All a girl wants is to be loved !

I believed in fairy tales, a happily after ever

Left my city, family and friends

To find love - that's what marriage is about

Or so I thought

My dreams came crashing down

When all you do is give, but can't hope to receive

So I thought if I lose weight

He will love me

And I became anaemic, all for love's sake

But no, it didn't work

How can I make him love me

Was all I thought

Am I missing something?

Or maybe I need to just ask

So I did with a heavy heart

I asked to be loved

Thrice to be heard

It was my last resort

Expressed my wish to the one I love

To have a baby atleast who will love me and need me

And be there for me

But I was met with silence

The emptiness, pain and loneliness was more than I could bear

Walked out before I could despair

Maybe I asked for too much

All a girl wants is to be loved

 I wonder where I went wrong

Just to be loved is all I longed

Now they tell me I am strong

But that's not who I am

I'm broken, just lost.

An Ode To My Dad

How can I ever forget

The last song that you ever sang

Was ‘Happy Birthday’ to me

In a tune that I could not recognize

Even in your sickness, Daddy

When your memory was all fuzzy

And could not recognize the visitors to your bed

Even your own brother and sister

You remembered your wife and children.

You let me pursue my dreams

And kept giving me advice

On my choice of career and friends

I used to tell you to stop lecturing me

But there is no one to lecture me now

And nobody with whom I can get annoyed

Towards the end

My only prayer was

God, please don’t take him away

On my birthday. Please don’t take him away…

I didn’t want to have a birthday to regret about

So He waited for 3 days more

Before He called my Dad to His eternal abode.

All I ever wanted was to make you proud of me

Be a good daughter and sister

Most important of all, be a good person.

And I know I’ve made mistakes along the way

Things I’m not proud of

But then I will keep trying

Till my last breath to be worthy of

Being called your daughter.

It’s been ten years Daddy

I don’t know how you are or where you are.

I wish you were there when I graduated from college

Or you could guide me now on choices I should make in my career

I wish you could be there to walk me down the aisle,

When I get married to a man who promises to love me.

I miss you Daddy and I will always love you.

You were and always will be my hero.

HR Policies of Indian firms

Companies in India have introduced many employee friendly policies to attract, retain and manage talent. In the competitive global scenario, the skilled workforce of India are a prized possession and companies are introducing new policies and innovative methods to attract and retain talent.

India has a vast pool of literate workforce, which makes it a leading destination for companies to hire employees. The population of India stood at 1.21 billion people according to the Indian Census 2001, making it the second most populous country in the world. Of this, the Indian workforce comprises of 127 million people, including workers in the organized and unorganized sector.

Due to the availability of a large workforce, companies managing the human resource function face a formidable task of managing, retaining and engaging talent by employing policies that are both pragmatic and employee-friendly. Companies introduce policies for the benefit of employees, catering to the needs of the diverse workforce, while ensuring loyalty to the organization.

Work-life balance

The services sector is known for adopting several employee - friendly policies including telecommuting option, flexible work hours and sabbatical leave. These policies are introduced to provide a better work-life balance for employees. They help in attracting and retaining talent. Infosys Technologies Limited has introduced new policies like adoption leave and paternity leave to woo employees.

Women-friendly policies

Companies focus on providing an inclusive working environment by supporting the careers of working women. They have realized the potential of women workers and have also introduced women-friendly policies. These include childcare facilities, maternity leave, flexible work timings and harassment policy.

Diversity management

The workforce in India comprises of people from different states, religions, races and languages. Diversity management is an important aspect of human resources, as it is essential in improving communication among employees, resulting in improved efficiency and better business prospects. Large organizations often want to be portrayed as ‘equal opportunity’ employers, by introducing policies that support careers of employees, irrespective of gender, age, physical disability, colour or race. These include the setting up of dedicated diversity offices within the organization, which provides counseling and support to the diverse workforce.

Learning & Development:

Many companies provide learning opportunities for employees to update their skills, while they are working. Companies facilitate learning by providing elearning opportunities, developing Individual learning Programs, organizing workshops and training sessions to ensure growth of the individuals. Planned training sessions are also organized, keeping in mind the current business need and the aptitude of the employees. Employees benefit on successful completion of the course as it helps in advancing their careers. GE offers entry level leadership programs for graduates, offering them access to global networking and mentors to support them in their career growth.

Employee engagement:

Many HR managers have realized the importance of engaging employees to reduce attrition rates. Companies organize many fun activities, competitions and events including Sports Day, Annual Day, Dance and Singing competitions to engage employees. Philips Electronics Limited, Bangalore organizes marathons for employees to emphasize the need to stay healthy and motivate people to work together as a team.

CSR

Employee satisfaction is key to retaining talent and achieving business stability and growth. Many companies encourage employees to participate in corporate social responsibility initiatives. Some companies including Ernst & Young encourage employees to participate in CSR by choosing a particular project, volunteering in teaching or by contributing money. When employees choose to support a particular NGO by contributing money, the company contributes an equal amount of money to the chosen NGO.

All these HR policies introduced by Indian companies help in engaging employees, while reducing attrition rates. Indian companies will continue to innovate and introduce new policies to woo employees and cater to the diverse needs of employees.

Openness to learning is the key to success

This is the advice I got from a veteran in the industry and who has had more than 12 years of experience in the communications industry. Always be willing to learn from anyone. The moment you stop learning, you start fading away and you suddenly realise that you are stagnating. That's a very dangerous situation, as you realise that you are dead.

Sounds very cliche, but honestly, haven't you come across situations where you realise that your manager does not know about something or how to do a basic task ? Something that you know too well.

Teaching children can be a great learning experience. They are so innocent and act without prejudice to anybody. Have you ever smiled looking at a hassled father who is dropping his son off to school. The son is clutching his father with both hands, carrying his schoolbag. He is his anchor, safe and secure. It teaches us that no matter in what difficult situation we find ourselves, we will always find our family backing us. Taking care of us, till we can recover and spread our wings again.

Or take for example, the night watchman at your office, who puts in a 12-hour workshift every day and yet you will find the most warm smile on his face, when you enter the building. It makes you feel embarassed about all the times that you have complained whether it's the weather, politics, work, people, relationships and objects.

Often, we rush past these ordinary people to go about official work, our heads buzzing with the hectic schedule that is invevitable. It's also good to take some time off to simply review your life, look at people around you and appreciate them for the efforts they are putting in. It can make a big difference to the ordinary day of some person.

The art of making rotis

My fixation with rotis began when I was in the 7th standard. Mom used to invariably pull me into the kitchen and seek my help in making rotis in the morning. In order to make a perfect roti, you need to have lots of skill, practice and patience. Starting from the dough to flattening it on a roti-maker to the way you fry the roti, it's all a part of the process of coming up with the perfect, round-shaped and soft rotis.

Hmm.. to begin with, I love eating rotis at any given point of the day. It's tasty, flexible and you can eat it with just about anything and it's good for health. Secondly, I simply love the smell of rotis.. yumm.. so heavenly.

I learnt how to fry rotis, with patience, one at a time. I still enjoy doing it. The fluffiness of the rotis is a must, for which you need to apply pressure at some key points. Mom never used to let me prepare the dough.. as invariably it would turn out to be some gooey stuff that she would have to deal with later. And so, I was content with frying the rotis.

However, mom used to ask me to flatten('bailna' in Hindi) the rotis, that is, whenever she wanted to amuse herself. My rotis used to come in varied shapes and sizes. And mom used to begin her litany of complaints. When will you ever learn to make rotis? What will you feed your husband?

And so on and so forth.. And so I developed a guilty conscience. Maybe, I was never meant to cook in the first place. I would anyway do such a terrible job. So perhaps, I would just take food from restaurants, etc.. And this conscience soon became an ugly monster, resurfacing every time I failed to produce the perfect roti.

Time went by. Sometimes mom would be out of station. Survival instinct took over. I had to feed myself. So, no problem, even if I need to struggle, I would strive to prepare rotis. And after years of practice, now I can proudly say that I can confidently prepare a good, round-shaped roti. However, I still have some points to work on. My rotis are not uniform and the thickness of the roti is now an issue. This is a minor issue, but my quest continues.

So my conscience can now be happy, as it is befriended by pride and guilt no longer can haunt it. I still enjoy rotis and can survive an entire day on it. They say 'Practice makes perfect'. Maybe, just maybe, the guy/girl must have been in the roti-making business.

A fast for a decade and nobody is listening - Clency D' Almeida

When K. Chandrashekhar Rao took up the fast for 10 days, along with student protests and demonstrations, which took on a violent mode, this captured the limelight. Excessive media coverage and mounting pressure resulted in the Centre taking action. The Home Minister, P. Chidambaram has said that a resolution would be moved in the Assembly for the formation of Telengana.

This received massive coverage across news media. Have you ever heard about the Iron Lady of Manipur? Someone by name of Irom Chanu Sharmila ?

This lady has consistently been on fasts since 2000. Does anyone care to know why? She is protesting the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act), which has been misused and gone unchecked in the north east states. The AFSPA was initiated due to the constant militant threats, faced by some North east states. This Act gives authority to the armed forces to detain and arrest anyone on suspicion of terrorist activity. It gives immunity to the armed forces from prosecution, for any actions amounting to death of persons suspected of terrorist activity. In 2009 alone, the death toll stood at 265.

July 10, 2004 - Thangjam Manorama Devi, 32 was brutally tortured and raped by Assam Rifles on the pretext of questioning her involvement in the banned outfit, People's Liberation Army. Five days later, about 30 ordinary women protested in the nude against the heinous crimes of the Assam army and the AFSPA. They held a banner which read, 'INDIAN ARMY RAPE US." What steps did the State take? They imprisoned the women for three months.

Iraninan Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi brought up this issue in 2006 and championed the cause of Irom. This incredible woman, Irom has taken on this battle with a steely determination and still continues her fast to this day.

The doctors at AIIMS say that her survival is a medical marvel. This frail woman who has been fasting for a decade, has not received any action till date. She is been forcibly fed through tubes by the Indian State. She refuses any kind of solid food. As a result of her prolonged fast, Irom's body is wasted and she lies on her hospital bed, waiting and hoping for action to be taken. Hers is a silent and lonely battle, her supporters are few. Irom has also decided she will not meet her mother until the AFSPA is repealed. It's now been a decade since she has met her mother. She says that it is her"bounden duty" to perform. She is the epitome of strong will, sacrifice and dedication. She deserves to be heard, dont you think?

Ladakh-absolute Nirvana

Day 1: We're told not to walk fast, sleep, take rest, drink lots of water. In the evening, we go for a stroll in the local Leh Bazaar, I seem to be fine. We see many prayer wheels in and around Leh. We see the local market, catch turnips on sale, apricot packets of all varieties. Evening comes and as I walk to the dining hall, I get dizzy.

Day 2: Early morning we go the monastery for morning prayers. Little children serve butter tea and barley mix to the monks who keep praying, eating and drinking. We head to Leh Palace and then Shey Palace. The Palaces are converted now to tourist attractions. We do a detour and have a glimpse of the Dalai Lama's house at Leh. It's simple and neat, in the middle of poplar trees.

Day 3: We're all set to go to Chang La Pass. We're very excited. My sis is not feeling well, still we cant miss out on Pangong Lake so we're brave. We have breakfast on the way. Then, I fall sick, cant step out of the car. So I just watch the beautiful scenery on the way. We come across the first snow. It's beautiful. I discover I have altitude sickness, so do many in our gang. And then we catch our first breathtaking view of the lake after travelling for 5 hours. It's clear blue. No doubt about it. Tucked in neatly between the mountains, the view is absolutely amazing. We carry on. Two-thirds of the lake is in China, we learn.. so we spend some time near the lake and then we head for the hotel. We get armed with tablets and all.

Day 4: We skip on the morning trip to the monastery. We sleep well and recuperate. We then head to Alchi Monastery in the afternoon. On the way, we're introduced to Magnetic Hill, catch on the route of the Indus River. This hill attracts planes and aircraft usually choose to fly at a safe distance in this region.

We head to the riverside, near the resort. I collected shiny, smooth pebbles and one big smooth, lovely stone. We get good pics. We also spot a German Bakery where you get cinnamon cookies and cake. In the evening, we just relax, listen to the birds and I try to mimic them.

Day 5: We go to the monastery in the morning. There are big idols inside and colourful walls. We proceed to the Likiri monastery and spend some time there. We stop by the riverside for lunch. After that we move to the Gurudwara and then the Hall of Fame. It's wonderful. We get to eat Maida ka halwa. It's lovely. We then proceed to the hotel.

Day 6: We proceed for the experience of rafting. We're prepared, all set for an exciting time ahead. And it was wonderful. My arms were paining for 2 days aferwards. We rafted for 2 hours, took a break in between. The view was fantastic.

Day 7: We go to the awesome Khardung La pass. We're ready this time around. The trip was shorter. So it was wonderful.

We caught some mountainous animals on the way. In the evening we left for the Shanti Stupa. We spent a long time there. The spectacular views we got there cannot be compared.

Day 8: We did some shopping in the evening so we could have souvenirs to take back home. Then, we had a cultural evening, traditional Ladakhi dances were held. The nomadic dance, the bird dance and the serving of tea dance were memorable. Our stay was soon over.