Kingfisher

There have been lot of responses to my Blog and People are generally Appreciative of the content. As I am preparing to spend a weekend at home, back from a week in Pune, I thought I would share some thoughts.

The Kingfisher trip this week to Pune and back was a kindof experience,it would Put Indian Airlines to feel great. When I phoned last Friday to telecheckin for the Saturday morning flight, the reply was no such PNR( I had confirmed ticket, I was wondering if I would sign in on Saturday with Honeywell, else Lalitha would say wait till the next auspicious day and I have learned the very very hard and tragic way, never to Ignore her on this, that's for another episode) then they called me after 2 hrs and said they have confirmed me and gave me the seat no 24F). I reached Airport Saturday, told 24 F while checking in and didnt bother to check the Boarding pass,(never did after Jet airways spoiled me well over 250 flights, and when I entered Aircraft, the Horror was Middle seat 8B.Hell of a time, I ordered coffee as Ididnt feel like having breakfast, as luck would have it, due to the turbulent weather conditions no coffee was served. (Cant blame them)

The worst to come and that was when I planned to return to Bangalore,last night. I reached the airport at 630pm for the 710 pm flight, they said technical delay at Ahmedabad and flight would leave at 8, and then 8 become 830, then 9,9.30,10,10.45, 1130 etc. At 945 pm I thought enough was enough and canceled the ticket and managed to get a seat for the Jet flight this morning.

The Station Manager was a poor guy, people mobbed him and he did his best, but he had no higher ups to turn to, looks like, as expected in crisis, all the bosses disappear, I guess. (He told us that his boss is Inside an aircraft, and not reachable !!!! can you beleive that) I am told the flight left Pune at 3pm this morning. I saw first hand, experience of mob hysteria, More men Coat and Suits screaming for attention, but you cant blame the passengers, Can you??This was my 3rd tist with Kingfisher (I have Hobson's choice for this odd route as Jet doesnt cover this sector that much) probably the last for some time to come. But the station manager was a great guy, handled very very well the situation.

I hope Kingfisher would have some learnings and would work plan B in future for such situation as they multiply their fleet. Their services are good and so are the aircrafts, But to win Jet Loyalists, business travelers like me, they need to go extra miles. I was comforted by their efforts that they did their best to accomadate as many passengers for the morning Jet Flight, but very few seats were there for grabs. I had a similar situation with Jet in Calcutta last year, when I had gone for an interview, I got a call that Flight was delayed 150 Minutes late, and thats it, The flight left Calcutta 150 minutes late, an aicraft was diverted and sent to Calcutta for this flight.

The silver lining in the whole episode was I got an upgrade to business class to accomadate more passengers.

By the way, it was great to see the Sun God on the flight back after 6 days, I was so thrilled to see him that I just stared straight back at him for a minutes and tears rolled down, I enjoyed it. It was pouring and pouring in Pune so much so that all my plans to meet my friends went in smoke.

I also bumped in to some of the BASF Mangalore plant guys in the hotel lobby unexpectedly, Met them after 7 years, some of them just look the same, some people dont grow old, I guess, unlike me.

Wanted to leave you with this sad story, How promising lives are cut short.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1763387,0006.htm

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=196303

Will try to Blog before Independence day.
Take care and Have a good time
Karthik.

Hiroshima Bombing week

Before I go in to Hirsoshima,This week was kind of a hectic week, Back from US travel, then Business travel and windup + all the farewell Lunch and Dinner and culminating with me Signing in for Honeywell Saturday here in Pune. The auspicious day and time plays a huge part and influence, I guess.

The farewell messages were very touchy from the Monsanto colleagues, from the way it sounds, I did my best to put things around, and 7 years is a lot of time, in today's context to interact with people and to make an influence.

I received a wonderful parting memento from my Bangalore Lunch colleagues,(The Lunch Lamblasters I should call) we are 12 of us form the lunch team and discuss and examine where the world is heading and find solutions. (How much gets activated is another matter!!). They presented me with a wonderful gift and here it is the slot, the god of good beginning and the goddess of wealth and wisdom.

Overall, I guess I had a wonderful time out in Monsanto, it is a great and vibrant organization and people are supportive and leadership ready to listen to your business and personal needs and try to work out practical solutions. The incentive plan and stock options were delightful carrots. Yes, every organization can improve a bit , I will put my money on, clear Career succession planning for people, they would have created a kind of ideal work place.

Today is the 61 anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. I think this event changed the world for ever I guess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki

http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/dd2.cfm

Take care
Karthik.

Heathrow and Jet Airways

I was away to UK/ USA as part of my Honeywell Meeting. Some information on that. I flew via London Heathrow to Manchester, Spent a day and then proceeded to Chicago and was back home after a week stay.

Did you know that London Heathrow airport in the only international airport which has separate immigration counter for transit passengers even for Domestic travel within UK and you don't have to clear customs physically. In my case when I landed in Heathrow, I was asked to move to the terminal to which the connecting flight was proceeding, got my boarding pass for my Manchester flight from British midland flight counter and then went thro immigration. Thus I avoided 100s of Indians / passengers who otherwise would have gone thro immigration.(we were just two of us) This saved lot of time. The baggage arrived at Manchester. The only condition is that your baggage should be thro checked to your final destination.
Not even US ports offer this facility, you need to clear customs and put the baggage in to the domestic flight conveyor. This was great saved lot of time and hassle with immigration.
UK Immigration has also introduced IRIS scan for frequent travelers to UK, just register yourself, after registering just get your IRIS scanned and it is stored in data base. When you visit UK, just walk thro camera and a comparison is made and the gates open to let you out. This is available only at present in Heathrow and Manchester.

JET Airways:-
I am amazed at the service provided by Jet Airways, I flew Jet Airways Bombay-Heathrow- Bombay. The service is world class, so is the new Airbus A-340-400-E with the state of the art digitization. Being a day flight to Heathrow, I flew economy the food and services were outstanding. 3 times they serve lunch and snacks as well as always on call. The alchol flowed like River Ganges, on demand, knowing our guys. There was not a single sullen face in the crew.(Jet guys never do I can vouch after clocking 300,000 Miles with them over time) The inflight movies and sound systems are world class. Moreover, the seating is 2-4-2 so that no person is more than one seat from aisle. This was in sharp contrast to the US carrier I flew Manchester- Chicago and back. Service below average as well as delays.
While returning Heathrow- Bombay, I used my upgrade voucher for Business class (3 vouchers)as the flight leaves Heathrow at 2130 Hrs. The seating and 180 Deg flat bed is state of the art, you sleep like a baby. Besides the seat have massage provisions to relax your back. The cuisine was delecious were world class and stewards no more than a minute away to your requirement. The toilet kit is collectors item, you dont feel like using it. Coincidentally the stewards were the same crew who flew a week back so had a lot of catchup on things happening. Jet will definitely will give every other airline a run for the money soon. This was service to customer at its best and outstanding. The baggage were out in a flash in BBY and British airways which arrived 30 minutes early in to Bombay, BA passengers were looking at us with envy as we moved out thro customs in Bombay. The only place where they can improve is at the transfer / transit check in counter at Heathrow,(I flew in to Heathrow from Manchester) the United Airlines staff help them and they struggle a lot with Indian names, passport details, admin procedures etc. I am sure Jet will maintain and may even improve as they go forward.

Wonderful Mementos and Celebrations

This week was full of travel and Mementos in view of my moving out.

The Bellary Seeds site in south India which was the first Monsanto site I worked on to set up ESH systems in 2000. I was out there for the Global safety award celebrations that the site had won this year (Only site in Asia Pacific and one of 18 sites to have won the global award from 150 sites). My boss Jolanta Paull, flew in from Melbourne for this memorable occaions.She was the guest of Honor.
After the ceremony and special Lunch, there was my farewell celebrations as I would have made my last visit to the site. I got a memorable Memento of Lord GANESH(Pic). This is an apt one as I feel that I need his blessings to take new challenges and responsibility.
There was more surprise in store, I got my long term service award, (5years), this was due in 2005 and I thought Monsanto Had missed the event, So it was a pleasant surprise to receive the Titan watch. It was great feeling.
More, today I had a farewell Lunch with Jolanta, back in Bangalore, and the climax was complete When she handed me A CITIZEN ECO DRIVE WATCH. My wife always wanted to get me one on Birthdays/ wedding day, and I refused. So it was great feeling that the Two cancerian women in my life (Lalitha and Jolanta in Photos) planned and fulfilled it. The only sad part the 3rd cancerian women in Michelle couldnt make it. We all Missed you Michelle.
It couldn't have been a better week in my life, The feeling is great.


Karthik.

Ostrich and My move out of Monsanto.

This week Was very eventful for some things to happen.

My announcement about Moving out of Monsanto was released. It was a tough decision I tell you, in my 21 year career. Seven years just went by, the fact that I will be out of Monsanto in about 4 weeks time in sinking in. Ofcourse, as I will continue to be based in Bangalore for the Honeywell Transportation systems Assignment as Global HSE Manager, without affecting the family interest is a sense of satisfaction that you can go without compromising the needs of the dear and near.

This week, I happen to see live "Ostrich" moving around in the restaurant I had lunch while traveling from Aurangabad to Pune. This place is 20 Kms after Ahmednagar (95 Kms from Pune)and the Place is called "Smile Stone". The food was also very good and so the time to see and feed Ostrich. It relaxes you a lot esply on a long highway journey. See the photos.

See the Profile of the man who downed Brasil. Henry (pronounced Aannrie) master tactician who rose to the demanding occasion. For him,This would also heal some wounds after the European championship final, were Arsenal were given a raw deal by the refree.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Henry
Also go thro Erin Pavlina website lot of good information.

www.erinpavlina.com

Have a good week ahead.
Regards
Karthik

Good websites

Ok, good to be back again,Some intersting websites.

• A good article on Mentoring and coaching, I feel this is critical to develop people who work with you.
• http://www.accountingweb.co.uk/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=110055&d=789&h=788&f=785
• Today in History, (Today Rajeev Gandhi was assassinated, So I was curious to know what else happened today).
• http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=leadstory
  
• Google has come out with Google Suggest, as you type letters it will guess as to what you are typing and come out with results
• http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
• Gmail is with 2 GB storage space, ofcourse, you need invitation to open an account, I can send you if you wish.
• https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=mail&passive=true&rm=false&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fmail%2F%3Fui%3Dhtml%26zy%3Dl&ltmpl=yj_blanco&ltmplcache=2
• Download offline Dictinory Sage, you can refer to anyword without connected to internet
• http://www.sequencepublishing.com/thesage.html#download
• Finally from Steve Pavlina, Overcoming fear, 40 minutes of absorbing speech.
• http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/12/stevepavlinacom-podcast-008-overcoming-fear/

So Have a great week ahead take care and Take it easy.

Karthik.

karaikudy@gmail.com.

Chennai Trip

This week I had been to Chennai for a Upanayanam of my Sandoz colleague Vijay's Son, Kailash. Vijay and me commenced our professional careers around the same time in the late 80s. We got married , children and moved out Ankleshwar around the same time. Vijay moved to Bombay with Sandoz Pharma finance, I moved to Astra Zenecca for I wanted to relocate to South. Vijay came all the way for my Son's Thread ceremony at my home town last year.

The event gave me an opportunity to meet Sandoz colleagues as well as other Friends who had come for the event and we caught up on happenings. Some of them I met after 12 years. The discussions lead to some astounding results. This was also confirmed when I met guys from other cos who were present.

• Come what may, You need to be in the inner circle in the organizations to get fast track growth.
• You need to Manage perception too along with performance, to have career progression.
• Long term employments are becoming thing of the past. Every one wants fast track growth and rewards that show external signs of growth and prosperity.
• People at very senior levels are capable to project that " after Me its deluge" and enhance their importance.

I think you all will agree with this, I guess.

By the way, Madras hot and humid and the family managed it. The kids got a feel for the Shatabdi train experience, they liked it; thought the train was 1 Hr late.

Have a great week ahead and enjoy the Mother' day. I fulfilled a long time dream to get something for my mother as Mother's day gift, when she is around and managed to get some jewelry for her. My wife made the selection.

Karthik