Soaring High

There is a beauty in this bird………the Indian Spotted eagle. Look at it from any angle, its flight is perfect and effortless, terror and excitement grips you when you see it hunt and the easy maneuvers it does in flight.



I managed to get close enough to an Indian spotted eagle in flight and the photographs that came out even surprised me. It’s a stocky bird, around 60-65cm in length, falling under the mid size category of birds of prey. Essentially brown in color, it appears lighter, slimmer and less bulky in flight.



In mumbai, I have seen this bird of prey frequently being irritated by crows. I have seen the eagles flight plan disrupted a number of times by crows that don’t allow this bird to come anywhere close to their nest.

This perticular pair of Spotted eagle made their nest on top of a crane that was not in operation for a last couple of months. The recession in the building industry was proving to be beneficial for these birds. I have seen them once to often sitting on the crane with their wings spread, probably sunbathing.

From Beaks to Claws

A journey into Ranthambore

Sun, sweat and dust! That’s what one faces in Ranthambore, especially when you go there in the month of April and May. But then, you really don’t have much choice, if you are seriously interested in looking at the wildlife that this national park has to offer. The incessant heat of Rajasthan drives all the animals and birds to the few water holes that you can visit as a tourist on routes 1 to 5.

Every year, thousands of tourists folk to Ranthambore to try their luck with the sighting of the Tiger, in its natural habitat. I have never seen a bigger game of chance, then the sport of getting a glimpse of the big cat. Just like gambling, the stakes can also be increased by the bigger players, while the smaller ones go back, happy or sad, with small or no winnings. The intoxication of the game increases the stakes from having a glimpse of the tiger in the dry vegetation, to a full body view, to a hunt or more. In my mind, no one returns back really fulfilled, for there was some other perceived victory just round the corner, which they have missed.



Setting the expectations correct is the name of the game, and for a person like me, the tiger was one, but not the only attraction that I was looking forward to. For me this journey, I hope, becomes a start of something that I always wanted to do. So I started the journey with two objectives in mind – a) to click as many photographs of as many varieties of animals as I could get, and b) lay down the foundation of future travels to other parts of the county and, hopefully, the world.

One thing that I was pretty sure about was that you cant have good photograph when you are on a guided, three hour tour with company of people who treat it as a picnic or a zoo ride. In Ranthambore trip, due to miscommunication between my agent and the hotel staff, I was booked for a twenty seater, petrol driven, canter ride. On one occasion, I had the company of people who felt it was their right to see the tiger as they have paid for the trip, and blamed the guide for not taking them to the right spots. In second instance it was the company of twelve collage students and their teacher, who treated things like school picnic. They came in late, made rowdy jokes, which were just below the threshold limit of their teacher and had no clue on what was expected from the trip, except the tiger.





My learning – Always take a gypsy, if you have the money, book the whole thing for yourself or the people you want to be a part of the tour. Second, three hours are never enough, two trips are not enough. You need to spend at least five days and make multiple trips till you are satisfied with the results, or at least closer to them. If you have some political connections, then arrange to get an approval from the ministry of forest and environment of the state or center. Pass on the same to the DFO so that you have full and unlimited access to the park with your guide and driver. This way you can not only have access to the ‘non-tourist’ locations within the park, but you can spend enough time at your chosen spot till you get your dream run. If you have direct access to the DFO itself then even the ministry route can be avoided.



In addition to this little ‘mishap’, my second more serious problem was that my camera conked off. From my experience, its motherboard got fried. Here I was, stuck in the middle of the tour, with no camera. Thankfully, one of the staff members at the hotel had a digital SLR with a 75-300 mm lens and was willing to loan the same to me at a rental. My main problem was to get accustomed to his Nikon prehistoric model and use it to the best advantage possible. I couldn’t take too many pictures with his camera, for setting it up was a time consuming thing, but I got some good results with it. I thanked god that I had something instead of nothing.




Now coming to the main question: What can one expect from the tour? All the five routes that are open to the tourist, start at the gate and end at one of the main water hole within the jungle. Between the two points you will be able to see a lot of peacocks and peahen resting on the ground among the fallen leaves, You will be able to see a lot many groups of langurs on the ground or swinging in the trees, but looking at you with a common expression ‘What! You again?’. They usually try to hide their young ones behind their backs, which is a very hard thing to do for its very difficult to contain something that is forever jumping, fighting and running around. Cheetal and Sambhar are common sights. Tiger’s are rare but you may still have a chance of spotting one. Getting a leopard is really difficult. You can get an odd crocodile near the water holes but they are so beautifully camouflaged that it’s difficult to spot them. Peacock is very common, but then they are common in whole of Rajasthan. So spotting them here was no surprise. Seeing them dance was a welcome addition.




I ended up getting some good photographs, which I am sharing with you on this blog. Hope my next attempts will be less jinxed an more fruitful. I am thinking of taking on a prominent South Indian national park next.

Combo

I am taking this title from Mac D's. Basically from their combo meal offers. Also sometimes I do wonder what strange associations can be formed when you hear a word. Strangely enough "Combo" made me think of Work. Strange rt??

Let me explain further. Combos usually has 2 or more items....items that you usually cant resist, which have ingredients in them that dosent tell you when you are full etc etc. The end conclusion is that they, in some cases do more harm.

Same is probably true for a guy like me and my attitude towards the work I do. I sweat and toil and spend hours at my desk because of a combination of two factors:

1) Pride in the work that I have done, the quality of the work, nature of work itself, recognition, the feeling of being capable of making a difference etc etc.

2) The guilt of not having done enough, especially when you are of a kind that really takes things to heart.

This is what I think. Point 1 is what makes you work while point 2 is how your Boss makes you work.

If you are a sincere person with even an iota of tendency to wonder in the first instance that "I might have done this wrong/ This could be done better/ or such similar thoughts" then your boss will know it instantly. He will let you work till the max of the capacity and when you are through, will act as a critic and ensure that you develop enough guilt to work some more.

And i know this much, as a citic, you can find faults with the best of the work. In corporate scenario, you can come up with a 100 questions on a work done to which the employee will not have a satisfactory answer. Even if employee may have answers to all the questions that can be checked/ verified, there are still a set of questions that are perception based - why 20? why not 100? why this color? language? image? etc etc. All questions designed to make you feel that you dont know enough or have not done enough thus generating guilt and making you go back to your desk and slog again. You really cant win.

Thats why I consider this combo harmful. I have it, I know. And i am trying to figure out how to get out of it.

More than one night at the call center

All this started around a month and a half back. The objective was to revamp our call center and as the boss says ‘take it to the next level’. Well, the efforts are still on and show promise but that’s not what I want to talk about in this blog.

I want to talk about this special breed of people called call center agents, who work here driving sales. There are mixed feelings associated with this breed that I want to highlight here.

Points of admiration:

1. Try working from 11 PM to 8 AM each day for the last two and half years, five days a week and I can bet that 60% of your admiration will build on that itself. I have done the same while I was working in a production company, but I did it only for 5 months and there was not much of a sales pressure then. I had time to read during the shift, so it was fine. But looking at these guys……on and on, month on month, pressure on pressure. I am not sure the guys you were giving them targets had ever done this themselves and got the same numbers.

2. Most of the guys/ gals that work here are attending collage for their graduation or PG courses. This means that they leave office at 9 AM and then go for their classes (sleep) and then sleep (go to classes). This dedication in commendable.

3. They are a smart breed. Trust them to find a loophole in the system, no matter how much, we as management, try to make it foolproof. Though, at this point of time, I don’t know whether its their smartness or whether it the basic Indian psyche that makes us want to find ways that give us unearned rewards.

Points of despise:

1. They have negligible social life. Most of them have no hobby and no time even to sit back and do what anything that is termed as leisure. They are definitely running for money ( as they love their incentive more than their salary) but at the end of the day, is it worth it?

2. They have a very narrow vision. They can’t think beyond here and now. They are attending collages because that is what the social norms in India require them to do. Had it been US where passing school is considered more than enough, these guys would have left education long time back. On top of that, they are happy attending non-reputed institutes, as attendance in them is not a major concern and hence it doesn’t interfere with their work schedule.

3. Money is the only thing that most of them look forward to. I have met many agents who want to remain agents just because they earn more than most of the managers. I cant understand why they don’t want to rise in the organization. Why they choose stagnation viz a viz the opportunities that will come with promotion (even at a lesser immediate financial gain)

The rise of call centers and IT in India has definitely increase the middle class segment. But looking at these kids, it made me wonder if this was really the correct path that we have chosen. None of them are physically fit and will continue to deteriorate if they maintain the life that they are leading now. None of them are intellectually growing. They have money to spend now but I am not so sure whether they value the money that they have earned or how to use the money they have earned for their own betterment.

I remember speaking to one of the floor managers recently. He was 23 and has been working for the last 5 years as agent. He is proud of owning a car at the age of 21 and of his new 20K watch that he as just purchased. He want to continue the way things are going now, his correspondent MBA degree which is as valuable as the paper its printed upon, his bulging belly, his US accent and his incentives.

Where did we go wrong??

Here is an incident that i suddenly recalled today. Dont know why but it was so funny that its worth sharing.

During my graduation period I used to live with three friends - M, S, and R. M and S were more street smart compared to R, which in most of the cases let to a very hard time for R.

All four of us shared a kitchen and there used to be a maid that used to cook for us. One fine day she informed us that she would not be coming for the next two days due to some personal reason. Day 1 of her leave, I and M cooked food as S was good only for cutting vegetables and R was good only for washing utensils.

Since we didn’t want to cook again on day 2 we decided to bring some food home. So we used Gits packet to cook ‘Rabri’ and bought Patties from shop for dinner that day. Once we were through with dinner there were still 3 patties left which we decided to store for the next day. Now we were poor students and didn’t had the luxury of refrigerator, hence we decided to put them in a container and keep it floated in a pan full of water to keep it cool. (I don’t remember now who came up with this brilliant idea).

Now as it usually happens with maids, our maid did not turn up next morning at the scheduled time. M, S and myself were pretty used to staying hungry if the situation so demands but R was not used to it. By afternoon, we could hear his stomach rumbling. He came to our room and was sitting around, looking very hungry and uncomfortable. Here is the dialogue that happened then:

R: You guys feeling hungry?
Me & M: No. Not at all ( and continued reading)
R: Guys do something. We should eat.
Me: Don’t want to. U eat if you want.
R: (Roaming around uncomfortably) lets cook something.
Me: I don’t want to cook. I wont cook. If you are hungry then you cook.
R: I don’t know how to. You know that.
Me: Try or suffer. No sympathy from me. We are comfortable as we are.(Continue reading)

(After sometime)

R: Hey aren’t there some patties left?
M: Ya. There are 3. You can have them if you want.
R: (Highly suspicious) Why? You guys not having any
Me: No. Not sure if they are fine or not. Those patties were stuffed with potatoes so not sure whether they are good to eat. They might have spoiled in this heat.
R: (Goes and checks them) They appear to be OK
Me: Fine. Eat them.
R: (Hungry. Very Hungry but don’t know what to do. “to eat or not to eat is the question”). Lets share.
Me: Don’t want to. You eat if you are willing to risk it.

(R spends next 15 min trying to figure out if they were OK to eat or not and we were not willing to help him in any way)

R: Hey Ashish. Lets share them one each.
Me: (finally sick of this whole back and forth dialogue) Look dude. Here’s the deal. You take the risk and eat as many as you want or I take the risk and eat all three. Your choice.
R: But why cant both of us eats?
Me: Because here is a situation in which the risk cannot be minimized by sharing. No use both of us falling sick at the same time. So the good idea is either you fall sick or I do. You choose.

(Another 15 min of deliberation followed by more discussion, and M enjoying himself at my leisure, R finally decides to eat the patties himself. He end up eating 2 of the 3 patties. We let him and continue our surfing through some adult magazines.)

Lo. Behold! As soon as R finishes the patties (Somewhere around 2.30 PM) our maid makes an entry into our humble adobe to cook the evening meal.

Maid: (Looking at the remaining patties) Aye Bhai. Should I throw this patties out? Its all spoiled.

(You guys can imagine the look on R’s face. HE HAD JUST CONSUMED TWO OF THOSE)

R: (Fanatically) What do I do? What do I do?
Us(still relaxed): Nothing. Wait for feed poisoning to set in?
R: Food poisoning!! What do I do?
Me: Wait for half hour. That’s when the food will be absorbed by the intestines and will enter your system. I would give you about 1 hour before you start feeling sick. (The knowledgeable me!!)
R: Sick. As in how sick?
Me: Depends on the infection. Cant say for sure.
M(catching on and extrapolating): Food poisoning usually leads to vomiting, loose motion and dehydration. Can end up in hospitalization for a couple of days or worse.

(R was really sweating now. In the meantime S also made and entry into the situation and we briefed him on the situation. He is smarter than both of us combined, so here goes his conversation)

S: How long since you have eaten those patties?
R: 35 min
S: Too bad. You could have tried vomiting to clean your stomach. Now its late and they must be getting absorbed in your system.
R: What do I do?
S: Do you feel faint?
R(thinking): I think so
S: Uneasiness in stomach
R: Ya. I can feel that
S: Dizzy feeling. Uncomfortable.
R(Fully convinced): Ya. Ya
S: Then you are going the food poisoning way. Sorry

(R is now fanatic and wants us to help in any way possible)

R: What do I do? What do I do guys?
Me: (Thinking aloud). You know, you can build your body resistance through vitamin C. Why don’t you have some ‘Neebu paani’? probably that might help.
R: (Running to kitchen) Where are the lemons?
M: Finished. No more in the kitchen. You will have to go and buy them.
R. Where from?
M: Go to Phoolbaag (That was 2 km away…and we are talking about mid summer in gwalior – 48 degree centigrade.)
S: Also I think it would be a good idea to buy some apples. Apples are good for health.

R rushes out and walks the whole distance to bring lemons and apples. He did all the work and then maid prepared nice ‘Neeu paani’ which we all had followed by some apples.

Needless to say R did not suffer any after affects of having the spoiled patties. But it was an entertaining 4 hours that we spend.

I still remember a statement that S made to M and myself after this “ If I would have told R that eating a dog’s potty would have cured him, I am sure he would have done that too at that point of time. Damn! I missed my chance.”

The High’s of Life…………..

There are moments that are frozen in time for each one of us and are very personal. Yesterday, while I was traveling back from the office, I started thinking about such moments in my life. Frankly, I was not even looking at moments; I was looking for those memories in which I had the feeling of exhilaration. It was a surprise for me to note that in most of these memories, I was not in as a ‘doer’, which for me would mean the center of the universe, but as observer, listener or just a participant.

…..when the sweat pours

Scientifically, it’s the adrenaline that gives you a feeling of high when you are involved in a physical activity. That’s too cut and dried for me and for anyone who is into sports. I have played all my life, and have tried my hands in all sorts of games. I am no expert in any of them, probably because there was never an intention of playing anything professionally. The fun is in matching your skills and strength against a better player, fun is in fighting to reach each stroke, fun is in fighting for one more point and fun is in knowing how much your own body is capable of achieving. The exhilaration is in knowing that you have beaten a better person fair and square or in the knowledge that a worthy opponent beat you. At times, and even in my dark moods, this feeling goes to the extent of saying “Even if death comes to take me away, it will have to pay a heavy price before it can take me”

…….when things cant go any worse

I am probably at my best when the situations are at their worst. There was a time in my third job when I was handling 12 projects as against 4, which was the industrial norm. Being immodest, I can easily say that I was proud of myself. I have never ever seen myself giving orders or taking decisions so fast. And not one project got delayed or went wrong.

Feeling of being alive comes to you when you are still standing even after receiving severe beating during ragging, when you get a full square meal after 3 days, when you don’t have light in your house and you are creating engineering drawing sheets by holding torch in your mouth, when you have worked for 24 hours straight in 45degreeC and can count each muscle of your body.

For those of you who have gone through similar experience would probably now what I am talking about and can add to this list in their own sphere. Bottom line being, its your attitude that gives to a high, even in such crappy situations

………..when the air is still.

Me and my wife have become an expert in off-season vacations. We would visit beaches in monsoon, hill station in winters or dry areas in summers. Any how we enjoy!! It is great to lie in the sea when you have clouds and rain and not a soul in sight, to travel through the fog when there is stillness around and you don’t know where the earth ends.

You don’t need a nice place to enjoy this stillness, its only the select company of few that matter. Sitting on the terrace with a glass of rum and a couple of friends and looking at the lights of the city as they go out one by one is also fun. Or taking a walk at 3 AM in a small town when even dogs refuse to bark at you is great.

We live with too much noise. Make a rendezvous with silence and get a high from the dreams that it gives you.

………..when there is laughter around

Some of my friends, MD/NS/MJ/SJ are great storytellers. They have a knack of narrating incidences of their life in such a manner that we usually end up rolling with laughter. I think my four years of engineering in a city like Gwalior became bearable only because of these guys. We could laugh in all the situations, the best or the worst, and no one was spared at any point of time. Laughter could be directed towards a person or a situation a person is in, without any malice.

You should see how my wife and her friend R laugh when they are together. I wait for a sentence that ends without laughing. Its best not to disturb them at that time, for then the attack will be on you and there is no defense possible.



Frankly the list for me could go on. This is probably the only thing that I don’t understand about people in general. How can you be low in life? There is no situation in which you cannot but be glad that you are alive, that you feel the sun on your face and winds in your hair. How can you not exist is a state of continuous high all your life. Happiness is constant, unhappiness is temporary.

Know More Quiz

- Last Movie You Saw In A Theater:
Race (good one....though nearly at the half time, I had to turn to my wife and ask "Do you remember who is with who?"

- What Book Are You Reading:
Re-reading Devil's alternative. Not many good fiction in market now.

- Favorite Board Game:
scrabble - I get to beat my wife in every game (Kahi to jeetna chaiyae.....)

- Favorite Magazine:
Reader's Digest ....though it has gone a bit dull lately

- Favorite Smells:
Smell of first rain....

- Favorite Sound:
Sea breaking on the rocks

- Worst Feeling In The World:
Pity

- What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake?:
Potty

- Favorite Fast Food Place:
Momos at Channakya, New Delhi, or Shashi ke parathae (No longer available)

- Future Child's Name:
Jab sar pe padegi to sochangae

- If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...:
Travel, read, loaf around

- Do You Drive Fast?
When I can....not very often though

- Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?
nopes -

- Storms-Cool Or Scary?:
Didn't get this one

- What Was Your First Car?
Maruti - Wagon R

- Favorite Drink:
Neebu paani (Extra sweet)

- If I Had The Time I Would .....:
gym, read, chat with my daughter

- Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?
never tried

- If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice?
I would wish for hair first....

- Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In:
bhopal, gwalior, kanpur, ajmer, delhi, indore, banglaore, bhubneshwar, and mumbai

- Favorite Sports To Watch:
none really....can live with cricket though

- One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
kisi ne bheja nahi....but jahan se copy kiya hai woh jaan hai

- What's Under Your Bed?
never really looked.

- Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
no harm's done in that.

- Morning Person Or Night Owl?
Morning

- Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?
Easy

- Favorite Place To Relax:
Beach, mountain anything....even my bean bag will do. The important word here is relax

- Favorite Pie:
not really tried many.....and if did, dont remember the taste

- Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:
Butterscotch

- You pass this tag to :
No one....any one can pick it up though

Of All The People You Tagged, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?
No clue