Honeymoon Inn Shimla

Don’t be disappointed when I say that this post is more about Shimla than my honeymoon. Shimla is too beautiful to deserve a post in each blog. We visited Shimla in second week of July and it was a very sudden plan. My friend booked a hotel “Honeymoon Inn” for me and this is one of the best hotels in Shimla to stay. This is having all the luxuries and comfort, very quite and far from rush and noise. This is situated right in The Mall and is at some height. You need to walk to reach there but once you are there, you can get a panoramic view of Shimla as well as the hills around. Well furnished, courteous staff and delicious food makes your money worthfull. Shimla is cold, even in July. We spent the first day just for rest.

Only in evening we went to roam on famous Mall Road. We started our second day with a morning walk on the Mall road again. This is having all good shops, governmental buildings and full of tourists roaming around.

On second day, we visited Viceregal Lodge and Kufri. Viceregal lodge was built by English for Viceroy and is a splendid example of British architecture. This is well surrounded by gardens and lawns. Guide informed us about the historical significance of the building. From there we started for Kufri. We went through Green Valley which is having great natural scenery, a good spot for photography. We had a shot in local attire here.

We reached Kufri in one hour, left the cab and have horse ride to reach at peak as there was no road for vehicles ahead. This was the first time I ever had a horse riding so I was little bit uneasy but after few minutes it was alright. We got disappointed after reaching at the peak point. There was a temple and a fun park there, nothing of any interest. Nearby Indira park and zoo are also not of any worth. We felt the Kufri trip as waste of the time only. From kufri we headed towards Jakhoo temple. This temple is situated at one of the highest peak and drive to this is very steep and breathtaking. After a visit to temple, we got back to our hotel.

We started for Tattapani on third day.

In between, we stopped at Naldehra and had horse ride again to go up to the peak. Once again it was waste of time and money as it doesn’t have anything different. Yeah you will get a view of one of the oldest golf course of India. We reached Tattapani after two hour of drive. This drive is again breathtaking and with great natural scenery. Tattapani is 60km far from Shimla and situated on the bank of Satluj. This is one of the best places to visit around Shimla. This place is hot in comparison of Shimla but the water is very very cold. River is having huge flow and you can hear its sound very clearly. This is excellent place to have some good shots. From there we started for Shimla railway station to catch the toy train “Shivalic Delux”.

The station is one of the old and marvelous structures. The narrow gauge railway line among Himalayan peaks with small bogey of train creates some excitement. The journey to Kalka is damn good. We heard and read about this train experiences a number of times and it is worth of that praise. This line is having very sharp turns, goes with a huge number of tunnels and old style of stations. This is one of the best examples of excellent engineering and a trip of Shimla without this train experience can not be planned. So if you are planning for Shimla, stay in a good hotel, travel in train and enjoy the great Himalayan landscape around.

Three years with GE

I still remember the day; Alok Nanda rendered me the offer letter. Getting a job offer from GE was like a dream come true which I never dreamt of before that night. On 4th June 2007, I joined GE with a great sense of delight, fulfillment and expectations. Today I completed three years to be part of it. Now when I look back into these three years, it was a wonderful journey in deed. It was full of challenges, lot of learning and good exposure of global experience. John F Welch Technology Centre of GE in Bangalore is one of the beautiful campuses of this country and this centre has a great pool of human resource. You can get a number of experts of any field or work domain.

I met a number of people who are so good in technical as well as in other skills. I am fortunate that I learnt few things from these people and still doing it. Apart from good work buzzing around, you will always see people in football ground or on Snooker table or in gym or in a book review or just sitting near lake. So it will not be exaggeration if I will say that it’s a great place to learn and a great palace to work.

In last three years I had a lot of learning for my professional growth as well as for my personal traits. I would like to share three of those. Starting the career is very decisive occasion for one. This is one of the transition phase where one should start shifting the gear of thought process to “Love what you do” from “Do what you love”. My General Manager had a better example to convince. Marry a girl whom you love but love the girl whom you got married. One should not get carried away with “change the job” syndrome but try to build a career. We should help us adapt ourselves to any given situation and so increase our comfort zone.

One of the other learning is to – “Go with the solutions than the problem”. Whenever we get a problem or got an issue, use all our resource, do whatever we can but go to your manager or technical leader with few possible solutions rather than problem itself.

This will bring a confidence in leadership for one’s ability and build a better rapport with the team.

Third one is the one which I value a lot and that is – “One extra degree effort”. There should be completeness in our work. No matter how much one is hassled for early finish or on time delivery or productivity or any other management tool or process itself; quality of work is supreme. This is the first and most important aspect of work and without which it will never get acknowledged.

It was very easy for me to inscribe these things here but still I am trying hard to execute these standards in my work. No matter how easy or difficult it is but it is a must and will bring a paradigm swing in the way we work.

Steam at 212

Few years back someone shared the philosophy of ‘Steam at 212’ with me. It is still very close to my heart. The 211° Belief is originally shared by Mac Anderson in his book “211°: The Extra Degree”.

What happens when you believe something with all your heart? Belief fuels enthusiasm, and enthusiasm explodes into passion. It fires our souls and lifts our spirits. “212°: The Extra Degree”, It’s gotten great reviews from around the world! If you haven’t read the 212° gift book, here’s what it’s about:

At 211° water is hot.
At 212° it boils.
With boiling water, comes steam.
And steam can power a locomotive.
It’s the One Extra Degree that makes all the difference.

This is a very simple but very powerful concept, because when you think about it, it’s that one extra degree of effort in business, and in life, that so many times separates the good from the great. One of the beauties of “The Extra Degree” concept is in its many applications : 212° Service, 212° Attitude, 212° Leadership, 212° Kindness, 212° Commitment, 212° Belief, 212° Focus and 212° Perseverance.

That’s what Mac explained and it’s so true also. As my professional experience is growing, I believe in this Belief much more than when I first read it. 

Today, in this so tough competitive world, we all are doing best and making none ending effort to getting our work recognized, but this one extra degree effort is the real differentiator. I would take two examples from my work in last week. I was preparing a presentation for a team meeting and thought of adding some photos for each slide to make it more interesting for audience. I put some time to select suitable photos and it came out so well. Before sending it to my manager I looked at it ten times as it was so catching. I was satisfied and it get noticed & recognized too. As manager said that it was a great pitch and even he mentioned that colors were very soothing. The other example is related to a question asked to me for a design related issue. The answer was Yes but why. I knew but not hundred percent sure. Assuming that the concerned person needs no explanations, I replied in a Yes only rather than taking pain of confirming the reason. No surprise that it came back to me and I did rest of the job this time. These two simple examples show the effect of one extra degree effort. In real life every one of us sees this daily at numerous occasions. This “One extra degree effort” is one of my biggest learning in last three years of my small career.

I work for Steam Turbine business of GE and here the project of the month award is named as Steam@212. The award name itself recognizes this belief. I got opportunity to go and present there for six times and I won this twice. Now what you would like to say, I put one extra degree effort two times or didn’t put this for rest of four. I leave it to you guys !!!