Wishing you all a Peanuts Holiday Season

'Tis the holiday season. A time to cheer, relax and recharge. By reading comic strips.

Most of you know about my love for Peanuts. Friends have notched points for gifting me Peanuts collectibles (books, stuffed toys, tags, decorative sets, a salt-and-pepper shaker and even a trash can). These characters pervade my life. Even the web address of this page is a nod to the college-going-class-bunking Joe Cool (who is an avatar in Snoopy's fantasy land).

It was not always this way. Charlie Brown & Snoopy had merited only an occasional viewing in the Sunday newspaper. It was only after flipping through PEANUTS A Golden Celebration - about 12 years ago - did I understand why Peanuts was the No. 1 comic strip of all time. The book, published in 1999 to commemorate 50 years of Peanuts, was a treasure trove of famous strips accompanied by Charles Schulz's insightful comments.

Do personalities evolve? You bet. To the left is a collage of strips from the book that show the hunched-Beethoven-loving-plastic-piano-playing Schroeder's evolution in style and form over the years. The first strip is from the 50s, the second from the 60s and the last belongs to the 80s. 





It is often said that there is minimal tolerance to contrary points of view today due to extreme talk-radio and opinionated media. Well, one look at this letter from the 60s from someone yet to get a grip on school desegregation tells you strong opinions - regardless of media influence - have always existed. And if you still harbour some doubts, how about the Thanksgiving strip below that triggered such a robust response?
  

  

Snoopy's affinity to a turkey....

.... resulted in THIS?

This holiday season, I figured that I would go one-up on the Golden Celebration. Enter Celebrating Peanuts - 60 Years. This 500+ page hardcover edition is bigger, glossier and grander than its predecessor. And every bit as magical.

 

As I take leave to bury myself in this massive masterpiece, I want to take a moment to acknowledge your unlimited support and encouragement during 2012. Every time I thought that I had nothing more to add, someone would ask "when's your next blog?" Creativity blossoms when there is interest. Thank you.

 

Wish you and your loved ones a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous new year.

Snoopy Common Sense Approach
Edition 1

Snoopy Common Sense Approach
Edition 2

 

 

Exam Time

Writing a paper and pencil exam. Without a word of preparation. Priceless.

Infosys encourages us to undertake a certification exam every 6 months. This exam can either be internal or external. You just accumulate more points when you take an external test.

By now, you know how we chai-buddies inspire each another as we consume awesome filter coffee and tea twice a day at Hatti-Kaapi. This is where crazy ideas are encouraged and exchanged. Some months ago, the brightest among our lot encouraged me to complete an external certification exam. After brief thought, I decided to listen to Mr. Bright and give it a twirl.

Another colleague handed over the exam material. It weighed 3 kg. Thrice I opened the first page only to fall asleep in 5 minutes. Next I glanced through the table of contents to fathom if I could 'reverse-engineer' the details. No luck there. I randomly picked pages for numerical problems. The 3 kg monster was pure theory.

4 months whirred by without a single word of preparation.

The exam day arrived last weekend. That morning, it took me 20 minutes to find two pencils, a sharpener and an eraser. There was no pencil box to put this stuff in, so Priya lent me a pouch that holds her cooling glasses. I also carried her old solar calculator from her B.Com days. The hall ticket was printed just 5 minutes before starting the car. When I finally took the test, answers were determined through logic gleaned from Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, 'strategic' sounding words, inky-pinky-ponky methods and pure coin tosses. In the past, I would spend the last 15 minutes of any exam in reviewing answers. This time, there was so such conflict. Masala Dosa at Adigas next door vs. 15 minutes for review? Coin tosses are not wasted on such obvious choices.

Looking back, I wouldn't have scripted this experience better. Lack of preparation for an exam was an unknown phenomenon for me until now. While never a topper, I would always finish near the top. Preparation was the key. (What choice - other than preparation - do you have when you belong to a traditional middle-class South Indian family where cousins get nothing less than multiple gold medals?) And now, with nothing to lose, the entire experience was such a rush of joy. Maybe that is why Anupam Kher's speech resonated so well last night.
 

So Mr. Bright, what's your next big idea?

Excellence

Infosys hosted its Annual Awards for Excellence (AFE) today. If there is ever a lesson you need on how a multi-country-multi-city-annual-corporate event must be conducted, this is it. Every step of the 2.5 hour event is amazingly choreographed, seamlessly integrated and flawlessly presented by Infoscions every step of the way.

 

All global Infosys locations participate simultaneously in the AFE. Hence, when award announcements are made for a project / unit that comprises of members working across several locations, the team members across these locations can walk up to the stage simultaneously to collect their awards. To me, it seems that we have not only pioneered the global delivery model but have also refined the global recognition model. The AFE celebrates the best of values that Infosys represents viz. Excellence.

 

We also invite an eminent personality as the Chief Guest for the AFE who represents excellence in his / her field of work. Anil Kumble has been here before and so has Barkha Dutt. Naseeruddin Shah was invited in 2010 while 2011 was the year of A.R. Rehman. Today, it was the versatile Anupam Kher.

 

When greats speak to you, what remain in your mind are their simple words and rustic wisdom. When you stop fearing failure, Mr. Kher said, you automatically start on a path to excellence. Learn to listen well and learn from others. And above all, an actor must always remember that he is no different than a carpenter. Both of them just execute things. But an actor lets things get to his head because he sees others write something about him. That reminded me so much about Naseeruddin Shah's speech about excellence a couple of years ago. We all start small. We just want to do the simple things right. Excellence comes much later.

 

Starting small. Listening. Staying true to yourself. Remaining grounded. That’s the path to excellence for you. How easy to remember. And how easily we forget….

Tracking the year....

I have long accepted that tracking & reviewing is a necessity in my professional life. This activity is not something new to you to understand as a reader. You set out to do something. You track. You bucket it into a few measures. You learn. And then you start over. After all, this is what experienced gurus have been telling us to do for ages - whether you are at work or at home. It is not always fun to review old numbers, but then you get my point that this is something you must do as a 'best practice'.

I am equally clear that as much we may think that such best practices are inculcated during our college years, the reality is that you can zoom from cradle to 40 years in just a second and still understand the concept. I mean - just look at the eco-system around you right now. Log into facebook & you will see a delightful button that serves a personalized 2012 Year in Review. Isn't that cool? Flick CNN-IBN & you will see the 'Person of the Year' program for the next 2 weeks. December is the only month in the year when Santa Claus is so busy running while the rest of the world is so busy reviewing. (I wonder whether this is why the New Year resolutions are so popular. Since you have spent the entire month thinking - the thinking goes - can you at least not decide on something by Jan 1?)

Tracking & reviewing what I have done may not be fun. But tracking & reviewing what others have is a lazy man's delight. And that is precisely where I found myself an hour ago. It is Time Magazine’s season for the Person of the Year. This is something I have loved guessing every year in the past but have lost track of in recent years. It was interesting to scan the profiles that have kept us engaged & entertained through 2012. Mr. 'Gangnam' Psy is at one end of the spectrum. Malala Yousufzai - the brave Pakistani girl who braved a Taliban bullet & wants to continue to speak up for women's rights - is at the other. In the middle are politicians, entertainers & sportspersons. All in all, a good list.

Obama won a tough re-election, but I doubt he would make it. Aung San Suu Kyi and Thein Sein from Burma have come out of 2 decades of turmoil, but I would rather wait to see a better life for Burma before elevating them. Sportspersons entertained us at the London Olympics, but somehow no one took my breath away.

Five entries caught my eye. Hillary Clinton has been an amazing American Secretary of State for the past four years & is capping off a remarkable innings (for now). Tough, Disciplined, and Tireless are words often used to describe her. She is also a policy wonk respected for her intellect and hard work.

The undocumented immigrants reached a tipping point in American politics. A number of them will soon come out of the shadows and will change the demographic mix of America. Hopefully the national dialogue also changes with words like 'amnesty' and ‘self deportation’ being replaced with measured fairness. 

Three entries share a common thread of scientific discovery. Felix Baumgartner jumped from the edge of space. The Mars Rover landed 160 million miles away. The Higgs Boson was simply the God Particle. Individually, they represent a significant breakthrough. But collectively they represented the human will to - yet again - expand the frontiers of science. Work in each of these three areas will continue to grow in the decades hence. And – like science always does – will only make the future generations better.

Here’s what I think. The Scientific Discoveries of 2012 must make it as the Time POY. With Hillary Clinton & the undocumented immigrants as the runners-up. Now let's see what the jury thinks on Dec 19....