Latte with Phoenix

                 In the past decade or so, a concept kept coming up on the horizon - “Work From Home”. Various Management experts were seen extolling the benefits of such a system. But by and large Employers and Management did not show much interest in it. Maybe the thinking there was that employees shall do masti at home. Come Corona, government directive was – offices to remain closed and salaries to be continued to be paid. All banks, sales & marketing, education related and IT companies etc., had to per-force resort to Work From Home (WFH). IT companies had some experience in this field, and soon most organisations implemented it in a big way. About five months of Lockdown has given all players (employers, employees, employee’s family) sufficient experience of WFH, and Pro & Cons have emerged from both sides. I decided to find out from the people involved directly. A nephew of mine Manoj is in Mumbai, was initially very happy. He thought that time spent in commut

By now we are well into July, and all of us would have spent about four months of Corona induced lockdown; spending time as advised by the medical and other authorities. People in employment, those who run any sort of business and factories have opened; people have started going back to pre-lockdown activities as per guidelines. Restrictions are being reduced and relaxations are being increased, but precautions against Corona have to be practiced for not just several months, but for may be couple of years. There are small lockdowns happening in different states, like in Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh.   Relaxations with Restrictions              Experts say that we have to learn to live with Corona, since it may be with us for long. Everyone is anxious to know the ways and steps which individually we can take so that we remain safe from this infection once we start living our life as ‘normal’? Experts from every field are unanimous that it is our Immunity that shall s

All of us have experienced three months of Lockdown and have passed through various aspects of life never experienced before. Some were delightful, some troublesome, but all new. These can be recounted as Taking it easy in life, Redistribution of work among members of the household, Leisurely naps in the daytime, Catching up on watching movies on Netflix, Amazon etc; Catching up long pending reading of books, Realising that life can be enjoyed without going out to Malls, restaurants etc. Another aspect was Indoor Games. Of course games like Table Tennis were out of question- for which you had to go out. Simple games like Carrom board, Cards, Snakes & Ladders, Chinese Checkers, Ludo, Chess, etc were needed. The catch was that if you had the particular game board - then good, otherwise it was not available, as all stationery/ toy shops were closed in this lockdown period. My household was in the second category. After playing cards for a couple of days, we wanted varie

The month of Jyestha/Jeth falling during early May to mid June is eagerly awaited in Lucknow as it holds a special annual event. The occasion is the special Darshan of Lord Hanuman and asking of wishes in the Hanuman Temple at Aliganj, and the accompanying mela.                       The first tuesdayof the month of Jeth has the honour of being known as Bada Mangal. The last tuesday of the month of Jyestha is known as Budhwa Mangal (it could be 4th or sometimes the 5th). The rest of the tuesdays in between do not have any special name. The darshan and occasion are specific to the two temples (old and new) at Aliganj, but with time all Hanuman Temples in Lucknow have started organising similar festivities and mela. May be it is better business sense to do so. Old Hanuman Mandir and its Diety              A brief History …. In the year 1718 Awadh Queen Alia Begum was getting a palace made in Aliganj, Lucknow. During the digging work at t