So much for what???…A pic of mine on the plank

 

I remember that when i was in school or even in college my bi-yearly report card showed somewhere from 5-10 subjects. And now  it seems like there are infinite report cards with infinite parameters…..  Performance parameters, operational parameters, set target Vs Achieved target, Daily reports, Weekly reports, Monthly reports, Quarterly reports, Opportunities report, Quality report and many more…Reward and Recognition (R&R) is now an integral part of any “employee- centric” organization. Awards, certificates , gift hampers are kinda common with most of the organizations, one of the best is putting up a pic on the performance plank. Not many people achieve all their matrices and even less get to that pacman 5 position. And the best of them gets the opportunity to paste his/her pic on the plank. There’s obviously a sense of proud and superiority in that. But what’s the cost of all this. Sure ya! usual things- Hard work, Smart work. That’s kinda very generic reply. In IT industry , which i believe is much more competitive and ruthless than any other industry, performance is a multi dimensional and multi tier thing. Performance are important input during appraisals so it clearly has a long mark on the career. As someone wise once said that to get something you have to loose something. What m talking about???…well, 24 hours continuous shifts…lean and mean operational procedures(Six Sigma comes into play) and strict quality parameters, weekly performance calibration and reactive coaching.In situations like recession where the profit margins are less and the operation team tries to bridge the gab between actual revenue and target revenue, achieving the top tier performance is not by choice rather by compulsions. I have seen people getting into high stress level(including me)..I have seen people quitting the job…I have seen people breaking the organizational hierarchy and complaining about the “strict” work culture employed by their immediate supervisor(s) and almost in every case, this professional tremor reaches the personal life also. When operations gets squeezed almost half of the group exits the system either voluntarily or involuntarily, while the others make credible progress internally. You can say that it’s Charles Darwin’s classic theory of survival- Survival of fittest!!!

But still some people stick to it..why?? coz i think for people like me, there’s no other option. There so much on stake… But i feel that everyone should have something on his/her mind which is constant. Constant, as in, which is always in your mind..You know something that sort of can act like a continuous power supply and morale booster. At the end of the day when u see ur pic on the plank it surely gives that much needed satisfaction and peace. But to be honest it’s short lived. When u achieve that level ..u also create a benchmark for you. By default a operational manager always wants top performance, which is kinda very tough, and then it’s recession time…After u reach the plank ur target becomes wide like an ocean..it has an end but its not in ur sight.So the fight and struggle starts again…u know like an indian TV soap opera ……TO BE CONCLUDED…

Pujo, Mishti ar Bangla

Kali pujo(diwali ) marks the end of festivals in Bengal but as we bongs say “the feast must go on”. Bengal is known for it's knack for food and hospitality- two essential part of festivity. There's a whole variety of delicacies prepared during this time- both veg and non-veg. But its the sweets which are arguably the soul of the festive season. Bengal has its share of passions- Football, Politics, Poetry, Music, Fish, adda. But “Bengali” sweets surpasses the pleasure of all those taken together. Every state has it's variety of sweets but arguably bengal boasts the largest and most incredible variety of sweets. Every city in bengal has its famous sweet shops, every neighborhood has a moira that locals are proud of. Occasion or no occasion bongs eat sweets- many eat it daily as part of breakfast and certainly a sondesh or two after dinner (kinda happens in my home). I don't think any study has been done but am pretty sure that the annual consumption of sweets in bengal are way too high compared to rest of the states.

Bijoya just went by and I really like it in here. I actually like the concept- I mean besides the good wins the bad funda – people go visiting friends and relatives, do a bit of hugging, the mandatory touching of feets and then we get down to business. Plates of sweets and savouries are laid out on the dinner table- then visit someone else and eat “little” more. I have often wondered why we bongs are so fond of sweets. I suppose it has something to do with the arrival of portuguese in bengal in the 17^th century. It was some Portuguese colonist who introduced bengal to cottage cheese and then the moiras took over.

The most famous sweet maker of all time was Nobin Chandra Das. In the 1868 he famously created rossogolla, as we bongs fondly call it. Some 50 years after that his son K C Das created rossomalai or rasmalai. But while chhana may be the mainstay of bengali sweets , there are lot many sweets prepared from flour, rice powder(aatop chal), pressed rice, puffed rice, coconut, semolina, lentils and so on. Poush Parbon for instance is a festival dedicated to pithey , which are prepared with rice and its derivatives, flour, coconut, thickened milk and jaggery. Then of course there is the wonderful called notun gur – or date molasses. This is used to produce some of the best sweets I have ever had- sondesh, rossogolla and payesh and lets not forget the mishti doi, the much loved creamy and thickened sweet yoghurt that no celebration is complete without. As far as sweets are concerned innovation truly is rubbing shoulders with tradition. I love to eat jholbhora at Oh Calcutta – it has a hollow middle that's filled with molasses or rose essence. Most of the bengali sweets are prepared with cow's milk which is kinda easy on the stomach. In winters , eating a hot rossogolla out of kadhai is something close to nirvana.

The great thing about bengali sweets is that quite a few of the best known varieties are now available elsewhere in the country.