Corruption. A never ending story...

Nowadays, my mornings are beginning with a new scam in Commonwealth Games. It makes me sick to think about the guts with which the administrators of sports bodies and Organizing committee are indulging in a sleazy game of money making. They are neither afraid of their conscience or the law of the land. Some times, I really start doubting that there is no law against corruption in this country!
          The Governments are non-committal about the investigation into the scams that are plaguing the very possibility of organizing Commonwealth games. Why the Government is putting the image of the country at the stake when a successful Commonwealth Game would have ensured a facelift for the country. A country which boasts of more than 1 Billion people has nothing much to show to the world in sports. A successful hosting of Commonwealth Games would provide an opportunity for the budding sportpersons in the country to have a glimpse at the international athletes and learn their work culture. It also would've meant an influx of revenue for a myriad of businesses.
          But I wonder, why the Government is not taking any steps to ensure a smooth conduct of Commonwealth Games when the very image of the country is on the line. Should a corrupt official go scot-free only because he is a member of a political party and has served the IOA for ages? It's the high time that Government & authorities answer some of these questions and plug the holes which are leaking the taxpayers' money.

Click here for an interview of Suresh Kalmadi, President, IOA with Barkha Dutt.

Back after a long break

It has been a long break since my last blog. After having moved to Hyderabad, I some how got lost in the office-home-office routine . Regular trips to Bangalore were my only sought after pastime.
.....the writing bug has again stung me and I intend to keep writing again.

Nostalgia - Inauguration of the IBSB-YiNet

Being a part of a "dream team" executing an almost near perfectly co-ordinated action and sharing its infinite enthusiam, is something I fondly cherish looking back.

Having completed the MBA course (excepting ofcourse the MRP) and now practically left in a sudden vaccum, I was seeing through the events of the Yi Net. What was a distinct cut above the rest, was the Inaugural on 8th Dec 2008.

Actually, the previous day ie., 7th of Dec was when the real action happened. Almost every thing was pending till very late in the evening (excepting the posters which were by then put in the campus). The banners was not in hand, the lunch department was outsourced we had no idea of wht would happen, the seating arrangements were pending, the "lunch area" -- the Final Coup ! was being created from the scratch (we practically hijacked the space from the college Admin and made a real cozy 3-star accomodation behind the board room with pots and sofas manually lifted by a dedicated team of volunteers), the comperes were not seen till late in the evening... well actually nothing could have been counted as being done and ready for the next day.

Then at about 7pm, things slowly stared falling in place. The momentous or rather symbolic banner was put up. We had a round of rehersal with the comperes. AC on Chanakya hall was checked ( but we didnt feel a thing from the vents...but had to assure ourselves that some air was actually coming out).
By then, Rohit Sharma had created two real meaningful videos. Nitin had a well edited interview. Rohit Sethia had done his bit from the morning and later gathered his old Utsaah friends together for the next day. Priyank Daga had a grip on the overall organisation. Sunder was, by evening exahusted from the heavy weight lifting of the pots and sofas. PK was in his regular intellectual capacity, coordinating the speech. Vinay was anxious as ever and a forceful organiser for most of the happenings. Sandeep and Prabhu were coordinating with external requirements. Nikhil was adding to the necessary inside help. Anshul was a "multiplier" and our anytime HR provider ..mainly for escort needs. Sunil was looking into the software and video part with Rohit. Also others came to help the gang ...Sutharia and Tapan were helping us put up the banner... It seemed we had done a lot..and yet a lot was still pending.

We finally called it a day hoping only that tommorow (8th Dec), will begin with the left over matters. At IBS we have a good trining of JIT (just in time techniques.....actually we survive on that) and belived it will work one more time.

Then on 8th December 2008, it was a great success....all happened more than our expectations... We had made it !!!

......I wrote this after I saw the photo I have posted. Anyone who was present that day would have had a simliar flood of images flowing through his/her mind.

Team-work works !

What a team works is left to the team and for others to see.

We are all waiting to see team work and what the team will work when the fresh 2011 batch will be a part of the 2010 team.

I am sure more such memories will be created in the new avatar of IBSB Yi Net.

Disaster Averted at the 'Forum' Mall

Having the learnings of Disaster Management & Mitigation practises fresh in our minds from the Workshop on 20th January, it was a easy to grasp the relevance of such practices in our daily lives. The Forum Mall attracts a huge number of visitors every day. Also for the fire fighting apparatus to reach the Mall from about half a kilometer away from Dairy Cirle, would have been a very hardous task on the busy Hosur Road. What saved the day was the in-house infrastructure that was in place.

• Firstly, they had a good Public Address System.
• Secondly, they had good fire fighting water outlets- from which the fire personnel could draw water from inside the building.

Since the fire started from the AC ventillator, similar precautions by other buildings will be handy in such situations.

New Office Bearers of IBSB-Yi Net for 2009-10

By consensus new office bearers of the IBSB-Yi Net have been elected. All of them have proved their mettle in the previous months and were members of the Yi Net from the very inception. It was indeed a privilege for the outgoing team to hand over the baton to the new office bearers. The year 2009-10 will bring in fresh members and will add momentum and thrust to the already well established IBSB-Yi Net.

The New Office bearers for 2009-10 are:

• General Secretary : Prabhu
• Secretary-Evangelists : Gaurav
• Secretary-Online Collaborators: Nikhil
• Secretary-Next Practice Identifiers : Anshul
• Secretary-Implementers : Ajitha

The out-going team wishes them all the luck !!

Innovation Culture needed

All the talk about innovation is futile unless we set up such a culture at our workplace and our lifestyle. The resistance for change and status quo puts a high premium to innovation and experimentation.
Even in IBSB, the fact remains that even if students want to innovate, it will put a huge pressure on the management- stuck to its own "structured" mode. Many best practices may not be appropriate in all situations. This brings the need to evolve self styled models to improve existing practices for better outcome.
The plans of the Yi Net to start a "Centre for Innovation" should be a good start to such a culture. Needless to say that changes to mindset will take a far greater time to happen. Since the number of students is huge , likeminded people must get together to set an example for others to follow.

Disaster Management Workshop by IBSB-Yi Net..."A Real Disaster Averted" ??

On 20 Jan 2009, IBSB-Yi Net along with the Crisis Management Team IBSB organised a half-a- day "Workshop on Disaster Management".

It had invitees including Maj Gen Naidu (AVSM, VSM) and Col Ravindranath ( Vir Chakra). Getting people was a real issue and luckily for us the General saved the day for us and gave an activity (War Game) that created interest and added value. (...Oh thank God !)

At the end of it a real 'Disaster' was averted.

Time and again the problem at IBSB is showing ....very very difficult to get people to meaningful functions.

The only programmes that succeed in IBS are dancing to music and hanging around the college building !!