The Power of Politics

A few weeks ago, I had gone to the office of a pretty prominent politician in New Delhi with a friend. He was there to discuss some work with them and I had tagged along just for the heck of it.

While we were waiting, another regular looking gentleman in a plain white shirt and black trousers entered the room. He was introduced to us briefly but I didnt quite catch his name and designation.

Soon after, we went out for a smoke break while my friend hung around to talk to him.

10 minutes later, my friend comes back beaming. It seems he had succeeded in getting electricity to a remote village in one of the larger states in India.

Turns out, the non descript gentleman was a Member of Parliament and the village in question fell under his constituency. My friend had visited this village sometime back on some work and had been very warmly welcomed by the local residents. On finding out that the village did not have any electricity, he had it in the back of his head that he would do something, someday to ensure that the village got electricity.

Who knew that a chance encounter could trigger such a change and it really opened my eyes to the power of politics and the potential it has to change our world. (Of course I still need to wait  to see if the said gentleman keeps his promise)

I also realized that ‘politics’ is not all that bad. While there maybe a few rotten apples from the old guard, there is a fresh new breed of politicians on the ground who are working to bring about incremental change. They are young, smart, well educated and are slowly but surely changing the face of politics while doing good work.

Now if only they did a better job of communicating their achievements to a wider audience, it might encourage more people to join politics along with promising hope for a better future for India.

I sure am excited to be back

Time for a change !

My first job lasted 5 months. The second one lasted 3 months. After that, I decided not to get a job and instead start out on my own(Had started a design/ad agency). That lasted for 2 months and I was back to a third job at Cognizant. I promised myself that I would stick to it for at least 2 years.

Today, that promise has come true 2.5 times . Today is the day I complete 5 years at Cognizant.

It was on the 17th of April 2006 that I joined Cognizant at Bangalore…and its been a fun ride to the US so far…the pace of work and growth has been so rapid that five years seem to have gone by in the proverbial blink of an eye.

Its time now for another change. Leaving Cognizant and moving back to India at the end of this month to start out on my own. Lets hope though, this time around it lasts a bit longer than 2 months.

Incase you are curious, here is what I am thinking of next.

Human Nature…

Most gyms have ’tissue wipes’ for wiping the treadmill / elliptical trainer clean after you are done using them.

Most people don’t bother using them and usually walk off.

Today, the guy on the elliptical finished a few minutes before me and was pottering around as his wife was still on the treadmill. He had ofcourse not bothered to wipe it clean.

After I was done, I wiped up my elliptical and moved to the weights area. The guy had seen me doing it, and i was wondering what he would do next.

Surprise !! He got some wipes and wiped his machine. He obviously was not a regular ‘wiper’ because it was already a good ten minutes since he had finished so I assume he did it because he saw me doing it.

I guess most folks dont do the ‘right’ stuff because either they are too lazy about it or it just doesnt strike them…(another example which is very aptly explained in this awesome ad here.)

So if you want some things to change, lead by example