more than a year later

Its been more than a year since I posted anything... its been a hectic one year, in which i have not done much than work... its been so much work that only the career growth that has come by my way has been any justification for the lack of attention to anything else... but its kind of time for me to break the shackles and get back to the world... one of the items in the list is to resume this blog... and make it reflect life...

barefoot in the park...

Chennai can get boring at times... especially when u have seen all the movies around and have no where to go except the beach... though the beach any day is good enough for me, something different is always welcome... thats how i landed up at the sivagami pethachi auditorium to watch the theatre group Evam perform their adaptation of "Barefoot in the Park" (a 1951 classic on the broadway and the silver screen). I was happy that I did. It was 3 hours of good entertainment. Evam is a talented bunch of actors and they showed it off. Karthik, playing Paul Bratter, was simply superb. So was Andrea playing Corie. However, the Karthik Srinivasan playing Corey's mom took the cake, along with Neelakantan who played Victor Velasco. Overall, a terrific performance, including the piece where they took the audience out of the audi (a neat idea) without losing the continuity or the charm of the story. This was my first real theatre experience in chennai and I am indeed bowled over by Evam. Chennai needs something as exciting as this and I only hope there is a lot more theatre on offer. I missed Footsbarn in chennai as I tried unsuccessfully to get a ticket in the last minute, but I am sure I am going to be on the watch out for something different to do over the weekends from now onwards, especially if it has something to do with theatre.

Movies and the beach (as lovely as it is) are passe!!!

The hindu review: http://www.hindu.com/fr/2005/02/11/stories/2005021102370500.htm
Evam's blog: http://evamentertainment.blogspot.com/
Some more at http://www.digantik.com/Digantik/artenglish%20theatrefeb08.htm

This one is for techies looking for a job...

Sumit, from the class of 05 requested me to post this... Here you go dude...

http://sumitdhar.blogspot.com/2005/02/tech-job-opportunities.html

For the first time, I am directly responsible for appraising the performance of my team. Given that we operate pretty much like a startup, I have the mandate to devise ways to evaluate a team that was wholly recruited by me in the past 6 months. More difficult is the task to define clear and understandable metrics that I will have to use to measure the objectives I am going to set for them for the coming 6 months.

Like many others, I feel performance appraisals are never "once in 6 months" affairs. Its a continous process. That of the employee constantly understanding what is expected of him and the supervisor constantly modifying and adapting the objectives and metrics to take care of the changing ecosystem at work. That applies a lot more in a very dynamic environment like the one I am in.

Diligent course correction of performance objectives and metrics is something I have missed seeing in most of the teams I have been part of so far. The reasons for this has been many, including a lack of understanding of the importance of course correction, lack of communication between the superior and the subordinate, lack of time and lack of the required importance to be given to this process. Often, this results in a disconnect when the actual appraisal happens, The employee thinks he has done what was needed of him very well, while the superior comes up with his expectations which were not met. Often those expectations are communicated but at the same time are not factored into the objectives and metrics in the appraisal system. Hence, the objectiveness of the changing expectations are never completely clear to the employee until the appraisal comes along.

This is going to be my first experience at giving this thing a shot myself. Its going to be ineteresting.

Tsumani - Help!!!

Please read the mail below, received from a friend who works for Aid India.

FYI, Aid India is an organization started by Indians who studied in the USA and wanted to give back to India. Their India office, from where the NGO work is being coordinated in Tamilnadu is in Chennai at the following address:AID-IndiaOld No 132, New No 242, Avvai Shanmugam RoadGopalapuram, Chennai - 600 086Ph: 044- 28350403, 28115058
You can also donate online to Aid India @ http://www.aidindia.org/aidadmin/OneforIndiaDonate.jsp?p=Relief

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Dear Friends,
(If one of you can send this on the PHA NCC group - please do so. Also if the above emails bounce, please send it to the groups you can.)

Reporting from Chennai about the Relief efforts on the Tsunami hit areas. Please use the information here to collect donations, clothes, medicines, write up proposals for the rehab work, etc.

After the initial shock and chaos, we are now quite well organized to handle the relief efforts. A number of organizations have started working together to handle the relief work - AID, TNSF, Pondicherry Science Forum, DYFI, Vidyarambam, Pratham and the PHM Organizations. We have formed a quick informal coalition to coordinate this work. As of now the state level coordination is being done from the AID-India office in Gopalapuram Chennai.

We are together working on relief efforts in Chennai, Cuddalore and Pondicherry, Nagapattinam and Kanyakumari.

The relief work is planned in 3 phases:
(1) Immediate Relief - food, clothing, blankets, temporary shelter, medicines and health camps for emergencies and epidemics
(2) Second Level Relief - Construction of huts and houses and health needs
(3) Third Level Relief - Livelihood needs for the families affected - forming cooperatives and providing livelihood support like boats, nets etc.

Right now all our focus in on the first phase.
In Chennai - we have divided ourselves into 3 teams:
1. Collection and Information Team: This team will handle calls, receive donations of money, clothes, medicines, blankets and vessels and send receipts, give information on the current status of relief work. This team will also give out press releases, send out email reports and call for further donations based on the needs. This is the team that people from outside must contact.
The people to contact:
Bharati/Manohar/Hari (AID office - 044-28350403),Ravishankar (IIT Prof) (94440-84910),Chandra Anil (9382330752, 044-28350403)Smitha, Kalyani (98401-73800)Vibha Ravindran (98402-63275)Balaji Sampath (94440-61033, 28350403(O))(I - Balaji - may not be available for the next 4 days as Iam going toNagai and Cuddalore to help with the field coordination.)
2. Allocation and Distribution: This team will get the needs from various field locations, sort the materials collected,divide it up for different locations based on the need and send it to the field coordinators for distribution.
3. Field Team: In each area we have a team of volunteers who will be coordinating the relief efforts and distribution ofmaterials.

In Chennai we have started the relief work in 5 areas: Pattinampakkam (Foreshore Estate) Tiruvanmiyur Olcott Kuppam Kottivakkam Royapuram

In each area we have allocated 2 people to coordinate with the distribution. These 2 people are taking down names of people, family survey, needs survey and what is being distributed. The idea is that this individual rapport that is built will be useful in working with the people over the next few months - ensuring rehabilitation and livelihood as well. Every day as the collections are being done, the field coordinators will go to the relief camps to provide the people with what they need.

This is the plan everywhere - we work with a community, get a rapport during the initial relief phase and then work with them on the house constructions and livelihood rehab phase.
In Nagapattinam district - which is the worst hit in Tamilnadu - we have 3 organizations on the field working: Tamilnadu Science Forum, Vidyarambam and DYFI. We are also trying to get other orgns and the dist administration into a joint coordination effort. Many of our volunteers of who are from fishing villages have died and so have many of the children studying in the support centers. Ranganathan from Vidyarambam left yesterday from Chennai with a van load of clothes and relief materials. Locally DYFI and TNSF have collected some materials and started the distribution. We have sent them some immediate funds and I will be taking more funds and relief materials with me today.

In Cuddalore district - we have TNSF, PSF and DYFI working together. A cholera epidemic seems to be starting in both Cuddalore and Nagai - we are sending out preventive information pamphlets and are also taking medicines for the people there. Senthil Babu has gone there yesterday.

In Kanyakumari - MALAR is coordinating the relief efforts. Many of the villages where they are working have been washed away. We have sent Rs.30,000 yesterday and will be sending more.
I am leaving in a truck with Charles, Damu and Jagdish - with the relief materials collected here today. Will be leaving from AID office by about 5:00 pm. I will first go to Pondicherry and then to Cuddalore There we will meet with the local TNSF and DYFI and other teams to plan the relief rehab work for the next 1-2 weeks. Damu will stay there to continue helping with the work there as well as to keeping giving the collection/allocation teams in Chennai info about what is going on and what are the current needs.

Then the truck will go to Nagai and meet with the teams there - to plan out a joint relief coordination and also plan for the long term rehab work needed. Charles and Jagdish will stay there for at least a week or ten days and work with the teams there - and also send us back information about what is happening.

AID Bangalore volunteers have collected funds and a truck load of relief materials - they will be coming to Nagai and Cuddalore directly today.

What we need in terms of collections:
1. Money - lots of it - for buying quick relief materials as well as for the long term. There are many people contributing and wanting to contribute. Please collect it from people and send it to the AID office: Cheques can be made in the name of AID-India and sent to:
AID-India
Old No 132, New No 242,Avvai Shanmugam Road
Gopalapuram, Chennai - 600 086
(In the US - collections are being done by AID-US - you can contact 1-888-TALK-2-AID or 301-209-0508 for more details. Vibha is also doing collections for this.)

2. Clothes - particularly blankets

3. Food - rice, wheat and dal - as grains for cooking and using over the next one week.

4. Medicines (antibiotics, ORS, bandages, cotton, etc - basic first aid).

5. Doctors - people willing to stay in Nagai and Cuddalore and treat people in health camps.

6. Vessels
For the second and third phase we are planning on community groups and cooperatives that will jointly construct housing and buy boats, etc.
The total immediate relief budget (from my initial estimate) is about Rs.20 Lakhs. This may go up to about Rs.40 Lakhs. (This is what we need - ourselves and the other NGOs and community groups that we are working apart from what the government is providing.)
The long term relief budget needed is more than a few crores - but whatever we can get we can make use of. One boat for 50 people costs about Rs. 1 Lakh. We will need about 10 boats for each community and will be working with about 100 communities - a total of about Rs. 10 crores. Housing will cost about Rs. 50,000. There are more than 50,000 people who need this help. You can calculate the total budget required! We will of course also use the government relief support and try to reach to the most needy. But in spite of government funds, there will be a lot of need for rehab support that we will need directly as well.

Please use the information above to raise funds and collect the materials and to send out appeals. You can also draft short proposals to submit to your companies and other groups that may be able to give grants for the above purposes.

There has so far been a great response from all our volunteers and a lot of individuals from everywhere are contacting us with offer for help. People from Bangalore, villages in Vembakkam and Banavaram, Colleges in Chennai (Stella, Ethiraj, IIT, etc), volunteers in the US, Software professionals, people from slums in Chennai, people living in flats, people from different NGOs, individuals, etc. But the scale of the problem is so much that we will need all the help we can get.
We will keep you updated with the information from the field regularly. Thanks a lot for all your help. If you need more specific info please contact:

Ravishankar - ravia@alumni.cmu.edu94440-84910, 28350403
Chandra - chanvish@yahoo.com9382330752, 044-28350403
Smitha Kalyani - smithakalyani@yahoo.com98401-73800
Vibha - vibha_ravindran@rediffmail.com98402-63275
Balaji (me - after 4-5 days) - balaji_sampath@hotmail.com 94440-61033
Kalpana - kalpa@vsnl.com 044-28361033

Bye,
Balaji Sampath

150 rupees a year...

I had an interesting human experience last week.

As I was leaving work on friday, around 11 pm in the night, I stopped at the nearest signal. It had been a tiring day and I was really looking forward to the weekend. The was a slight drizzle in the air. The temperature was pleasant and cool. As I was waiting impatiently for the green light, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was a young boy, around 12-13 years of age. He had a blue plastic bucket in his hand and was smiling brightly.

"Can you please drop me at the next signal sir?" he asked me in chennai tamil.

I am not one to offer a lift in general but this one was a kid. So I asked him to hop on. As we were driving towards the next signal, he spoke all of a sudden.

"Sir, I sell murukku in Velachery. I just finished the day's sales and now I am going back home to study...". I wondered why he told me that. But I was touched by the fact that he was going back to study. I liked his interest in studying.

I asked him, "Good. So, where is you house?".

"T.Nagar".

Pretty close to my place. So as I drove past the next signal I told him, "I will drop you there since I am going there as well". I saw him smile on the mirror. He said "Thanks".

I asked him, "So where do you study?".

"Corporation school sir". He paused. "Sir, can I ask you a favor?".

I thought this was another case where someone is going to ask me for money. I hate it when that happens. I am paranoid enough to believe that anyone who asks you money in the name of a favor is not being honest. I like to help people not by giving them money but in kind. I dont know why but I always have a suspicion about people who want only money. My kind hearted nature has been taken advantage of too many times for my comfort.

"My english teacher wants all of us to buy a workbook. But I dont have the money to buy it... Can you please buy me that book? It costs only 30 rupees. I know a book store that I open at this time in the night."

I was touched. Even before I could blink, I said, "Yes" and we started driving towards the bookshop. On the way, I asked him, "So what do your parents do?".

"My dad lost his job last month. Since then he has been drinking all the time. Even when he doesnt drink, his friends tempt him into a drink. Whatever little he earns now, he spends it all drinking. I have two sisters, one in the first standard and the other in the third standard. He doesnt care about any of us. My mom works as a maid and earns some money during the day. She then makes murukku in the afternoon and given it to me when I some back from school. We manage to make some money by selling it".

"Do you get any time to study then?"

"Yes sir. I get up at 6 in the morning and get atleast two hours to study. 8 o clock I go to school and some back at 3 pm. My mom keeps the murukku ready by that time. I take the bus to Velachery and sell it everyday until 10 in the night. By the time I come back home its 11 o clock. So, I get one more hour to study until I go to sleep at 12."

I wasn't speaking.

"I also study well sir. I get 2nd or 3rd rank always. Because I study well, my teachers like me a lot. This year I could not pay the school fees as we dont have the money. So I dont have the books or the uniform. But they dont complain because they know I study properly. I manage to borrow books and study."

Just as he said that, we were at the bookshop. Unfortunately the bookshop had just been closed. We went around the place looking for any other shops that could be open but all were closed. I could see the disappointment writ large on his face. I turned around and we
were back on the way to his house.

I felt a tinge of disappointment myself. Both of us did not speak for a minute. Then,

"How much is this year's fees for you?"

In a low tone, he said, "hundred and fifty rupees sir"

For a moment, it could not believe it. I did not know that all that it takes for a child to study for a whole year is a hundred and fifty bucks. I spend that money everytime I order a pizza. I tip waiters that much. The average drink in a swank pub costs that much, if not more. Have I ever thought even once before splurging that money on the tip or a pizza or a drink? How many of us know that the little amount of a hundred and fifty bucks can change a kid's life for a whole year, if not his whole life?

I was lost in my own thoughts. The kid wasnt speaking either. Maybe he was disappointed that he missed a good chance to get his book. We reached a spot close to his house and I decided to drop him there. As he got down, he said "thanks sir" and started walking. I pulled out my wallet, called him and gave him 500 bucks. He was hesitant when he saw the money but then smiled.

"Can I pay by school fees with this?" he said with a wide smile on his face. I said yes and before he could say a word, drove away. I was smiling from within. Somehow I felt, this money is going to play its part in making a boy's life.

Quizzes and Soaps

Nowadays television is dominated so much by all the cable channels. In homes which have a cable connection, the scene is dominated by the latest movies, soaps and cricket. No one seems to watch DD any longer. I was thinking that DD has sort of become the channel for the rural areas where there isnt any cable connection.

But over the last few weeks, I have been surprised by the fare thats on the DD tamil channel. DD has indeed transformed itself with the channel sporting the same kind of soaps, movie trailers, new movie songs through the night and other such shows. At the same time, some of the fare on DD has been far better than what you can find on other channels. One simple concept that DD has leveraged a lot has been live telephone call in shows. Yes, you have these song request shows on various channels which have been banal, but DD is not doing just that. For example every sunday morning, 10 am, the live sports quiz has been a great hit. Today, as I was flipping channels, I could not find better fare on any other channel at 10 in the morning. At least none of it was as exciting as this one. Come to think of it, quizzes make interesting programming always, more so in today's age of the internet and information hungry population. But one finds so little of quizzing shows on TV. Today's kids grow up so much on the scheming mother in laws and corrupt politicians of the soaps and movies that their parents watch and the various cartoons shows. There watch so little of informative programming from discovery or the pathetically little informative programming like quiz shows. While quizzing seems to be in short supply, atleast other kinds of good programs like the ones on NGC or discovery are still very much around but when do the kids get to watch them, given the prime time is full of soaps and the scheming characters that they are so full of.

Coming back to the DD program, it was great fun for over an hour. Though I tried hard but could not get a line to call, just the thrill of quizzing elevated my sunday morning experience. One only wishes that there is more of such good fare at prime time. After this one, I switch channels and there is this program on another channel which was matching answers by Moms and their kids to find out which mom knows her kid best!!! One question went, "Which is your kid's favorite song?". For those who know tamil movie songs, the mom answered "Appadi podu" and the kid answered "Manmada Raasa"!!!

Havent we had enough of movies and soaps?