Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Moving Experience
Saturday, February 19, 2005
My Work at Microsoft !
I thought its time I wrote about work, since I seem to have covered everything from food to sports, and general musings about life. The primary reason I am here is to get an insider’s view on the role of a multinational in society. Of course sitting on the 16th floor of a 600 storey company can give you only a limited view to things, but it does give you a fair idea of what is going on and leave the rest to your imagination, observation etc. Coming to what the hell I am doing:
History: Microsoft has believed in philanthropy for a long time, but it decided to focus most of their efforts on the issue of Digital inclusion, an interesting bit of trivia, did you know that Manhattan has more internet connections than the whole of Africa. So this is something Microsoft wants to work on, educating and empowering more people with the use of technology with a focus on the disadvantaged. Their mission is to educate 10 million people in Africa apart from the other millions in other parts of the world, on the use of Information Technology, setup easy access centers in rural areas and see how technology can be innovatively used in daily life of people. They call it the Unlimited Potential .
So what the hell am I dong here? Well they started this program around 1 and a half years back and it is at a nascent stage of development. Initially they would find partners, develop a project and execute. They had neither target nor any impact indicators that they kept in mind. After having beta tested this for the last 1.5 years, learning from mistakes and developed best case practices, they have decided to create a long term plan for the region. It is this process of long term planning that I am working on.
So my work is going to involve translating Microsoft’s Regional vision into various subsidiaries, assist in creating planning templates that will help the subsidiaries plan more objectively keeping in mind their strengths and weaknesses and the socio-economic impact that they can create, giving some direction to the way they plan ( I need some direction on my life plan too) facilitating workshops at regional meetings etc. Of course the 'jhadu pota' comes along with it, the PowerPoint’s, Excel sheets and Word documents. But hey what the hell, that’s what I learnt in AIESEC for 4 years and now, putting in to good use. At a later stage I am told I will also be involved in creating a long term plan for the Region on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
I am excited about traveling to the World bank knowledge forum in Ankara on 'Private sectors engagement with NGOs' and would be interesting to understand the perspective doing the rounds in this part of the world. All in all I think this place is giving me a very good idea of the real time challenges of a multinational in aligning and implementing its vision of social responsibility into reality.
Looking forward to my job as the excitement develops!
History: Microsoft has believed in philanthropy for a long time, but it decided to focus most of their efforts on the issue of Digital inclusion, an interesting bit of trivia, did you know that Manhattan has more internet connections than the whole of Africa. So this is something Microsoft wants to work on, educating and empowering more people with the use of technology with a focus on the disadvantaged. Their mission is to educate 10 million people in Africa apart from the other millions in other parts of the world, on the use of Information Technology, setup easy access centers in rural areas and see how technology can be innovatively used in daily life of people. They call it the Unlimited Potential .
So what the hell am I dong here? Well they started this program around 1 and a half years back and it is at a nascent stage of development. Initially they would find partners, develop a project and execute. They had neither target nor any impact indicators that they kept in mind. After having beta tested this for the last 1.5 years, learning from mistakes and developed best case practices, they have decided to create a long term plan for the region. It is this process of long term planning that I am working on.
So my work is going to involve translating Microsoft’s Regional vision into various subsidiaries, assist in creating planning templates that will help the subsidiaries plan more objectively keeping in mind their strengths and weaknesses and the socio-economic impact that they can create, giving some direction to the way they plan ( I need some direction on my life plan too) facilitating workshops at regional meetings etc. Of course the 'jhadu pota' comes along with it, the PowerPoint’s, Excel sheets and Word documents. But hey what the hell, that’s what I learnt in AIESEC for 4 years and now, putting in to good use. At a later stage I am told I will also be involved in creating a long term plan for the Region on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
I am excited about traveling to the World bank knowledge forum in Ankara on 'Private sectors engagement with NGOs' and would be interesting to understand the perspective doing the rounds in this part of the world. All in all I think this place is giving me a very good idea of the real time challenges of a multinational in aligning and implementing its vision of social responsibility into reality.
Looking forward to my job as the excitement develops!
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Ghar Ka Khana!
Okay I know its been a while since I last wrote but have been horribly caught up in a lot of other things including work, reflection and laziness. But as promised in my previous post I have to give the cooking update. After curry house I had made up mind to cook some Indian food. Atleast give it a good shot. I think cooking has always been one of my hidden passions that I havent done full justice to. Being away from home and india is giving me a good platform to do so, also with no crystal(my favourite ghar ka kahan place on chowpatty) on the corner the motivation is even more.
I wont ramble too much about the cooking but let the pictures do the talking :) The food was consumed ek dum desi style with hands!
Doing it the Indian way (cristiano from portugal)
The south american drug lord!
I wont ramble too much about the cooking but let the pictures do the talking :) The food was consumed ek dum desi style with hands!
Doing it the Indian way (cristiano from portugal)
The south american drug lord!
Friday, February 04, 2005
Curry House!
Have you heard of a Pakistani-Indian? Well thats the caption of one of the few Indian eating places
That is the name of the Indian restaurant in Ishteklal, we decided to pay it a visit in our quest of doing something exciting. I put on my Fab India shirt and we were ready to go. On our way to the restaurant, I was explaning the diversity of Indian cusine (with my limited knowledge ofcourse) to everyone :) We were finally there. It appeared to be a nice and cozy place. Now to the ordering, we ordered good ol' butter chicken, Kadhai gosht, Daal Tadka, chapati. The food in my opinion was really bad, nothing short of dissapointing. The quantity was pathetic, 8 small pieces of chicken for about Rs 450. All in all a good change from the usual Kebabs and soup.
This has definetly given me the motivation to cook Indian food here. The masala's and the spices are in, and the first Indian feast cooked :) More on that soon!
All of us at Curry House
Clockwise Bassilio, Nikki, Me, Seaun, Eva and Ashfaque
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Unreasonable?
I just seem to be in that sort of a mood right now that forces me to put down the following quotes:-
Reasonable men adapt themselves to their environment; un-resonable men try to adapt their environment to themselves. Thus all progress is the result of the efforts of unreasonable men.
No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or 'get rich' in business by being a conformist
At the end of the day, in our materialistic world it is easy to foget that creativity is a spirutal event. The emergence of something new goes beyond sight, touch and cost benefit analysis. It is the passion and your ability to believe in yourself that matters more than anything else!
So Random you might say, what will follow will offer context soon.
Cheers!
Reasonable men adapt themselves to their environment; un-resonable men try to adapt their environment to themselves. Thus all progress is the result of the efforts of unreasonable men.
--George Bernard Shaw
No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or 'get rich' in business by being a conformist
--J Paul Getty
At the end of the day, in our materialistic world it is easy to foget that creativity is a spirutal event. The emergence of something new goes beyond sight, touch and cost benefit analysis. It is the passion and your ability to believe in yourself that matters more than anything else!
So Random you might say, what will follow will offer context soon.
Cheers!
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Quarter Life Crises?
"
They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.
You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.
You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.
Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused.
Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.
You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!
"
They call it the "Quarter-life Crisis." It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.
You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.
You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.
Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure. You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused.
Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.
You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!
"
