Practicing Corporate Traditions...

My first encounter with Genpact / GE Capital was in the year 2002, when the recruitment guys of this company came to Nagpur for handpicking Process Associates. Those days I used to be jobless and used to conduct coaching classes for earning some money...let me hide a fact from you all...I had only one student who used to attend my class...he he he...Payal Bindra...

Well, as all of my friends did, even I appeared for the interview...I cleared all the six rounds, however during my HR round, I committed a grammatical mistake. Since I was not a regular English speaker, even during my college days, I never thought that committing a grammatical mistake can lead me to serious failures. And seriously, English is still not used to practice BHAAIGIRI in the world of small crimes...and those were my college days when the so called jantaaa janaardan used to call me DATCH BHAAAAAI...he he he...and that too in Hindi...not in sophesticated English. The interviewers asked me...about my IBS Hyderabad (MBA) experience. When I told them that due to some personal problems, I did not WENT there, they immediately caught my mistake...and pointed me..., "Rishi will it be DID NOT GO THERE...or DID NOT WENT THERE?"

And just to show confidence, I replied, "DID NOT WENT THERE"...he he he...WELL, the interviewers showed me the EXIT doors...with the saaaaaaaame confidence as shown by me...along with a gooooooood feedback...he he he

After working for Convergys for two years, I spent another six months working on my business plan to become an entrepreneur. An intolerable experience at Convergys made me mentally irritated, to work for any other company. So I decided to start my own business. And for that, I had no money...no idea...no experience...no support. All I had was foolish guts and some kind of unexplored fire in my belly...which still is unexplored...he he he...By fifth month, my bank account started showing three figure deposits. With no one besides me, and that too with a mindset that I will not borrow any money from my family, I had to come back on the grounds of reality...and then again I started thinking of finding a job...he he he...now that's what I used to call "Taking Calculated Risks" those days (and wasting six months). All my calculations proved to be wrong...he he he...So once again, I started my trail of appearing for interviews...

It was somewhere around May 2005, when I was referred to Genpact / GE Capital by some unknown consultant for a vacancy of Process Developer...this time I wanted to find a Finance related profile...but had no idea as to what in Finance?...nor did I possess any contextual or conceptual knowledge about finance. All I wanted was A FINANCE PROFILE...he he he...how silly, isn't it? And on the top of it, I thought that I had two years of experience, that too from a branded organization, so I would not face any challenge in getting a job...he he he...CHANE KE JHAAD PE CHADHNAA KOI MUJHSE SEEKHE...

When the interviewer asked me as to what type of profile was I looking for, I very casually said, "something in finance". he he he...He asked me, "What in Finance?"...and I was like a blank paper...To my dismay, this time also, the interviewers showed me the EXIT doors...with the saaaaaaaaame casual style as shown by me...again with a goooooooood feedback...he he he...

After few days, when I had a discussion with one of my friends, she asked me how is GE Capital...? And I said, "Mat poochh yaar...saara din interview lete hai...aur raat ko ek goooooooood feedback deke bhagaa dete hai..." he he he...

Since then, series of transformation happened and I don't really know how?

Three days back, Navneet my manager called a meeting and announced my promotion. Just an year ago, I was recruited as a Management Trainee (even though I never applied for a job proactively), was sent to States on an onsite for transitioning a process called..."Something In Finance"...he he he...and now they promoted me as an Assistant Manager. Guess which company am I working for? Genpact / GE Capital...he he he...

Just one thing would be worth mentioning over here is, "FEEDBACK SESSIONS STILL HAPPEN IN GENPACT"...Ask Subhasish, Sumit, Chitra, Charan or for that matter anyone associated with IPMG team, and they would joke around, "Why are you looking sad? Did you get a GOOOOOOOOD FEEDBACK from Rishi...?" he he he

Now that's what PRACTICING GE HERITAGE is all about...he he he...(Take it positively as it helped me a lot) I am sure, one fine day all my team members would rise in their respective careers (to Manager and VP levels) and carry on the same legacy...Aameen...he he he

Dressed To Thrill...

I still remember, during one of those networking breaks at Proto.in (an event only for entrepreneurs, a month ago), few business plan contestants were preparing themselves for their presentations. One of them was presenting an idea called Lipikaar...which had something to do with all the Indian Lipi's (text's). He was dressed in an executive formals. A light blue shirt under a navy blue suite. Now I don't really remember the colour of his tie, but yes he was wearing it. Well, I generally like those people who mean business atleast during the time of business. So I gazed him, liked him and moved on to see what other contestants are doing.

To my surprize, Mr. Mahesh Murthy, who amused me a day earlier through his speech on "Brand Recognition" and "Product Positioning" came and sat just next to me. What a pleasant surprize to be seated with a guy who heads Passion Fund and Pinstorm, two leading venture capital companies established by him. Suddenly, he is greeted by two people, those who were about to present the Lipikaars. It seemed, that Mahesh and those people were not strangers. And then Mahesh asked that lady, "I saw Santosh, where is he? And why is he so well dressed?, I want an explanation. I don't expect of him to do these kinds of foolish acts...hey Santosh, come here...what the hell? Why these suite boot? Why a tie...?" Santosh was literally embarrassed and he slowly explained something to Mahesh in his ears and both of them were back to business. But what is this? Why am I feeling concious? Hey, even I am wearing formals, although without a tie, but yes formals are formals. And soon the next presentation on "Pic Porta", an online picture based website began, during which Mahesh received a call and he went outside the auditorium. Hoooooooo...I was feeling puzzled, surprized, amused, shocked...but then released too...as Mahesh left that place...he he he

Today, while I switched on my laptop, I saw Mahesh Murthy online on Gmail. We are already networking each other through Orkut. So I felt like chatting with him. I pinged him and then our discussion over business and entrepreneurship started...through gmail chat. I asked him casually, as to why he was scolding Santosh on his attire during the business plan contest. He explained me..."Only Entrepreneurs have the liberty to wear casuals during business time...formals are worn by employees, whereas casuals are worn by confident people, those who beleive themselves and have passion to live life according to their own terms and conditions...Formals are nothing but prisionwares, whereas casuals represent our choice" I respected his way of thinking, as to me, it appeared to be original. Although, I am not aloof from these kinds of theories, as many people including Shivani, Satyam, Bhaskar and others questioned me about my choice of attire...but then if a person of such a stature (Mahesh) says something which you really do not beleive in, you would atleast give him an ear for his original thoughts.

Yesterday was Rakshabandhan. And while tying Raakhi on my wrist, "Moni" presented me a pair of Jeans and a T-shirt. She said, "Bhaiyya, you look young in casuals and it's been ages that I have seen you wearing them...you don't even purchase them anymore, so thought to revive you slightly...Although it is not your regular Levis, but a Lee Cooper and a Bare, try them for their difference" My Mom supported her. And I was speechless...even my family members want me to look young and trendy...he he he...

How can I forget the words of Mr. Henry D'Souza, former Country Director of Xchanging India. During a casual interaction with him on a circket playground, Mr D'Souza praised my attire, thereby saying..."The first rule of being a professional is to look professional...and I am happy that you present yourself professionally...I really like your choice of ties very much...however my dear, this is a playground". he he he...I realized that I was in my executive formals even on a cricket playground.

And when I was in Malvern, Philadelphia, even Debra Detwieler, Sr. Vice President of Wachovia Wealth Management Services, praised my attire thrice during my two month stay. For that matter, she is the best dressed female on earth, I have ever encountered in my life. Just look her, and her attire would force you to respect her...

Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...I AM CONFUSED NOW...what the hell...? What to wear? Why to wear? When to wear? Too many things and too many logics...Mahesh is a confident entrepreneur and has his own voice. Moni and Mom are my life...Henry is adorable. Debra is respectable. And all of them have different idealogies about dressing...what is mine?

I decided to find out an answer to this question...So I kept all my dresses in my almiraah...and thought to choose the one without thinking of any logic...

I shaved, had a nice shower...came to my room where the almiraah was located and closed my eyes. It took me near about 20 minutes, to arrive at Zero Mind, a meditation stage free from logics, thoughts, obstacles and worldly pleasures. I opened my eyes and glazed at all my dresses...Chose the one which I (read it again...it is "I") wanted to wear...It was my choice...and in next ten minutes, I was in my Flourshiem, (brown leather shoes complementing my brown leather belt)...comfortably swifted in a light yellow Zodiac (shirt) along with chocolate brown Blackberrys (two peice suite). On the top of it, the knot of my Code (tie) was slightly European styled.

On my request, my Mom asked me..."Who are you?"...and I replied..."BOND...SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED" he he he

While rejecting a tempting job offer from Bank Of America...I was asked, "What type of Banking do you specialize in?"...I slightly pushed the knot of my Code upward and replied..."HOSTILE TAKEOVERS"...he he he... Can we do that wearing casuals? The answer is...NO...he he he...

I don't know anything about cricket and other games...but in those Executive Formals, I feel..."I am mentally gamed for BUSINESS."

Get ready for some serious...MURDERS & ACQUISITIONS.

Bond

A Foolish Sentiment - Mera Bhaarat Mahaan

Quite often you all might have listened to the statement, "100 me se 99 be-imaan, fir bhi mera Bhaarat mahaan."

Does that statement looks logical enough?...I mean, how can Bhaarat be Mahaan, when 99% of it's so called jantaa is be-imaan?...Either the statistics mentioned in this statement is wrong or we Indians have a tendency to take pride in quoting those foolish statements which depicts nothing but our lack of original & logical thoughts.

Just because Shahrukh Khan quoted this statement in one of his movies, to create some kind of rhythm, the statement today has acceptance more than our National Anthem...We Indians consider ourselves to be emotional...but then this statement itself is illogical again...We are not just emotional, but EMOTIONAL FOOLS...

How easily did we start thinking that our country is independent and mahaan? The reason for this illogical thinking is that we DID NOT sacrifice anything to get this Independence. We got the independence for FREE…and it’s a world wide fact, that whatever is available for free is not so very valued.

That’s the reason why, we just tend to remember our country only during 15th August or/and 26th January…thereby hoisting flag, playing few patriotic movies & music, greeting people flawlessly by wishing them "Happy Independence / Republic Day" and doing all sorts of obnoxious things that we normally do not tend to do…

The big question is: What about the remaining 363 days?...where in everybody is so entangled in his/her encounters with life that we almost forget the word called India and its development.

The BIGGEST PROBLEM in this country is BEING A COMMON MAN. The world does not even recognize common people like Jagmohan Dasgputa, a grocery shop owner or Surajmal Sardesai, a gardener, or Haridas Shambharkar a clerk in Indian Railways or Lalkrishna Advani, a Hindu Politician or Bal Thakeray, a Maharashtrian Fundamentalist. These are the people who did nothing materialistic for the world, for a reason to be known by it. For that matter, any Michelle Hopkins in Hamburg or Michael Silvanus in New Hampshire DO surely recognize people like N. R. Narayanamurthy, Dheerubhai Ambani and Ratan Tata and so on and so froth…

Top class Software Engineers, Construction Professionals, Investment Bankers, Consultants, Scientists, Surgeons and Project Managers etc. are the people who are known not only in India, but also outside our national boundaries. People like these, bring recognition to our country. Today if India is being recognized by Europeans or US nationals, it’s only because of these educated and intellectual people. Please note, they do not know any common man of India…The irony is that we have a very less percentage of intellectual capital in India and more of common people…

And the Common Man of India is so very busy in celebrating Independence Day and feeling proud to be an Indian that he himself forgets that he has to be the one, who should be contributing to his nation by not being common. Even if he remembers, he is either not taking the plunge, or he is not daring to take stands in his life. On the contrary to this, he is very casual and satisfied with his life. Wow…what a waste of national talent?…

On a major scale, Religiously Fundamentalist Organizations, be it legal like VHP, Shiv-Sena, Bajrang Dal, RSS or illegal like Al-Kaida, Hizbul-Mujaheedin and so on and so froth target common people, provocate them and use them to fulfill their materialistic aspirations of acquiring power. At the end of the day, who loses?…Common Man…he he he…isn’t that silly enough? …These organizations, consisting mostly common people, hold protests against celebrating Valentines Day in India, thereby propagating that it is anti-Indian to celebrate the festival of love…and display man – woman affection. However, they don’t forget to worship Lord Krishna relentlessly, who used to do Raasleela not only with one, but hundreds of Gopi’s and that too publicly. The hard fact of life is that common people in India is not using his grey matter in analyzing things. Common Man in India feels that it is good to be conservative in expressing affection by kissing and touching, thereby branding these actions as European or American styles. He has created several boundaries where in people do hesitate in talking about sex openly, which otherwise is an integral part of any life...even yours. How foolish are they to forget that the world famous literature called Kama-sutra is actually an Indian creation and is well accepted not only in our Indian Mythology but also by most of the developed countries.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar revolutionized the entire Constitution of India, by creating reservations for backward classes. Today, hundreds of educational reserved free seats remain vacant to such an extent that Maharashtra and other States have to re-conduct the entrances like CET and PET just to fill these seats. Still, people from backward classes do not go for studying. They quote several reasons, primary being…lack of money or poor governmental help and so on and so froth…WELL…THE TRUTH IS… they really don’t intend to acquire education…as other means of bread and butter seems to be very easy to them…consequently, they either end up working in garages or selling newspapers on traffic signals. I have witnessed these things personally, because I myself belong to Scheduled Caste and have spent close to twenty years living in slum areas of Nagpur wasting my precious time along with these people. I have seen many SC candidates using their Scholarship money in purchasing Jeans & T-shirts, taking their boyfriends & girlfriends to movie and spending illogically on silly things. They do everything with that money but they seldom purchase books and pay tuition fees out of it. And when I used to apply my candidature through General Seats, they used to comment on me that I should not do this…even if I don’t want the scholarship money, I should take it for them to meet their pocket expenses…Just imagine what would Dr. Ambedkar feel if he would see this situation today from heaven?...obviously he would feel ashamed as this WAS NOT his vision in creating reservation for these people. For me…reservation is no more a means for uplifting poor people…because if you feed a fish eater daily with a reserved fish, he will forget the art of fishing...Merit matters a lot...

During my IBM days, when I visited Nathupur, a slum of Gurgaon, for donating books to poor people’s children, I learnt that many rickshaw owners of them had sold those books to purchase daaru (wine) from the money in exchange.

The other day, I received a call from the call center of CRY, (Child Relief and You). "Sir, last year you saved this much of tax by donating Rs 6000/-. This year, if you would increase your donation amount to Rs 10,000/- you would be in so and so bracket and would save so and so tax."…WOW…if tax saving would have been my vision for donating thousands of my hard earned money, then I could have got some mutual funds or insurance plans. Isn’t it a real life joke?…quietly Indianized & commercialized…I don’t even feel like laughing over it.

These days I am trying to gather poor children in the slums of Gurgaon, through Teach India Campaign, a Times of India initiative. Believe me, in past one month, I managed to get just two poor children, whose parents agreed to send them to near by school on weekends. "Padh likh ke kiskaa bhalaa hotaa hai saahab…ladkaa kaarigari seekhegaa to kum umar me kamayega to sahi"…is the standard statement that I listen…even after trying my best to convince them about the benefits of studying…and then we Indians boasts of having Takshshila as the oldest university on earth…

I still can not forget Anjali, a very near & dear friend of mine, who requested me to accompany her to her home in Ranchi from Delhi, as she eloped with her boyfriend and her parents then claimed that her father got a heart attack. The incident happened somewhere in October 2006. When we both reached Ranchi Railway Station, she was immediately captivated by her own parents. In those two days where in which I stayed at her place, they did not even allow me to speak to her. Reason, her boyfriend has a different caste. Needless to say, she is still not allowed to step out of her home without anybody accompanying her, even today…How orthodox? How selfish such types of parents are that they give birth to their child just for the sake of few seconds of orgasm and don’t even bother about their child’s choice of life? Believe me, I am not even feeling sorry to use such harsh words against these kinds of parents, as I seriously feel that their act of punishing their own innocent children, especially girls of non-liberated families is a very HEINOUS act.

Aryabhatt was the only Indian Mathematician, who actually influenced the entire life of mankind…however, after him; nobody could actually change the dynamics of life. Not even CV Raman or Ramanujam or Subramanian Chandrasekhar. For that matter, these three scientist / mathematicians, are mostly considered South Indians and not even just Indians. Again people don’t leave even a single chance to claim their ownership in terms of caste and creed.

It’s really pity to think that in a country possessing the world’s richest temple called Tirupati, people are dying of hunger and lack of medication. I don’t really know, what motivates people in donating gold and hefty money to such temples and not to the needy people.

There are thousands and thousands of examples based on my own personal experiences, through which I finally conclude that India is not at all a place where in at least I should celebrate its independence. Since blog writing is entirely different from writing a book, I will have to cut short my list of such examples…But one thing is worth mentioning here is…IT ALL STARTS FROM HERE…HERE…YOU KNOW WHAT THIS PLACE IS CALLED?…MIND…YOU WILL WIN / LOSE FROM YOUR MIND…and unless the mindset of common people of India changes for betterment, I would continuously find myself living in a dustbin called India.

Although, I have lost hopes, but still I am trying my best to clean this dustbin…so that one fine day, I would truly celebrate the independence day and feel proud of being an Indian…I am sure, even Mr. Gandhi or for that matter, Mr. Patel, Mr. Singh, Mr. Pande, Mr. Azaad and so on and so froth would take pride in being an Indian, but only when we would truly eradicate the mess spread in our mindset. But this is for sure, that unlike them, I WILL NOT DEVOTE MY ENTIRE LIFE FOR CLEANING THIS MESS…as I am not born for it…I AM BORN TO RULE THE CORPORATE WORLD…and through it, I would try my best to swipe out the mess in the mindset of our common people…If I am successful, together we would celebrate the spirit of Indianizm, some day…and if I am not successful in this endeavor, you guys will find me well settled somewhere in the posh localities of US or Europe, minting money, fame and corporate success…after all I know the hard fact, that I don’t intend to spend my entire life in cleaning the garbage of a dustbin called India. And who would love to live his entire life in/around the garbage?...atleast not me...

My First Appearance In A Business Magazine...

I never knew that I would get an invitation to attend a Business Plan contest, although I missed filing my nomination by just few days. However, Proto.in guys were courteous enough to invite me for their Entrepreneurial StartUp event as an audience. Entrepreneurship, being completly spread in my soul, would be my way of life, five years down the line. That's what I feel as of now...so I have to equip myself with all those arms and ammunitions required to play the mental game of business, whenever I would indulge myself into it. With an attempt to be in the good books of leading venture capitalists, angel investors and budding & established entrepreneurs, I manage to take time out of my regular work and do stuffs that makes me closer to them. Must tell you all, that today I have at-least 9 country heads of various MNC's, 15 budding entrepreneurs, 26 established entrepreneurs, close to 10 Venture Capitalists and 2 of India's top most business coloumnist and bloggers in my network. My connections with those who are from ISB's, IIM's and other business schools accross the globe are not yet included in the above list, just to keep the ground realities intact.

So with an intent to increase the size of my business networking list, I thought to take some time from my regular schedules and invest it, in attending this event which was scheduled at IIT Delhi, on 17th and 18th of July.

The moment I entered the auditorium, I saw an elderly figure addressing the entire group of close to 400 budding and established entrepreneurs, invited from all parts of our country. I quickly recognized him, as Mr. Kiran Karnik...former President of NASSCOM. During the QnA session, I asked him about the poor governmental help in promoting business in our country. Although I was not so very convinced by his answer, I respected him to atleast backing the governmental measures that NASSCOM supported during his days...That was the first time when the group actually felt my presence.

When Kiruba Shankar addressed the group about blogging, I never knew him. However, after going through his rich portfolio of being a regular colomnist of Business Standard magazine & The Asian Age daily, his affiliations with Wikipedia's co-founders and being India's number one business cum tech blogger, I was truely impressed by his simplistic persona. During networking breaks, he motivated me to be a thought leader while expressing ourself through blogs.

While listening to Mahesh Murthy, a VC from Pinstorm and Passion Fund, I learnt that there are lots and lots of opportunities around us, the only hurdle in identifying them is our lack of awareness. Interacting with a person, who himself visited 40 countries on this planet, played key roles in establishing MTV and Star TV in India, working for various international brands by being a college drop out was just immortal. I am glad he remembered me later, while accepting my friendship request on orkut.

During a special session on brand management, a couple was constantly murmering behind me. I was very irritated by them. I started staring them every now and then, thereby giving them a nonverbal message..."These silly people, they would never leave their Indianism". During the break, I was flipping through a business magazine called DARE (July 2008 issue), exclusively dedicated to entrepreneurship. While turning few pages I got stuck on a photograph, as I felt that I saw the person in the photograph somewhere. Suddenly, something striked me and I turned back to see the couple sitting behind me. The person in the photograph, was the one who was murmuring behind me...he he he...he introduced himself as Leonard Fernandes, co-founder of Cinnamontel, a print on demand service company. Wow...in the next few minutes we exchanged our business cards and talked about our respective domains.

Pataa nahi kaise kaise jokes ho jaate hai real life me...he he he

The first day was generally filled with speeches, informative sessions covering business aspects of entrepreneurship. My vibrant participation was well marked and felt by the organizors of the event. So for the second day, they asked me to be one of the second league of 10 judges to evaluate the performance of the participants. The first league of judges comprized of various business heads and coporate honchos...Accordingly, they called me to board the front seat, as I was sitting in one of the back seats, habitually. They clicked few photographs and promised me that they will make them available to me...which I didn't get till now...he he he

Today, at home, when I was going through the August 2008 issue of "DARE", I was thrilled to see a person in a photograph present in an article that covered the entire event. Must tell you, this was the second time, when a photograph in DARE caught my attention. Oh my God ! I can't beleive this...IT WAS ME...featuring in that last photograph, showing the second league of judges. (see Page # 88).

I always dream of being on the cover pages of leading business magazines. May be this is just the beginning...of all my dreams, which eventually would turn into realities. There are many milestones to come accross...I know the going will be tough enough in reaching the Coverpage from page # 88...but I am game for it...let's wait and watch...till then just think on the below mentioned line...

Pataa nahi kaise kaise jokes ho jaate hai real life me...he he he

Thanks Navneet...

Who would have ever thought that becoming an Assistant Manager in my organization would be so very tough for me. Atleast not me, nor my fellow colleagues who are Management Trainees (M.T.) in the same organization. Although, I have had completed 90 percent of my trainings by July 25, I was very sure of the completion of my entire MT roadmap by the time I would have graduated as an A.M. as more than half a month was left for the D day...which was scheduled on 20th August.

But wait ! Before transitioning myself from M.T. to an A.M., life wanted to me learn few things, like time management, target management and success management. Life wanted me to understand personally what that powerfull emotion called MOTIVATION was all about. It wanted me to learn a word called ENDURANCE, not through a dictionary but through practical experiences.

I still remember the 26th day of June this year, when I got an email with a user id and a password for my CIPM course, which was a part of my MT roadmap. I thought it was just like another course/training that I had to complete on the web, so as to graduate as an A.M. Never did I think that the course is very very (and one more times) very lengthy to be completed in a period of a month. We M.T.'s had already written several e-mails to the training department about it and never got satisfactory responses earlier...also, we witnessed few M.T.'s graduating as A.M.'s without it's completion. So we also developed a casual attitude towards it. But no...just when there was about a month left for my graduation, I received this email and thought that I would attempt this training after the completion of our monthly Investment Performance Measurement exercise called DAP.

So on July 26, when it was a Satuday, I thought to complete my remaining roadmap...when I logged into the training website, I was shocked to see the course content which was never ending...I immediately called Puja, another M.T. and informed her that we had been fooled...the training is very long and time taking...plus the way it was designed, it was almost impossible for us to complete it in a months time. And on the top of it, I already promised my team members to coach them for Six Sigma Green Belt program. Not only this, another email that I received from the training department revealed that we have to complete this training pior to 30th of the month, so as to be eligible for the actual CIPM exam in the following month...Oooooooooooooooh...what is this? How will I manage both the herculian tasks simultaneously...I was literally shivering...as for me, the target was to complete this training in just five days...Oh God! isn't that impossible...I mean if it would just have been click click and click, then I could have done it in just a single day...but no...learning was the only aim of that training so that one can clear the CIPM exam after it's completion.

Somehow, I decided to get started...and yo...I was on...but hey...the course structure is just the same as that of PMP...How casual was I in my thoughts, when I picked up a book on Project Management Professionals (PMP), two years ago from The Om Book Shop, located at The Metropoliton Mall, out of sheer curiosity. Those days, I thought project management was one of the sought after domains, that professionals strived for. So it was not good for me to remain unaware about it. Atleast, I should have a basic idea about what it is all about so that people don't call me a geek. That book gave me an information that Project Management Institute gives six months to it's students to complete this course...and see the saga of life, that an equivalent course called CIPM is giving me just few days to complete it...Notheless, did I think while purchasing that book...that this domain would literally give me tight goosebumps in my later life...he he he...

I toiled days and nights, flipping close to four thousand slides, thereby ignoring my parent's arrival from Nagpur. And when it was Monday morning, I realized that Saturday and Sunday already passed away and I was studying for this course non-stop for about thirty five hours...woooooooooo...I did that earlier with Six Sigma too...but this was relatively a longer one...I went home, slept for about five hours and then was back to office, as I was tensed regarding the completion of the course...Less time for a lengthy course...thereby recalling and memorizing everything present in those four thousand slides which included several theories, formulae, calculations, diagramming and so on and so froth...and clearing five tests apart from the final Mock test after which the training department would line me up for the paper based CIPM exam...wwwwoooooooo, along with five other trainings remaining in my roadmap...he he he...what a joke...felt like crying...?

It would not have been so very difficult, if I would have had 'TIME' in my bucket...but that was the entire crux...I had to manage everything in just few days...wasn't that challenging enough...? Lakshmi from Training department adviced me to complete the training till 8th August so as to complete the roadmap and be eligible for the paper based test...thanks to her for understanding my problem...and extending the deadline...which still looked quite unacheivable...

Hooooooooooohhhh...days got stretched up from 24 hours, to 35 hours apart from 4 to 5 hours of sleep in between. Guards in my office were bored of seeing my face whenever they used to come to check my presence...as they had to switch off the lights...Barista guys were fed up with preparing coffee and sandwiches for me atleast five times a day...Vending machine serving Lays and Bites got choked up by my frequent usage...and above all...I got a a new name, VOLINI SPRAY...he he he...given by the nurses lined up at the medical room in my office...who used to witness my paining neck and backbone...thereby spraying the pain killing Volini (a healing medication) after every five to six hours...

From Parametric Modeling to Delphi Techniques...from Precedence Diagramming to calculation of floats & duration...from Monte Carlo Simulation to Investment Appraisals...from Crashing to PERT'ing...from designing Critical Paths to estimating costs and doing Economic Monetary Valuation analysis...my life was completely berserkkkkkkkkkk...I learnt only one thing...that studying project management itself became a project for me...gradually I cleared all the tests except the Mock one...

It was 6th day of August, when I was about to appear for the Mock Test...for the first time after learning that I have completed reading 60% of my course...but it was just reading, and not full preparation...Plus I just wanted to get rid of it as I was quite bored...and when I clicked an option for the last Mock Test question on my computer, I was completely shattered to see...that I could not clear the Mock Test...To my dismay, I was broken...I just went home and slept for about 4 hours...when I returned to office, I spoke to several M.T.'s and then thought of raising an exception for this course as I somehow realized that it is nearly impossible for completing it in the next two days...Raising exception was another coward option...used by several M.T.'s...yet I decided to speak to Navneet, my manager...

After listening to my story, Navneet said, "Rishi, you still have two days left...and with the amount of input you had given to this course, I am pretty sure that you would be able to finish it within time...just give it a shot again...if it doesn't work out, then I would speak to the HR and Training department for raising an exception...but till then atleast try your second (out of three) attempt..."

With those positive expectations from Navneet and her filtered & chosen words falling on my ears, I was sure that even if I don't complete this training, my graduation would not be affected...atleast my manager is with me...somehow, I got charged up with positive moral...and decided to re-do the entire material once again...

I don't really remember how hours passed away...and when Navneet was back the very next day, she asked me why was my cell phone out of reach?...I told her that my cell was being used by my Mom with another simcard...she then informed me, that she called because she wanted to know about the status of my training and test...

Now I felt - I am being cared...whatever she spoke to me a day earlier, were not just normal words of a manager...now I realized that it had a personal touch too...

And when Shailly casually asked Navneet, "Ye kyaa haal karwaa diyaa aapne Rishi kaa?", Navneet replied,"Karne do...hone do uskaa aisaa haal...tabhi to efficiency pataa chalti hai"...hhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....WHAT IS THIS? The situation was...if things go fine...everything would be normal for me...but if they go wrong...then I would be perceived as inefficient...he he he...AMAZING...WONDERFUL...MARVELOUS...STUPENDOUS...I don't know, from where Navneet learnt this technique of boosting moral and then giving a challenge...

THAT WAS THE POINT WHEN I GOT FOCUSSED WITH A ZERO MIND...This was the real life situation which made me feel as if I am Mr Bond...thereby considering Navneet as Madam "M"...he he he...I somehow recollected myself and geared up for the MISSION CIPM...

I don't really know how I invested another 18 hours with extreme determination, focus, and perseverance...at about 12.00 PM on August 8, I saw a Congratulations message popping up on my screen after hitting the last question of the Mock Test...

KUDOS...to whom?...to me? No...not to me...but to Navneet...? If still you guys ask me the reasons for it...then just stop reading my blogs from now on...

NOW I REALLY KNOW WHAT TRIUMPH IS ALL ABOUT...it would help me in clearing my educational, professional and personal goals in my later life...

Now I can say, that I have learnt my lessons prior to becoming an A.M...

Leadership is all about creating positive examples...and in this journey, it is all about experiencing and setting stretch targets...Not just setting them...but also acheiving them too...after all setting impossible target separates you from masses...but acheiving them, enable you to create your own classes...

MISSION CIPM PHASE 1...ACCOMPLISHED...

Bond