From the pages of my diary…

theme pandal at siddheswari garden aabashikbrinda.

 

'Accountability' is a word that reigns our thoughts when we are employed in an organisation. But this very word had the same impact on my psychological being since mid-July 2012, when I was chosen by the residents of SD Tower as a member of the Puja Committee, for a community service named Durgotsav! I felt accountable to the residents who selected me in the General Body meeting 2012 and hence making an attempt to connect with all of you through this platform.

with puja and apex committee members

 



Initially I was extremely pleased with my responsibilities that were confined to the ideation and planning of the pandal and idol concept, cultural activities, designing of some of the creatives and publicity & promotion. Being an artist and graphic designer by hobby and profession respectively, the pleasure of implementing these tasks was immense, and it had a very positive impression on my mind till I started facing resistance. Thankfully, the residents always came to my rescue on time! Even though I fought to defend my ideas, I had to run away twice to avoid getting embroiled in silly controversial issues. Some of the ladies with strong spine and who knew that my aim was also to highlight the ladies through cultural activities also came forward and supported me in my work!

nari shakti

 

One thing was clearly evident to me that after becoming a part of the Puja Committee, many of us tend to forget that we are accountable to the majority of the 1200 residents who are paying puja subscription. Rather a sense of vanity replaces the thought that we are doing some community service through our monetary and non-monetary contributions. We at times tend to give an excuse “residents won’t be able to appreciate it” keeping actually our own taste and preferences in mind, and get external artistes even if their quality do not justify the charges.

Another thing which I keenly realised while working for the puja is that it is not the responsibility of SD Tower puja committee to bear the weight of every family who is not paying puja subscription. There are other expenses to be taken care of, so if we think that we are unable to give the yearly puja subscription of Rs 1200 then we can give only Rs 250 that goes to other puja pandals outside the housing complex. Could we have avoided giving subscription if we were staying in the same locality but outside the housing complex? We would have had to give that bare minimum of Rs 250!

When it comes to community lunch, the building committee members, instead of getting biased for their own friends in the building, must act practically by keeping the entire community in mind. We also need to understand that against the subscription (it takes care of the community lunch as well), a building secretary cannot act selfishly by just giving away the community lunch coupons too leniently. It has been observed over the years that some of the secretaries give away excess food coupons to their friends and neighbours in the same building, than the actual number of heads per family. As result, the secretary is in the good books of their friends but INDIRECTLY is responsible for a shortage of food items when the community lunch is served.

sneha pareek and dhruti walk the ramp

 

A request to all the residents: do involve more teenagers and ladies from various communities, for Durga Puja! I strongly believe that intelligent teenagers and proactive young people below 45 years of age, and maybe some people above 45 years who constantly upgrade themselves – would add more value when it comes to such community services! This thought helped me to have faith in the smart and mature 14 years old Sneha Pareek when I used to observe her towards the end of 2011, though we never had any interaction till we started working together! Some of the faces that come to my mind are - the talented Trina Maitra, the cool identical twins Ritika and Kritika Dutta (the duo give support to their mother, Rajashree Dutta for rituals), the vivacious Ayelita Ghosh, the young violinist Utsav Biswas and chess player Anusil Das; and a few more (names of whom are unknown to me), should be given responsibilities during such events. These smart kids can do wonders because they are more creative and flexible than most of the people who are in the age groups of 40s and 50s! A small example: my  intelligent little co-host, Sneha Pareek, once came up with some suggestions for the promotion of the Puja, which as a Puja Committee member, I could think, maybe only because of my MBA specialization in Marketing Communications! 

Whatever I wanted to see during the tenth Durgotsav, got materialized inspite of the challenges and limitations that cropped up before me – be it the theme pandal, probhaatanusthaan, association with an NGO, the effective utilisation of Sneha Pareek’s strengths in cultural activities, highlighting our ladies who play key roles but remain behind the scene, the involvement of residents (adults and kids) from various communities in great numbers;  our position in the 2^nd round for both Sambad Pratidin and The Times of India Bari Puja contests, a minimum of ‘596 Likes’ in the powerful social media, the positive feedback from the majority (residents) and outsiders (via word of mouth); and overall there was warmth that I have always found missing in the earlier years!

And this would not have had happened without the enormous support from most of the residents; Apex Committee members - Subrata Das and Vikash Pareek; and last but certainly not the least, the President - Puja Committee, Susanta Sarkar! Another person whose artisitic sensibilities one could easily rely upon was our bindas “live Ashur” Manas Biswas, who effectively monitored the decorator's and the artists’ jobs, whenever he got free from his professional responsibilities; and also gave support to the cultural sub-committee as when required! Biswanath Sharma, our efficient treasurer, always used to be near the stage, whenever the puja committee had to pay the artistes and others! The Vice President - Puja Committee and a senior scientist by profession, Dr. Sourav Basu, had always been a patient listener and a peacemaker! As a result, he instantly produced a fire-extinguisher, first aid box and some biodegradable black disposable bags when I placed a request -  just before Sambad Pratidin and The Times of India teams came to visit our pandal! He also brought in an NGO run by Balaram Karan, a well social worker based out of Midnapur district of West Bengal, India.

The acknowledgement from the residents like Rina and Alok Mitra, Sudeshna Mukherjee, Trina Maitra, Rajesh Keswani and others - was my greatest reward for the community service, in which I was involved for the past three months! After the entire phase of mental struggle that I went through while working, the appreciation from most of the residents gave me a pleasant surprise and a deep sense of victory against all odds! It was the same kind of surprise and satisfaction which I experienced way back in September 1999, when I was receiving a state-level 'Paschim Banger Kirtimaan Manush' award in the Fine Arts category from Rotary International at Oberoi Calcutta. And probably that was why I couldn’t express my emotions well, when Rina-di was handing over the token of appreciation. Well, what more could one ask for? All the best to the residents for another great puja in 2013! J

PCBL heads towards a BRIGHT GREEN tomorrow

Have we ever thought as to what could be the biggest challenge for any progressive economy in this 21^st century? Of course, it is about offering a vision of a green energy system and then convincing the society at large about the philosophy. Like any other Green company in the world, Phillips Carbon Black Ltd. (PCBL) leaves no stone unturned in preserving and enriching the environment while being a pioneer in the production of carbon black in the country! The Company enthusiastically lays emphasis on development in the areas like health, hygiene and education, along with environment, which has gained momentum for the Company with the passage of time.

PCBL advertisement which i designed for OPEN magazine ('Environment' issue, release date: 1st june 2012)

Environmentalism leads to cost-cutting and revenue generation for companies. PCBL is the first company in the world to have its power plant at Palej manufacturing facility, registered as a Clean Development Mechanism project (CDM) under UNFCCC. The significant amount of flue gases emitted as a waste byproduct of carbon black manufacturing process, can be well used for the generation of electricity at zero costs. The energy generated from the plants meets captive requirements, thereby leading to revenue generation for the organization. PCBL, the first carbon black company in the world to be awarded carbon credit under Kyoto Protocol of United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention (UNFCCC), has a power generation capacity of 70.5 MW and aims towards adding another 70 MW of capacity through 2015.

The PCBL family is well adapted to the requirements of the communities where the Company’s manufacturing set-ups are located and takes initiatives to ensure that the employees align themselves to the needs of preserving the environment. These involve interactions between PCBL and the community representatives in terms of contribution to environmental, social and economic development; Afforestation, rain water harvesting, recycling of waste, treatment of waste water, zero emission and spillage policy.

PCBL’s Mundra plant concentrates on Afforestation, while Cochin manufacturing facility is located in a forested area with lush green vegetation all around. The Company has also planted more than 5000 saplings at various locations, across the nation. PCBL has installed specialized equipments like secondary filters at all plants to ensure zero carbon emission. Despite being located close to thickly populated towns, the Company’s plants hardly receives complaints from the inhabitants.

Treatment plants for recycling waste matter are an integral part of PCBL manufacturing facilities! Effluent Treatment Plants or ETPs are used to treat waste water and then recycle it back into the system, thereby leading to zero discharge policy at its all manufacturing set-ups. It is an environment-friendly initiative which results in the reduction of water usage costs. The Company has also embraced a programme of rainwater harvesting.

PCBL, the eighth largest carbon black manufacturer in the world, currently aims to reach the bracket of the top three global producers of carbon black in some time from now. Known for its world class technology and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, PCBL’s own R&D centre is government recognised, and is constantly focused on process efficiencies and new product development. The Company deals with efficient, low cost and environment-friendly operations to produce 4,10,000 MT; and has been continuously reinventing itself in order to make the best in class products for its customers like Bridgestone, Goodyear, Sumitomo Tyres, Kumho Tyres, MRF, CEAT, Apollo, Birla Tyres and J K Tyres etc.

PCBL’s after sales service and strong technical support ensures a fiercely loyal base of customers around the world and at the same time the Company does not forget to give back to the environment as much as it receives from it, as it walks towards a BRIGHT GREEN tomorrow!

11th September 2010

11th September 2001! Chaos, confusion and death filled the air! Twin Towers (USA) affected by the militant attack. The impact was felt globally...


9 years later... 11th September 2010...

After so many years, when life has gained its normal pace after that incident, in this small corner of the globe, I am sitting with a laptop - feeling content and relaxed that one by one my short term goals (desires) are getting achieved.

Evolution and weeding (in terms of human relationships) go on side by side in my life! My peace of mind started returning since September 2009 and I feel healed internally – thanks to some people around me! My sister’s wedding on 23rd September 2009 (the greatest source of satisfaction for me) and other short term goals – all my desires started materialising between August and November 2009. 2010 started quite nicely in respect to materialistic aspects and continues to do so till now. I can only thank and be grateful to God for being so generous towards me. I didn’t get derailed inspite of all the emotional struggles that I’d to go through, in the last eleven years.

At times when I look around, I get a feeling that academic qualification, knowledge and capabilities are not important in life. Ego massaging, sycophancy, gaining sympathy of the people around by talking about one’s personal problems or using charm would ensure growth in some areas of life! Yet, I thank my stars that I didn’t compromise with my principles (by doing all these things) under any circumstances. My upbringing would not allow me to do so! That is my greatest satisfaction on the personal level!

Never mind! Time wasn’t with me earlier but I’m hopeful that the scene is changing now. The attainment of these short-term goals only direct towards a better tomorrow! I am sure that I’d be able to achieve my bigger goals too without compromising with my principles!

The more I see these things happen, the more humble I feel and my roots go deeper into the ground. At the same time, I feel strangely calm internally. Now it is time to do something more significant in life!

Beware of fudging!

“Satyam computers has terminated 500 of its employees because they had fudged with their documents”


In a case of a reputed business conglomerate, there are examples where CVs are not verified and the truth is revealed gradually after recruitment, through various incidents. There was a case where an employee couldn’t recognise a colleague’s masters level certificate (from a reputed university) when the person had claimed to have completed Masters from the same university like that of the colleague; or checked from one boss’ secretary, the spelling of the name of an English medium missionary school (under West Bengal board) that was mentioned in one’s CV, whereas, in reality the person had actually studied in a government school for Bengali Muslims (under West Bengal board). The candidate’s diction gave away the reality even though in front of the other colleagues, the employee continued (till one’s exit) to stick to the name of the school mentioned in the CV! Same was for the candidate’s age (and other personal details that were verbally shared): instead of mentioning the actual age (mid-40s), the CV (including one’s passport) indicated it to be something in the 30s!

A false CV can help a employee to secure a job; but performance, body language and etiquettes would say a lot of things about the employee and one’s efficiency!

Fudging is not restricted to CVs only. You might see a secretary of a senior management person, mentioning something else (similar to that of another colleague) in the visiting card, instead of writing the exact designation mentioned in the appointment letter. Who would verify if the boss is unaware of it and the administration segment is not involved in the procedure of getting the visiting cards done? The truth was noticed only when the person was filling up the appraisal form before it was taken to one’s boss. Avoid giving the designation in the visiting card if you are embarrassed to mention it!

Forbes.com mentions that candidates usually lie about qualifications, employment dates, job titles, technical skills, achievements. According to Ashish Dehade, managing director, West Asia, First Advantage Pvt. Ltd (a background screening and verification company) more than 90% of the registered companies don’t verify about education, address, previous employment, criminal record, references etc though there are some large firms that insist on detailed verifications. As a result, the growing importance of candidate verification has generated a new business opportunity for background screening companies.

The Association of Search and Selection consultants estimates that 25% of the CVs contain false information, ranging from fudged dates to hide a career gap, to falsified identities to conceal a bad credit history or worse. Karen Edwards, co-director of the Brighton-based Personnel Risk Management, which specialises in providing City firms with pre-employment scrutinising services, believes that "in 25% of cases, something comes up” and in “one week it was 57%." He mentioned that “one IT department was told it was going to be checked and there were 12 resignations in one week."

Debbie Beecroft, an associated at Ernst & Young's fraud-investigation group, says fraudsters often turn out to be long-serving, trusted workers who know the systems and procedures well enough to work them. This can be avoided if pre-employment verification is done thoroughly.

Preventive measures:

Unlike that of the past, the check should happen at all levels. Companies like Wipro Ltd, Infosys Technologies and Satyam Computer Services take action against employees (terminating of services and blacklisting of such candidates and recruiters) involved in fudging résumés. ICICI Bank Ltd, witnessed 17,000 new recruits in 2007, 400 to 500 of which had misrepresented facts in their résumés. The bank has set up a fraud prevention unit that functions as an independent auditor and keeps an eye out for risks and frauds threatening the organization, including recruitment-related fraud. Every new employee undergoes a full background check. The candidate verification process to specialist agencies is outsourced. “Companies in India don’t lodge complaints of white-collar fraud with the police. In that sense, we are letting the same people (fraudsters) circulate in the system,” says Ramkumar of ICICI Bank. “So, unless an organization is very vigilant, it is difficult to curb this menace.”

Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Samsung India Electronics keep track through an in-house reference check process. Prabir Jha, the global head of HR at Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, mentions that the HR department calls up the referees provided in a résumé, the candidate’s previous boss, peers and juniors before hiring.

Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (formerly Sony Entertainment Network) believes that 3% of total new hires produce fudged résumés. The discrepancies involve falsification of educational qualifications, work experience, job roles and projects, and inflated compensation figures. Some don’t hesitate to submit fake certificates and documents. Multi Screen Media has a team, which oversees the background check process and also hires third-party agencies for the verification process.

KPMG’s forensic practice helps organizations conduct background checks. “It is a serious issue that can have long-lasting repercussions,” says Rohit Mahajan, executive director, forensic services, KPMG India. A bad hire not only impacts business efficiency, but can have consequences such as theft of intellectual property, leakage of confidential information or misuse of resources. The key offerings of KPMG’s background verification services include database verification, which helps clients ascertain if the candidate has been reported for any misconduct; education, employment and reference verification; criminal verification; and address verification.

TCS once sacked 20 employees for furnishing fudged résumés. The organisation has a team within its recruitment unit, responsible for overseeing the verification process. At TCS, a candidate’s credentials are verified on various parameters through specialized agencies. Dabur’s HR team conducts pre-and post-employment reference checks and asks recruitment agencies to verify the personal credentials of candidates. For critical job roles, it hires independent agencies for background checks.

As mentioned in www.control-cv.com, the agency deals with validating of diplomas – including the verification of the date of passing, grades achieved; or the schools/ universities are approached to check the authenticity of the details provided. Other details like the career history, dates of the candidate's employment, positions held in the company and the the reasons for leaving are also verified. It is done through employer reference checking or by contacting the candidate's former superior(s) or the HR department.

If after reading all this, you are thinking twice about applying for a new job, then be careful – your CV could also be considered as an object of investigation. At times employers even check out their existing workers!

- nilanjana

Phoenix & the concept of Rebirth

(august 2003)

The concept of rebirth can also be well explained with the help of the myth of Phoenix (Greek name), the mythological bird offered in sacrifice to Ra, Sun god in ancient Egypt. The Phoenix was the symbolic representation of the death and rebirth of the sun. In Egypt, it was called the Bennu, said to be a living manifestation of Osiris, springing forth from its heart. The bird, which was similar to an eagle, possessed a splendid golden-red plumage that made it look like as if it was wrapped in flames. According to some versions, the Phoenix was shown in flames rather than in feathers. The Phoenix lived in Arabia. Some legends say that only one Phoenix lived at one time and lived for 500 years. At the end of its life-cycle, the Phoenix built a nest as it was dying and set the nest on fire and was consumed by the flames. After its death, a new Phoenix would then arise from the ashes and thus the Phoenix was reborn. This cycle was repeated over and over again.



According to other sources, the ‘Thunderbird’, a powerful spirit bird in Native America, is represented as the ‘Phoenix’. It is said that in China, Feng-huang (a bird) symbolizes the union of Yin and Yang, a sign of both Peace and Disharmony. The Greek poet Herodotus wrote in one of his passages from his writings of The Phoenix’s legend that the Phoenix comes back every 500 years in order to search the body of its predecessor. After making a myrrh egg, the Phoenix puts the body of its predecessor inside it, and takes it to the Temple of the Sun located in Egypt.



500 years later, Tacitus and Plinius agreed that many of the ancient myths were confusing so they investigated the chronology of The Phoenix. Through their studies, they concluded that The Phoenix lived an equivalent to a Platonic year; calculations determined by the alignment of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets known at that time needed to return to their original positions which in our time represent a period of 12.994 years.



The ancient ones believed that this enormous astronomical cycle was complete provided, all conditions of the planetary influence were the same. In other words, The Phoenix was considered similar to a mirror of the universe. By the end of the 4th century, Claudianus had written some verses about an immortal bird, able to reborn from its ashes, an heir to itself, and a witness of that time.



The Phoenix from another of the Chinese Mythology offers another description. Under another name, Feng - it’s depicted as a bird of shining colors, very much like a pheasant. In remote times, The Feng supposedly frequented the gardens and palaces of righteous Emperors. As with all mythological creatures the versions, significance and the characters tend to vary according to culture and their belief.



The Astronomical Phoenix



Phe (Phoenix) is a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere of Earth near Toucana and Sculptor named by John Bayer in 1603. This constellation is almost universally recognized as a bird. The Phoenix cluster is a dense expanse of unexplored stars, named for the Phoenix Asteroids in the 20th Century film "Dark Star", by John Carpenter.



The Phoenix in Future History - Aside from the name "Phoenix", a city in the south-western portion of the former United States, The Phoenix’s future history begins on April 4th, 2063. The day Zephram Cochrane first launched his Phoenix, an old Titan V nuclear missile modified with small crew cabin and twin warp nacelle engines into history. Rising from the ashes of World III, from an abandoned missile complex in central Montana, the Phoenix was the first vessel to break the warp barrier, precipitating the First Contact with a group of Vulcans on a survey mission and as a result, a rebirth of prosperity for Earth was created as it spread its wings out into the stars.



With a name steeped in Mythology, Astronomy, History and Tradition, Task Force Phoenix springs forth from the ashes of United Alliance and all that has come before, served proudly by Fleet Members from the North American Continent and Around the World.

Are dreams & visions mere extensions of semi-conscious state of mind?

While reading about Silva Mind Control in September 2005 and after doing the program in January 2006, I learnt one thing – at the conscious level only 5% of our brain is functional and at the sub-conscious level the remaining 95% gets activated. And at this level when the right-brain is activated one is capable of turning the impossible into POSSIBLE!

We think of something and it takes shape before our eyes after a few days or months! We lose a gold chain, involuntarily visualize it at some weird place (where it is not supposed to be); and the next moment we actually get it from there. We see or hear impossible things happening, strange pre-monitions taking place in our lives which cannot be explained logically!


Visions and dreams can be in many forms: visions like that of a strange bright light in the dark or a bright disc like object somewhere in the background; or maybe dreams like that of a Vesica Piscis and two intersecting circles; a divinely beautiful, kohl-eyed, female form, clad in a white sari, having a milky white complexion and jet black hair cascading down her back; an innocent faced teenager (with dark complexion) clad in a yellow dhoti; an individual appearing for mathematics examination; someone’s fleeing from home, facing hurdles and finally overcoming them; or maybe warning messages (in form of dreams) like human sacrifice involving one’s own self in one’s dream etc. At times one may see incidents taking place in the dreams, which actually materialise after a few years! These can be termed as premonitions!


I have heard of cases where people have dreamt of job promotion, academic results and legal battle being won. And later on those dreams got manifested into reality!


My boss, Sunil Bhandari wore the same type of shirt and spoke the same words on the day of my appraisal in July 2010 - the same shirt that he wore and the same words which he spoke while doing my appraisal in my dream in November 2009. When I dreamt of my appraisal, my boss was actually attending the annual conference at Mumbai. It amused me immensely when he spoke those same words in reality! :)


Strange things happen! Strange dreams and pre-monitions are seen, strange audio can be heard and at times one feels the presence of someone strange around oneself, and yet remains unaffected! At times one may even get the fragrance of a burning incense during meditation at early morning hours when there’s actually nothing burning; may hear the gentle swishing sound of a feminine attire when there’s nobody in the room, or may even feel the feather touch of some caring female hand on the head or hand when one’s in the meditative or half-asleep state.


One’s intuition plays a significant role when one thinks of something happening/ someone saying something and later on the situation actually take place! We think of someone and the person calls us/ appears before us, within a short span of time. Maybe at that time our desire to talk to or meet the person was very strong!


Once I was asked if I am “clairvoyant”’, one even thinks that I “know psychology”; and someone went to the extent of asking me if I “know face reading”! Actually I know none. I am just sensitive to my surroundings; and my intuition and observation also guide me regarding human beings and incidents. And things become easy for me to understand!


Probably dreams and visions are sources for psychic information. Symbols appear in dreams/ visions when our mind acts like a receiver for messages from the world unknown. We can interpret our own dream language by word association. We can write down any word, feelings, direct thoughts that come to mind when we look at the symbols in our dreams. Interpretation of our own dream symbols may offer us new insights and different perspectives for our personal growth.

I personally feel that these things primarily happen when people are in some confused state of mind, have some expectations or maybe are in the quest of something in life! And sometimes these act like divine messages or maybe they only are hallucinations – some extensions of semi-conscious state that get manifested in forms of dreams, visions or pre-monitions etc. Who knows? Probably, Sigmund Freud could have explained it well!

Beauty

December 2005: Saw an artefact of the Goenkas...liked it and wrote a few lines....


Beauty is elegance, style, magnificence, truth and eternity.
You are the graceful daughter of Silence and ageless Time!
Your beauty remains untarnished with the silent and holy night of winter,
Or does your pulchritude gets enhanced each time I look at you,
And you seem to be eternal like the frozen brilliance of winter!

- nilanjana