Thursday, April 28, 2011

Siya and her stories...

Siya and her stories..... (thanks Aarti Hemen Kapadia for sharing the same)
Background - There was a play in the summer camp where Siya was a rose and one of her friends had to pluck her
Her friends went to pluck her and she tell Aarti Aunty
"Yeh pluck kar rahi hai ki pyaar kar rahi hai"

This is just so bollywood man :-)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Happy Birthday Siya - 6 years

Dearest Siya,
Year from April 2010 to April 2011 has by far been the most exciting year for me from the time you are in my life! This is not to say that the past years are forgotten at all! As you go through the letter, you will realize why am I saying this. You were more a friend and a guardian to me this year! Isn't it weird that your mom is saying that you were her guardian! But that is just so true! What really transformed this year to its best was we were able to have conversations. Coming home and discussing office problems, discussing what to cook for lunch, discussing why is papa having oily stuff, discussing why is it important for us to know our social state of being, etc etc. Each one of them is very interesting and each one of them is also recorded explicitly for you. Some day when you read through it, you will enjoy it. Hence, a friend and a guardian.

This year was your journey more to build an identity for yourself rather than just being a daughter of Vipul and Purwa. You do understand the meaning of my best friend, my cupboard, my things, my views, my opinion, my victories, my dance style, my skating style, my computer, my choice of food, my table, my room and what you always insist on the most "MY MOM". Your dad surely takes all of the "MYs" not very neatly which is like what most of the parents do. They have given 4-5 years of their lives to bring up the kid and when suddenly the child start building its own identity different from parents, it is a little difficult to digest! So, I do not blame him at all. If you remember, in my previous letter, http://purwajain.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-birthday-siya-5-years.html, I had mentioned "All that I would like to tell you on your birthday today is (of course told to me by one of my friends a few days back) your future is decided by choices and not by the chances that you take along the way. Everyone in this world (including us) will have a opinion but the matter of fact is that only you can decide what can make you happy.". Please do remember this always and will surely realize its meaning when you are in the process of making up your identity.

Something that really made me proud of you and made sure that you have the right values inculcated in you was all your school incidences. Your best friend Pearl Jain was once beaten by your class teacher. You came home and told me about the same. I had conveyed the same to Pearl's mom. The matter was really closed for us. After a few days, your class teacher cornered you and asked "Did you go and tell your mom about the same". To that your reply to your class teacher was "Yes, I did because you did wrong". I was moved by your reply. It is a situation that even we as elders sneak out from but you decided to stay there and face it. I am proud of you Siya. However, do remember that something that is right for you may be wrong for someone else. As long as you can justify why it is right and stand by it, you are doing good.

This year I also did see you getting a lot more independent! You demand to do your own things and you also demand that you will take care of yourself. I really do not mind you being that way. Remember always that when you are demanding independence, you are demanding freedom. And freedom is such that if you have it all, soon you will loose the fine line between what is right and what is wrong. I will constantly remind you of the same in your primitive years and teach you well enough to make a judgement once you grow up.

This year you also started reading! This has made my job of bringing you up far more simpler. Now you have two moms, one me and other is your books. The fact that you get always so moved by "Moral of the story" and try putting the same to practice, they have helped me a lot in cultivating the Value System that will grow up with. Always remember, books are your best friends and they are something that will never ditch you.

While we do understand that now, in the coming years, the "I" factor will be building up, always remember our world revolves around you. We love you, we are very proud of you and we do accept that you are growing up. Just know that you will always be our baby.
Happy Birthday Siya and God Bless!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Long Emails for Communication

I had read it somewhere "If you can’t write your idea on the back of my calling card, you don’t have a clear idea". I read this almost 15 years back. But somehow, none of the corporate houses have still got it right! I’m a fairly busy, but who isn’t busy? I try to be responsive but when I get an incredibly long email there is no way I’ll answer quickly. If an email is short, I’ll shoot out a reply as soon as I read it.

So why send long emails?
Here’s a rule: a long email is never necessary. Never.
Is it a rant against people who’ve emailed me? No, it’s a general problem that I’ve seen with email, and I hope this will help people write more effectively.

I really don't need to say why long emails are just not the way to go!

So, here are quick tips on how to write short emails:
1) In my MBA I was taught the 6*6*6 rule! That is 6 slides, 6 sentences, 6 words per sentence! And I was able to achieve that always most of the times for any presentation. Then why not in emails?
2) Figure out the crux of the matter you want to convey and talk about only that!
3) Do not ask too many questions at one go! Ask one thing!
4) Try using links for references.