Rajini, Madhav,and Me - Part 6

The crux came the last: Do you have a perfect balance between work and home? In a perfect balance, your work does not disturb your home life and your home does not come in between your work life. Do you think his possible?

Rajini says: It is not possible as most of the waking hours is spent in the office and definitely some of the thoughts are carried back home whether or not he wants it. But the best part is he makes it a point not to vent out at home, so it does not really disturb the tranquil in his home. I hoped that there was a friend he confided in. Everyone needs a vent out.

Madhav says: Experience reminds that it has to be possible. Except when the situation is very bad.... He realizes that there is no point in carrying work tension home and home tension to work. He shares concerns and opinions with his folks at home and that seems to relieve him of his constant tension, but the temper related to office tension is always under control at home.
He agrees that the phone calls and mails from office are unavoidable. He ensures it does not disturb his sweet home.

I could very well see that the responses were not made up to please the listener. Still, I had just learnt a management principle:Never Assume.So with great hesitation I managed to ask: Is your response to all these questions honest?

'Yes' came the response. :) I knew it, still asked.

It was 7:40 P.M. The sky was cloudy and dark as we walked out of the eighth floor. I was reminded of the line from Robert Frost's poem: :The Woods are lovely dark and deep... And miles to go before I sleep.... (In the context of Lots to learn in Life.)
Frost is Great, books say...........Yes, and so are Rajini and Madhav, but in a very different and special way.

I think the three of us had a great evening.

Every body should take time to talk, you never know what all you will learn. People are really nice, we rarely take time to understand them.

I had taken this session on 12th July 2006, a Wednesday. Today is 3rd August 2006, Thursday. I wrote this series in scattered concentration but had the hints on paper, the day after the interview.

I have tried my level best to convey what I learnt from my friends in the simplest possible language. I am running this through them to ensure that I have not written anything that they have not told.

I have marked my comments on and off in between the posts, which is purely my interpretation. This series of posts is open to your comments and interpretations.

A gentle reminder to all of you who read this: I really respect the friendship me, Madhav and Rajini share. This interview has been given only based on my questions. Please do not be judgmental about Rajini or Madhav .

I welcome any comment on this article . Just ensure that your comment does not hurt the stars of my interview. I value their time, insights, patience, and friendship always. Thanks Madhav, Thanks Rajini.

Rajini, Madhav, and Me - Part 5

Friends.... Everyone has a friend. Proverb says 'Every enemy has a friend'. What do these people feel about their friends.?

Madhav has a lot of good friends at work. Considering that he spends most of his time at work, he is happy about the friends circle he has. He says he will miss them for sure, if he steps out of the company some day.

Rajini says he had a very good circle of friends back in college. Ofcourse, his work place has earned him a good set of friends too. With less time to have fun and confide, he seems to miss them often these days. Over the years, he has lost touch with most of them. He plans to take steps to renew the friendship and get in touch with his circle of friends. He has signed up on Orkut.com, the latest friendzone.

Your Goals : It was a little difficult for me to take it when Rajini said that he did not have any major goal. Now this is one answer, I cannot take from any youngster. Everyone has a goal, mostly hidden. Till it happens it stays as a dream and when it works out, it becomes an achieved goal. I was determined to get the answer out of him. I promised that I would not laugh.

You will be surprised to know that Rajini wants to Produce movies and act in guest roles in some of them.I was surprised in the beginning, later it dawned on me that work is different from what one's passion is. I wished him every success to reach his goal and have asked tickets for the premiere show of his movie. He should definitely venture out on movie making someday, so the Tamil film-lovers can watch movies with a tint of ethical touch.

One of Madhav's dreams and target goal is to start his own company some day. He concentrates on people-skills to reach his goal post. He says ' The company does not necessarily have to be a software company. A HR consultancy is what he wants to own.

A bill board of the news paper 'Business Line', put up in one of Chennai's main roads says: Cubicles are assigned... Corner Offices are earned.... I am sure he will earn a number of corner offices all over the world.

After all, we know, that Hard work pays.. For both these Gurus, hardwork is a built-in factor. So reward is assured, sooner or later.

The next thought that came up immediately was if the experience in the software industry is going to help my friends meet their goal. Clearly the HR consultancy and production company do not have even the remote links to software programming.They hope that the people skills and situation-handling that they learn in the industry will definitely come in handy somewhere.

'Experience makes a man perfect' a proverb from my chemistry professor's long physical chemistry sessions popped in to say 'hi' to me.:)

Another straight forward question- Are you practical?

Madhav says 'Yes I am mostly practical, when it comes to work.... Personally all situations cannot have practical answers. Emotions creep in and practicality fades especially when it comes to my loved ones.'. It looked like Rajini had the same points to share.

I liked the idea of emotions not getting into workplace. When disagreements happen at work, it is the practicality that helps handle the situation and in turn your temper.

Rajini, Madhav and Me - Part 4

Patience: I have always admired Rajini's patience. It is said that programmers require patience. I asked if these Gurus also thought so.

Rajini says that he tends to get angry and Madhav knows better.There have been times when anger has got the better of him, but since his principle of commitment comes in between often, he appears to be patient enough to handle it.

Madhav says that every walk of life actually requires a certain amount of patience. At work, this is not a major requirement when things are organized. You may not have to get hyper about anything at all if work is process-oriented and if you have certain level of sincerity at work. He admits that there are times when things do not work out ( as it is in most situations, if Murphy's law chooses to trigger off ) and patience becomes a mandate.

To Madhav, the problems with the parking facility and lift breakdowns and other such out-of-context problems cause as much, if not more tension, than the mails, calls, issues, meetings, and the thoughts of all these piling up in the work desk every morning. To cut the long story short, office and environment do matter for a peaceful work life in his opinion.

I have always wanted to know if people felt they are appreciated for what they are or have done at work. So I asked : It is a very important occasion in your office. You are on the dais because the success of a particular project is being attributed to you. Can you imagine this situation?

Yes came the answer.( Felt glad.) Both of them could imagine the situation. The office has not staged a show, but then these people have been appreciated for what they have done. They knew to acknowledge appreciations.

The session shifted out of office topics for sometime. The next question was about their interests. There are times when I have seen them working when I came in at 8.30 in the morning and when I left work place at 8.00 in the evening. The next morning when you come in, you will see these people in the same posture playing with the keys on the keyboard as if they were composing music for the International Music festival or some hi-fi award function. I can't even manage a smile if I were in such a situation. I have wondered if they ever had something called interests in life after college. If they had, did they have time for it?

This question brought instant cheers to the already cheerful guys.Madhav is a great fan of English movies, mostly mysteries and action. Of late, he has got interested in business news and the tips and tricks to handle business.He loves spending time all by himself. He takes time to do whatever he feels like once in a while without any restrictions that he himself or others tend to impose on him. These days getting in touch with people and being a part of friends network interests him. He is a new entrant to orkut.com.He recalls that he was into Scouts team as a school boy. Basket ball and Table Tennis are his favorite sports. These days he does not get to play as much as he wants to, partly because he does not have time to, and partly because his brother who is his TT companion is not in Chennai.

Rajini's interests are mostly Research and Development on new technologies that spring up in the software industry. He loves watching Actor Rajinikanth's movies. He adores this actor so much that I chose Rajini as his alias name for this interview post. He did not have much to say about his interests because he does not have time to spend for any of his interests right now.

Hopefully Rajini will change to his own self after a few years, because his work life is just 5 years old. It is said, over the years, people realize that 'Life is afterall more than just Work'.

My weekends are usually packed with lot of things to attend to, things that I never had time to work on during weekdays. I always thought what the weekends of these software industry-worshippers were like. Rajini catches up on his sleep that he had lost all week. For the amount of work he does six days a week , I am not surprised if sleep is his priority over the Sunday.

Madhav seems to manage with less sleep, but votes for a Sunday afternoon nap to start a bright week. His weekends are for his loving family and English movies. Theatre is a strict 'No-No' says Madhav.
Work is always there. It is upto you to cheer up and pep up yourself doing all that you want to do and gear up for the tough week ahead. That is our lesson from this question.

Rajini, Madhav, and Me - Part 3

The conversation was proceeding very cool. I had this clock ticking inside my head saying:"Deeps, you are taking a little too much of their time". Still, I just went on, after confirming if the Gurus were having something to attend to immediately. I am sure they would have had something to take care of immediately, but then the conversation went on .

When asked about the time each of them spent for themselves each day, Madhav said "about three hours roughly". He was surprised when I said I had about an hour and a half only for myself, considering I was less busy than he was. Rajini said, he did not have much time for himself. He had about 10 minutes all by and for himself.

He says he would improve on that when Madhav explained : It is important to take time for yourself, to do what you want to , the way you want to do it. Basically 'Live for yourself atleast once in a while' would be the principle for a healthy, happy life.

Madhav spends time for himself almost every day doing what he likes, movies mostly.These days spending time with his eight-month old daughter tops the list of his likes.

Extended Work Hours: Rajini is sandwiched between work demands and time lines. For him extended work hours is all that he has been going through from the day I joined this office( which is about two years from now). He says the commitment to adhere to the time line, however unreasonable it may sound, becomes important sometimes. Madhav explains that better processes and organized way of planning might reduce this kind of pressure at work. Lot of times there is very less one is able to do on management decisions is what he feels.

I gave them a fancy situtation - Given a choice to swap roles in your organization, whose role would you take up and why?

Madhav quickly and calmly said that he is happy the way he is. Once in a while, it is important to pat yourself and appreciate yourself for what you are is what Madhav believes. As for Rajini, he is happy about the person he is.They clearly do not seem to like imitations.

A thought from my Moral Science sessions back in school came into my mind without knocking:'Understand that everyone is unique'.

Rajini happily puts in if atall there is one swap in life he would even consider, it is to become Actor Superstar Rajinikanth, a role model and most widely hero-worshipped person among the Tamilians..

Given a choice to change your career what would that be?
Rajini wants to become an actor. He says he does not want a hero role. The guest appearances in the last 5 minutes of the movies, or the most unforgettable co-artist roles fascinate him. He says, the movie is good if the guest appearance gets fixed on your mind frame, which I think is true.

Madhav wants to start his own business. His interest inclines towards teaching also. He says, that might be because he admires the teacher in his mother. He recalls that he was lucky to have had a good set of teachers throughout his school and college life.Everyone remembers atleast one teacher who has made a difference. The three of us drifted off to our own worlds for a minute, thinking of some of the teachers who have a hand in our professional and personal life.

When I heard Madhav mention his mother, the next spontaneous question I asked was 'How long do you get to talk to her each day?'.
I find that all software geeks have more time for their computer, their internet connection, their mail boxes ( these days people don't spend much time on personal mails I guess), Research and Development work related to software and references on money-making than spending time to talk to their loved ones.
So just wanted to take a chance to ask these friends of mine if they had time to spend with their 'Amma'.
Madhav spends about half an hour with Amma if she is around and about one hour on the phone talking to her if she is out of town. Rajini spends about ten minutes every day.

I am glad all the same, because I know of people who do not take time for their parents at all. Everything else takes priority I guess, because, everything else if not attended to involves serious threats whereas close relationships do not demand and sadly are often being taken for granted.

I did not want Madhav and Rajini to say they did not have time for their 'Amma'. There are times when you expect some answers and you are glad if you get the same answers. This was one such answer and I was glad I heard what I wanted to.

Rajini, Madhav, and Me

After the question on tagline, the conversation picked up quickly. I relied on my mental tape to record the conversation.

I have stored the essence of the conversation and am trying to put forth what I heard as accurate as my tape has recorded. Since I am not sure of exactly recalling the entire 'One hour and twenty five minute conversation' word-to-word, I would prefer to write this post more in the prose form than an actual interview. I don't want to misquote. :)

Over to the interview...

Opinion on Failure: The question was pretty abstract to both of them. I reframed: If some one does not perform in the team, what will be your move?

Madhav and Rajini share the same opinion on this: They talk to the team member first, find out the problem which stops him from doing the best, give suggestions to the team member, and ensure he is comfortable working on what he is assigned. If the team member still does not perform,he is given a chance to exhibit his skills in any other stream in the office.For all you know, the person might be a good performer in some other stream.

They appreciate this flexibility of moving from one stream to another.Everyone is good at something. All it takes is to identify the plus point.

According to Madhav, Attitude is important to work in a team. No one without Attitude gets through Madhav's interview session.He says 'Even if the skill set of the person does not meet the expectation, Attitude has to'.

Rajini seconds this opinion. He is himself a person with an Attitude that one has to observe and learn from.

Opinion on Success:
The question was reshot back to me. According to me, Success is doing one's best. Madhav wanted to know how I measure it. I said, "I do something, to the best of my ability and satisfaction. If I don't have the luxury of really taking enough time to do my best, I say that it is not upto the mark".

Madhav's turn: Rajini spoke for Madhav. It was nice to see how appreciative Rajini was about his boss Madhav. "He commits a date and that is it. Commitments and Promises are meant to be kept according to his principle.He ensures that the timelines are met come-what-may. That is Success to him". Madhav gave an approving smile.

In Rajini's own opinion, 'Do what you promised to do. In software development, there are usually many phases, each one dependent on the other.Never let some one else skip deadlines because of your bad adherence to your own commitments'.

Their success mantra as I conclude is: Promises are meant to be kept. Never put some one down because of your own flaw.

Number of hours at work determines the success of your work. Yes or No?

Rajini says, he stays long hours at work because there are some unreasonable demands most of the times. Given that he has his principles, he stays late hours to keep them up. According to Madhav, most of the times, it is the imperfect processes that cause this whole 'late sitting' business. He is appreciative of his team who also understand the situation and put in their best. Again he cannot compromise on his principles either.

Every thing boils down to 'Commitment' in Madhav and Rajini's work place.

Define Workaholic. Where do u stand in a scale of 1 to 10 on workaholism?

Madhav defines: On a holiday, where there is no pressurizing work,if some one is in office, then he is a classiied workaholic. He says he stands at 1 or at the max 2 in the scale.

Rajini says, 'I am at 8'. I was taken aback when Madhav said, 'No Rajini is not a workaholic'. Rajini gave him a look which clearly said ' Come on.. don't you know?? or what do u mean?'. Madhav, quickly clarified: 'Rajini is hardworking but not a workaholic. There had been no days when he was at office if there is no work. It just happens that he is loaded enough to work on holidays. That is not workaholism.'

Rajini agrees that he had once been a workaholic when curiosity to know what is happening in the software world took the better of him and his weekend plans. He agreed that he has come out of workaholism according to Madhav's definition.

Rajini, Madhav and Me

The day seemed hectic at Madhav's paradise.Well, there was nothing unusual about it. With Rajini and Madhav frantically working on their computers, I almost decided that the interview I was hoping to have with them that day, was not happening. I did not even want to ask them. The least I could do for them was to just keep quiet which is very rare... If you know me , you would admit that.

Well, my favorite and tested saying: 'Expect the Unexpected' proved true, for the umpteenth time, when Madhav actually asked me if I remember about the interview appointment that evening. Thrilled beyond limits, I readily re-slated schedules at my end and geared up for the interview. I had prepared the questions about a few months back with Rajini in mind, but then, thought it is okay to have answers heard out from both Madhav and Rajini on the same set of questions. There were just a few questions, as I had always seen them with their 'Busy' tag on their forehead. I firmly believe that "if people are busy then do not expect them to be attentive when you talk". So after ensuring that the horizon was clear at Madhav's paradise I went over to talk. Rajini joined us with sandwich parcels presumably their evening snacks. On the 8th Floor of our office, over sandwiches, we settled down to talk.

There were butter sandwiches, egg sandwiches and veg.sandwiches. Now, table manners and etiquettes demand that everyone around the table eats. Some book that I had read back in school or college reminded me dutifully. Don't refuse anything point blank.Look for alternatives.[ Amazzzinggg memory power...!!!!that reminds you of things that do not concern with academics.I am not complaining,just 'thinking out loud' of how partial the mind can be.]

I hate Butter and Egg and the vegetable sandwich was definitely not very tempting at the moment. Took a quick decision to taste Butter sandwich though I didn't like it. Angel Etiquette smiled. :):):) I smiled back secretly.

Madhav and Rajini : I can write a whole new post on what I observed from these Gurus.So let's drop the stylistic introduction I would very much want to give, like all those high sounding magazines do on the stars of the interview.

I thought it would be a major effort to get these Gurus to talk, but then it was easier than expected. The interview quickly shifted to conversation mode and time flew very fast. Heavy rain outside was playing Rock Music ( I like Rain but not Rock Music) on the asbestos sheet over our heads. As if the music was not enough, the building's power control machines were roaring just behind us.. ( God knows what all it controls).

Nice atmosphere, I thought. I was glad all the same because, I was not sure, if I would have felt comfortable in Madhav's paradise where every second minute there was a phone call for Rajini or a crisis call for Madhav.

There have been times when I have stood there and found myself wondering if they built the TITANIC's Control in his paradise, and the mechanism conked during the ship's first voyage, and few thousands of people died, and my office was sealed close, and all of us were arrested. Or if that didnt sound serious enough, then you could imagine a rocket launch failure... Remember, you built the rocket funded by the World Bank!!!!...... even if that didnt sound serious to you, then sorry, I am not able to paint the picture of the tension in Madhav's paradise right. Now read on.

Rajini - 'Patience and Patience unlimited' is the tag line I would give him.
Madhav - 'Perfection and Perfection unlimited' is the tag line I would give him. He says if others were to give him a tagline it would mostly be HITLER. He is perceived by most people almost always, to be strict, and ever-looking for perfection..

I have never thought this way, though I keep off from him when things just don't seem right at his end. Ideally no one should do that ( Books say, Don't go away from people when they are in trouble), but then in an office atmosphere, when there is very little I can do about tensions at higher level, all I do on most days is to just keep off both of them ....You see we are in different teams and we have different levels of work pressures, mine always less than his. :)

I have always wondered how people can carry themselves so well when nothing at all seems right. I can't help comparing my own attitude at times with that of these Gurus. Madhav, over two years into Management and Rajini, just into Management share their views on Work place and the way they handle it without any icing... It was a 'plain-cake talk' basically. They spoke straight out of the heart and I felt I had chosen the right people to get opinions on the subject I am researching on for my article - Work place and Paradise.

By the way, these Gurus have gained promotion as my friends over the last few months. So it was basically a cool talk with friends than that of an interview, but I still had a paper with questions printed, so I don't get into the casual chat mode without any purpose. You see, I am not supposed to waste their time. Remember, they have gladly taken off their' Busy tags' just for my questions.

The story will continue in the next post....

First Interview

All firsts have an importance. In those lines, this is my first interview for the book i dream of writing someday..........

I typed out around 35 questions and took it to this Miss.Busy friend of mine who had given me an appointment to talk to her on Work Place or Paradise.

Now, for those of you who wonder why should i take appointments, u forget that i am starting out as a writer and would need people's attention completely when they talk to me. I dont want to land up at their desks at the wrong time. I better start out professionally where you talk for the appointed number of minutes to the appointed person at the appointed time. Lot of people think that i am being formal though.

The questions are on the lines of work life and personal life of a person.

She is a sincere, dutiful, responsible programmer of a team which is forever motivated by 'Work is Worship' proverb. A good morning wish cheers her up. She takes her mistakes seriously, is not a perfectionist,and has a mix of 'Easy to satisy', 'Hard to manage' and 'Quick to get tensed' attitudes.

Music , she says, keeps her cool. She sleeps for five to seven hours a day. The rest of the day is all about work mostly. Programs ( Sequel queries in particular) are the
heros of her dreams. When asked for an instance of heights of joblessness she tries hard to recall one such instance and finally replies 'NONE'. That simply means she
loves what she is doing.

Some of the interesting questions from the interview and the exact answers i got for them are here for your glance:

Your ideal day at work:
Smiles

Does walking into the office cheer you?
Smiles again.

Your weekend:
Sleeping at home

If you were asked to give a tag line for yourself what would that be?
Soft and Reserved

If given a chance to change your career what would that be?
Any career related to computers that allows a balance between work and home along with an ample money to lead life.

If given a chance to swap a role within the organization, whose role would you like to take up?
I would not be able to answer about the swapping, but I would like to perform like my PM who is versatile, has got good balance between tech and management, is good at
analytics, is well focused and always keeps things under control. ( Dont u think you need to know about this Mr.Outstanding PM of hers? I think 'Yes'. Lets see if i can
catch up a conversation with him and know what he he has to say for us.)

What, in your perspective, gets the work done – Constant follow up, Anger, Warnings, Pat on the back?
Constant follow up and Pat on the back.

Are u happy at work?
Fifty-Fifty for a 'Yes' and 'No'

Do you remember your recent dream?
Yes… It was about some technical problem at work. It was pending for about 2 days on my mind without solution.

What is your idea of peace?
It depends on your state of mind.

How many minutes or hours do you get for yourself per day on an average ?
15 minutes to half an hour

Your idea of success
Think Positive, try to get along with people. Remember to be good at communication.

Your idea of failure
Ignorance. ( May be according to the software minds, it is no more a bliss , as against the proverb "Ignorance is a Bliss')

How many hours in a day do u think u can concentrate non-stop?
I cant concentrate non - stop ( Non-stop sometimes reminds us of 'Nonsense'.)

Do your folks at home complain about your work timings and the temperament u carry home from workplace?
I don’t carry work tension over to my people though it is on my mind. They have complaints about my work timings though.

It is an important occasion at home. You get a frantic call from your boss asking you for some clarification that might require you to report to workplace as early as possible.. What will be your first move? How will you handle your people at home?

I will tell my folks that it is important for me to go and leave the house immediately.

How would u react when the situation is vice versa ? You are in office and there is a call from home.. In any case, both the situations demand ur attention.. What will be your move?
I will tell my boss that it is important for me to go home and leave office immediately.

That was Miss. Busy. I left some of the questions with her and gave her her own time to answer them all. When she turned in her responses, I drafted this.I thank my friend for her time. I believe that the time she has spent talking to me would prove very important for a lot of people who read this page.

Of what good is the analysis to us? According to what I have understood, everybody doesn’t get to experience everything in life… You need to learn from others’ experiences. An interview is a mode of getting into someone else’s mind. I think what we read just now is nothing but the truth. Only then will i be able to conclude something at the end of this interview series...

It is to be noted that this text is published on this blog with the permission of the concerned person. In interviews, I have decided not to publish the names of the persons concerned. The text in this post has been read and verified by the star of the article.

You obviously have the right to send in your opinion on anything related to this post. Please ensure that your comments do not hurt the star of the article in any way. Thanks a lot.