A Day of Learnings

 I was in the train and was about to reach Hyderabad. The train got stuck in the outer signal. Mechanically I was thumbing through the newsfeed on my mobile, when this item caught my attention: 

Why does Google offer free meals to employees? Sundar Pichai says it's not just a perk

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/why-does-google-offer-free-meals-to-employees-sundar-pichai-says-its-not-just-a-perk-12843925.html

I fondly recollected the kind of influence our lunch facility had on the psyche of the employees of my company. It was a welcome break from the work at the table. A great opportunity to interact and network with folks across functions, listen, question and understand their issues, and also to present our own issues all informally, without any PPTs or notebooks. 😊

In addition, there were a number of wise people who had in depth knowledge of many current issues, technologies and the general discussions were quite fulfilling. One great thing about our company was that its informal culture, and during the lunch hour, you could sit with a senior without much discomfort, and strike a conversation.

One of my relatives started his business very small - with 3-4 people, and grew to 100+. In the beginning they were eating together from their lunchboxes. Subsequently they introduced a full fledged lunch facility, as the numbers increased, To this day, it continues to be a "cool" thing - especially for the visitors - principals, customers and like. 

Once I got stuck in a Toyota workshop on Mumbai - Bangalore highway. The repairs were going to for 3-4 hours, and I had was waiting in the lounge, watching the TV. Came the lunch hour, and the manager invited me for lunch. I was a bit hesitant and thanked him, and tried to politely decline his offer. But he insisted. "Sir, we have a company lunch facility. It is a very simple fare. You should come" he said. I went with him. He explained that Toyota had a policy of lunch facility. This simple item left a deep impression on me, as a customer. 

And I know, when Sundar Pichai says that the lunch facility at Google is more than a perk!

Afterwards, I went to my friend's place. His wife offered me black tea, as they didn't have the habit of taking tea or coffee, and weren't buying milk at all. I was fine with black tea. But the young cook, wasn't happy. She told my friend's wife that she had just finished her cooking in the neighbours house, and she would get some milk from there and make the regular "Chai"! And she did get the milk from the neighbour, and prepared Chai. 

She didn't even interact with me, and she knows that probably she never would. What was her interest in pleasing me? It was a simple act of going beyond the call of duty - a great leadership trait. We are normally so immersed in ourselves, that we could easily miss this, in such a mundane activity. But if we care, that trait is plainly visible, and of course the Chai tasted great.

The next was while I was walking back to the house. On a footpath less used, under a small tree which didn't offer much by way of shade, two women were busy cooking. One of them was a young mother, and was grinding the masala on a grinding stone. Near her was her toddler, doing some prank. The mother was laughing so heartily, that it caught my eye. I had half a mind to click a picture of such a beautiful moment, but desisted, as I was wary of the unnecessary attention it would attract. But, it got etched in my heart. I also remembered "Happiness Index" - such an absurd measrement which simplistically assumes physical requirements for happiness and (most probably) misses out such happy moments altogether.

The next was again an item in the newsfeed:

Masterstroke by BSNL, big challenge for Mukesh Ambani, Bharti Mittal as company allows users to make calls without SIM using technology called…

https://www.india.com/business/masterstroke-by-bsnl-big-challenge-for-mukesh-ambani-bharti-mittal-vodafone-airtel-vodafone-7330771/

The article was about the initiative of BSNL to introduce Direct-to-Device (D2D) technology, in collaboration with viacom. This is a great example of how inspired individuals can make difference anywhere. 

For BSNL, there are always ready reasons, both genuine ones and excuses, on which it can always justify its laggardness - tough competition, government interference, union problems, slow decision making, and so on. 

But even in such situations, there are people who believe in making a difference by acting on things which they have control. Even though the article said nothing in this regard, I am sure that the core group which managed to pull this off, certainly has this attitude of giving its best, irrespective of what happens in regions outside their control. And secondly, they must have had great networking to have made this through the layers of beaucracy. 

Just this morning, as I was having my tea in my friend's house, I was telling them that I wished that someone had explained to me two things early in life:

- The real meaning of the sloka of Gita "Karmanyeva adhikaaraste...". We are all taught this as an ideal to follow. But that is not true. It is not an ideal. Krishna is simply saying that we had control only over our actions; and never over the results. And this truth is there all over us. Instead of ruing over the bad roads over a cup of tea by the side of tapri, an RTI application to the Municipal ward would have a much better yield. And if it doesn't, I have the satisfaction that I did what was in my control, anyway. 

- The power of networking. Not the one for currying favours. The one which is used for progressing whatever organization or the cause we stand for.

And pleasantly, this article on BSNL once again showed the importance of these two things.

Altogether, a learning day!