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An insight into an IAS officer’s work with the Government

Posted on December 7, 2021 by kavyawahi

Here’s an excerpt from Making a Difference by a successful retired IAS officer, Alok Ranjan, who served with distinction in various assignments in the State Government as well as the Government of India.

Working with the State Government

A very revealing incident took place when I was the Principal Secretary Urban Development and the urban local body elections were to take place. They were thirteen posts of mayors and as per the act and rules, there was a clear roster system to determine which seat would be general, which reserved, which would go to women, etc. The CM wanted particular candidates to contest from specific municipal corporations and I was summoned by the CM Office and given the brief to prepare the roster accordingly. I explained that this is not possible as the rules and their interpretation was clear. The stratagem of taking legal opinion was then adopted by the CM Office and the Principal Secretary Law interpreted the rules differently which accommodated eight out of the thirteen proposed mayor candidates. I said that I did not agree with the opinion but if given in writing, I would abide by it. However, the CM was keen that at least three other proposed mayoral candidates should be accommodated in the roster. To my utter disbelief I was called and told by the CM Office in the presence of the Principal Secretary Law that for eight seats, the interpretation given by the law department should be used while for other three, my earlier interpretation should be employed. I had to show my dissent by saying that I could agree with an interpretation I felt was wrong if given in writing, but I had to be consistent and could not possibly choose different interpretations for different mayor seats. At my refusal, the officers present looked at me as they would at a goat about to be sacrificed and I realized that my goose was cooked and mentally began to prepare for my transfer. Imagine my surprise and amazement when the CM saw my point and agreed with it. It just shows that often the officers close to the CM try to be holier than the king. If they put up both sides of the picture to the CM they will invariably get to the right decision.

Secretariat working is all about files which are almost like living organisms having a life and energy of their own. A good Secretariat officer believes in not keeping files pending and he is proud to proclaim that his table is clear. However, this movement of files has little relation to actual decisions being taken and on closer examination, he will find that the files have been sent to law, finance or personnel departments for advice. The files move to and fro with volumes of noting which ensures that no accountability can be fixed on anyone at a later date. A close relative of this strategy is the formation of a committee to examine the matter which takes its own sweet time to give a voluminous report. Even developing a system of tracking files and prescribing maximum time limit for files to stay at a particular desk does not help.

The Principal Secretary of a department is expected to provide leadership to his team. He has to have the skill set to build the team which shares the objectives and goals of the department and works towards its fulfillment. The key task is to prepare the budget of the department, then release the budget to the field officers and monitor physical and financial progress. Above all, he has to assess the problems in his department, resolve them and achieve the required outcomes. Unfortunately, this does not often happen as the officers are more concerned about processes than giving results. Calling or attending a meeting becomes an end in itself and occupies the majority of the time of the secretaries and the heads of the departments. The job of a Principal Secretary is not only to assist in policy formulation but ensure implementation. Often we hear the rather unfair and incorrect statement that policies are good but implementation is poor. The reality is that policies are framed in the rooms of the Secretariat overlooking the harsh realities at the field level and a good policy must take into account how it can be executed…

To really play a transformational role, the officer must focus on results and outcomes but unfortunately, the officer is often more concerned about the process than delivering results. I have personally seen many brilliant officers mellow down in the Secretariat to the level of becoming ‘inaction wonders’. They disconnect themselves from the field and get mired in the rules and regulations with the results that the files become thicker, with no difference being made to the actual delivery of public services. For instance, if an officer is Secretary in the urban development department and is busy disposing of files while cities are full of garbage and filth rotting on the roads, then it implies that his working has no connection with the real issues confronting his department. Similarly, there is no purpose served by the Health Secretary clearing files on a daily basis if the quality of healthcare remains abysmally poor. Teachers remain absent from schools while the Secretary Education is busy issuing detailed guidelines and instructions which have a total disconnect with the realities in the field. This leads to discontentment amongst the people as they are receiving poor quality of public services. It is, thus, mandatory to make better outcomes the focus of each and every department and the performance of all the Secretariat, departments should be measured accordingly…

Working with the Government of India

The biggest attraction of a GOI posting is the international exposure. In simple language, it means the prospect of foreign travel and also a chance of a foreign posting. Ministries are categorized according to the avenues of foreign travel that they promise. That is why ministries like commerce are sought after and the competition to get into them is high. When the GOI officers meet each other, the common topic of conversation is the number of countries that an officer has visited. Some claim to have crossed the half-century mark whereas others make tall claims of having scored a century. I happened to go as JS Defence and defence was a ministry which had very few opportunities for foreign travel. If at all they travelled, it was mostly to Russia. Many of my colleagues looked sympathetically at me and said ‘could you not manage a better ministry? ’I was told that most officers avoid PHD ministries – personnel, home and defence – as they have the least chances of foreign travel. So, defence, despite being such an important strategic ministry, has few people opting for it. Within the ministries too there is intense competition for the international co-operation desk. A foreign posting or deputation to an international organization is highly coveted. This is despite the fact that these assignments do not give great opportunities for doing challenging work. Late T.S.R. Subramaniam who retired as Cabinet Secretary and had served in the state, center and in an international organization, had commented in his book that the maximum work is done in the districts, then the state government, then the GOI and finally the international organization where you have a lot of time on your hands. Still, the lure of the international posting is there.

The GOI concerns itself with policy formulation at the national level and is generally not involved in the implementation aspect, which is the responsibility of the state governments. In some departments like defence, external affairs and commerce, all the action is at the GOI level. There are, however, huge GOI bureaucracies dealing with subjects on the concurrent or the state lists. Sometimes, one wonders whether it is necessary at all. For example, the Ministry of Agriculture in the GOI has ten Joint Secretaries whereas agriculture is a state subject. There is a serious case for reduction in the size of certain ministries at the centre and also of clubbing several ministries together as it is strange that the Ministry of Agriculture is not involved with issues related to fertilizer, water or agriculture credit.

The ministries of such size at the GOI exist because of political reasons and also the bureaucratic culture of creating work to perpetuate work and justify itself. The major mechanisms for this are the centrally sponsored schemes where the major financial contribution (60 per cent or 75 per cent) is done by the centre and schemes are formulated at the GOI level with detailed guidelines. The problem arises as no two states are alike. The same schemes will succeed in one state but the conditions in other states will not favor its implementation. Thus, the states constantly argue that funds should be transferred to them and they be left free to design schemes. However, there is no denying that there is greater wisdom available at the GOI due to its knowledge about the best practices in the states, presence of experts and availability of international inputs. The GOI involves stakeholders, specialists and consultants in designing policy and the due diligence done is of a very high order. Yet, there cannot be a universal policy looking at the extreme variations between states. The solution, as usual, has to be in between…

To succeed in GOI, one needs to study the department in detail, understand crucial issues, articulate your viewpoint and have the ability to carry officers of other services and specialists along with you. It requires great qualities of leadership to set the goals and milestones for your departments and then lead the entire team towards fulfilling them. A dedicated officer will always find working in the Government of India to be a transformational opportunity.

For all IAS aspirants, Making a Difference will prove to be a book of great significance.

What happens when the force behind the Forces shatters?

Posted on November 30, 2021 by kavyawahi

The term ‘widow’ is said to have its roots in the Sanskrit word vidhuh meaning lonely, bereft and solitary. Widowhood marks a drastic shift, characterised by an air of despondency and melancholia. The weight this word carries pulls down the spirits and hopes of a living body until it burns down into ashes, literally and figuratively. The ripples of widowhood reverberate through the rest of the women’s life.

However, many women find their way back to life. They don’t give up, even when they’re shattered.

Here’s an excerpt from Swapnil Pandey’s The Force Behind the Forces about Priya, whose world, as she had known, had collapsed.

A crushed and grieving Priya sat at an awkward angle, jammed into a small corner of the room. She was forcing herself to face the people around. There was an ocean of them. It was the funeral of a soldier killed in action after all. And many of his companions regarded him with feeling, almost religious devotion. Naik Amit Sharma, the lad who had been killed in action, was the pride of the family. A few children ran around, but Priya could not see her five-year-old daughter—Khwaish. She did not bother to locate her either. Her world, as she had known it, had just collapsed. The atmosphere was mournful. Female relatives were howling and tearing their hair. There was also deep silence during mealtime in the house of mourning. Nothing mattered now, not even her existence. It was confusing.

She wanted to lie down and mourn in silence, away from all the people, but it was not possible. She had to sit there and be tagged as a ‘bechari’. Her mother reached out to embrace her. She didn’t know whether to console her or to cry on her shoulder herself. Priya looked at her wrinkled face. Her mother had begun to look several years older within a span of a few days.

The voices grew in intensity; the incessant whispers swung between viciousness and apathy:

‘Ma-beti dono widhwa hai. Kya naseeb leke aayi hai bechari. [Mother and daughter both are widows. What horrible destiny.]’

‘Paise kisko milne hain? Biwi ko ya ladke ki ma ko? [Who will get the money? The wife or the boy’s mother?]’

‘Widhwa ho gayi bechari, ab kya karegi paison ka?

[The poor woman is a widow now. What will she do with the money?]’

‘Bhari jawani me widhwa, baap bhi nahi hai. Beti bhi hai. Bhagwan na dikhaye aise din kisi jo. Bechari. [She’s been widowed so young. She has no father to turn to either. An she has a little daughter besides. Nobody should have such a fate. Poor woman.]’

‘Iski ma ko dekh, kya karegi aab? Natini bhi itni choti hai. [Look at her mother. What will she do now? Her granddaughter too is so young.]’

She swallowed every remark and rubbed her hands in her lap—desperately. Her eyes were bloodshot; she looked as tired as she felt—dishevelled hair and dark circles beneath her blazing black eyes. She had not just lost her husband—the one she loved with all her heart—but her existence as well. It was a brutal realization that left her devastated, and pushed her from hope to despair within thirteen days.

The ‘Terahvin’ marks the end of the mourning period which lasts thirteen days from the day of the cremation of the deceased. Those thirteen days are meant for the rituals performed for the sake of salvation of the departed soul. These thirteen days provided a lot of time to Priya to mourn. She felt alone and depressed, and even howled at nights remembering Amit—who had promised to walk beside her for the next seven lives.

Priya knew this was not salvation. Shattered, she would lie down on the bed and stare at the flame in the lantern. Sometimes she looked in the mirror, scrubbed her face vigorously, panicked, and wondered in utter dismay—why her? Sometimes she would wake up panting in her damp sari, from the nightmares of her dead husband. But what troubled her the most was the consistent taunts from the people that shrunk her dignity. People forgot she was not just a widow, but a flesh-and-blood person. Suddenly, not only her own identity but the identities of her mother and her daughter were also forgotten. They were not persons any more, but rather a bunch of weak, meaningless women, not eligible for a respectable social status.

The women did not see a grieving young woman, rather a widow, a ‘bechari’ who had almost lost the right to live as a free citizen. Priya lived in a society surrounded by endless myths and stigmas. She certainly did not belong to the progressive class, but came from a conservative background where women lived in shackles and under limitations. Her resources were also limited, and so was her financial condition.

Cruel remarks thrown casually at her made her life miserable, and the mourning almost intolerable. There was also a point when she felt she was losing the will to live, but her beautiful five-year-old daughter, Khwaish, whom the couple had named with hope and happiness when she was born three years after their marriage, on 16 July 2007, helped her cope. It was as if all their wishes had been fulfilled with her arrival, and their life was complete.

Read The Force Behind the Forces to find out if Priya succumbed to her destiny and grief or she decided not to give up.

Land your dream job with Job Search Secrets

Posted on November 9, 2021 by kavyawahi

Searching for a job is always stressful. The majority of job seekers experience stress, nervousness, anxiety and tension during their search for a job, regardless of their work experience, their current compensation level or the industry of their choice. There will be many factors at play that are not in their control, such as a bad economy, hiring freezes, unexpected corporate mergers, buyouts, etc. However, it is in your control to learn to navigate through these factors and find your dream job.

Job Search Secrets by Sagarika Verma and Subir Verma is a practical manual for finding jobs. Here are some key takeaways from their book.

Take the first step and decide what you really want to do. Knowing yourself is an important factor in choosing your career. There are many career options available and knowing yourself will certainly help you choose the right career for the long run.

Here’s what the authors suggest you do.

Do not follow others, but choose a career in which you will be happy.
Do not get influenced by career choice of others. You must choose your career based on your education qualification, personal attributes, SWOT (template given below) and interest.

After you have finalised your career options, you must remember these points while selecting a job or a company.

Know about career options available to you and choose from them after careful consideration.
There are many career options available that you are not even aware of. Get to know what they are.
Most of the vacancies in companies are not publicly advertised.
There are influencers outside the company and key people within who can help you get your desired job.
Identifying influencers and building relations with them hold the key to your getting your dream job.

Now that you have narrowed down your choices, these tips on how companies recruit candidates will come in handy.

Know the hiring channels through which a company recruits people.
Focus on three of the ten channels of hiring to maximize your results.
Identify external references who can help you in finding your job.
Identify the internal people at the company where you are looking for a job.
Keep in mind the points mentioned in the chapter while shortlisting your external and internal references list.

After you’ve researched about the vacancies and recruitment processes, you must know how to best use job portals and job aggregators.

Focus more on job search aggregators than on job sites.
Edit and use the ‘Settings’ feature if you are actively searching for a job.
Treat your profile as your CV and keep it updated.
Use advanced search features.
Create job alerts.

These key takeaways from Sagarika Verma and Subir Verma’s Job Search Secrets will help you in building a strong candidature and find your dream job.

How did the ICS evolve into the IAS?

Posted on November 5, 2021December 7, 2021 by kavyawahi

Alok Ranjan’s Making a Difference provides an insider’s unique perspective on the IAS and the role it plays in public administration and development. Here’s an excerpt from the book about how this service evolved over a period of time.

I often hear people talk about the Indian Civil Service (ICS) and compare the IAS unfavourably with it. It is important to understand in this context that the nature of the job, responsibility, working environment and expectations of the people from the IAS differed hugely from that of the ICS in the colonial days. It is, undoubtedly, the successor service to the ICS but it is not the same and cannot be the same.

For those who are unstinted in their praise for the ICS, it is a sobering thought to be told that this hallowed service was considered neither Indian nor Civil nor a service by the great leaders of the nationalist movement. Yet it would be interesting to trace the journey of the ICS, its origins and contribution, and then try to understand how it evolved into the IAS. It would be relevant to examine how the IAS itself is evolving and undergoing change in its character, nature, diversity and reputation.

In the eighteenth century, the East India Company gradually spread its tentacles through most of India and from a professed trading company, it became an agency of governance on behalf of Britain. Naturally, administering such a huge country needed the Army and the Civil Service. Teenaged men were recruited into the East India Company Civil Service and they spent their time in India collecting revenue for the company and maintaining law and order. In 1800, Governor-General Lord Wellesley decided that teenaged recruits would have to undergo special training in India. For this, he decided to set up the college of Fort William in Calcutta, but this proposal had not been approved by the company’s Directors in London.

The Directors did however establish a college in Hertford Castle in England in 1806 and then moved to Haileybury three years later. The selection of candidates to Haileybury was by a process of nomination by the Directors. They had to be seventeen years old and come from distinguished families. There was no question of selection based on merit; family pedigree was considered the most important attribute. People joined the civil service for adventure and with a spirit of altruism. The salaries and the pensions offered were very attractive. After nomination and before joining Haileybury, the candidates had to take some kind of a written and oral exam where they were tested in history and mathematics as well as language. The foundational course at Haileybury was for two years and the candidate studied mathematics, philosophy, literature, law, history, general economics as well as Indian languages. Sanskrit, Persian and Arabic were also taught. It is a different matter that these languages were not of much use when the civil servant landed in India. They had to administer in the vernacular languages and learn them as soon as they were posted to the field. The educational atmosphere at Haileybury was not very demanding and most candidates focused on just clearing the exams. There were lectures for about two hours everyday and a lot of free time was available to socialize and indulge themselves in drink. There was, however, the minority who studied hard and were known as ‘Steadies’, much like the ‘Keen Type Probationers (KTP)’ of our time who took the training at the Mussoorie academy very seriously. Though discipline was lax at Haileybury, a feeling of esprit de corps was very visible and close friendships were formed which lasted for a long time. Haileybury continued till 1857 when the British Government took over the governance of India from the East India Company, and introduced a system of selection into the ICS on merit, through a competitive examination.

The British Government made this change as they felt that selection by patronage would no longer meet the needs of governance and that meritorious candidates were required. Initially, the ICS drew a majority of its entrants from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge but this soon changed. The Macaulay Committee laid out the guidelines of the selection which prescribed the maximum age limit initially as twenty-three but subsequently brought it down to twenty one. The committee designed an exam that demanded strong factual memory and a concentrated study of academic texts. The graduates had to study beyond their university syllabi to prepare for the exam and much like today, establishments like Crammer came up to prepare candidates for the exam.

There was a lot of criticism of this ‘Crammer’ system and many felt that unsuitable candidates were being selected just by preparing some questions that happened to appear in the examination paper. Still, many were of the view that the selection system provided better candidates than the earlier system that was based on patronage. This was followed by the Lord Salisbury Reforms which decided that candidates would take the exam at the school leaving age (seventeen to nineteen years) and then they would be on probation, studying in a university for two years. This system lasted from 1879–1892 but some leaders were of the opinion that candidates were being selected at too raw an age and they did not take their probation period in the university seriously. Another criticism was that it deterred Indian candidates from taking the exam.

Since the 1830s, Indians had joined the Government of India (GOI) in the capacity of Deputy Collectors, Deputy Magistrates and bore the burden of governance supervised by a handful of British ICS men. Lord Cornwallis in the eighteenth century had excluded Indians from high positions in the government. The 1853 Act opened up the service to all natural-born subjects of the crown. However, it was near impossible for Indians to compete as it was expensive and there were religious considerations which did not allow Indians to go to London to attempt the exam. Satyendra Nath Tagore was the first Indian to have been selected. In 1869, four Indians qualified, including Surendra Nath Banerjee and Romesh Chandra Dutt. The Indian National Congress in 1885 appealed for a simultaneous exam at a centre in India. In 1886, the government appointed a Public Service Commission which raised the age limit for the ICS to twenty-three years, enabling more Indians to write the exam. Even then, till 1910, only 6 percent of the ICS were Indians.

A video resume—A game changer?

Posted on November 3, 2021 by kavyawahi

Every corporate employee, or prospective employee has at some point had a traditional text resume. However, video resumes may be the little sprinkles on the cake that you need in order to spruce up your job application and get an edge over the competition. It’s not only a visually interesting, unique and innovative way of presenting your personal information and professional aspirations to recruiters, but is also a great method of showing off your personality and soft skills by using technology in the shortest possible time.

Sagarika Verma and Subir Verma explain in their book, Job Search Secrets, how video resumes are serious game changers in today’s competitive world, and they also share useful tips for making a video resume. Here’s an excerpt from the book that will help all the active job seekers.

A video resume (commonly known as visumé or video CV) is a new way to present your abilities. You can also use this to force-apply, by sharing your short video resume with some recruiters and people in your networks.

Most companies are adapting to the virtual way of working. Employees’ physical presence at work is reducing day by day. Interviewing candidates over the virtual medium is a low-cost hiring method for employers. As employers are becoming more comfortable with video technologies, job seekers should use them to impress prospective employers even before any actual interview. One of the best ways to do this is by making a video resume, and we recommend early adoption of technology by you to make one for yourself.

A video resume is a 60- to 120-second long video in which you, as a job seeker, can highlight your qualifications, skills, accomplishments, experience, soft skills and other relevant key points about yourself, which will encourage companies to call you for an interview.

Today, the competition for jobs being fierce, it is very difficult for your resume to get noticed during the screening process from among thousands of applications that any company receives. Just crafting a professional three-page resume will not make you stand out from the crowd.

You have to use multiple channels to reach out and get noticed by companies so that you get an interview call.

Many recruiters today prefer these resumes to the traditional paper resume, as they are able to see and hear you. Their task of initial shortlisting becomes easier. Many job sites are adopting this trend and have incorporated changes to accept video resumes.

While video resumes can be used by every job seeker, it is particularly recommended for direct customer-facing job profiles in industries like hotel and hospitality, retail, call centres, media, public relations, event management and other customer-facing roles. A video resume is a better way to showcase your charming personality and your communication and presentation skills. This can be the easiest way for you to get an interview call from a company.

A video resume should be unique, creative and professionally made. It is easy to make and can also be created at home. You also can hire a professional to make it. If you are making a video resume for the first time, then the most important thing is to prepare and practise for it. Here are some tips:

Write a short, simple and straightforward script

Your script should be like an interesting story that anyone would like to hear. Write down your educational details, key achievements, work experience, projects and competencies that are relevant for the job in question. Keep your focus on the requirements of the job and pay more attention to the company requirements than yourself, and talk about why the company should hire you. Use simple and easy-to-understand language without any jargon. Your video must end with why you want to join the company and why the company should select you.

Ideally, the duration of your video resume should be one minute, but it can go up to two minutes.

Look natural and do not read the resume while recording

Memorize the script, look natural, and record. If you are targeting multiple roles, then record more videos, mentioning the skills and experience relevant to the different positions you are considering. Do not be afraid to talk about your passions. Be creative and different, within professional boundaries.

Watch out for light, background, voice speed and volume

Your background, and the light in the room, should be good so that the video is clear and looks professional. Speak slowly and clearly, and be audible. Speak just as you do in formal conversations. Look into the camera of the phone, and avoid excessive hand and eye movement. This will produce an impression that you are quite confident. The best camera angle for this would cover your face and chest while you are sitting in a chair. This position will also make you look calmer.

Look presentable and wear formal attire

You must be presentable and well groomed. Do not wear loud clothes for the video. Muted blue is a good colour and always turns out looking good.

How to edit your final video resume

If your video does not meet your expectation, then editing is an option. You can check the quality of your video as well as the content. If your recorded video has some fillers like ‘ok’, ‘right’, ‘ummm . . . ’, ‘ahhh . . . ’, ‘like’, you can edit them out and properly adjust the volume.

Get feedback from your friends

Share your final video resume with a few of your friends and seniors and ask for their feedback. You might have overlooked some silly errors while making the video. Getting feedback from other people is a very important step. You can make edits and changes based on their suggestions.

Read Job Search Secrets to gain more insights on finding the right job and how to prepare for it.

On the Open Road—About reality and dreams

Posted on November 1, 2021November 1, 2021 by kavyawahi

In Stuti Changle’s On the Open Road, you’ll find Myra, Kabir and Sandy standing on the cusp of making life-changing decisions. The road to their dreams may not be easy, but their spirits remain high.

Here’s an extract to give you a glimpse of Kabir’s life and his desire to make a name for himself and achieve his dreams.

The moment my flight lands, I think of Sandy and how I want to meet him. I pick up my Steve Jobs book and a black leather handbag in haste. I comfortably make my way through the aisle. That’s the advantage of travelling business class. Unlike the economy passengers, you don’t have to wait for the queue to move before you can deboard the plane. I am back in India, exhausted and burnt out from another business trip.

‘Nice shoes, sir,’ the stewardess compliments me as I reach the exit. Her name card reads Susan. She has been acting strange throughout the flight.

‘Thanks.’

She hands me a folded recycled tissue paper. I don’t know what to do with that.

‘Is something sticking to my face?’ I quip like a fifth grader.

She laughs out loud.

A little embarrassed, I walk off. I unfold the tissue paper and read it closely. A mobile number is written on it in pink ink. I flip through the pages of the book and place it randomly between them. I am not part of the mile high club yet. But I can’t keep Sandy waiting any longer! God has been merciful to me in some ways. My body is the biggest gift to me. I can turn heads and make things happen with a meek smile.

Just like in a flight, there are three types of people in the world.

The aisle-seat passengers are too content to try anything new. The middle-seat passengers are in a constant struggle with the self as they want to break free, but something holds them back. The window-seat passengers take risks and follow their hearts as all that keeps them moving is the view of the infinite.

I certainly belong to the middle-seat category.

My life is seemingly perfect but I want to know what imperfections feel like. What it feels like to give your everything to something and appreciate its outcome one day. I am proud of my lineage, but I always think about what life would be like if I built something on my own.

Life goes on in an endless loop. If it is a weekend, you’ve got to booze. If it is a weekday, you’ve got to watch downloaded TV shows from Pirate Bay. Even if there are thousands on your checklist, there are still a hundred more on the wish list. The hangover of the TV shows stays longer than that of the booze though. For a week you’re Harvey, the next Walter, then Tyrion. When you’re stressed out, you try to act cool like Chandler.

But I wish to be like Sandy. He is the one in the window seat. He dropped out of engineering college and developed a series of unconventional apps. He works on his dream, day and night, like a ninja with coding superpowers.

He tells me you might not have a penny in your pocket, you might sleep on a hungry stomach, your uncle might not support you, the world surely won’t, but don’t let the spark in you die. When you look into the mirror, you should know that you’re born to reach for the stars.

Read On the Open Road to find out if Myra, Kabir and Sandy succumb to the obstacles or achiev their dreams.

A sneak peek into Tendöl’s childhood in Tibet

Posted on October 29, 2021October 29, 2021 by prhi-dev

Tendöl Namling turned 60 in March 2019. She was born at the time when the Dalai Lama fled from Lhasa and the uprising of his people by the Chinese People’s Army was brutally suppressed. She has lived for 22 years under Chinese rule. As the daughter of a high government official, she underwent the ordeal of ‘re-education’ with full force. All she has kept from these years are painful memories and some crumpled photographs. Thanks to the efforts of her family in exile, Tendöl was able to leave Tibet in 1982. After twenty years of hardship, she landed in prosperous Switzerland. It felt as if she had to start her life all over again.

Here’s an excerpt from A Childhood in Tibet that depicts the oppressive ways of the Chinese regime and how it wreaked havoc in common people’s lives.

Tendöl takes her mother’s arrest warrant out of an envelope and bursts into tears. Fifty years later, the traumatic event stirs her up as if it had happened the previous day. ‘My brother Tenor was already in prison then. My mother and I were back from the camp in the east, and the road was finished. We lived in my aunt’s house in Lhasa. It was already dark that December evening when my amala came home. There was a red note on the door. She had no idea why. A little later she looked out of the window and saw a car turning into our narrow alley. She wondered what that might mean. I was sitting on the balcony listening to a Tibetan propaganda broadcast on Chinese radio. We had to listen to such broadcasts every day. Older people often found this so unbearable that they usually put blankets over the radios.‘Suddenly I saw many flashlights illuminating our front door. Chinese military police had come to pick up my mother. One of them read the warrant in a loud voice. It said that my mother was an “active counter-revolutionary” guilty of sabotage. They handcuffed her and searched the entire apartment. But the Chinese had already looted it before. All objects of any value had long since disappeared. My aunt and her daughter, Lochoe, who lived in the lower apartment, were locked up in the kitchen. I begged my amala: “Take me with you! Don’t leave me behind!” Children are not allowed to accompany their arrested parents, shouted a Chinese. I cried, squeezed my way under the barrier to my mother and pulled the chain she was tethered to. My mother called out to me: “Please stop. The prongs are cutting into my skin.” The Chinese policemen, accompanied by a Tibetan collaborator, pushed me aside. They locked the apartment, took my amala with them and drove away.’The next day, Tendöl and her cousin Lochoe went in search of her mother. They took some tea, boiled vegetables and a blanket with them. The girls knew more or less where the prisons were, even if they weren’t marked. First, they went to Drapchi prison and asked the guards at the entrance if new prisoners had been admitted but there was no trace of Tendöl’s mother. The girls continued their search but could not find her.

On their way home, they passed Gutsa prison. There the guards confirmed that Choekyi had indeed been admitted the day before. They asked the guards to at least give the prisoner the food and blanket they had brought with them.A few days later, Tendöl happened to see her mother being dragged into an office in Lhasa by uniformed officials. She had no way of following her or finding out what had happened to her. It took her several months to be able to visit her amala in prison for the first time. But she was not allowed to talk to her because her mother had not yet been convicted. Once a month, relatives were allowed to take food to the prisoners. Her aunt gave Tendöl a bowl of barley soup for her mother. The little girl was so hungry that she drank some soup on her way to the prison. But on that day she was refused entry. She should come back in a month, they told her. Disappointed and sad, Tendöl made her way home and was afraid that her aunt would notice that she had furtively eaten a few spoons of soup because she was so hungry.

In Tendöl’s words, ‘this little book is dedicated to all the Tibetans who continue to rebel against the Chinese occupation’.

The YES Bank Fiasco Explained by the Former Chairman of SBI

Posted on October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 by malika

As the Chairman of SBI, Rajnish Kumar recounts in his memoir, The Custodian of Trust, his term was rather momentous as the period-from 2017 to 2020-during which he shouldered this responsibility, was rather unique under any circumstances. The Indian banking sector was going through one of its most tumultuous phases. The problem of non-performing loans (NPLs) had severely impacted the balance sheet and profitability of banks, especially those in the public sector.

Here is an excerpt from the book that talks about the YES Bank fiasco!

Custodian of Trust FC — Custodian of Trust||Rajnish Kumar

The Saga of YES Bank

The successful rescue of YES Bank in a short period of time is a unique example of perfectly coordinated action by the government, the RBI, and Public–Private partnerships. Of all the names, I have picked YES Bank to write about because of this uniqueness.

The saga of YES Bank started unfolding in June 2018 for me, when I received a request for an appointment from GVK Reddy of the GVK Group, a company in the construction business. My brief for the meeting with Reddy was to discuss the financing of the Navi Mumbai International Airport. GVK Group had built international airports at Mumbai and Bengaluru under the Public– Private Partnership model (PPP) and now had been awarded the contract to build another International Airport at Navi Mumbai. Although the SBI had re-financed Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) a few years ago, it was not otherwise involved in financing any other project for the GVK Group. However, that was no reflection on the credibility or stature of the Group that had created world-class international airports at Bengaluru and Mumbai, especially the latter, which is undoubtedly one of the finest airports in the world. The infrastructure at airports in other countries may be better than at the Mumbai airport but the unique artworks at Amchi Mumbai never fail to fuel a deep sense of pride in Indian traditions and culture among travellers like me. I was actually looking forward to the meeting, mainly because of the deep impact created by MIAL in India’s infrastructural space.

It was fascinating to learn from Reddy how he had entered the infrastructure business exactly after his return from the USA, and how the GVK Group had subsequently become one of the leading infrastructure companies in India, at par with other large south-based infrastructure companies like the Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao (GMR) Group, Iragavarapu Venkata Reddy Construction Limited (IVRCL), Lagadapati Amarappa Naidu and Company (LANCO), and Ramky Infras. In addition, many other smaller companies have mushroomed in the South, especially in Hyderabad, arousing my curiosity about the business environment in southern India that nurtures their growth and what distinguishes them from their counterparts in the North. While each of these companies deserves admiration for creating a unique niche for itself, I later learnt from one of the promoters that political patronage had also played a critical role in their success.

The Mumbai airport is also a reminder of the rapid economic progress made by India over the last 25 years, especially when compared to the pathetic conditions witnessed at the Delhi and Mumbai airports in the mid-1990s with stinking carpets and toilets. The modernization of many of the airports in the country has been carried out successfully under Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Airports Authority of India and a private developer. The PPP model has been relatively successful because of the capability to generate higher revenue by levying higher user fee and development of real estate around the airport.

YES Bank, the Lender of Last Resort

During discussions with the GVK Group, it became clear that the proposed project of the new international airport in Mumbai would be a highly complex one. Construction of the airport entailed flattening of an entire hill and re-routing of a rivulet that flowed right through the land designated for the project. It also necessitated a huge amount of earth work. Of course, the future of the project was never in any doubt as Mumbai badly needed a second airport. The existing airport was running to its maximum capacity and flying in and out of Mumbai had become a nightmare for passengers. The departure and landing of most flights were inevitably delayed and it was very rare for any flight to take off or land on time at Mumbai. Since the existing airport was surrounded by slums, there was no scope for its expansion. Both the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO), the local authority, which was responsible for the development of New Mumbai, were keen for work on the project to commence at the earliest.

The mandate for appraisal and arranging of financial closure for the project was accepted by SBI without much persuasion. The project finance team started working earnestly on the project. The MoCA, CIDCO, and the Maharashtra Government were keen to ensure an early financial closure, and ‘in principle’ approval had already been given by SBI. However, there was a lot of apprehension and unease within SBI on one issue, that of defaults on loans by group companies in the power and road sectors, as a result of which the bank had been insisting that the promoters should settle the default payments of the group companies. In the midst of this, suddenly one day, I learnt that YES Bank had sanctioned the entire loan amount enabling achievement of the financial closure. Simultaneously, reports were doing the round that YES Bank had charged a very hefty fee for the transaction.

These developments took the entire team at SBI by surprise. Reddy called to explain the urgency for achieving the financial closure and the difficulty the Group was facing in complying with the terms stipulated by SBI. Deciding to end the matter then and there, I wished him good luck and did not discuss the issue again with him. The lending model of YES Bank was apparently to be a lender of the last resort for borrowers who were under stress or were unable to raise borrowings from other banks, and to charge a high fee for this service. These dealings were shrouded in a degree of ambiguity, and only ongoing investigations by the Enforcement Directorate would reveal whether a part of the fee was being diverted to group companies owned by the family members of the management of the bank.

He was silently managing the crisis in India’s banking sector then. Now he shares these stories in his memoir. Get your copy here!

What is the one thing successful managers do differently?

Posted on October 22, 2021 by kavyawahi

The best way to keep growing one’s team and creating a community of positive leaders is by carrying one’s team together and passing on the learnings. Therefore, it is imperative for the managers to exhibit true leadership skills and focus on results through teamwork and delegation.

A Tata group veteran and the author of 10 Steps to the Boardroom, Gurpal Singh Rattan, distils years of experience into lessons useful for the readers. Read this excerpt to know about the essential ingredients required to cook up your own recipe for your team’s success.

You are responsible for your team’s success and failures. You carry all of it on your shoulders. No one likes or promotes a person who will take credit for success and dump failures on the team. Giving credit where it is due, identifying the winners and throwing the spotlight on them will not only enhance your credibility in the eyes of your team members, but more so in the eyes of top management. As you move ahead in your career, remember that every year new graduates will come in, new technology will be introduced and new skills will be required to keep moving ahead. Lead your team by being the first person to upskill and learn new technology. When you lead by example, you let them know that life doesn’t halt when the rules of the game change. You learn the rules and then change the game. Your team will look towards you to lead them. Their trust in you is what will move you ahead.

Our company had a vision of introducing IT across the board and SAP ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning software) for the ease of managing business. This was announced in 1995 and computers were being introduced in all departments gradually. Many old timers like me were not familiar with computers and the company offered to train middle and senior management executives on the basics of computer learning to start with. Without any inhibitions, I immediately opted for this and started devoting lots of my spare time to upgrading my knowledge, contrary to many seniors who avoided it and delegated this job to their subordinates. The first day of class was a tad intimidating, as I seemed to be the senior-most person there. I braced myself and entered the class with a learning mindset. The trainer was far younger than me and being one of the seniors in class could be perceived as a disadvantage if I were to ask a question. It took me another hour or so to let go of my age prejudice. I knew this was my opportunity to learn. If I hadn’t clarified my doubts then, despite the snickering from the backbenchers, I might not have got a chance again. My team members started talking about my newly acquired knowledge and I quickly became at par with them and was able to discuss the subject with ease in person and virtually, I encouraged all my team members to follow suit.

Being a part of the first rush of learners paid handsome dividends as, with the passage of time, I became fairly good at it and could successfully survive the onslaught of the computerization tsunami in the organization that followed. In a couple of years, your proficiency with a computer became one of the parameters that decided how your career progressed. Letting go of my inhibitions, discomfort at being judged for asking questions and learning from young trainers was an advantage that led me far. If I had to, I would do it all over again rather than sitting in a shell and pretending to know.

Carrying a team also means that you will spend a lot of time managing people and planning ahead. If you have the right team working with you, then spend more time micro planning and foreseeing pitfalls, anticipate obstacles and look at providing timely interventions and resources for your team. Your role at the helm will be crucial till the last minute. The game is not over till the last second.

Only way to find peace is to be at peace within you

Posted on October 20, 2021October 20, 2021 by prhi-dev

Witnessing the devastation of 9/11 before his eyes and narrowly escaping death, Kushal’s life was never going to be the same again. Suddenly, all his pursuits felt meaningless and he felt a void within him like he had never felt before until one day when he reluctantly decided to spend an afternoon with a spiritual master in New York City.

From being a Wall Street trader immersed in the material world to embarking on a quest to find answers to life’s biggest questions, Kushal Choksi writes about his doubts, struggles and revelations on a spiritual path as a left-brained skeptic in On a Wing and a Prayer.

Read an excerpt from the book that emphasises the importance of finding peace within oneself instead of looking for it outside.

It had been a year since we had moved back to the US. My entrepreneurial struggles were showing no signs of slowing down. The previous week had been a period of intense inner turmoil. The sense of balance and security I had come to rely on had all but vanished. My body was fatigued, and my mind was in a complete funk. To take a break from our maddening routine, Alak and I had decided to visit the Art of Living Ashram in Quebec, Canada. I knew that Gurudev was going to be there. I always experienced a peculiar feeling of warmth and unconditional support around him. I could use some of that.

A Canadian autumn always starts with a tinge of melancholy, yet the crispness in the air and the hazy evenings add a unique texture to the surroundings. The autumn foliage in Quebec was at its peak. White birch, pine, and sugar maple trees were showing off their new wardrobe, and the entire countryside was breathtaking. But when the mind is not at ease, nothing gives joy.

Nestled amidst this setting, in the heart of one of the most beautiful forest regions of Mauricie National Park, rests the quaint Art of Living Ashram, sprawled across acres of natural surroundings.

…

Gurudev was at the front of the room, sitting on a small couch, deep in meditation. The lights in the room were subdued. I was sitting on the floor in a corner, and my view of him was partially blocked by a slender, white column. The soothing chants of kirtans filled the room, creating waves of uplifting energy. I keenly observed everyone. People in the room seemed to be happy and peaceful at the same time. This put me even more on edge. I badly wanted that feeling, but given my current mindset, it seemed out of reach.

The singing concluded, and Gurudev opened his eyes after a long meditation.

‘Hmmmm?!’ The familiar conjecture appeared again. ‘Are you all happy?’ He asked right out of the gate. The crowd responded affirmatively in a loud chorus.

‘Nooo!!!!’ I screamed in my head. ‘I am miserable. Help!’

I felt even more isolated.

‘Pierre, do we have any questions in the basket?’ he asked the person sitting next to his couch, who had been collecting questions from the audience. Although Pierre’s flowing white beard covered most of his face, his pleasant smile shone through.

‘Dear Guruji, how should I deal with a failure?’ Pierre read as soon as he uncurled a piece of paper from the question basket.

My ears perked up. Clearly, I was not the only ugly duckling in the barnyard. Somebody else was hurting just like me. I scanned the room in the hope that I could somehow identify this other misfit. Misery loves company after all.

‘Do you want to hear a Mullah Nasruddin story? I think I’ve already told this story before,’ Gurudev asked.

…

In his inimitable style, Gurudev began narrating the story of Mullah, who once got into a very bad accident. The poor guy had multiple fractures all over his body, and pretty much every part of his face was bandaged. A friend of his came to visit Mullah in the hospital, where he lay in pain.

‘How are you Mullah?’ the visitor asked.

‘Oh, I’m fine. It only hurts when I laugh,’ Gurudev asserted Mullah’s response with a smile on his face.

The perplexed visitor began to think that Mullah had completely lost it.

‘What is there to laugh, Mullah? Have you looked at yourself? How could you laugh in this condition?’ asked the concerned friend.

Gurudev paused. One could have heard a pin drop on the carpeted floor.

‘If I don’t laugh now, I have never laughed in my life,’ said Mullah.

More silence in the room.

‘Everyone can laugh when things are going well. It takes tremendous courage to smile through when the world around you comes crumbling down,’ Gurudev said with a level of conviction I had never seen before.

…

Gurudev ripped open this topic, talking about how the disappointment of failure is amplified by underlying desires.

‘Just before a desire arose in you and after a desire completes, where are you? Have you noticed?’ He asked the everyone in the room. By the look of his face, I could tell it was definitely a trick question.

‘The same place.’ He quipped. The answer had now created more questions in my mind.

How? I had really never thought about that. He continued. ‘And in the process of fulfilling the desire, one loses the sight of the self.’

‘You don’t lose the self . . . you just lose the sight of it, hence the restlessness and agony,’ he added.

My mind was always on the run. Desires arose. I started chasing them. In that chase I was sometimes happy, sometimes miserable. Most of the time, my desires were fulfilled. When that happened, it boosted my ego and brought some satisfaction. Then I went back to the same place that I was in before that desire had arisen in the first place. And repeat. I was beginning to appreciate the big picture that had just been revealed.

Was there any point in chasing desires? Did I really have a choice to not chase them?

‘It is like being on a merry-go-round. You start and get off at the exact same place, having gone nowhere.’

As the evening concluded, the waves of negativity in me had somewhat subsided. I wondered what had changed. The problem at hand remained the same. So did my circumstances. However, in that moment, I could detach from the thick wave of negativity that had enveloped me. I could see how easily I had lost sight of the self, the inner space that is always joyful and at peace.

On a Wing and a Prayer is a true account of one man finding himself on a fifteen-year-long journey shadowing the spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

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Category: Excerpts