Wednesday, March 31, 2010

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. - More thoughts

i am on Season 7 and overcame my addiction for the sitcom long back. It’s still dumb and funny. “What next?” has kept me glued to the program. i have a better understanding of the characters and so i know Joey is dumb but not sensible, as i thought earlier. The others are pretty much the same.

Though shocked initially, i’ve digested that Monika got together with Chandler, my least favourite. It feels, to me, as if it was a move out of desperation to induce some change in the equation between the friends. The stories of other friends is not parallel for sure since none of the others is any closer to finding their mate. Why only Monika and Chandler? Weren’t there any other combinations to explore, i wonder?

i am also a little surprised at the flatness of the characters. There isn’t any development that they seem to have gone through. Guys still lusting after boobs and gals still drooling over men. i thought it would have been great for the characters to evolve along with their audience over the decade that it was aired. Or for the story to lead to some substance in it.

i was thinking about how appropriate the serial must have been for the Indian viewers back in the 90’s. i have lost count of the number of times people mentioned ‘sex’ and the deluge of sexual innuendos throughout the series. i consider it inappropriate for my kids to watch till they are old enough to understand the suggestive remarks and are capable of handling the innuendos. i might sound like i am going to be an old-fashioned mom but as much as i know about bringing up kids, things have not changed one bit. i don't think i would have enjoyed it as much as i do now, 15 years ago. The fun is in being one with the characters and enjoy the quips and puns.

Wishful thinking, the last one but i can go back to enjoying it since i can handle it!!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Train the Trainer at Dale Carnegie

The last 3 days have been the best days of my life in about 2 years now. Sitting through the Dale Carnegie session for Train the Trainer was such a fantastic and eye opening experience. i believe there’s so much to learn and a bit of formal education helps instead of learning everything by experience which can take ages. After hunting high and low for a course that could help me formally learn the ropes of training, a friend suggested this. I grabbed at the opportunity since Dale Carnegie has an international name.

The first thing that i realized was that training had spread to every sphere. It’s no longer training the untrained youth to place them in jobs or the general HR training that i thought training was all about. Training has applications in Nationalised banks and govt organisations that have made training a regular dept and have regular trainers. There were a few senior people taking the course since training had now become an inherent part of their job profiles and they wanted to do it well.

i was a little nervous initially about facing people during my presentations after a gap of more than 2 years. i guess all the participants were a little knotted at the thought which is quite natural. But all of us did a great job, made a few mistakes and invariably ran short of time for our 7 min slot each.

The trainer, Mr. Rajesh Parekh, (the most suave gujju I have come across!!) was exemplary and taught us so much by just being himself. His voice projection was just amazing. He didn’t jump around to create energy levels but his presence itself made everyone sit up and pay attention. There wasn’t one dull moment during the 3-day workshop.

The training methodology of Dale Carnegie ensures a great mix of slides, presentation and participant activities. When I look back, I don’t remember one stretch when we had to wait for the trainer’s monologue to finish. At all points, we were engaged in giving ideas, doing activities or listening to the trainer who made complete sense. Sticking to only 90-minutes of training between breaks was a great technique to keep us alert all the time.

It was training and fun. The group of 28 participants were from a variety of professions and age groups, added to the learning. On the third day, when we were divided into 2 groups to make presentations at the same time in separate rooms, we really missed each other. We were eager to watch each topic and get everyone’s feedback on what we did. That quite didn’t happen but time was managed extremely well due to the division. Each group had enough time to make their presentation and discuss feedback at length.

Final word: I can safely recommend the TTT at Dale Carnegie since it truly lives up to its name.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

My Favourite Fruit

MY FAVOURITE FRUIT

Don’t bother to wash before eating it

Don’t bother to wash even your hands since eating it is mess-free

Doesn’t need a knife to peel it

You don’t have to worry about it being sweet while buying it.

Comes in a lot of varieties, all of which are sweet.

Can be used raw or eaten ripe

Available in red, green and yellow colours

From tiny to Bigg in size

Well, i know it's not rocket science to guess my favourite fruit. Just trying to get your mind off the fact that it's not really been a great comeback like i said in my last post. i almost lost the motivation to ever come back. i mean, it’s been a month since i scribbled here and i don’t know if there is a valid excuse for being absence for this long. i don’t know if it happens to other bloggers - this losing-the-drive-to-write thing, it sure happens to me. The key lies in the determination to stick on to something. How many times have you found yourself making a plan that goes bust in a few days? Remember the number of times you resolved to stick to your gym routine but...the less said the better! I understand! What happened to your resolve of calling up your old grandmum once a week? And your promise to yourself about learning two new words everyday?

There is something inherently repulsive about things that we have to do. (No, i am not talking about writing my blog). Or rather things that we need to do regularly (No, i am not talking about popping a piece of chocolate everyday after lunch....i’d love that!). Probably because these are just nice-to-have goals. They are at best enabling goals and not critical to our everyday functioning. It’s nice to write my blog regularly and unleash my otherwise redundant creativity at hapless people who choose to read it. But the point is, how many people actually visit my blog. i know there’s no one waiting for me to write a post and dying to read what i’ve written about. i am no great bongali with expectations of thousands of readers across the world. So what’s the incentive for me to go on writing? Me, Myself. i had a good reason to start a blog (which has nothing to do with boring you guys) and i need to keep focused on it.

There i go again ! i’ve successfully written my first post for this month. Achieving this goal is sufficient for now despite the fact that this post doesn’t spout out profound gyan about the politics of the women bill or the status of uranium production in India. So I am off to seep with the happy thoughts of this noble deed that I did today..

Good night! 


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