Latte with Phoenix

KEEP   the   SEAT   WARM   for   ME We may have heard the term “Keep the set warm for me” or words to that effect, and maybe used it in our conversation also. It usually means …“To occupy a position for someone or take over their responsibility while they are absent.” An example would be in the form … " I don't usually work here, I am just keeping Ramesh’s seat warm while he's on sick leave.” You are a temporary appointee. The rightful owner of that seat/position is not available at present, so you are put there to perform his/her duties. In other forms, it could be working in a position till a preferred person is ready to be appointed in your place … “I am the Manager/ General Manager here till Seth ji’s son completes his MBA and is posted here. I am keeping the seat warm for him.” Another variation would be … “I am the MLA here till Neta ji’s son attains age to contest election from this seat. I am keeping the seat warm for him and shall...

A Chocolate Which  Vanished In the early 1950’s toffees of the sugar boiled type only was generally available in the market, and all of us were happy with them. Imported Chocolate bars were also there, but only in the upper end of the market. Those who were in the school going age in that period may remember a happy happening of the time. It was a delicious chocolate bar which became available in the market. An Indian Company - Sathe Biscuit & Chocolate launched these chocolate bars. They started   business in 1949 and their chocolate bar and Drinking chocolate powder (for mixing in milk) was in the market in a couple of years. They can rightly be called the pioneers of chocolate business in India. Their several varieties of chocolate bar in the 1950’s were available for only Rs 1.00 to Rs 3.00. Their demand and production must have been good as they were available in general stores even in small towns of India.            ...

Instructions by Manufacturer Whenever we buy anything, there are instructions on the bottle/carton or in an accompanying sheet/booklet detailing how to use the item. Whether it is an eye drop telling you how to put that medicine in your eyes or a kitchen gadget, the manufacturer explains how to use it. As far as explaining goes, it is required in most cases so that the consumer can use the product satisfactorily, in some countries it is mandatory; whereas in some countries manufacturers were subjected to lawsuits making them vary and therefore going to extreme lengths of   explaining. So far so good, but some manufacturers go a step further and start explaining the obvious, whereas some go into a lighter vein and try to crack a joke on the product or instruction sheet. One manufacturer says – “Remove shells before eating”. Now who in their right mind would eat the shells ? Another, a computer company is seriously re-writing their instructions booklet. This beca...

THE  BODY  CLOCK In the present age of hectic life, whether you are a student, employed professional or self-employed professional life, male or female; the concept of time and the borderline between day and night has become blurred and sometimes non-existent. Demands of everyday life, work pressure, irregular meal times and late nights can push the body constitution and its adaptability beyond limits of tolerance. Even retired persons are no exception and are caught in the whirlpool of catching up on things they missed doing in their working life. There are parties you cannot avoid, get-togethers that you want to go, films and shows which you cannot leave (or you shall be left out in the social circuit). Sleeping during the day is not possible as the day has its schedule. It’s also not a solution as the body recognises night and wants to rest. The body recognises night, is also evident as Road and Factory accidents happen mostly beyond midnight and dawn as the...

THE  GREAT  HEDGE  of  INDIA It is often said that ‘Fact is stranger than fiction’, and it is indeed true beyond imagination in this case. The East India Company built an approximately 20ft wide and 12 ft high Hedge from Orrisa, encircling MP and going up to the end of Punjab. It can be called – The Great Hedge –     and surprisingly almost 100% of India’s populations have never heard of this. One wonders at the strategy used by the powers of the time to completely obliterate this mind boggling fact from public memory. A traveler in India in the 1870s would have come across a strange problem. He couldn’t walk from the western parts of India to the east in the Terai region without encountering an enormous hedge made of babool, prickly pear, karaunda and other shrubs! Where he could find paths to go across, a police chowki greeted him — which had both police and customs officials! If the poor traveller was to be carrying a precious commodity called sal...

Were they Good or Useful ? Most of us would have faced a Personality / Psychometric test sometime in our employment career; either when changing jobs or some time else. It has applicants (working managers in their own right) sitting at tables in a large room, reminiscent of taking the +12 exam. Some would have struggled after discovering that if you were less honest in the early questions, later ones were catching you out. This style of the test- answering a series of questions to assess personality or ability is still in wide use. Educationists and Psychologists say that although the test carries a scientific look, it has several drawbacks and was   unsatisfactory even then, and still is. A number of faults are cited … (1) The tests help to entrench and perpetuate the present style of management – which may be poor, (2) They discriminate by assuming that the candidate has some prior knowledge of how they have to work in that organisation, (3) When about half t...

WAITING for GODOT ‘Waiting for Godot’ is a play by Samuel Beckett, who composed the original in French, between 1948 and 1949. The premiere was in 1953 in Paris. The English language version was premiered in London in 1955. In this play, two characters are waiting on a country road by a tree, for a third, namely Godot, to arrive. Very little happens, and during their long wait the men talk about their lives.   Godot never arrives, and while waiting they engage in a variety of discussions. The play suggests that life has no meaning and is full of suffering.   “Waiting for Godot” as a phrase has carved a place in the English language. It has come to denote in our language usage as waiting for someone who has given a time of his arrival but does not come; or something to happen but it never takes place. We keep waiting, hoping that he/she shall come, or the expected thing shall happen,   but does not. Usually all of us have faced a situation where you wait f...