A for Auri

Ok. I know the title is puzzling you! But then that’s what prompted this post...

Aurindam (Auri) got an 'A' !!!

No, no, this is not a board result of a high-schooler. Yes, result but of a different kind…

Aurindam works for an Indian major dealing in watches and lifestyle products, in their watch service division. The annual PLP (Performance-Linked Pay) ratings have been announced. And, you guessed it right Aurindam got an ‘A’ rating, the best possible. It becomes even more special by the fact that only two employees got ‘A’ rating in the whole of East and North East India – that is a cool 9-10 states combined. Phenomenal, Aurindam deserves a standing ovation!

The larger point?

Well, there is nothing like a fair and transparent review of performance. Aurindam has been an outstanding worker to my personal knowledge but had a pretty tough last year, both on personal and professional fronts. Despite this his boss and peers stood by him in his hours of trial like a rock and supported him throughout. Aurindam on his part left no stone unturned to do his best, as always. The outcome has thrilled everyone.

It just goes on to emphasize that a supportive work environment, a supportive boss, a fair, objective and transparent performance review and rewarding the right person in the right manner at the right time, are perhaps the biggest engagers at work.

Keep it simple, guys! Engagement is not a rocket science.

And yes, for once raise a toast to Auri!

  

‘Three cheers man, way to go!!!’

Success ≠ Happiness (always)

> In a barbaric incident, a man was beaten to death in frontof his kids in a case heinous case of road rage in New Delhi. 

> Few days back amentally ill pilot of German Wings took down with him more than 150 unsuspecting passengers to dust and doom. The pilot had been diagnosed for having suicidal intentions earlier. Innocent lives were devastated by one man’s act of madness. 

> Couple of days back two pilots of Air India fought inside the cockpit during a flight. The co-pilot reportedly thrashed the pilot upon given certain instructions for work by the latter. For engaging in uncivil behaviour and for endangering the lives of hundreds of passengers on board, both pilots were derostered and inquiry is pending. 

Could they just be dismissed as separate stray indents of violence? A closer look reveals that all these incidents have one thing in common - People who engaged in extremely violent behaviour did so with little or no immediate provocation. Short fuse blowing up in a 'sudden death' is becoming common these days. Could this short fuse and sudden random violent behaviour be related to the worsening mental health of people?

The mental health statistics in India is worrisome and shows that a large percentage of people suffer from mental disorders. That should not be automatically equated with lunacy, but recognized like any other disease and treated. Unfortunately our social norms and perceptions are a barrier to the same. A World Health Organisation (WHO) report on suicides (2000-2012) puts India right on top of the list in Southeast Asia. In India 10.9 persons every lakh committ suicide; suicides being the second leading cause of death among people in the age group of 18-29 years. 

The rising levels of anxiety, stress, and depression is unwanted perk that comes with modern day living in an uncertain but busy world and uncertain but turbulent times. Most of the jobs these days are high stress ones, leaving very little to chance or margin for error. Jobs, organizations, institutions may disappear suddenly because of economic calamity or terror attacks. Modern day living also comes with zero personal space, very little privacy and high peer pressure on social media. 

Most of people live their life on EMIs. Loss of jobs suddenly means crashing of income and inability to pay EMI. That may mean doom for many. Health Stress is also at an all-time high. Number of young people with cardiac problems or high blood pressure has increased drastically. Audrey Tsui calls this ‘Cost of Rising Prosperity’.

Stress, anxiety and depression problems are not only in adults but also amongst kids. They face intense competition. A ‘Winner takes it all’ kind of culture has been created for them, mostly by parents and teachers who themselves faced with fast-paced competitive world think that their kids need to outperform every time. That creates undue high expectations from the kids, who many times crumble under pressure. The rising number of teen suicides is an ample testimony to the kind of pressures they are subjected to.

The vicious cycle of Anxiety, Stress and Depression is a silent killer till it all explodes one day. Worst, people either do not realize that they suffer from anxiety or stress or they fear to come out in the open for fear of social stigma. 

When Deepika Padukone, a famous Bollywood celebrity, openly talked about facing depression herself, the frailties of the modern world was exposed. Success always does not mean happiness as well. Deepika after all is one of the most successful stars. But kudos to her for coming out in the open and sharing with the world. That should motivate few more to do the same and seek solutions to their mental problems.

Stress and depression is like a silent bomb ticking away, waiting to explode. And when it does, it does so with devastating effect.  Effective measures are important to deal with the same. The measures may be both preventive and curative. 

However first recognizing poor mental health as an urgent pressing problem, not only at a media or thinker-group level but also at institutional and societal levels, is important. That will ease the social norms and make it safe for people to come out in the open and seek remedies for their mental health issues. 

It is important to remember that all it may take many time to relieve stress/anxiety may be a listening ear, a compassionate heart and a healing touch. Do not forget to extend that to whoever you can.

For more read, You Can Beat Your Stress

Beware!!! BigBasket.com Throws Customers Out of the Basket

Online grocery store Big Basket has been our regular when it came to grocery shopping. Recently we shifted our address. We duly updated our address and our initial apprehensions that Big Basket may not deliver to the new address was put to rest when the website (http://bigbasket.com/ ) accepted our new address. It in fact even prompted us to locate the new address on the map and we did the same. Our address on the Big Basket website was confirmed. We spent couple of hours to log our grocery orders for the month as we do every time. This was 5^th April.

On 6^th April further to confirm that the delivery will happen to the new address, I call up the customer care number only to be reassured that the delivery will be done as scheduled on Tuesday 7^th April in the 7:30-10 p.m. slot.

Cut to 7^th at 1:52 p.m. I receive a mail that shows order modification as one of the items that we ordered was not available. This was also a regular feature every month, which further assured me that the delivery was very much on. Finally, at 2:30 p.m. (just couple of hours before the scheduled delivery) we receive a call that our order cannot be delivered as the location is outside the delivery area.

Worst a mail follows that reads and I quote – ‘As requested by you we have canceled your order #BBO-2342642-060415 due for delivery on Tue 07 Apr 2015 between 07:30 pm and 10:00 pm.’

Requested by me???

Big Basket not delivering is not a problem. After all we were surviving before that as well. What is disappointing is the way Big Basket treated us despite us being customers for fairly long time. Making us work all the way and making us wait till about the last moment before waking-up to dismiss our order was nonchalant and rude. When I called up their number and stated all this they have lame excuses that did not do me any good. I even requested them that the least they could do is to deliver at least this time considering the loss of time that they have inflicted on us through their operational glitches. That was also turned down.

At a time when retailers are scurrying to attract more and more customers, the behaviour of Big Basket is unprofessional and disengaging.

Beware!!! Stick to the neighborhood grocery store or to the hypermart. Big Basket is throwing customers out of their basket.

By the way there is some good news for Bigbasket, Amazon is starting Kirana Now wherein it will deliver everyday grocery essentials to customer’s doorstep in 2-4 hours. May Amazon’s Kirana Now wipe away all worthless baskets!