Mail-o-nomics (Part 1)

"I haven't received any mail on this matter." "Put this on mail." "Mark his manager on mail" and the classic "Why did you put this on mail??"

These are some quirky lines bound to hit you at some point in your career. Pray it does in your early stages. They later they hit you, the more you are bound to be pissed and disinclined to adopt a strategy around it.

Oh wait - where is the Intro?

We are discussing about e-mail being used as a strategic attacking weapon and quite often - as a defensive shield in our corporate setup. To be an acute communicator, apply more thought in sending a mail, than you would in writing your blog post.

Yes sir. Please do. E-mail is now the new first impression device you have to reach out to business associates.

Not about etiquette

We will cover etiquette in subtleties but not in substance. There are enough google links and corporate programs covering this aspect. Let's switch over to my favourite anecdotal style.

Perception

The people settled in the industry treat an e-mail as officiating mechanism. People of my generation - used e-mails to stay in touch with people far and wide before the advent of Orkut/Face book/Twitter. I still do use the same. So it shouldn't be surprising if we shoot a mail to as a casual conversation.

But the said people of industries have been taught and will teach you that it is immature to do so. 'Ask your questions on phone/chat' they will say 'use mails only to take the matter forward on a formal note.'

The newbies will learn later that mails will be used as evidence of communication much later. Like you raise a matter with a person - they might have too many things to do and keep you on last priority. At such times - evidence of communication is required. A simple 'I told you then at that time' will not be entertained.

Once a client walked up to me to complain about my colleague who e-mailed her minutes of a casual discussion. So pissed was the said client, not only had I to hear a sermon on mail ethics - but to hush down the poor newbie who was making a despairing attempt at defending himself.

Escalation

Is someone not delivering what you require? Being a total **** block? "Mail his manager" is the salvo that comes in. But consider this one thing. There are two things that could result here - the **** block will either fear you in the future or hate you - the latter mood inviting some reversals. It's always best you have some informal relations with concerned person.

If not sot, then ensure that you draw some equity on his HOD. Either by means of your position, by whom you represent (an important client, or a governance/statutory body - in simpler terms You or your boss could get his ass whipped at some stage), you/ your boss share some cordial relationship with this person, you or your boss are favoured by yours or his key mgt(and he knows it.) etc.

Evidence

Some people leave embarrassing stuff in their mail boxes. And delete the more seemingly irrelevant and later crucial mails. Learn to save every little official mail, however insignificant it is. I am typically bored of people who send me repeated mails asking for the same thing, that too within a span of three corresponding weeks. You are forced to wonder do they suffer from acute 'Ghajini' syndrome. But often you are subjected to the same malady. And these mails help you retrace your steps on any line of thought or progress on any matter.

Please, for the love of god, be to the point

It does not matter who is the addressee of the mail. Any human will not like elaborate mails. If you have to give long instructions paste that on notepad or word and attach it to the mail. Long mails will be ignored, possibly seen as immaturity or pompousness. The addressee will miss the point about what is expected from them. Of course that could happen if you're too short as well. Chisel each word, cross check with another colleague - nothing stupid about that, then mail it. You will get the hang out of it in time. I got my mails vetted for a long time and now some seniors consult me too. Not that I am Mr. Evershine. A different perspective helps.


For the next time -

Maladies of the thumb generation..
How to be to the point.
Why should I be an editor.
I'm not a grammar Nazi, but how prudent should I be?
and more....

Delhi Belly!

A project at the client office landed me in Delhi for 8 days, in the month of November just at the onset of winter.

God bless the client, god bless my company for my first stay in Delhi, having traversed through the capital city in transit quite a few times.

And those transits were during the scorching summer, and I was only too glad to be in Delhi for only two hours. This visit churned my heart, to bring out new-found fondness for our capital city. I arrived on Monday the 7th, evening delayed by half-n-hour. And soon as we started by taxi, I was met by the most shocking sight.

No traffic! And big fat roads. One-way in Delhi is bigger than both ways in the widest of our roads. The night quiet post-dinner walk around Safdarjung enclave, where I stayed, was blessed by cool weather. There are row-houses there and every person made it a point to inscribe their profession on the name-plate. That's how I know where the ONGC chairman stays.

And to top it all, ice-cream in the cold weather night!

Our client would drive us back and forth from Noida. Would rather call it flying v/s Bombay speed. We shifted to Noida after the third day and stayed opposite The Great Indian Place- a mall so huge, I couldn't even capture it in one frame.

Noida is like Navi Mumbai. Got all the facilities and the quietness of the suburbs.

Here the roads are planned a notch better.

So on Sunday 13th November I had the day to myself. I decided I had to go to as many spots I could.

So i logged in to Google, the very brilliantly made Delhi tourism website and planned a trip centered around the Delhi Metro.

First stop - a brisk walk to Noida Sector 18 Metro station. A brilliantly planned Metro stands to amaze me. Took a 100 buck for the day pass. They have a simple swipe-in, swipe-out feature using a card.

First stop was Rajiv Chowk, which is like the Dadar of Delhi, from where I took another train to Chandni Chowk.

Getting off the station I walked instinctively towards my first destination, the Red Fort. By that I mean, I didnt have a map nor did I ask anyone. And slowly found my way to the destination, so elated to spot it from far!

Didn't have enough time to take an inside tour. So caught a rickshaw to Raj Ghat.

Just stood at the place and soaked in the quiet and vast silent place. Then paid a silent homage to Mahatma Gandhi, and a silent wow.

Then I moved further to Rajeev Chowk station, which is located at the center of the Connaught Circle.

From here I caught a train straight to Qutab station. And right from the Metro you catch the sight of the famed minaret.

It looked really beautiful specially in silhouette against the setting sun. Clicked a lot of pictures there.

Then took the train to Central Secretariat. Came out, took some directions from the local policeman, and walked along to the parliament. The sight out there is amazing. It was really dark, with low lighting. Not many vehicles or people in sight. It looked like a hill station!

The parliament looked quaint in appearance, in the dim night lights. Met some soldiers guarding the place, three of them.

I had a pleasant chat with the trio, one of them from Maharashtra(and chatting up with him in my faltering Marathi, as he seemed too delighted by it). They got into Mumbai v/s Delhi. Asked me which I liked better, I just said I love Delhi. And then they replied - 'Dilli hai Dilwalo ka' and I nodded in agreement.
So I was in all awe, walking up the dimly lit lane, with the north block to my right, south block to my left and Presidential palace straight ahead.

If you swivel 180 degrees, your met by the sight of India Gate in all its glory on the other end down the Rajpath.


Presidential palace is like a huge mansion, I only wished more people like Dr.Kalam get to stay there.

I found a rick down to India Gate, since I was short of time. And saw a few VIP houses and various ministry buildings.

India Gate is beautiful. It was built to commemorate the battalions from India who lost their lives in WW1. At least the Britishers know to honour their martyrs better. The iconic architecture has inscribed the name of each soldier who lost their life in the war.

Passed by a few more ministries on the way back to central secretariat station. The rickshaw chap, who earlier told me - "jo dil chahe de dena" now demanded 120 bucks. I felt 50 was gud enuf, plus a little premium for waiting for me. He didn't like my pay and said "saab ye theek nahi hain." I reminded him - jo dil chahe dialogue. He said - aap khud vichar kijiye, to which I said vichar karoonga to aur kum kar doonga! Then I said Thank You and we parted ways with a smile.

From secretariat starts a separate line to my next stop, Nehru Place.

From Nehru Place you can visit the Lotus temple or the Bahai temple. I saw it from far and rushed off to ISKCON Delhi. My final stop.

I sat ere, praying, singing for an hour n half. There was sweet n melodius kirtan being sung. I just sat at the Temple Hall, didn't venture to the other areas. Met my friends Murari Gupta and Manish from Mumbai there.


Had to then rush back to Nehru place station, as I had a long metro ride back to Noida and the metro shuts by 11.

And the last day we took a cab to the airport. In the process got another Delhi Darshan. Got to see the houses of all the Top Politicos, the embassies beautifully arranged. You could be forgiven to think that this city was made on Cityville!

A legacy fallen.. A legacy turned around..

Two different headlines evoked different responses from me today.

One was sad - Kraft(makers of Tobler-one) have made a succesful bid for Cadbury @ $19.6 billion.

It not all bad news as yet, but I have a fear that Kraft will downplay Cadbury(raise price, bad distrubution) to promote its pet products. Akin to Lennovo (which purchased IBM laptop division and strangled the brand to death). I want my Dairy Milk and may lower profits fall on Kraft if it actualises my fears

The second was amusing - Junior ministers in the Cabinet seek work for Pay -

Contrary to my perception of junior ministers of being fund hoggers who feature on Enlarged newspaper advertisements for some random launch.{I beg exceptions- e.g. erstwhile Anand Sharma)

They actually want work, and went upto the PM to complain the lack of it!! "We want to learn and educate ourselves on crucial issues" to quote Mr. Scindia.

I am baffled to the say the least. Politicians finally realized they should 'educate themselves' about the latest issues. What about the ones which are blatant and obvious?

Answer- Not assigned to them.

Dear PM, make them full time ministers!!! We need such people to lead our country!