Porcelain Unicorn

*British film director Sir Ridley Scott launched a global film making contest for aspiring directors. * *It's titled "Tell It Your Way". There were over 600 entries. The film could be no longer than three minutes, contain only 6 lines of narrative & be a compelling story. * *The winner was "Porcelain Unicorn" from American director Keegan Wilcox. It's a story of the lifetimes of two people who are totally opposite, yet, very much the same - all told in less than 3 minutes. You'll see why it won.* Click here: Porcelain Unicorn />

In the Name of Peace

The Nobel Peace Prize “The said interest shall be divided into five equal parts, which shall be apportioned as follows: /- - -/ one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” (Excerpt from the will of Alfred Nobel) Every time I hear of a new winner announced for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, there is curiosity and then the bitter taste of bile. Why, you might wonder? Well, I think the prize lost permanent sheen when it failed to take cognizance of an Indian gentleman called M.K. Gandhi who took on the might of the British Empire and rattled it for good measure all in the name of peace and independence. He would have been an outstanding example as a torch bearer for peace. Gandhi did not get the prize. I'm not sure he cared, but the committee that awards the prize does and recently 'regretted' that they failed to recognize the man and his amazing greatness. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded by a committee of five persons who are chosen by the Norwegian Storting (Parliament of Norway), Oslo, Norway. It is no surprise that, a 'spiritual' Guru from Bangalore was said to have made frequent trips to the Scandinavian capital to canvass for the medal for himself. Apparently he did not make the cut and returned disappointed. Maybe he should read Alfred Nobel's will a tad more carefully. Squatting on vast tracts of land in a third world country does not qualify one as a potential for the medal. Some prize winners are: 2009 Barack H. Obama 1994 Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin 1990 Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev 1983 Lech Walesa The last named a shipyard worker at Gdansk in Poland took on the might of the Soviet Union and lead Poland to freedom while Gorbachev was the architect of the breakup of the Soviet Union. Both events suited the West. Gandhi's movement quite does not fall into that category does it? I would be very impressed if the Peace Prize would go to Fidel Castro. Remember old Fidel kicked a corrupt President Batista out of Cuba in a people's revolution and has since thumbed his nose at the collective West. Who are people who received the prize around Gandhis moment in the sun in 1947? 1950 Ralph Bunche 1949 Lord (John) Boyd Orr of Brechin 1948 No Nobel Prize was awarded this year. The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section. 1947 Friends Service Council (The Quakers), American Friends Service Committee (The Quakers) 1946 Emily Greene Balch, John Raleigh Mott 1945 Cordell Hull. Brunche and Hull were both American diplomats/politicians who were involved with Palestine and the United Nations. The first a simmering quagmire of hate and violence and the second being close to being defunct. In the midst of this was this little man who was leading India to freedom, while the Quakers were receiving the medal. I would not be surprised if the Guru from our own Bengaluru, has the little shiny around his neck one of these days!

Pizza for Two and an act of generosity

Italy has agreed to pay 10 million rupees each to the families of two Indian fishermen allegedly shot dead by Italian marines who mistook them for pirates.
This has muddied the waters in India, a bit, as many feel it would be the route that the Italians would take to get way for waht people feel is murder, after all the fishermen were shot in cold blood ostensibly without any provocation by well-armed and professionally trained men.
Italian Defense Minister Giampaolo Di Paola confirmed that his government would compensate the families with 10 million rupees each, saying it was an out-of-court "act of generosity."
The important point is that the company that own the ship is not making the payment and a reflection of the fact of how interconnected are trade and politics in the present day world.
The fishermen -- Valentine, and Ajeesh were killed when the two marines, deployed on the oil tanker Enrica Lexie, opened fire on February 15, 2012 off the coast of the southern state of Kerala.
The two marines were arrested by Kerala police and have been in judicial custody since February 20. The compensation would facilitate the withdrawal of compensation claims made by the families of the fishermen but not the criminal case of murder which is outside their purview.
Interestingly the families had also charged the captain of the oil tanker of negligence and murder and it would be interesting to see how that charge plays out, as it would have huge ramifications on the marine community's views on carrying armed soldiers on board trading ships. This was an accident waiting to happen, as the marines operate in a grey shadowy area where authority is not clearly defined and it is not clear who they are answerable to. The ills of a matrix organization one might say, worse when you have cowboys on the loose.
The Italian government feels that its citizens are being illegally detained as the incident occurred outside India’s territorial waters and want the case transferred to an international court. Till that happens, if it does, the Italians would have to live off Cochin’s very best pizza and pasta.

Bengaluru Boys

The other day as I sat down to watch the Royal Challengers of Bengaluru play the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League at Bengaluru I was struck at the emotional discord that Rahul Dravid seemed to be going through as he went out for the toss. Rahul received huge applause from a partisan Bengaluru crowd...they were cheering the enemy. Rahul Dravid skippers the RR from Jaipur.
The enormity of playing against your home team at a ground where you learnt your cricket must have sunk in, even as the crowd chanted his name. Rahul Dravid is talked about as the next big thing in cricket administration and one day is expected to be the chairman of the International Cricket Council, the premier role in cricket administration. The cap stone, to a wonderful career on and off the cricket field.
As Rahul Dravid, left the centre, post the toss, there was this other bloke, in the RCB dug out looking relaxed and cheerful. Another Bengaluru boy and legend, Anil Kumble now mentors the RCB. Anil played for the RCB a couple of years and retired immediately on hearing that he was not selected by the RCB. His reason for quitting was that he could not dream of playing against Bengaluru, should he be selected by another franchise, as in the case of Rahul Dravid. The ethos and principle is fantastic. One loves the game and just wants to play, the other wants to play within defined parameters and not against his own ex collegues. Both made their choices and right in their own way and both fantastic role models and individuals.
Importantly both great Bengaluru boys!
As Shakespeare said in A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.

The Circus in town

The patriotic fervor displayed by the honorable Corporaters of the BBMP in Bengaluru has been a touching sight. The gentlemen have been clamoring nay agitating for free passes to the Indian Premier League (IPL) games played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium .The further demand is that the passes be for the ‘VIP’ enclosure, where they can watch the matches with ‘dignity’.
Why should they get these passes? Why not, they are the people’s representative and have been elected by the people of Bengaluru. Did the people elect them to watch a cricket circus,in style, is another question.
A few days ago, I had the opportunity of travelling by a ‘City Bus’, the common name for public transport in Bengaluru, a practice I gave up almost thirty years ago for the comfort of my own car or a cab. After years of traipsing around in ships, aircraft and chauffer driven car’s I got a taste of what the common man endures when he/she has to travel in overcrowded, rickety buses which seem to bounce rather than run on our cratered roads.
Since, this was a ‘private’ public bus, it carried a TV, which showed a Kannada flick where the hero, a policeman seemed to be in a perpetual rage and wanting to beat the living daylights out of every gent that crossed his path. The movie was particularly engrossing as much of the population of the bus were glued to the small screen and barely seemed to notice the rough ride that we were being dished out. In its decline the emperors of Rome, fed their people on circuses where people and animals slaughtered each other. A ploy, to keep the hoi polloi from questioning their excesses.
Now one may ask, as to who is responsible for the roads in this fair city? Apparently the same honorable gentlemen who want to watch cricket in dignity. A good question would be,’ Can we travel in dignity?’
With the way in which the Bangalore boys are performing or rather not performing, it might soon come to pass that the honorable torch bearers of the BBMP may not be interested in free passes to the circus anymore. After all who wants the company of a loser? There is no dignity in losing, is there?
As for the bus ride, I quite enjoyed it, simply because it shook me out of my sedated and cocooned world and screamed; “Welcome to India”. The real India that is. The one I had left about thirty years ago, where the guy who battles the city bus on a daily basis, tries to do it with dignity and does not think of the IPL, where grown men, sweaty and tense in pajamas hurl a leather ball and attack it with a wooden stick, watched by a baying crowd.

pic is by J Vedamurthy

A leg up for the HR Manager

In the United States of America a recent ranking has indicated that 'Human Resource Managers' occupy spot # 3 in the best jobs category. That is a huge lift for all HR professionals, considering that many in India think that it is a job for women or worse thinks that HR Managers are back office paper pushers.
Why is the HR Manager's job rated so high on the list? The obvious answer would be that in a knowledge economy Human Resources are the key differentiator that lend a competitive and cutting edge to an organization and so the HR Manager is a much wanted man/woman. In terms of Job Design and Motivation Theory it would translate into the job having a huge 'Job Identity' and 'Task Significance'. HR Managers are very important.
People would like their jobs to have an impact on the fortunes of their organization and when that is recognized it translates into job satisfaction.HR as a profession has seen major changes and from being a common sense practice has gone on to be concept driven, backed by research and empirical data.
I for one 'am hugely pleased as would be many in the HR family!

http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/2012-ranking-200-jobs-best-worst