Productivity !!!

     I always wonder what is the relationship between number of working days and Productivity. Is number of working days directly proportional to productivity or indirectly proportional? What should be the optimum level in which one’s mind can do productive work? Several countries follow different work standards and even within countries there are several regions and several groups who follow different standards according to their needs.

     Back home we have six working days and my dad always double checks with me even after so many years that do we work only for five days in a week. But the number of working days also depends on the nature of the business – some business may not add more value by opening during weekends whereas some business thrive during weekends and holidays. But when we say working hours are 8 – 5 pm how does our brain recognize the time period and how do we prepare our mind to focus on something very intense? Sometimes during the workshop sessions my brain is completely drained where I got to watch out for every single question thrown at me and at times my mind tend to relax a bit if my role is just to be as a listener in a conference call. The way we control our mind and concentrate on stuff on our plate is definitely an art. I could control my mind for some time but for prolonged concentration I definitely need to get into something which would help me sustain my mood for an elongated period of time. Maybe I should try Yoga or some meditation.

     Sometimes work becomes pleasure where we don’t end up calculating the amount of hours we spend on our work; Sometimes we tend to work long hours simply due to obligation or even at times due to peer pressure from our counterparts. But the question is it is not the amount of hours we work but the amount of value we add to our work in a given period of time. I heard a power nap in the afternoon helps to be more productive, I saw one of the fortune 500 companies in Bay area having all sorts of activity to avoid boredom to its employees. The more productive the mind is the more relaxing it can be for yourself and more value you add for your employer. 

Thamizhan Da!!!

      Being proud of your where you come from is something we enjoy at times!! Over here in US, Sports plays a major role in making people bind together and feel proud about their place of origin. When Eagles win a game in a NFL playoff game the whole of Philadelphia erupts in joy. It is just a way of connecting towards something which is close to your heart and a sports event is just an occasion to celebrate. Back in India there are always two things that bind us – one is cricket and other is cinema. Cinema being my favorite would like to embellish on something which made all the Thamizhans across the world very proud.

      

     I want to talk about the showman of Indian cinema – Director Shankar. He is absolutely outstanding..Looking at his track record is just amazing. 20+ years but just 10+ movies. On an average he takes 2 years per movie. Every movie he takes a topic but never gets preachy in his presentation instead sugarcoats with lots of commercial ingredients – I cannot forget the scene in Endhiran where he created a scene in the screenplay where Rajini appears as Amman with several swords, scene in Mudhalvan where the entire traffic is halted with Arjun carrying the media coverage and there are people who play crosswords in Hindu newspaper etc., Just envisage if his movies bomb then two years of time goes for a toss and there is so much risk associated but he is so very confident on his product that he makes grandeur movies with so much of ease. Arnold coming onto stage and asking him to direct for his movie just speaks volume about this man. I think it is just about time that he spreads his wings and goes to Bollywood or Hollywood where his creativity is more acknowledged and he also finds producers who can meet the big budgets his movies are demanding. But wherever he goes he is from Tamil nadu and we should be proud of him….

      

    Aascar Ravichandran is another person who continues to puzzle me. Is this person epitome of modesty? He says in an interview he neither made the tune nor wrote the script so why should he boast in front of media….Man in tinsel world where every dick and harry who do so little but give hundreds of media appearances to promote their films should definitely take a leaf from this man’s book. He brought Jackie chan and Arnold to Tamil Nadu for audio launches and hence put Kollywood on the International map. His argument is if a small film called ‘Conjuring’ can release in 169 countries why can’t a good product like ‘I’ release in multiple countries. I think he has a point and in order to spread new territories we need to bring in celebrities to endorse our products worldwide and he is making right moves. He is one other person who makes us feel proud that our Tamil cinema is truly becoming global phenomenon. 

It all boils down to Quality through efficient Operations!!!

     Off late I have been traveling quite a bit and so naturally tend to eat outside quite often. I believe seven months back when I first stepped into one of my favorite restaurants in Bay area I did not realize that I will visit more often to this place. The location is in a very prime area with lots of offices around and desi population in California is like counting number of sugar molecules in sugarcane, so they got all the basics right in the first place. The place wore a decent look and nothing extraordinary and the menu is very standard with pretty much the regular south indian items. I was thinking why the menu would be so simple. Now after my ‘n’ number of visits I can say it is neither the appearance nor the menu choices that drives a successful restaurant but is the quality trough efficient operations which brings customers.

    The way they operate is very good – Idly at 9.30 P.M comes very hot and fresh because they make sure they prepare that upon taking the order, with sambar they have one for Thalis and one of tiffin items. The sambar that comes with tiffin items are maintained in a separate temperature I believe since its served pretty hot. When it comes to mint chutney restaurants more often find ways to dilute stuff since it could be expensive by that way they can bring down costs but here they make sure the authenticity is maintained. Serving food after taking the order can win customer’s goodwill for quality but on the downside customers got to wait bit longer to taste the food. But eventually customers may wait bit longer to have a nice food versus settling with mediocre food in quick time.

    Also one of the mantras for restaurant business is to keep the menu options simple. I came to know about this after reading McDonalds book. This restaurant or many such south Indian restaurants in Bay area keep the menu extraordinarily simple and they do roaring business because their model is to focus on limited items, serve fresh food, focus on quality through efficient operations and win customers appreciation which gets translated into multiple visits. Way to go these South Indian restaurants!!!

How easy modern day Television influences people’s mind

    I am just getting tired of TV shows showing something just to gain attention of audience and to boost their TRP ratings. They package the program in such a way that even a layman’s emotion is kindled. What is more disturbing is that even those who are educated are blindly believing the TV show just because it is coming from a reputed TV personality. This is neither the first time this is happening nor the last time this is going to happen.

    I am talking about a leading private Tamil TV channel where one of the shows is very popular going from strength to strength every passing year. Administrators are on a constant lookout for new ways to mint money since everything is based on TRP ratings. More the viewership more the audience and more sponsorship for their respective shows. They want to spice up their shows by either bringing in celebrities or by bringing in some topics which may very well be controversial. They say facts without proper reference, they edit the footage based on how they wanted the show to appear on screen and more importantly they tap the emotional quotient of the general audience by having their camera focus on tears rolling from one’s eyes.

    Why do they want to generalize just because few people from a certain community demean their respective profession? Current world is a cut throat world where currency bills will take precedence to honesty. But the thumb rule remains the same – only hard earned money will stick and the rest will evaporate just like a vapor.

    For most of us brought up in India we tend to have a common weakness called as emotional weakness. We tend to believe certain things at the face value - example a shabbily dressed man asking for money. It could just be an act of cheating us but we tend to believe the person and basically we are deceived. My sincere request to the educated community is not to believe these shows just like that since the motto behind these sort of shows are TRP TRP TRP!!! Remember this person hanged his brains before Shah Rukh Khan and did a jalra in an awards function because he is so loyal to his employer. 

Social Media

    Well social media has been part and parcel of everyone’s life. Unless we go to a remote area where there is no signal we tend to use the gadgets all the time – whether we eat, drive, work or even at times during nature’s call J. Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp ..the list goes on and on ….something may keep supplanting through acquisitions and new innovations but the message is loud and clear that the whole world is a victim of social media.

    Well as always there are wonderful nice things – people use social media for brand marketing, politicians use social media heavily for their campaigns, Nonprofit organizations use to their benefit to reach a message across breadth and depth of their intended audience, religious organizations use this as a communication medium and almost all of us use this medium to socialize. The amount of time spent on a single calendar day varies on individuals but all of us spend quite a chunk of time – thanks to smart phones which makes it more accessible.

    Though this may sound cliché but social media kills family time ..it absolutely kills. People who are bit old luckily has passed this modern era of social media but the current generation especially the newly weds and teenagers have fallen a prey. The amount of quality time spent is derailed and it has also become a fashion quotient to be active in social media. I really feel envy to those who do not have smart phones. Anything that happens on the spur of the moment has to be shared and people don’t have the luxury of enjoying the joy of the moment since no one has the patience to withhold their emotions.

    As always the balancing act is the best way to deal this chaos. Trying to inoculate some discipline may be the ideal way to bring back good old days. This is easily said than done but with practice everything can be possible. I hope government brings some regulations and governance towards this whole social media thing since it’s a bug pretty much bugging everyone. But that being said end of the day it is YOU who is responsible for YOUR own way of living.