What's up with me - September 2010

There have been many enquiries about my physical well being. Hopefully there will be none about my mental well being after this post. I have lots of options as excuse for the long absence. Let us stick to laziness. To the interested minds, here is what has happened of bhupesh, to bhupesh and to the nears and dears since July 2010.

Firstly, my room mate left to the US and became a Non Returning Indian again. Which meant, I was 'Home Alone'(at least I belived so - more to follow on this).

Secondly, I have a lot of additions to my tag cloud. I use these words everyday and with shameless pride, as if I am the management messiah that the world has been waiting for. Some of them are: SoW, FTE, CR, C2.0, blended rate, NC, SPP, fishbone, pareto, pipeline, utilization, value add, goal setting, quadrant, bandwidth. Just to illustrate the effect, my team starts playing bingo as soon as I pick the phone. I started using the meeting room to avoid it, but I very recently heard someone shout 'Bingo' on the other side of the phone. Jokes apart, I feel like I am evolving.

Next, in the absence of a project manager in Coimbatore, I get to represent my vertical(for non-softwares, this is equivalent to "department") in meetings where "High Tea" is served. This means, I get to rub shoulders with some really tall people, like my Vice President who was 4 inches taller than me when I last stood near him (in the meeting before that, he was just 3 inches taller...in Cognizant, you "really" grow). Also, I get to try my jargons, amidst the smart minds of Cognizant. One such meeting was a workshop about improving the entry level training curriculum.

Well, the show-off is only in office. I had been to my cousin's marriage two weeks back. For the most part, I was seated next to my younger sister and brother-in-law. I experienced the utmost injustice that has been dealt to me in a very long time. People walked to our row and with all dignity wished my sister and brother-in-law. They didnt seem to consider my existence. It is amazing how one becomes 'respected' after marriage. There was one person who did consider me and wished me, only to take 50 rupees from me.

Earlier, my sister and BIL, visited home for the first time after marriage and we had a nice time - in between coffees. (My BIL likes coffee and that was reason enough for my mom to keep preparing coffee that the entire street didnt sleep because of the smell from our kitchen). My BIL talks less like me and considering the fact that he is putting up with my sister, he must be smarter.

I have been reading some books: "The 7 habits of highly effective men", "Alai Osai", "Romance in Chaos", "Nothing can be as crazy". First and second book are popular anyways..the remaining 2 are avoidable.

Lastly, the month of August was amazing. One reason, Coimbatore has cooled down. The other reason is that innovation was in air. Cognizant celebrated a month long innovation fair. Many events like art from waste, rangoli, quiz were conducted. The cross-word was won by yours truly. The treasure hunt event was amazing...especially because I was able to run ahead of many other younger chaps. The crux of the events was the innovation stall, which I was lucky to coordinate for my business unit and won the second place. More than the prize, it gave me the chance to interact with some lovely people. If not for anything else, I should consider myself lucky for the kind of friends I keep meeting. The innovation fair, opened doors to two gems as friends. For the amount of time I spent on the Innovation stall, I should be writing a seperate post on it....especially the misadventures.

Part of the innovation fair was the "Innovation Evangelist" program which I attended without knowing what I was getting into. It turned out to be an organization level initiative of which I am a part now - gladly. So, what exactly am I doing, "Awakening the Innovator"...and also my room mate now..so, let me wrap up.