversy in senior management to whether or not provide mugs to contractual employees. If they did, it would be an additional cost to the company. If they did not, it would be a subject matter of partiality and discrimination that cannot be tolerated as per the prevalent company policy. Hence, the senior management decided to axe all the contractual employees and send them home.

I can visualize all the mug-carrying associates as a bunch of villagers carrying a mug of water early in the morning to do their cleanup activity. I met a friend of mine who went out to a tapri outside our office to have a sip of tea. When asked why he did so, he replied, “Yaar, I forgot my coffee mug today”. Many of our corporate friends are natural lazy creatures, always reluctant to clean a mug for a sip of coffee. The senior management had discussed this too as a potential cost cutting measure. Unavailability of paper cups would directly reduce the consumption of coffee, thereby reducing the costs.

Other concurrent positive effects were also discussed, like, cutting down the cost of employing an office boy who used to place the paper cups in all locations and also the garbage collector, who used to collect a large amount of paper cups as garbage. Usage of coffee mugs would significantly reduce the costs in many more unimaginable ways.

My friends had many more stories to add. One said that coffee vending machines were taken away from each floor of his company as a cost-cutting measure. Another one said that her company’s cost cutting measure reflected even in their toilet by limiting the supply of tissue papers through which they made sure that an employee will do his homework before entering the office premises.

These people are really great assets to all corporate managements across the world. I pledged to put this word forward to my manager as my contribution to this cost-cutting initiative. He too can take it forward and impress his managers. With this thought in mind, I went to the office next day. It was when I was doing preparation for the meeting to highlight the points learnt from my friends’ firms, when my email client popped up a new message containing the latest list of axed associates citing various reasons. First on this list was my name, followed by my manager’s.

At PeACe with his job and the world,
Venky

The Mumbai Massacre

It has been quite a long time that I have written something on my blog.
Whatever happened in Mumbai from 26 November 2008 to 29 November 2008 forced me to put my thoughts into words.

(Disclaimer: Being an Indian, I exercise my right to freedom of expression in this article. Comment if you have any problem with this.)

Frequently asked Questions -

Q. What happened in Mumbai recently?
Public Massacre

Q. Why did this happen?
Some Terrorists weren't happy that we are reasonably happy. Since they wanted to show their presence again by making us sad, they did it this time.

Q. Who were their targets this time?
The upper crest of India and the businessmen of other countries who wanted to do business in India.

Q. How many were there? How did they come? How many were killed?
Check all the usual questions and answers in any Indian news website.

Less frequently asked questions -

Q. What is the root cause of this issue? What is the permanent solution?
This question came into my mind as I am a software engineer working in a big financial corporation.
We are asked not only to do temporary fixes but also work towards getting a permanent solution so that the problem doesn't reoccur.

Some people argue that the root cause of these attacks is the improper security measures in the country.
Others say - Failed Intelligence
Few others say - Inadequate laws to counter terror
and - Lack of good governance
and - Officers sleeping in their duty
and - etc.. etc..

I differ from others on this. I say - Kashmir.

ok.. Now we have identified the root cause. Lets talk about the solution.
Let us say that we are generous enough and give away Kashmir to the self-proclaimed freedom fighters.
Are we safe now?
The answer is No.

Their extremist thoughts will say - India has already done the maximum damage by killing their freedom-fighters (in other words - terrorists).
They shall have their revenge.... and their war continues till eternity..

I do not know what they are fighting for! They are never gonna get Kashmir!

In US and the UK, there ain't any Kashmir! They blasted bombs there too! What do they want from the rest of the world?

"They" do not only include Lashkar-e-toiba or other Pak-Based organisations.
"They" include all the Islamic Extremist all over the world.
"They" are the front-runners of Religious Intolerance.

These extremist groups definitely damage the Great Religion of Islam and its people.

But I would rather say that these Extremist groups are not small. They are always interlinked. They get great amounts of funds from all over the world. These funds directly aid them in procuring destructive materials.

How can any human, in the name of God, the allah, no matter what the circumstance is, carry out such a massacre on the common man - another human??

Well, no human can.. Whoever did this are no humans!!

Everybody knows where these people get trained.

So, I change my stand now.
The permanent solution to this problem is not in handing over the beautiful Kashmir to these ruthless animals.

The permanent solution is to eradicate the Master Minds and motivators, catch each and every blood-thirsty terrorist hiding out there in the training camp and kill each and every one of them.

The execution is in the hands of the Heads of our nation as well as of our "poisonous neighbour".

My Latest Summer Special Hair Style

Inspite of many criticisms received, I still consider this hairstyle as one of the best solutions to beat the Hyderabad HEAT.

Pattern Photography Entries

Trek to Purandar

Here is the view of Purandar from the base of the hill.



And this one is a picture of the road by which we travelled. Ah beautiful!! isn't it? The trek to Purandar fort was done on 21 July 2006. We didn't reach the actual fort thanks to the bad weather, slippery path, heavy wind. However, the place was at its best during the monsoon.

For People wondering what purandar is -
What is there in Purandar?
A fort 1387m high, Shiva Temple, a deserted place, a small trek.


How far is it from Pune?
About 50 Kms.


What is the route to get there?
Pune-Diveghat- Saswad town-Narayanpur, which is in the foot of Purandar.


What are all the prerequisites?
Rain gear, lots of Water to drink, food (Not Available on fort) to eat, proper shoes.


It really was a very nice trek out there.

Baneshwar Water Flow....

This is the water flow in Baneshwar. I had gone to this place last thursday i.e. July 20 2006.
What is there in Baneshwar?
Shiva Temple, in dense woods(hence the name Baneshwar), a small waterflow.
How far is it from Pune?
About 45 Kms.
How to go there?
Pune- Swargate-Katraj- Nasarapur. Well in short it is along Pune-Satara Road.
What to take care while going there?
Rain Gear, Very slippery rocks. So don't try to walk on them or cross the river.
Reaching the place is tough in the rainy season thanks to wet slippery soil enroute to this place.

Zizou's Act justified....

Zizou's act on sunday night is completely justified. At some point in everyone's life, the self comes before anything else. And considering Zidane's tough living with his family in his earlier days, head-butt seems to be pretty normal for what he has done to Materrazi. Every human gets angry. And professionalism doesn't come into picture where his personal life was at stake. Zizou, you need not apologise to anyone on anything and nor need you say what he said to you. Go ahead Zizou, we are with you and fear not the world.



And never worry about the red card. You deserved that too.

;-)

Hats off to a great player like you. You will be remembered forever.