To endorse or not to!

I got a mail from Ninjia requesting abruptly for an endorsement. The mail content were as below

“Dear [My name],

I'm sending this to ask you for a brief recommendation of my work that I can include in my profile. If you have any questions, let me know.

Thanks in advance for helping me out”

Compelled with the habit of reading in between the lines (If you have any questions, let me know), I read and understood that the person is open to clarify all doubts, misunderstanding what so ever that may strike to anybody’s mind.

As there was a willingness to answer and a lead to think about the question which I need to put in before writing my comments; a lot of question popped and I started placing each question that came to me one by one.

Can this person create a profile of his own?

Should I endorse this person and if at all, then for what reason?

Has he done any value additions to the bottom line or to the process?

With these questions in mind I thought of looking at the person’s profile. I found that he had a lot of connection and to my utter amazement, he had also an ample collection of recommendations and endorsements, some from his peers and some from biggies he had earlier worked with.

Hummmm….. Good marketing of oneself.

I could not control my curiosity. As I was not able to think anything favorable for that person I thought of going through others recommendations, as to what others has to say regarding that person I read almost all the recommendation and the abstract which I could make out was as below

“Ninjia is a smart guy, he is a very energetic and a dynamic personality. NINJIA is a go getter and always love challenges. NINJIA not only accept challenges but ensures that he always achieve the target. NINJIA is a highly knowledgeable and always help others. NINJIA is a versatile personality. NINJIA is a asset to the company. I wish NINJIA best luck in his future endeavors

Astonished with the feedback of people, I thought that the person must be having a real potential and probably I was not able to spot. My recommendation would have been negating all the earlier recommendation, by replacing all “a” with 'not a' and “always” with ‘never", (Read yourselves the above paragraph with this replacements.) The last line remains the same as I want him to improve and excel

But I thought of not to be so raw and wrote the abstract as my recommendation. I got a thanks mail from the person and one more recommendation got added to his profile making the profile appear more promising and convincing.

The very next day I got a recommendation against my profile, from the same person; writing all favorable things for me. A reversal, probably a reverse engineering as I have done, I decided not to publish those adulations.

Disclaimer: The character/ article are an imagination of the author and any resemblance with any character living or dead, sequence is a sole coincidence. The article doesn’t intended to harm anyone’s reputation and image and never intend the challenge anybody’s potential. Author believe that all people are competent and it’s a matter of chance if one gets an opportunity to showcase his/her talent .

Hidden Opportunities

Monday 17th May will be marked in Golden Words in Indian Infrastructure History because of a decision and action plan of “Planning commission” set up for the current fiscal year. Planning commission set a quarterly target for its infrastructure sector to monitor progress in power generation and building of roads and ports, which are believed to be crucial for the economic growth.

According to the targets set by the commission, both the central and state governments along with private companies, will add 20,359 MW of power to its present capacity. Of this, 4,126.5 MW will be added by the end of the quarter ending June 2010.

Though the target seems a little bit unachievable but still I’m sure that as the development will be monitored on a quarterly basis it will give a more controlled positioning and monitoring of the targets. The reason for me to think that the targets are more than optimistic and less of realistic is because of the last year status-quo.

During the last fiscal the government had set a target of 14,507 MW of Power generation capacity additions, but was able to add only 9,585 MW, i.e. the target was missed by 40%.

But the good news is that as the government is very keen and optimistic for the targets resulting in ample opportunities in power sector and the sector appearing more lucrative and worth investing. With the relaxed FDI (Foreign direct investments) limits of 100% in power and infrastructure promising new opportunities for the foreign investors to invest in India growth story.

There is immense potential in power and infrastructure sector but the way things will be implement will put new challenges to honor. One site we need to honor the commitment we as a country have in terms of reducing the carbon emission and on the other hand we need to keep the country moving by adding additional power generation installations.

As per statistics Fossil fuels are the source for 70% of 90,000 MW installed capacity for electricity generation, Hydro-electricity contributes about 25%, and the remaining is mostly from nuclear power plants (NPPs). This statistics of generation may be because of the opportunities, government norms, technicalities and what not but if we believe the statistics then any new investment will follow the same pattern.

The new opportunities appearing out of the new infrastructure targets seem to be in non conventional energy especially wind power. Wind power project are turning to be a lucrative investment avenues and to add more government is announcing more perks in terms of tax holidays, commitment of purchasing power generated and flexible tariff.

This a opportunity knocking at the doorsteps for People/entrepreneurs who are interested in cleaner energy, people who are farsighted and can see the benefits of implementing a Cleaner energy project at this juncture. I believe this is the right time to do a Value Investing and initiate a Power project that is eco friendly having early breakeven and having subsidiary projects of livestock farming, organic farming and carbon credit trading.

Concurrent-ion

I attended a workshop on “Focus Variation and achieving Multiple Attentions”. The workshop was a 3 day affair; focusing 2 hours daily and that too after the office hours. Prima-facie it appeared to be a difficult proposition …. Workshop…. Aghast…That too after working hours…and that too on Concentration, I could not imagine; carrying myself in the best way during the session.

We started with Meditation for initial few minutes and then-after we use to work on with the agenda designated for the day. The most interesting part of the workshop was the exercise that we did on the last day of the workshop; we did a concentration exercise to test our reflexes response, and I liked it the most.

The extract of the workshop which I understood and realized is that; Meditation and concentration helps to regain the inner energy which is more of spiritual, Remember the Commercial advertisement (Andar se strong bano).Controlled breathing and having control over breathing is essential and once we are able to have control over our breathing we can prudently respond to the adverse situation (Read Start responding)

Life has gone too much of mechanical and the human element seem to be missing. Most of us are confined to our kiosk; spend the entire day sitting in front of the devices, long and lonely traveling and very few hours to spend socially or for being with the family/ in the family.

Image source : spiritandflesh.com

Joy trip

I was on a vacation for almost a week with my family and my in-laws and it was a real joy trip. We spend good amount of quality time with each other and a lot of time with the kids.

Kids enjoyed a lot, as there mamma and papa were fully there’s; which, not the case during the routine life. They danced, jumped, shouted like anything and did all sort of enjoyment and mischief they could. Though the trip involved a lot of traveling during the day; and was against the wish of Mother Nature.

The temperature indicated that we should remain indoors and should not venture in the scorching heat. With very few options available we were forced to travel by road and that too in the daytime.

Keeping all the liking and disliking aside (I do not like junk food, venturing into heat, Loud and lot of noise and always wanted to be in a comfort zone) we faced the challenges in the best way we can, We were not getting accommodation in hotels as there was a huge rush of travelers, but we enjoyed and faced all the situations brilliantly as time, and luck were favoring us.

I have a chronic acidity problem which disappeared at least during those days, we ate and drink whatever we came across and I never had a feeling that this may leads to acidity. The days were a real “Nirwana”, and lately I realized that my problems might be because of lot of aspiration not getting fulfilled, lot of anxiety, lot of zeal and zing to excel and do better. But as I said it was “Nirwana” and so there was no place for aspiration, anxiety, lust etc... etc....

A trip of this type is important to help one understand oneself, understand the strength and weaknesses, regain the lost energy and momentum and to recuperate form the blues.

I’m Lovin’ it

I made a visit to New Delhi some days back and the experience I had with one of the fast food joint was remarkable and I confess that I’m lovin’ it. Not the joint but there management style, the way they train there staff and the values they impart to the employees and the values they deliver to the customer. Though my experiences with the capital city so far have not been great, but the service guy of McDonald made my day and save me from a lot of hassles.

I went to New Delhi to meet someone and after finishing off my meeting I though of having some snacks. I spotted a McDonald outlet and stepped in; after going through the menu I didn’t understood much of it, because I hardly have fast food and the one thing that I frequently buy from McDonald is the happy meal pack. My kids love it, though it’s still not very clear to me that whether they like it for the burger, or for French fries or for soft drink or the toy which they get with the happy meal. I though of ordering the Happy meal pack.

I was carrying two hand bags with me on my visit; clutching one in between the legs and other in the hand, I took out my wallet and handed over the money to the service guy, he gave me the receipt and started preparing the service plate, In fraction of seconds the service plate was ready; I hurried towards the nearby empty seat while leaving something crucial…probably on the payment desk. I sat there and had the meal, I liked the meal; toy was of least interest to me atleast. Thinking that kids will be happy to see the speaking doll I kept it in my bag. After finishing my serving I left the outlet.

After getting out of the restaurant I called up my wife, talked to the kids and made few other calls. After finishing my calls I proceeded towards a cab as I wanted to reach the airport. In the mean time I though of having a Mint (Manikchand) and I started moving towards a shop. I slipped my hands in the back pocket of the trouser and the earth slipped away beneath my feet.

Oh....... my God. To my surprise wallet was not there……!!!!.

What happened to my wallet….???
Have I lost it somewhere…..???
Am I a victim of pick pocketing….???

My head started swindling.......

How will I reach home….????
I even don’t have money to travel to airport….!!!
No identity card to show while checking-in….. !!!
No money at all….!!!!

How/ where will I have my lunch…????

I felt sinking in the ground, my throat dried out and my heart beats overtaking Ferrari’s speed….. and heart popped up to my mouth

Thousands of thoughts were flowing in my mind. I calmly thought about the last transaction that I have made; I remembered paying the service guy. I rushed inside McDonald with heavy feet. I spotted that gentleman who took my order, I was not able to utter words and was finding it very difficult to speak even. I asked him “Boss have you spotted a wallet here”.

To my utter surprise he gave me an affirmative answer and suddenly I felt that I have conquered something, He took my detailed signature as a formality and handed over the wallet back to me. I felt relaxed like never before; I thanked him.

I though of paying some amount to the gentleman as an appreciation but a second though came to my mind that he might feel it insulting.

I thanked him again and came out of the store. We come across genuine individual’s day in and day out and the Earth is a place worth living because of people like that gentleman. I’m Lovin’ it