Friday, October 7, 2011

Why do good people suffer....????

The Evil You Do Remains With You; The Good You Do, Comes Back To You


A woman baked chapati for members of her family and an extra one for a hungry passerby. She kept the extra chapati on the Window-sill, for whosoever would take it away. Everyday, a hunchback came and took away the chapati. Instead of expressing gratitude, he muttered the following words as he went his way: "The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!". This went on,day after day.
Everyday, the hunch-back came, picked up the chapati and uttered the words: "The evil you do,remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!" The woman felt irritated. "Not a word of gratitude," she said to herself...

"Everyday this hunchback utters this jingle! What does he mean?"One day, exasperated, she decided to do away with him. "I shall get rid of this hunchback," she said. And what did she do? She addedpoison to the Chapatti she prepared for him!
As she was about to keep it on the window sill, her hands trembled. "What is this I am doing?" she said Immediately, she threw the chapati into the fire, prepared another one and kept it on the window- sill. As usual, the hunchback came, picked up the chapati and muttered the words: "The evil you do,remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!"
The hunchback proceeded on his way, blissfully unaware of the war raging in the mind of the woman. Everyday, as the woman placed the chapati on the window-sill, she offered a prayer for her son who had gone to a distant place to seek his fortune.

For many months, she had no news of him. She prayed for his safe return. That evening, there was a knock on the door. As she opened it, she was surprised to find her son standing in the doorway. He had grown thin and lean. His garments were tattered and torn. He was hungry, starved and weak. As he saw his mother, he said, "Mom, it's a miracle I'm here. While I was but a mile away, I was so famished that I collapsed. I would have died, but just then an old hunchback passed by. I begged of him for a morsel of food, and he was kind enough to give me a whole chapati."As he gave it to me, he said, "This is what I eat everyday: today, I shall give it to you, for your need is greater than mine!"

As the mother heard those words, her face turned pale. She leaned against the door for support. She remembered the poisoned chapati that she had made that morning. Had she not burnt it in the fire, it would have been eaten by her own son, and he would have lost his life! It was then that she realized the significance of the words:"The evil you do remains with you: The good you do, comes back to you!"
Do good and; Don't ever stop doing good, even if it's not appreciated at that time.


Friday, May 20, 2011

Learning From the First Job

Working in Indian MNC for about 1.5 years was a great learning experience and hence what else could be the tag line of this post..!!!

The journey began on 16 Feb 2010, when I reached Infosys, Jaipur as a fresher to the Corporate World. This company gave me a chance to travel abroad…to Amsterdam, Netherlands, for the on-site training of their new process which was associated to a renowned Media and Publication Client. The trip was great and Learning began from the fight to get the Visa from there Mumbai Embassy. But after crossing every disappointment and huddle, I finally reached the city of Diamonds- Amsterdam. There was learning every day as I was in a different country..a different set of people with a completely different cultural set. But the journey was an enriching experience.

Soon new phase in life began…everything around was very uncertain and I was out of my comfort zone. I missed my friends badly in the initial days but soon realized that this had to happen and it was good that I was moving ahead in my career and learning new things. I began making new friends..My training began ….We were paid enough On-site by the company so money was not a problem ever.!!!

We completed our work in the week days so that we can go and explore the place over the weekends..the Canal ride, Rotterdam, Hague, Delft, The Volendam, The Country Site and many other places we explored during this trip. Everywhere we went we discovered things which were different and very new to us…

Coming back to India was painfulL as we were enjoying everything in Amsterdam. But time flew away very fast and I completed a span of 13 months @ Infy.I was able to stabilize the process with a support of a good team. It was time say Goodbye..u must be thinking if everything was going well..why did I resigned????

It was a matter of sheer coincidence that the time when I was serving my notice period, two great leaders @ Infosys resigned: K Dinesh and TV Mohandas Pai. Surprisingly, the reason stated by Pai for his separation was no different than mine. Pai had reportedly said that he did not agree with the Company practice of of seniority getting a priority over meritocracy in deciding the leadership team…If in today’s time, a Company cannot reward its employees equivalent to the hard work they put in, How can they ever get the attrition rates down???

The fight for promotion and progression comes later, but the importance of Employee Motivation and proper Recognition can never be ruled out…..The big learning from this phase of life was that you will never find much space in a big company to do things your way..If you want to do things your way..You need to follow your interests and dreams…Instead of following the Standard operating Procedures…!!!