Joie de vivre !

The right knee is gingerly raised to give the necessary support, the left followed suit while the hands play their part in coming to the desired position. Even before they are set to move comes the collapse. Again flat on the floor, the head turns in right and left to see what has happened. After a second of recovery the whole cycle of the knees and hands coordination begins. They are back to the position, a second of no-motion and then all set for the movement. Collapse again!! The whole cycle is repeated. A minute of wavering and balance act, the limbs move again. Two to three steps forward and collapse greets them again. SIGH!! Repeat the whole process and this time the limbs move a little farther and a little further and a little further finally reaching the destination….

Are you already tired and bored to read this?? I am sure most of you are…but what about the one involved in the whole process?

…she finally lays her hands on her fave colorful toy which when pressed sings out lovely rhymes for her. She beats the toy in ecstasy, gives a squeak of victory and is engrossed watching the changing colors while listening to the rhymes. This is what makes the whole process an ‘Experience’.

Not a trace of boredom or tiresomeness is seen all along…what is the key? ‘Enthusiasm’ is my humble answer.

She creeps under the cot maybe to see why it’s dark there, slips under the computer table maybe to know what those black wires taste like, tries to grab every kitchen item and beats it to death on the floor like an acoustic expert studying some sound. Gosh!! Did I just hear a THUD?? To enthusiastically understand what this high-level stage is and what’s under it, Mugdha creeps vigorously to take a quick peek. And the inevitable happens :-(. A few seconds of loud cry is disturbed taking a definite end at the sight of her favourite toy and a tight hug from her mom. She is back to her enthusiastic world wondering who those two people staring at her are. Our reflections in the mirror excite her very much :-)

I go about diverse experiences everyday and I find each day with a baby is a new discovery, a new perspective and a new joy which can only be beaten by another joy brought about only by them. Call it whatever you want, the underlying secret is ‘Enthusiasm’. Babies are ‘Enthusiasm’ personified.

Whenever I am lost thoroughly enjoying her enthusiastic adventures, I wonder why is it that the elders the once children lost this very special quality as they grew. Even the most painful experience is forgotten by them once the enthusiasm of grabbing something takes over. While the kids learn stuff which makes them productive, constructive, positive and happy, we elders in the name of growing up also learnt clinging to unnecessary things for too long, having mood-offs on and off, seeing only the negatives, and wasting time on useless things. With depression, frustration and stress as our everyday visitors, time waste, mismanagement of things a daily routine, gossip and rumours as our food, we are just surviving and not ‘living’ life. While nature gives us every opportunity to learn, we are “grown up” and clever enough to ignore all of them.

I redirect my thoughts to my own life and think of all the lessons I have learnt. Apart from being good at academics, topping more than a few times in various competitions, I dabbled in painting, music, dance, shuttle and a host of things classified under “Hobbies/Interests”. Now when I am completely at home conveniently calling myself a “house-wife”, I ask myself why I have not pursued any of those gifts to become a master. The answer is obvious. My ‘enthusiasm’ to learn or pursue sometimes wavered, sometimes decreased and sometimes died off.

I don’t waste my time getting into the redundant regretting mode coz I know I still have that “one” thing in me which can make a difference – “Zest for life”. This undying zest for life in me is enough even if I have to begin my life all over again from this moment. Having a baby at home has only rejuvenated me and my zest for life just gets better by day :-)

So much for the happy ending..!!

Carpet area, 10ft space, Setbacks, Elevation, Amenities and lots of cash – if this set of words doesn’t ring any bell to you, then a warm welcome to a cold “Realty” world…a world of dreams, a world of sentiments, a world of hard money and quirky fate! This world simply survives on nurtured dreams and dies on shattered dreams!

Talking about dreams definitely reminds me of this concept called 'Dream House'. Be it a small space with a single roof or a palatial bungalow, it is called a 'Dream' house when you burn all your savings, have a loan which can only be cleared just before you retire and 'buy' this house which is your 'dream-come-true'. Today a lot of couples especially the newly-wed ones are scouting for a house to fulfill this dream. The moment they set out their journey to find rather buy a house, the novices in them dawn! The realty world to them is dizzying right from the vocab to the wierd ways in which the world runs !!

Dont know where to begin...why fear when Google is here! They take the internet's help as the very first step and begin their search. The internet shows wonders to them. Remember they are realty-illiterates and so they are trapped. They start making cold calls to builders who claim to promise the sky but in reality right from the area they claim to the quality everything seems skewed :(. If the builder says two minutes drive from the chowrasta, he actually means 2kms and more from that point. If he says the price quoted included all amenities, then all he means is just 'lift and car parking'. Dont get carried away by the word 'amenities' it means nothing you have imagined. Even if it includes a big list when you finally start living there you realise everything comes at an extra cost. The list of white lies continues...!! If you are looking for a Gated Community, then the word 'amenities' tantamounts atleast '4 lakhs' If the amount is less than that I bet he isn't offering any good amenities.

The builder is an expert in everything under the sun. He is a vaastu expert, teaching you new fundas of vaastu and justifying why that balcony had to be small or why the hall's shape looks weird, an expert fortune-teller predicting how the government can change in the next few days, how a new road can come, how this area can become a prime area..!! If one construction looks like a train compartment, the other one looks like a school building, the other a non-ventilated den with criss cross compound walls..PHEW!!!

The couples dont compromise in the beginning and keep rejecting every house for one reason or the other. Finally after screwing their countless weekends and their mental peace, they relook at their priorities and thus begin the 'Compromises'. Finally they do find one house and resolve to end their unending search after compromising here and there. They announce to the world that they finally bought a "house" conveniently ignoring the word 'dream'. The routine dialogues being - 'This house is just an investment', 'We had to compromise in the sft area or the distance from the road or look and feel etc', 'we will rent this out.' 'we still have a loong way to go...our dream house will be after 40'...etc etc....Most of the time your house doesnt come in the budget you have set.

Phani & me went around for two months and were almost fed up. When we first saw our future flat, both of us loved it ! But since it wasn't coming in our budget, we just 'wished' it was ours and left the place. From then which ever flat we saw we had unconsciously compared that flat with our future flat. After a couple of visits again and again to the place, a huge fight with the builder vowing never to come back to that place, we finally made it "Ours" :-)

This is just the first step of a series of mentally irritating things..a lot of pain in the form of registration, interiors, carpenters, electricians etc begins now. Do thank me Im sparing you all the painful details here :)

It takes a lot for this happy ending. Dont be surprised if you are acting like a wreck :P. But imagine spending time with your loved ones at a place which you call "Yours"....Bliss ! No wonder home is where the heart is.

PS : I wrote this one a year ago when we bought our flat in June 2009 but obviously it never saw the light of day. Thank you VasuGuns for taking me back to those memories and bringing this out of the shelves with your good news! Congratulations again :-)

So you have a Bun in ur Oven..??!!

“Woow!! Great news, congrats !”
“Hey that sounds exciting…u r about to enter a lovely phase of life !”
“Wow take care dear…Im soooooo happy for u !”

You feel out of this world and made to feel as if you are an angel fallen from 7th heaven! The hype and the excitement make you believe that you are indeed entering a wonderful phase where you are going to live life Queen Size!! Enough! I have been one of those poor gullible souls who imagined all the nice things about getting pregnant. The over excited world around us highlights only the happy things and blissfully ignores the not-so-happy parts! To have a green chilli after you are made to enjoy your fave dessert is really painful ! At least the other way round would have helped us to lower the expectations.

You are treated like you are fallen from heaven, but only you know that you have fallen flat & hard in some pits of hunger, continuous sleepiness and eternal tiredness. And while falling you have also thrown some things like your figure, that slim waistline, career and your energy into the ether ! Once the excitement of breaking the news subsides, you are now shut in a silent world where all you can hear is hunger pangs, puking noises and irking smells. You start hating your fave food and suddenly feel like having something which you never wanted to have in your wildest dreams. You begin to hate people and their over dose of advice flowing in from all possible directions. You have no clue why this happens, then that happens. Your number of whys and hows increase, and along with your pills you have to start taking some unpalatable surprises. But one thing you definitely can predict is that your health now is unpredictable. On the flip side, you get into a privileged class. Your laziness in the name of pregnancy is excused, early to bed and late to rise also makes you healthy, being with your mom and getting pampered is acceptable. At office an occasional nap during office hours is forgivable, the hawk-eyed manager is now trying to lessen the stress and burden on you, you can skip that imp all-hands, you are out of the cultural events of the company. All the career-oriented women, you can read all these in one phrase - "Sidelined at workplace". It is both relieving and frustrating !

The world now leaves the excitement and tries to paint a rather real pic of what it is like being pregnant. Now they dump some advice like this is how it will be till your 5th month or so…and let this 3rd month pass I am sure you will be fine. Then there are these emotional aunties who keep telling how wonderful it is to give birth to a baby, how lucky are we to be blessed with that virtue ! Don’t ever react and say what you really feel….that you feel sick, that it hurts and that it is so uncomfortable and so sudden in your life that you are not ready for it blah-blah…!! That blah-blah will make them feel that you don’t count your blessings in life and are an unwise fool. You will also be looked at as unemotional, immature and arrogant too. If you ask me it’s ok to be pissed with it, have that cranky mood of your speak out, vent out the frustration especially to your partner. The husbands are such a lucky lot ! With some minimal effort and a few seconds of pleasure, they have a readymade baby falling on their laps after 9 months.

Wait !

If you think this is it, think again. Like all dark clouds even this has a silver lining. Once the 3rd month begins to end and the months increase, you feel the difference. The sleepiness, the nausea, the cranky moods tend to reduce. Your body gets a lil predictable and you slowly start catching the pulse of it. By the time you are in your 5th month, things look brighter and in 6th you are infact feeling your best. You occasionally feel like humming your fave tune, shaking a leg, are more comfortable in meeting and talking to people, are OK with the various smells and are almost leading a normal life. The only difference being your protruding belly (if its already begun).

Now when things look much better, I get a lil positive about me and my pregnancy. I am enjoying this phase of life when I am treated royally and taken care supremely. If you are one of those lucky ones to have gotten a great loving husband then every moment of your life is all the more special now. A slight movement here and there in your tummy sometimes makes you wonder and keeps you excited ! I have also been lucky till now maintaining my weight, health and that figure ;-). Also our new house, the house-warming and everythiing related to 'our home' kept me in a never-ending excitement all thru. I am also glad that our future kid is partially involved in all these auspicious things (And when did I get soooo emotional?? :O) Even before I know I get possessive about the lil one. Phani and me have occasional bickerings on baby being my best friend or his best friend. Its true that you have advice attacking from all sides but some really make sense. Like reading a book (encouraging silence as you wouldnt have much energy to talk now), listening to some soothing music (loud music irks you like hell), eating at regular intervals (to avoid getting tired), enough rest (enough sleep). These things can actually make your initial months of pregnancy bearable.

This journey of life has brought me to this station (read stage) called Pregnancy. If life is all about the various experiences, then its foolish to not to enjoy each stage thoroughly. After all everything is a passing phase so we should enjoy before it passes off. This is what my journey is till the 6th month. Do wait for the 2nd part of this series to know how I felt about the last stage of my pregnancy and what my mind has to speak then. Needless to say the post will be out only after March 2010. Till then its me the would-be-mommy signing off ;-)

Maids of Honour

Time : Ticking Ten AM
Day : A Lazy weekend

My brush is gnashing my teeth in anger all thanks to my maid not turning out yet. Its weekend and I have the privilege to sleep till 10AM but she is a maid how can she not appear by 7.30?? Be it rain or shine, weekend or weekday, maids ought to be as early in the morning as possible. The world stops for us working ladies if the maid is out of reach. Strange, right !

One look at the dirty kitchen sink, dusty floors and messed up dining table, my BP shoots high, my blood boils and my tongue waiting to lash at my maid the moment she will be in. Is it the fear of my laziness at the prospect of cleaning the house which irks me so much? My mind is reluctant for any logics now and is awaiting the maid’s entry to vent out my pent-up anger.

The moment finally arrives and here she comes with a rather straight face trying to cover up all the tension and acting confident. My anger is now overjoyed and I scream my lungs out at her for her unpardonable crime (coming late to work on a weekend) ! She starts her story of excuses, her eyes betraying her and acknowledging the fact that both of us know they are simply ‘flimsy’ excuses. After my screaming and her excuses, both of us are relieved and get back to our business.

A few minutes of awkward silence and my maid tries to strike a conversation with me. The ice is finally broken and after a few more minutes, the friendly banter begins. The work progresses well much to my relief and my maid is also relieved to see me relieved and smiling. When it is time for her to leave, I give her strong instructions that she should be in by 7.30 AM on a weekend, to which she nods and leaves.

It’s Sunday morning 10AM….my brush gnashing my teeth in anger….my maid doesn’t turn out yet…..and history repeats…..!!!!!

Once a human being, always a human being and never a super human being :-) In this journey of life, there is an eternal need for interdependency on one another emphasizing the fact that every human is valuable and yes honourable. If the maid needs us to get her daily bread, we need her to help us with the household chores to go to earn our daily bread. As long as this interdependency continues, even the maids have to be ‘Maids of Honour’.

Food for Thought !

It was a breezy monsoon morning. The door bell’s jarring noise made me rather kicked me out of my dreams to reality! Yes, what I was to experience after I open the door is truly the reality world. The fresh monsoon breeze was simply irresistible. I felt it brought a new life to my every nerve; my senses were thoroughly enjoying the experience and realize life is all about some beautiful small moments like this. “Aah..! Life is beautiful”, I say to myself.

While I was engrossed in my beautiful world, a sight of two kids fighting for a morsel of food takes me to that world of reality! If that morning had woken me to a beautiful experience, the very morning had woken them to yet another fight for survival. The poignant scene of the kids grabbing the left-overs from the dustbin and running behind a wall to have their share stealthily has tugged at my emotional strings! The monsoon morning left some mixed feelings but I move on….

Too much is always too little for these too many hands

The same evening, a strange forward from my friend Raam caught my attention instantly. The subject line read “Chicken a la carte”. For a foodie like me, it was obvious to open that mail instantly! It was a short film about hunger and poverty brought about by globalization. I have received umpteen numbers of forwards on hunger, food wastage etc and this one might as well fall in the same school. But the morning’s incident and the lyrics of the song at the fag end of the video have really left an emotional impression in my heart. The lines which go something like this – “How come someone’s laughter bring me close to tears” were really very touching. Thanks Hey Raam! for sharing this :-)

I don’t intend to preach anything but just wanted all of us to be a lil more careful when it comes to wastage of food. I wanted to have it in my blog as a glim reminder of the pathetic and poignant situations around us.

A Catch - 22 !

Seven Rupees is a BIG Deal..!!

2001 : On a sunny sunday morning I was busy running and catching an auto to rush to my CAT classes. I manage to find one, I get in and out of it in 5 mins. I give a 10 rupee note to the auto boy and he says "No change madam !! I will be around always, you can take the change some other time". I snapped "I am not around always. This is not where I belong to." My heart says "It's ok, no time, forget the change" but my mind (rather my ego) says "Seven rupees is a big deal...let him get a change!" Even before I decided whom to listen to, the auto boy vanished saying the same - "I will be around always, I WILL take the change some other time."

"Seven Rupees is a BIG deal" agreed both my heart and mind "But to HIM more than you" whisper they in unison! Lesson learnt.

But I have only Rs. 750/- !!

2006 : On a dark night around 8PM, I come out of the MMTS station to rush home. Suddenly from nowhere this family of 3 (mom, dad & son) ask me if I can understand Hindi. After my affirmation he goes on to say how he was trapped and brought here in the name of some work. He said he had no money to even go back and his kid hasnt eaten for the past three days.

All my past lessons wake up this time. I quickly ransack my handbag and find Rs. 750. With an upset and an even more touching tone I ask him - "But I have only Rs. 750/-, will that amount be sufficient to go back?" All he said was - "We will adjust, it’s ok." I give that money and have a peaceful sleep (Obviously, I helped a family go back home !!)

That my whole world made a huge hue and cry telling me I was fully taken for a ride and such sob stories are very common is something I would rather forget. After a couple of weeks, I find the same people telling the same story to other innocent prey !! On one side I hear some heavy things like "help the needy", "save one's life", "donations to victims", "social consciousness" et al. On the other side I also hear some loud things like "dont encourage begging", "Even if its a single rupee, fight for it as you have 'earned' it", "No free lunch" and all that jazz.

I am left dazed and confused !

Conclusion : I havent yet been able to take a stand on this till date. The only solution I found relieving is to follow my instinct. If I feel like giving at that moment, I give; else I dont ! But I have made it a point not to give to men (adults) who look physically OK to me to work and earn. If you have a better idea to get me out of this catch-22 situation, you are more than welcome to share it with me :)

PS : Sincerely hoping I haven't ruffled any feathers by raising a socially controversial topic [:P]

….And the Saga continues…

“My emotional dilemma” is what I would like to call it in one word. Relations are myriad and relatives (read friends, family, cousins and every other association) weird. Even before I knew what a “relation” truly meant I knew I was emotional, I knew I cant live with out them and I knew being out of a relation breaks my heart and dampens my eye. Every time I find someone “close” to me part ways with me I have seen a piece of my heart walking away from me leaving my heart bruised…

All of my relations usually start off on a very stormy note thanks to my ever-talkative and over-expressive attitude. Sometimes they are like this lovely breeze which touch you only on and off yet leaving an eternal fragrance. Whatever be the case my heart has absorbed them like a clay pot absorbing any color of the water. The moment my eyes widen, my smile broadens and my heart jumps in joy seeing someone or talking to someone I know I have found another flower in the garden of my life. We may be as different as rose and lily yet I ensure that the seeds of our relation are strongly soiled. Different flowers bring different colors to our garden. My heart holds them close inside, my surprising lil gestures add water to nurture the relation, our 'sun'ny converstions give the much-needed food for the relation to grow strong.

There are occasional showers of anger, dampening disappointments and thunders of arguments. But after the storm there is lull again, the cool breeze hasn’t stopped us swaying again towards each other like two flowers swaying again to the breeze of friendship and love.

With all these my heart gets emotional, increases expectations and prioritizes the association. The green plant grows becoming a cynosure for the rest of the world. My friends tell me how much proud they are to be one in my garden. Each of those flowers vie with each other to be “My fave” flower

Suddenly one day the green plant of our friendship starts to show the yellow stains of disinterest. Everything is the same – the heart holding tight, the water nurturing and the ‘sun’ny talks still on. Yet its not the same realizes my heart... My heart worries, desperately tries to see what is wrong; the plant of our relation is now watered with its tears, there’s no longer sunny talks only a pall of gloom covering it like a sky around the earth. The plant knows it all but doesn’t heed.

“Why don’t you tell me what is wrong?” Unless you speak out how would I know what mistake I did?” asks my poor heart. But the plant of our friendship continues to become yellow and finally dies. The poor heart having seen a piece of its heart dead is appalled and dazed.

“This is not the only flower in the garden” tells my mind to which my heart says – “No flower is replaceable” while looking at the hundred others.

It wonders what could have prevented this and takes the extra care while planting a new seed of friendship. After the seed of a friendship blossoms into a lovely green plant it again turns yellow leaving a vale of tears to my heart.

Getting a little serious on this…No matter how much extra care I take to go that extra mile to make my relations, “some” people have ruthlessly ditched me. I take a cue from the experience, teach myself some wisdom and move on with my life. Yet it happens as I grow in my life….I don’t think I have ever learnt any lesson at this rate !!

Yet I don’t give up…I bring a new flower; it dies, and then bring one more, even that dies……and the saga continues….

But hey...the one thing I never learnt and never intend to learn is "Forget" & "Forgive" all those who made me shed a tear ... :P

PS: This is not for all those who have been, are and will be with me. A Big Thanks to all you guys for bringing some beautiful colors to my life :-)

My Moody Musings

“What is this life if; full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare….”

Wonder all my well-nigh dead living senses in unison! This Davies poem which was once liked by me for its simplicity is now admired for depicting so well the modern life complexity. How can the poem written ages ago hold good even today is one question which left me gaping. But I was in no mood to think more than this. My so called busy life hasn’t given me any chance to be in touch with me for long and now after a long and tiring day at work here I am sitting in my cab waiting to be home and slowly slipping into my moody musings….trying to listen to all that my senses want to share….

My mind which was once calculative, fast and busy cooking some damn thing today has come to a grinding halt. It swiftly questions me “Should I be thinking always??”

My eyes which were ones very excited about dreaming even in sleep, observing people and things around are now innocently asking me “Can we be put to sleep?”

My heart which once beat for all my people, loved to be accompanied with them is now avoiding everyone. It feels bored with people around, feels ditched by the world around….and tells me “I would want to remain inside you…” robbing me of my chance to be an open-hearted gal !

My ears which were once all ears to have the ipod headphones plugged into them are now saying “Pls shut us in a silent world”. To them now a “Mauja hi Mauja”or a “Masakali” or a “Mysterious girl” are all the same – a mere cacophony!

My tongue which was once dying to tickle its taste buds with various tastes is now content with a glass of water ! All it says is “Give me something to live not just to survive..” for which I have no answer !

The creative streak in me which always was upto some blog topic is now drained of ideas and deprived of inspiration !

My musings came to a screeching halt thanks to the traffic and the rash driving, the cab had to stop that way and it was time for me to get down. I walk for a while finally reach home. I open the lock and enter the house only to see darkness. There’s a power cut I tell myself thinking there’s darkness in mind, darkness inside the home darkness everywhere in my life

In the darkness with no energy to even light a candle I fall flat on my couch and continue to get into my dark tunnel of thoughts with half-closed eyes and half-hearted mind. After a few seconds I see a light, a bright light shining in the dark. My reflexes wake up and tell me what it is and I also wake up from my musings like I have woken up from deep sleep!! The moment I realize what it is my tightly clipped lips break into a smile then laugh at my own stupidity and then break into a guffaw !! The red light is the light of the power meter…. I forgot to switch on the light !!!!! Indeed there’s light at the end of a tunnel :-)

The smile has dispelled all my moody musings and de-stressed me. My eyes are now wide-open, my mind plans to blog this, my creative streak says it’s now inspired, my ears say its all ears to hear what it has to say, my heart is jumping with joy to share this with its close people and my hands are all set to type ;-)

My work is waiting for me, my house is in a mess and is crying for my attention but all my senses said “Go on and do what you enjoy doing” otherwise we would again have to feel stressed and say “What is this life if; full of care, we have no time to stand and stare….”

In the name of Entertainment...!!

"All is fair in Love and War"...well this old adage should now be modified to suit the modern world better. In my view it should be now called "All is fair in love, war and Entertainment" !! Entertainment is the buzzword now. Everything can pass off as long as it touted as "Entertainment" ! The word is sooo popular that we now have an "Entertainment Industry" constantly wooing us with their various sometimes weird shows. Is there anyone who cannot understand what Entertainment is right from a four-year old kid to an illiterate to a 60 year old granny?? Ironically despite having too many sources of entertainment people still throng to any place and any damn show if it is "in the name of entertainment" !!

Let me share why I had to write this. It happened a couple of months back during Ganesh Chathurthi. As usual our gullies were bustling with Ganesh Pandals and more and more people visiting the poor Ganesh. (You'll know why Ganeshji is called Poor very soon !!) Our apartment also had a pandal and all of our residents were busy in pujas, decorations, offerings etc. But the one event which drew max attendance and attention was the music and dance show organised every evening. I had a chance to attend one of those....thought i would have some fun and relax in the name of entertainment :)

Of all the performances I was particularly impressed with the performance of a 5 year old girl. She was there on stage dancing to a very popular item number in telugu. The song's lyrics are all about a girl wooing a guy and they have a vulgar tone to them. The poor girl blissfully ignored the lyrics and was gyrating to the song right under the nose of "Poor" Lord !!! Poor Ganesh has no choice but to wonder if all the devotees have come for his blessings or for the 'entertainment' offered !!!

The girl is just 5 but her expressions on her face defy it completely, her dance movements make you feel as if she is born to dance and her enthusiasm....boy it was just unstoppable !! The talent was clearly displayed but i guess at the wrong place. If only the girl was dancing on some classical devotional number with the same enthu..!! That would also become a useful platform to inculcate our values in our children.

The entertainment shows at the Ganesh Pandals are more than welcome but classical music and our traditional rituals/devotion would give the pandal more beauty than this "Item Entertainment" !! Then I am sure such entertainment leaves a happy smile rather than a bad taste on us !!

PS : The views and opinions expressed in the write-up are solely meant to express what I feel and are not intended to hurt anybody [:P]

How NOT to Hire Right !

Yes you read it right. It's about how NOT to hire right. While a lot of literature is rampant on the net about how to hire right, here's an audacious attempt to share with you how not to. This audacity comes from the fact that these are not based on any theory or principles proposed by the so-called Management Gurus. These are a classic example of "Experience speaks" types where the people around us have gone through. Let us look at those simple and easy-to-implement tips to make the poor job hunting prospective employee shy away in no time. Just get into any of the below categories and watch the prospect vanish in a second.

The "I-don't-know" type : They are too naive..work for a small firm..whose earnings are also small. They desparately wait to hire without being smart enough to know how?? Usually start off by addressing you "Sir / Madam" and giving some vague info like there is an opening (without giving you the whats of it) but persist asking you "Are you interested?" They sound more like a Customer Care Executive of a Bank asking if you want a Credit card!! The prospective employee by now understands that you hardly know anything and so will think of giving your company a miss !! Try it out..it sure works !!

The "I-am-smart" type : Here I recall an incident which my friend shared with me. She got a call from a girl who claimed that she was calling from a Top brand. After my friend's excitement and promise to her to meet the next day the girl slowly discloses that she is calling from a small firm and they deal with the top brand and this firm can be considered a subsidiary of it !!! That the girl got the firing of a lifetime from my friend is not relevant now anyways !! This is one trick to get an easy prey!

The "I-dont-care" type : Sometime ago when I was very busy with my wedding shopping in a big sari mall I got a call from this Gentleman who is supposed to be the Regional Head of a popular Indian MNC. As soon I pick up the call he doesnt care if I am even interested or if I can talk to him then...all he says was "Hi I am XXX calling from YYY. When can you come down to meet me tomorrow? I will be here in Hyderabad only till tomorrow evening." I was shocked by his attitude. How could such a senior person calling from such a popular company talk like this??? An utter disrespect towards the candidate. Go for it and you wouldn't be hiring right even if you are calling from the biggest brand :-) !!

The "I-am-too-desperate" type : One of my friends got a call from the biggest brand for a position of Resource Manager. She was never into Resourcing and had conveyed the same to the recruiter. But the recruiter persisted in saying that it is ok as she holds an MBA and is into HR. When she shared this with me I was wondering if he is trying to tell us that the biggest and the most wanted brand is not finding people to fill their positions that they have to compromise like this??

The list will go on and on and on....

On a more serious note, are jobs only for people? Don't companies need the right candidate? If yes why aren't they recruiting right ?? Most of people's experiences make me feel if the companies consider all these job-hunting candidates beggars begging for a job !!

Agreed that we need to be aggressive in reaching targets, closing positions and growing but what about Quality? what about values? and what really is "Right person for the Right job" all about ? Are we soooo lost in the number game that we miss wood for the trees, that we recruit for the heck of it only to see the wrong-fit vanishing in just a couple of months time?? Look who's talking about "Attrition" !!!!