The Scene outside my window

Reminds me of the good old times when the street actually used to look like as I have written below, when I used to sit in my room, wondering about a thousand questions, lost to the world, when things were beyond comprehension but promiseful.. ah the good old times!
P.S. The photo in the post is courtesy http://travel-cities.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/pk15.jpg

A big pillar,
with a lot of wires.

A huge gate,
street beggars' fate.

A long street,
not looking sweet.

A lot of hustle and bustle,
eveytime, a crowd of vehicles.


A noice of trin trin of bicycles,
horns - of cars, scooters and bikes as well.

Thrill and excitement of the children playing on the road,
pushing each other, shouting, looking each one odd.

Hawkers, selling fruits, vegetables and various other items,
ladies bragaining for the price, each one as if in a rhythm.

On the corner of the street, are lanes of shops.
Buy whatever you want, a notebook to write in, a knife to chop.

Just in the front, tinkling of bangles can be heard.
On the top of walls, or on TV antennas, nests are made by birds.

The more I watch, the more I can see,
Still it is not visible - Who are you? Who is me?

Rachna
10th April 2003

But where, but when?

I want myself to be there.


Where? one may ask, where?

Of course there, where I want to be.

But where that place is supposed to be?

Is it somewhere near the zone of peace?

Near the abode of God, a bit like heaven?

Or somewhere near the zone of feelings?

Near the holy place, likely to be a museum?

Somewhere, where I can feel my existence.

where I can have a talk with myself, nonsense.

of course there, where I want to be.

but where that place is supposed to be?

Somewhere, where I can communicate with myself,

where I can discover myself,

where I can do whatever I want,

where there is no one to block my hand.

of course there, where I want to be.

but where that place is supposed to be?

Near a flowing stream or offshore,

some other place which is not so bore,

near a snow covered mountain,

maybe near a natural fountain,

of course there, where I want to be.

but where that place is supposed to be?

I don't know, when I 'll be there?

I don't know, then I 'll be where?

Perhaps, I 'll reach there sometime

Perahps, I 'll reach somewhere then,

But where? But when?

Rachna

3rd September 2002

Effective Communication: Why and How? - My CC2

How many of you like a pizza?

Which brand, Pizza hut/ Dominos/ Pizzeria/ Papa John

I pity those who like Dominos: Why

Ok, here is a story:

Some 2 months back, there was this guy and girl sitting in a dominos outlet, terribly bored.

They decided to have some fun. Now don’t let your imaginations run wild. The girl started shooting the guy as he did something like cheese in his nose, dough under his armpits, inside his trousers, spitting and sneezing loudly on the pizza. Yuck right, this was exactly the reaction of millions of people, Who, in April 2009, saw the videos of these two Domino's employees, Kristy Hammonds and Michael Setzer, in, North Carolina tampering with customer food.

Result- A single video on net, the fastest and most wide spread means of communication put the reputation of more than 1.462 billion USD revenue company with 8,500 corporate and franchised stores in 55 countries at stake in less than few hours. The videos spread quickly online through blogs and Twitter and highlighted the vulnerability brands face today.

What did Dominos did then? They used the same tool updates were distributed through Twitter, the company’s Face book page and a response from Patrick Doyle, President of Domino's USA was posted on YouTube. Later, the duo were arrested and charged.

Would it have been possible but for the appropriate and timely action to communicate by Dominos?

This is what effective communication can do.

Communication is everyone's panacea for everything; Tom Peters said.

Whatever we say, no matter how small, has some effect. Take an example; when you dip your hand in a bucket full of water, take it out and leave it on top of the bucket, small droplets fall from the tips of the fingers. These droplets also create ripples on the water surface. Not waves, but ripples. It is not necessary that what we say may reform the world, but it sure can make a difference.

Now, as we know effective communication is important, the next logical question is- How do we do it?

“we want a wonderful wow wait-wait

you see the whole country of the system is just

opposition by the dev glowing

because you are spasticated by reparation”

What?? All the people shouted the same ‘What’ when Mr. Bachchan sang this in his famous movie- ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’.

There are two basic problems with it.

1) Speed

2) Unnecessary use of big words

Many people think that loud words make them sound intelligent. But the truth is we all want to hear or read easily understandable sentences.

As for speed, every one of us (counting me) wants to say so much at so many occasions that we speed up unconsciously.

Communication can be understood as process starting from source, encoding, channel, decoding and then receiving.

A problem with any of these result in wrong information or message being conveyed.

The most common barrier to effective communication can be summed up by this quote by GEORGE BERNARD SHAW: The problem with communication ... is the illusion that it has been accomplished.

We generally assume a lot of things while communicating which makes things complicated. So, when speaking we can take advantage of facial expressions and body language. We should speak like the other person knows nothing at all and listen as if we are on the same level as the speaker. This helps a speaker as well as a listener prepare for the conversation and hence ensures better communication.

Also, when communicating, it is also very important to give due credit to quotes/ views/ ideas if they do not belong entirely to you. This ensures a healthy relationship between individuals and prevents conflicts. Here I take the opportunity to thank Mr. Kiruba Shankar, CEO Business Blogging from whom I took the idea of this speech.

Lastly, I cannot talk more about communication in the assigned time, it being a vast topic and respect of time being one of the must followed rules of the same, I shall stop here with just one statement to ponder upon, The quote from ANNE MORROW LINDBERGH, Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.

( This speech was delivered at Deloitte Hyderabad Toastmasters Club on 12th of June 2009)