Debit card fraud

My HDFC debit card was stolen from my car which was parked in one of our own institutions. I did not realize that the wallet was missing from my handbag till the time the Bank called me up 45 minutes later to confirm a transaction. Within 30 minutes time 16000/- gone. Much more could have gone had it not been detected by HDFC bank that the card is being misused. Jai ho HDFC.

Coming back to the story. The formal FIR was launched at the nearest police station. I called up and got the details of all the 4 transactions that have happened. All in petrol pumps. Located the address and phone number of the two petrol pumps. Unfortunately nobody was picking up the phone. So no progress was made till evening.

Morning again I rang up both the numbers confirmed the transactions and they agreed to give details personally. First I reached the second petrol pump where last two transactions had taken place. He gave a cooked up story of two white cars being topped up with fuel. So not much of progress. The second petrol pump where the first and second transaction had taken place had noted the number of the vehicle. He had filled up his vehicle and also made arrangement with the attendant to swipe the card for particular amount and collected the cash and paid some commission to the attendant. The only mistake he had made was that the attendant had noted the bike number and the college uniform he was wearing. Went to the particular institute and traced the vehicle and the owner. The student without even blinking an eye agreed to the misuse of debit card and agreed to give the cash back.

I was surprised to see the look on the young students face. He had no guilt of doing it. This incident happened in Nagpur and the names of the shops are Lalit Automobiles and Om auto service station. The surprising fact was that the shop keepers also are involved in the crime.

Why do we hate HR

It is one of my favorite articles written about HR by Keith H Hammonds. In fact this article has prompted me to write about HR. Every time some one publishes findings and write about the” Strategic “role that HR has in the organization has me thinking. Are we sidelining the important role of HR in the organization? Last week I had one girl coming to my office to take guidance in choosing the specialization for MBA for her friend. She told me he is not good in Math’s and studies in total so he wants to have a career in HR. Is this the criteria of choosing a career or Is HR a parking field for people who don’t do well in other fields? I think we need to examine this in detail.

Just look at the scenario of HR in your organization. Has it become a tool for just maintaining discipline and salary, completely isolated from the rest of the organization? In my view a smile should come on any employee’s face of an employee when he sees some one from HR. Some of the process in HR is so regulated it is done auto mode in due time without much effort. So what is the extra thing that requires the specific qualification? I have seen the best man mangers who are not qualified even to attend the interview for HR manager.
Is the sidelining of HR due to the fact because we don’t use Jargons to confuse people as technocrats and finance do or is it because we do not directly contribute to the company coffers. A lot of thinking to do and “miles to go before I sleep

Valentines day and "pink chaddi"

Nice idea to protest. I love the spunk of the girls who started it. Hope all the pubs are full today. In India you can do any thing by saying you are protecting culture. What culture you are talking about/ beating women? Yaa may be they are doing that in their house. I am sure this will also have its natural death. The culprits will go scot free to repeat the act again at some other place and some other time. What else can happen? Raj Thakre could get away with assaulting north Indians in Mumbai. Here I would like list some event which came into focus and then died its own death.

Mumbai attack on North Indians by Shiv sena
Mayawati’s disappropriate assets case.
Taj corridor of Up govt
Jayalaltha’s disappropriate assets case.
Ex minister from kerala and sexual harassment case against him by an IAS official.
Kanchi seer and the murder accusation against him.
Present position with regard to the case “RAM SETHU “project.
Mangalore pub incident.
Rape case involving Education Minister Atanasio Monserratte's son Rohit
Farmers suicides in maharashtra and Andhra pradesh .
False Encounter killings in Gujrat involving top police officers
Rizwanur Rehman murder case in culcutta.
BMW hit and run case.
Present position of best bakery case.
J& K sex scandal involving the principal secretary
Arushi murder case

My daughter -Anandita

My Daughter- Anandita

I was prompted to write this after an advt (you know for what) which I saw when I was taking my baby daughter to Jammu to meet my in laws.
This is what it was
It is better to pay 500 Rs. now than 50,000 Rs. later
(in dowry for the girl child at marriage)
Even after 6 years it still echoes in my thoughts. My daughter is my first born. I have never waited for anyone’s arrival than hers. She is the one who made me a complete woman. It does sound a little clichéd but it is true. My husband whom I have never seen around the company of children before took to her like a fish to water. It is because of this special bond which they share that I decided to quit a good career and shift to the location of his posting.
After she was born I was more observant and cautious of the comments which others make of girl child. What I have observed is that for centuries we are biased towards the male child. I have seen it in urban educated families. One of the families I know was going for ultra sound scan when she was pregnant for the third time. I asked what you will do after you find out about the sex of the fetus. She said” if it is a boy I will keep it otherwise MTP”. I was shocked, such educated people .so much for their education.
People comment when they see a couple with two boys “you are lucky no tension at all”. Couple with two girls are unlucky they have to educate their girls and also save for dowry.
Our kids are our own whether it’s a boy or girl. We as parents can make a difference. Let our girls be born.

What's in a name

What’s in a name?

I always firmly believed the name you carry definitely has an impact on the person. My name is “Priya” which means “dear”. Since it is a short name I was always called by that name. Only my Father called me by my nickname ie “Kudu”. How I got that name is because I was found of the sweet “laddu” and I could not pronounce it properly and used to say it as kudu. In college, friends called me as “simple pendulum” because of the swing in my walk. Some very close friends called me as “Kalyani”( a popular beer in Kerala).

My Husbands name is “Sanjay” which means “Triumphant”. Only I call him by that name now. His family calls him “sanju” and his fiends call him as………


When my daughter was born I wanted her to have name which actually represents her. So after countless arguments with my husband I named her “Anandita” which means joyful or the one who brings happiness. My husband did not agree with it so he called her as “Anoushka” ( I do not know what it means). But we called her as “Anna” till my son was born. When he was old enough to talk he modified the name Anoushka since he could not pronounce it and called her as” Nukka”. Now she is Nukka to all. So there goes the original name.

My sons name is Bhaawick. The pandit suggested that the name should start with ‘B’ so we called him Bhaawick which means unknown. He is now called as “bhow”. I don’t know till what time he will tolerate that nick name. he’s 3 now.

Men & Tears

Yesterday was Sunday so I had the time to watch the finals of Australian open . I will not comment upon the match . But what captivated me was the tears of Federer. Three years earlier also he had cried at the same location. The only difference this time was it was due to sadness and not joy.
My husband was very upset with his very public display of emotions. He kept on saying on saying how could you cry publicly. But I was happy though I can't exactly tell the reason . The best man won. Nadal from the beginning of the match had victory written all over him.More than the match I want to comment on Men and tears.

I have two men in my life. My husband and my 3 year old son. My son is not yet aware of the fact that men don't cry in public , so he howls whenever and wherever he feels like. My husband though he pretends he doesn't shed tears cries even while watching movies. I have caught him crying while watching "Rang de Basanti". He holds the tears in his eyes by some how enlarging his eyes. The dam bursts when it is too much to control .
I am not a feminist . But I value men's tears. I don't follow the rule of "Strong silent type"men are ideal. Rather I would consider him as a defective piece. I have been in the army long enough to see strong men shedding real tears. For long women were considered to be masters to this particular art. But the new generation is not reluctant to show their emotions. So an era of gender free tears has dawned.