Not All That Is New Is 'Innovation'

As markets get tougher, consumers get jaded and success stories rest around new age technology and technology integrated business models, one keeps hearing about the 'need to innovate'.

Having worked, all through, in Industries where the product solution is hundreds of years old (lead acid storage batteries to cement) and pushing teams and self to generate customer value, I have either been preached upon to innovate or have had to preach to sell an innovative idea.

All that is new is not necessarily innovative. Innovation is not about tweaking your product and service to increase sales. It is about empowering your consumer. Some essential questions to raise are, what does the new product or solution do for the customer.

Does it make the customer :-

Empowered to handle a situation with improved speed or quality

Empowered to take a better decision

Empowered to seek a better price or extract better value, in turn, from his customer

Realize, logically, how it improves his quality of life or brings him peace of mind

Pushing ideas through such a sieve of questions improves the robustness of the innovation process. While an ideal innovation story should begin with how a customer need was captured and a product or service solution emerged, in reality it is not always a chronological, step-by-step process. In reality, bright ideas are thrown up from many corners of the organisation. Validating an intuition or gut is a good start to encouraging innovation. 

Observation and listening are important elements in this process. While apparently sounding simple, this is probably the most complex part of the construct. If your systems are only about catching consumer need through formal customer discovery and research processes, you may end up with only those needs recognised through comparative evaluation of yours v/s competitions' offers. Ideas, therefore, need to be encouraged from many quarters. 

A customer facing field officer, many a times, captures needs but is not able to see the potential for development. It is very useful for the top management, from different streams, to make periodic market visits and capture these needs in conversation with the officers. In the peak power crisis times of the early 90's, in a previous battery manufacturing company, our insight was that customers staying in compact apartments had to keep their invertors and batteries in their drawing rooms. Batteries, then, were mere functional items designed by engineers to deliver efficient power. This organisation worked on the aesthetics and positioned their batteries as objects to put on display with pride. It enabled the customer to do away with an elaborate cabinet to store the system, delivering safety and cost savings.

Studying the category, might provide some important pointers. About a decade back, my current company, a cement major tested the hypothesis that an individual building his home and viewing it as a once in a lifetime project would be willing to pay a premium for the cement. Logical, as he was ready to invest in designer tiles, branded bathroom accessories and kitchen cabinets and surfaces. This triggered a survey to establish specifics about expectations from the cement. The insight - a consumer would like to leave the house unpainted till the first rains, to identify seepage points, if any. This provided a dual opportunity to design a product with assurance of void free bonding as well as a smooth and white external finish, that did not require an immediate coat of paint. Providing genuine value addition, to date this product remains best in class.

A recent debate in our organisation was whether driving innovation as a core value, we could build processes that encourage a new way of doing things across the organisation. And, also, whether this was sufficient to be recognised as an innovating organisation. While, encouraging new ways of streamlining operations, generating cost savings, driving collaboration and improving people skills is necessary, it is not sufficient. 

To be recognized as an innovating organisation, three essential requirements are : quantifiable customer value addition, significant time or cost advantage over competition and a demonstrated intent to improve on offers in regular frequency.

Interview 1994

This is a much older interview but I take the opportunity to speak of a gender neutral work environment. This has largely been my experience. It is equally important to be aware and safe and I have been very careful on that count, given my intensive touring.

Direct Dilse

A link (excerpt) of my chat with Jimmy Tangree on Direct Dilse, 91.9 Friends FM

https://facebook.com/jtangree/videos/10158111852510397/

Interview Hindustan Times, Kolkata February 25, 2008

Sananda Interview (Bengali) 2010

Club-a-Holiday

Traveling on work, while I do check into Reciprocal Clubs, it isn't always smooth sailing. Many Clubs are yet to move to efficient billing systems. Most close reception desk by early evening, only to open post 9 am. That does become a challenge if one is inclined to catch early morning flights or check in late after dinner. Over the years, I have opted out of Clubs in a few metros, preferring to stay in a hotel (with sometimes the added advantage of a loyalty program)

On a holiday, however, nothing is simpler than checking out a Club option. In the year gone by, I tried out for the first time, Clubs in London & Colombo as well stayed at the more familiar Madras Club and all time favourite Royal Mumbai Yacht Club.

A breakfast on the verandah or a drink at the Club bar (depending on when you check in) is the fastest way to settling in. Unlike the buffet breakfasts in five star hotels, where people are either stressed grabbing a quick bite on a working day (or stressing themselves to eat some more on a holiday), Clubs normally stay with a 2-course offer. The warm smile and good morning from other members, a common courtesy, is the clear differentiator. 

As for the bar, you would be sure to catch some of the best, traditional cocktails. Old time bartenders and the bond with regular members sharing or guiding them with recipes normally builds capability to make a good cocktail. What's more, from the second visit you do not need to remind a good bartender of your preference, ensuring a welcoming smile and drink as soon as you take the high stool.

The Club gossip is best caught in the smoking lounge. There is something that bonds this community and Club politics, cliques, elections etc go hand in hand with those lazy Sunday afternoon beer sessions. Most Clubs, also, have a signature snack or two. So, the RBYC would boast of the Eggs Kejriwal or Devil on Horseback. At the Colombo Swimming Club, you understandably get some lip smacking seafood and cuttlefish salads garnished with herbs and semi-sambol (dried fish and chilli powder). In fact, over the weekends most clubs serve the local fare. I recall having the best Hyderabadi biryani at The Secunderabad Club and of course mouth-watering delicacies like appam, stews and wattalappa (the Sri Lankan variant of caramel custard made with coconut milk) at the Colombo Swimming Club

Both, the Colombo Swimming Club and the RBYC have breath-taking views and the travel weary may opt to just relax in the room and read.

 The Colombo Swimming Club is practically on the beach, with an interesting railway line stretch between the Club boundary and the ocean. Every few minutes, you see a train chug by reminding you of Carl Muller's Yakada-yaka. Anyone with a love for photography could spend hours waiting to catch that perfect skyline shot.

The RBYC, of course, overlooks the Gateway of India and by day or night (with the heritage lighting) is a treat to photograph or just sit back and gaze at. The Club also offers the option of sailing from October to May and if you have only a weekend you can spend it well in and around the Club.

The Clubs in UK, define the ultimate Club ambiance. The Lansdowne Club offers a walking tour and boasts a slice of history. My preferred drink being gin, the bartender was happy to introduce me to what he termed 'a good sipping gin' - Berkley Square. The Sloane Club has many friendly faces at the bar but a decidedly formal ambiance in the dining hall. However, when Tuna tartare and the likes are on the menu, you don't mind concentrating on the serious task of eating. The weekend breakfasts at these clubs are sumptuous and true blue English - a healthy start to a touristy day in London.

Over the years what stays with you is the friendliness about a Club. Our singular experience was at the Carlton Club, London. A walking distance from the Houses of Parliament, located on St James Street, this is an unabashed Conservatives Club. It is an evening watering hole for the work weary. The couple of days that we stayed there, every drink was on the house. Friendly members were immensely keen on a conversation and a good drink was that essential facilitator. 

Of course, each of us have our own way of enjoying a holiday. If you are one for serious tourism (the kind that checks out on Google and covers every recommended sightseeing spot and eatery) this is not for you. Clubs require a laid-back approach and some degree of flexibility in your itinerary. Some members might also be a tad intrusive and you have to be comfortable with and ready to make new friends. Also, defined by rules, regulations and a closed membership process, each Club develops a character and ambiance of its own. So when you check in, stay open to being surprised.

A to Z Work Travelogue : A Bengali in Bangladesh

If there is one thing I have fallen sucker to, it is understated road travel distance and time by colleagues. There was one horrific Bombay - Baroda sector, when the NH was under construction. All night travel, quick change of clothes and straight into a tense discussion with an Auto major - but that is an altogether separate tale. A close second to that, is my road travel from Dhaka to Chittagaong. 

I landed in Dhaka, with all the required data to discuss business (or should I say the significant lack of it). Our distributor, had been exchanging mails with me, from Canada and assured me that he had a very competent manager to handle his business back home. My first visit, I didn't quite know where to begin. We chalked out a quick visit plan and I was convinced that Chittagong was the place to do business. Seemed logical that second hand Japanese vehicles were imported and refurbished in this port town, requiring new batteries. I was advised an early start, so that we could return the same day.

The next morning we started at 6 am. Our estimated time of arrival in Chittagong was 11am. Time has blurred most details of the drive, other than that the highway was under construction and the vehicle (luckily) was a comfortable Landcruiser. Stiff and exhausted we arrived at this major battery wholesalers well past 3 pm. Over the years I have shared a meal at many a dealer's residence but that afternoon the simple chicken curry, rather thick rotis and a couple of slices of onion, at this dealer outlet, is a taste that has stayed with me. The Chatgaiyya Chicken jhol, striking red in colour with a predominant flavour of roasted and ground cilantro seeds and garlic is a speciality of Chittagong and may be checked out on bengalicuisine.net or bongcook.com.

Our distributor would invariably take me for dinner to Sandeep Kapoor's Khana Khazana, probably given his own preference and a reluctance to try out the smaller eateries serving some very tasty rice and fish preparations.

Delicious mashed fish & prawns fired with bitter gourd

After two visits, I had to overcome my shyness and asked to be treated to some of the famous Bangladeshi cuisine.  He excused himself politely from this lunch. I went with his manager to a place run by ladies.The rice helpings were on the house. The fish preparations for the day were displayed in a glass covered rack. I recall having a variety of fish, mashed like a 'bhurta' , fried, fish-head curry and at least two other types of preparations in a gravy. Of these the Taki Macher Bhorta or a mash of spotted snake-head fish is another taste I have carried over the years

More than memories, I have carried back from my visits Dhakai sarees in exquisite hues. A lesser known Rajshai weave cotton saree also makes for a very smart office wear.

The crockery is another thing to check out (though available now in Kolkata) and I did manage to pick up some very good Pierre Cardin branded export grade plates.

Finally, a flash bandh had me holed up at the Dhaka Club on one visit and thereafter dampened my enthusiasm for further visits. A new distributor in place, business moved on, at a steady pace and I was left with these memories.

Pretty Preggers, please be sensitive

Every other day, somebody is taking up a cause on social media. Pretty film stars and sports personalities are out there, apparently putting up a case for handling body shaming during pregnancy.

It is many years since I have had my first born. For all of us, the first one is a frightening adventure into the unknown. Additionally, I was in a touring job, on the other side of thirty and one miscarriage down. An eminent lady gynaecologist advised me to stop wearing heels and avoid sex (actually, so no major cause to shake your fists at ignorant bureaucrats). Luckily, I took my sister's advice to change my gynaecologist.

One of the city's flamboyant doctors, he gifted me with a fully illustrated book with lovely images of a lady's progression through the 36 weeks. Each page prepared you for not just the visual body changes but detailed out the likely physical challenges, recommended exercise, need for being loved and enjoying love making. A book that I shared with my partner and later gave on loan to our pregnant colleagues. 

We live, largely in a society that celebrates motherhood as the end of womanhood. Looking and feeling good during pregnancy, doesn't come in itself. It is understanding that 'eating for two' is not the normal. Weight gain should be controlled, stretch marks should be proactively handled and exercise is essential. We need this important handholding and advice not just posts on Instagram or Twitter, of extremely beautiful ladies exposing their baby bumps. Clearly, many of these taken by professional photographers.

Equally important is the post partum attention we are allowed for ourselves or showered upon by our near and dear ones. Not all of us are blessed with the opportunity to make a recovery with a beautician and gym or yoga instructor. Post motherhood, we are rudely reminded that the baby comes first.

So, pretty celebrities, share good advice, recommend the right reading, if you really want to help others. God bless, all of you look beautiful and it's good to share your journey. Please remember, though, your beautiful exposition of pregnancy might actually be giving us the, by comparison, social media blues.

Friendship

Friendship, the word has been on my mind for some time now. Tried checking out a few sites for a good quote on friendship, to start this piece and found mostly mushy or pontificating stuff. Now, why, mid-week and mid-summer should I be pausing to reflect on this word? It would probably make more sense for me to hold this back till Friendship Day and catch some attention on SM. Just before I lose your attention, dear reader, this writing is not a reflection on present day SM and its impact on friendships. Much has been written on that and all of us, who are deep into it, have to find our own sweet spot between shallow jokes and soul-searching conversations.

One does get into these Nietzschean phases, when one stops to reflect on this life, its meaning, the role of people surrounding us and our own response and reactions. There are times of transition, when you leave the old, behind, liberating yourself and move on. Mind, I do not use the word move forward, for existence is not unidirectional. To understand a friendship of today, you may actually want to go back many years. There are those years in everyone’s life, when friendship is in a way a commitment. When, jealousies do exist but you are artless in the ways of harming another. Or even, when, hurt is imparted short & sharp followed by an apology tendered as quickly and easily and the pain forgotten.

I stop, here, to deconstruct that friendship of our school days. A school or play hours within a gated community, para or mohalla has a largely homogeneous social (not always but generally economic, too) group.  This, probably, fosters better understanding and does ensure similar and shared expectations. As a youngster our social conditioning is also low. We are learning and with pride share that knowledge, rather than jealously guard it in the belief that knowledge is power. It is only in the innocence of this childhood that I have found a friend willing to take me through lessons in Sanskrit or Hindi (a struggle I faced in my three years of senior school in Delhi. Having moved from Bombay, I realised that a lot of what I knew as Hindi was actually Marathi and 3 years of the Sanskrit course I need to crack in the final year of class VIII)

The Aristotelian view of man being a political creature with a need to live with others sets in later. Some adopt this philosophy early in their teenage years and develop manipulative or even healthy artless means to grow and succeed. Others adapt to this condition reluctantly as society requires us to mingle to earn a living and survive. This view sets a premium on recognition and positive strokes, alone. Somewhere in this journey, we start consolidating on our expectations; learn to put on those polite masks and what success pundits urge us to do, develop our “brand”. 

A true friend, at that age, is hard to come by. At times, they are also, just hard to recognize. When conversations get limited to polite sound bytes, connect can only be superficial. Revisiting Nietzche at this point,  ‘A true friend might choose contra-arguments, go one’s own way and even fight against a friend’s plans’. A friend for Nietzsche is not someone who, ‘accepts your every word and blindly follows in your steps’ or even someone who tries to ‘offer you a helping hand’ – this only promotes laziness, vanity, weakness and decadence.

My take is the acid test of friendship is accepting a friend is better than you, telling her/him so but at the same time being able to give and receive feedback without rancour. Be a cheerleader to a true friend in public, and a mirror to him in private. Also, be brave to invite that same feedback for yourself. Fight the conditions that sometimes risk friendships but preserve the dignity of the other, choosing to stay away from blame games. 

Finally, returning to the friend as a child, friendships are not about sharing the material things of life. Sharing, is empowering a friend. Teaching him a new skill, being his critique but retaining the ability to step down or stand aside when the moment under the arch lights belongs to that friend.

Spot on

" I've had people tell me, "you've got such a pretty face, why don't you just lose weigh?". I don't think people realise  it's rude to talk about somebody else's body."

Vidya Balan on being judged on how she looks as reported in NDTV.

Ms Vidya Balan's statement, struck a deep chord.

About a month back, at a dealer event, a channel partner's wife comes up to me. "Madam, you have such a lovely figure. Why don't you do something about the spots on your face?" Something I have heard several times, over the years and worked on my own defence mechanism - humour.

Freckles. A genetic, should I say 'fault', from my mother's side of the family. Ma was therefore quick to spot the early light brown specs on my nose and cheeks. A little consultation within her ladies' group and she concluded that homeopathy would be a safe treatment, with no side effects. Who knows, miracles are always possible. Dad, whose bloodstream was pharmaceutical selling, immediately tried to wriggle out of it. "The only cure for baldness", he said (he was bald, in the days when new age hair transplants were yet to be discovered) "is selecting your parents with care and I would think the same applies for freckles!". Mothers, like they all are, was not to be put-off that easily.

Thereafter started our once-in-a-month, visits to the Homeopath. This soon became one of the father-daughter things we did together. Another being the occasional Sunday morning movie shows of Tarzan and Laurel & Hardy. We enjoyed the 8 km drive from Chembur to Dadar and back. I always loved to hear about his tours and I in turn reciprocated with the regular school gossip.

The Homeopath's chamber was probably in his residence. One of those old buildings, with a huge room and stretch table. The diminutive man was almost not visible behind an equally large book. It could however be that for an 8 year old, somethings remain "large" as perceived first. He would peer at me silently, shuffle the pages of his book, tap on a passage or two with his index finger, mutter to himself and then write out a prescription. Very few words were exchanged, which was just as well or Dad might have picked up an argument. This probably went on for about a year, till one different Saturday. This time, the Doctor, was sitting back in his chair. He wasn't particularly interested in checking my face but did look at me in a reflective manner. Then turned to my father and said, "why do you worry about the spots. These are freckles". Help! Like we didn't know. "These give her a nice 'English' look". If I recall rightly, Dad swooped me up and we fled, lest he changed his mind. Back home I heard some muttered conversation with the word 'Memsaheb' being mentioned.

Later in life, I have heard a lot about these freckles. In all fairness to friends and public at large, the stuff grew in numbers and became darker (probably delayed side effects of homeopathy). Recalling some of the memorable ones here.

From Mumbai, we shifted to Delhi where I finished schooling and came back to Bombay for college. Walking up the steps of Asiatic Society, a young girl stopped me. She was a tad disappointed that I couldn't recall her from school days. A neat jibe from her, "but of course, no one can forget the spots on your face".

When Garnier, L'Oréal etc first hit the market, there was one particular advertisement featuring a Dalmatian. Those days, walking through any departmental store, I could spot the gleam in the salesgirls' eyes. They chased me with a variety of anti-spot creams and one or two odd ones even managed to sell me a tub or tube much to the bemusement of my daughter. She, one day, decided to take things in her hand. With a most forbidding look on her face she would firmly put them off with a "we love her freckles". I tried a gentler one. In a quiet, confidential manner I would say "if my spots were to go away, I fear my husband would not recognise me".

So, full circle to Vidya Balan, body shaming does hurt. The fact that these incidents have stayed with me is a proof.

The fact also is, that you need a daughter to help you for good. Last year, peering at herself in the mirror she says, "most of my facial features match Papa's. But I love most the freckles that I have inherited from you". 

"Love you, my child"

Leader not Caregiver : a case for distancing from team

A random tweet caught my attention this morning - 'the most important part of #leadership is caring about other people'. Counter-intuitively this did not get my complete buy-in. The word caring conjures up the picture of a nurturing leader. The kind who looks after her/his team and goes on an overdrive on engagement and fun activities. He would , typically, rush in to pick up the cudgels with other functional teams, in the belief that his own team gives kudos points for a Boss who 'fights on their behalf'.

There is something very paternal and top-down about this term. There is also a gender bias, here, as many readings on women leaders seem to support this 'caring' quality. The tweet did force some introspection on this Sunday morning - the weekend immediately following a financial year closure.

While the Corporate euphemism is 'stretch targets', there are times when teams have to take (what I call) 'put you on the stretcher' targets. Many leaders believe that in such moments they have to roll-up-the-sleeves and plunge into the centre of action. Some go on an overdrive with textbook messages of 'you realise what you visualise' kind. Other caring bosses call for impromptu treats and promises of a drink-binge on achieving targets.

At the heart of all this lies a basic truth - nothing gives individuals a greater high than a goal well-achieved. It is knowing that you delivered at the time the Company needs more than your 100%. These moments are when a leader must actually step back and let the team be. So, let me redefine the statement, my way :

"The most important part of #leadership is caring enough to help others to achieve"

When a company faces challenging targets, the delivery lies in the dynamics between functional teams. Teams that might actually be working on conflicting goals. The Manager, most times must wear the hat of a diplomat or become an Internal Community Manager - just facilitating cross-functional communication. 

Distancing, somewhat like a lighthouse, is viewing the larger picture, picking up ahead the disaster signals and helping the team to navigate. Caring and distancing, to some extent, sounds like an oxymoron. Just a caring manager might become too close and protective of his team. 

Good leaders are performance catalysts amongst peers and subordinates. They understand the importance of mobilising a larger Organization, to help a collective set of individuals to sense personalised achievement.

T2 coverage on The Telegraph She Awards

Madhumita Basu, one of the three corporate winners of The Telegraph SHE awards, shares her journey with t2

Madhumita Basu, chief of sales and marketing, and a member of the country executive council of Lafarge India, receives The Telegraph She Award at ITC Sonar... My career started as a management trainee. I was fairly clear early in life that I would join the corporate world. My father (late Barindra Kumar Sircar) was in the pharmaceutical industry and I found it very exciting the way he travelled or how he prepared for his sales conferences. When I was barely 12, I used to help him prepare the charts for his conferences. Like a true leader he used to come back and give me feedback, saying people always asked him how his charts were the neatest and the best. My sister and I, we were brought up as ‘children’. There was no gender identity in the family space. For dad, we were two children who had to stand on their own feet. I believe the father plays an important role. If you see our Olympic stories this time, you’ll see the girls have been firmly backed by the father. Because he establishes a certain expectation from male colleagues and competitors even before you start your working life.  ... and Basu at her Sector V office.  I decided to give Calcutta a shot I was born in Calcutta, and raised in Bombay and Delhi. I did my graduation in commerce from R.A. Podar College of Commerce & Economics in Bombay and my management in finance from Bombay University. The year I was to start my career, 1985, my family moved back to Calcutta. My father was keen that I stay back in Bombay for my career, but we are a close-knit family and I decided to give Calcutta a shot. I got an opening at Exide, which was then Chloride India, a part of the Chloride UK Group, as a trainee. It was an exciting journey. I went on to take charge of the MIS (marketing information systems) and sales controller functions. In 1988, I was selected to go and work out of the Chloride Group office in London for about 10 months. I came back to India to a changing automobile market. I took charge of the advertising portfolio. New-generation cars were coming in, the manner in which you made batteries was changing…. Battery stores at that time were garage shops. In 1990, Exide led the transition from garage stores to high-end retail outlets. I am often asked why I chose to work in “male bastions” like automobiles or cement. But when I started, there were very few women as role models in the corporate space. Today we look at FMCG or banking as women-heavy sectors but I feel when all of us started our journey, we were a minority in our industry. I remember the first dealer conference I organised, the dealers confused me with the hotel staff (laughs). Frankly, I didn’t give much thought to this “male bastion” thing. And I was a general manager before I turned 30. In the year 2000, I was trained as an assessor by CII for its business excellence awards. I was also given a special citation for the CII Young Manager Award that year. I moved to Eveready in 2005.  Among the many products I handled, the interesting bit was battery-supported LED lighting systems. In 2006-07 it was still very new. Now it’s one of their primary businesses. Eveready was again a very different learning phase. Because FMCG and retail outlets are very competitive spaces, it’s very important to concentrate on the placement of your product, whereas Exide was more a franchisee model. I moved to Lafarge in 2010 as head of marketing and a member of the executive committee, cement division. The Lafarge Group is based out of Paris. Lafarge lays a stress on the channel-driven business, which is sale to consumers who build their own homes. One of our brands, Concreto, is across the country the most premium brand. We’ve had very innovative customer engagement programmes with this brand. Now I am handling the entire cement sales and marketing function and the entire branding direction for the organisation across its various functions. Work requires me to travel at least three days a week, anywhere from Gujarat to Haryana right up to the Northeast. In my previous roles, I have travelled to countries as diverse as Armenia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Dubai, even Afghanistan.  Women in middle management I am a past president of the Calcutta Management Association (CMA). I have actively tried to take time out for management sessions with the middle management in organisations like SBI or CESC or IBM or TCS. I came into contact with another The Telegraph She awardee, Smita Pandit Chakraborty, because I had held a couple of sessions with her team (at Phoenix Conveyor Belt India).  When I interact with women, particularly in the middle management, I do feel that the ones who make it have very definite leadership goals in mind. What challenges us most as women is you have your job and you have your family. In handling these two roles, many women take shortcuts in their own self-development. These, in a way, becomes limiting in a middle management career. So you don’t invest time in networking, in skill development… I know this lady who now has her own HR consultancy. She used to take a week off every year to go and skill-build in her field. Unless you do that there comes a time when you feel challenged by other colleagues around the table. If you don’t invest in your network, then when the time comes, you cannot leverage it.  A safety net of mentors You may not be able to move the system or an entire organisation overnight. What you can do is you can have senior ladies like me who have reached a certain goal, who have faced certain challenges, take on an active coaching or mentoring role. Because, you know, it’s a critical one or two years when you feel all these challenges are coming so somebody needs to show you the light at the end of the tunnel. A mentor-coach can also guide you to develop yourself. I need to recognise the role my family has played. Also the role my organisations have played. I have been lucky to work in organisations that have a gender-neutral footprint where what mattered first was the work you were doing. During a dealer conference tour in my Exide stint I had a miscarriage. My colleagues helped me to not only get to a hospital but get better and continue with my pending conferences. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh she has had a problem, put her on the next flight back home.’ What I would like to reach out and tell other young women managers is if you are not finding that ecosystem in the place you are working, but you still love your work, you must try to reach out to an ecosystem that can help you. And today social networking gives you that space to connect with other women managers. She Awards  Honestly, it was very exciting. To see that it is people in the business and corporate space who have noted your contribution, then you feel you are adding value, not only to others but more importantly to yourself. For me it was not just that moment of going there and receiving the She Award but a feeling that I am in a direction where I want to move forward.

A to Z Work Travelogue : A for Afghanistan

I could name a place, for almost every alphabet, that I would have traveled to on work. With the exception of a Q, X, V and Z, I could draw up a fair list of cities, towns and countries, traveling since the last 27 years. Each place is etched in the mind through first impressions, negotiations, food and sometimes a 'must visit' tourist site. Some of the memories are fading and unlike these days, photographing (and uploading on Instagram or FB) and recording food, people and moments was not a way of life. The act of listing the places, itself, brought back some memories and the urge to record these before they completely fade away.

I am yet to make up my mind on whether to do this in alphabetic series, by preference, randomly or basis my recall of the visit / place. 20 plus blogs is a long way to go, so let us see how this unfolds. On the first country, though, there is no second thought as A for Afghanistan is in alphabetic series, stands for intrigue and holds vivid memories.

The first images as we land in Kabul is a single word - devastated.

We traveled as part of a CII organised exhibition of products from 170 companies. The previous year, in December 2001, President Hamid Karzai had taken charge of a transition government of post- Taliban Afghanistan. Riding on the back of Indian aid, CII started working on meets and delegations from early 2002 and this particular exhibition was held at the sprawling Kabul Polytechnic Grounds in early October. 

The bus ride to our hotel and thereafter for the next 3-4 days to and from the exhibition grounds, stays in my 'ears'. I was caught by surprise at the blaring number 'Soldier - Soldier' from Preity Zinta's first movie and it stuck in the mind as appropriate for the dry, barren, bombed and destroyed structures on both sides of the road.

The next memory is of our car as it wound its way through the more crowded bazar streets. We had the luxury to move the wrong way on a one-way street. The crowds parted to make way for the 'mehmaan'. This beautiful Urdu word for guests was something we kept hearing for the next few days, as everyone stepped in with a smile to help us. 

The bazaar was crowded, with mainly street vendors. What caught our eye was the mounds of dried mulberry.

Highly recommended for the diabetic, was this white variant but the more popular type was black. I brought home a fair quantity and would probably still find some tucked in a corner of the refrigerator.  One adventurous member of the team picked up a Persian rug but otherwise there wasn't much to buy other than dry fruits, asafoetida  (of excellent quality) and maybe saffron.

.

In fact, the Indian exhibition was the shopping destination for the locals, who thronged the place during general visitor hours. We had engaged a young college student as assistant and interpreter. He stoically stood by us, fussing around and helping at the stall, while furtively checking his watch for the open hours. His day 1 shopping list included Sona Chandi Chyvanprash for his father! In comparison, the business sessions in the morning saw very little footfalls.

Not to say, though, that need and potential business opportunities were missing. We did manage a couple of business meetings, including one past 7pm, under armed escort. On the outskirts of Kabul, we visited a community living in row houses within a walled space. The only source of electricity was a generator set with loosely hanging electrical lines and light points in the homes of the 18 odd families that lived in this enclosed space. Clearly, there was need for storage batteries and mini wind power systems - our product line that was on exhibit. The need was, however, not backed by ability to pay.

A couple of business contacts, later touched base with us in Delhi & Kolkata.

They endorsed the Arsalan biryani and recommended a portion of roomali roti to be eaten at the end of the meal to facilitate digestion. In Delhi, I recall a marathon 12 - 14 hour negotiation round, punctuated by just their Ramzan prayer break. That too, at our office, they sought my help for a piece of cloth to spread out on the floor. My colleague was quick to pull out a banner, stating that it would bring our business luck. 

Wonderful moments, those. I learnt patience and tenacity and wish we could have converted it to some good business.