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Showing posts from February, 2016

Manhandling a Jacket, Allen Solly way

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Till this time “mishandling” and “yours truly” never featured in the same sentence. Last week an attempt has been made to tarnish the reputation built over years by representatives of Madura Fashion & Lifestyle, the company that owns the brand Allen Solly.  I have been accused of mishandling a jacket, for Christ’s sake! By this post I shall make others aware and caution others to be careful as this could happen to anyone. I could approach them as I purchased from a physical store in a high end mall, I shudder to imagine how desperate who purchases online would be. We used to buy Allen Solly products as it is an Indian brand and in the same time lending support to the Make in India initiative in our own way. A premium brand is distinguishable by its willingness to accept its deficiencies and addressing those to ensure total value to their customer. Little did we know that Allen Solly in its dealing with us will demonstrate none of these characteristics while pretended to be o

Our old teacher

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Myanmar is under the spotlight as Ann Suu Kyi is finally set to have a say on her country’s affairs. She made big sacrifices to ensure democratic rights for common people and in the process becoming an inspiration for countless young people around the world. Myanmar has been under international scanner in the past decades but this time it brought back one childhood memory. The only time we had a private tutor coming to our home was when  I was in grade 3 and my elder sibling was in the 4th . He was an old man in his sixties with balding head, thick eyebrows and a hardened face that bore marks of tough journey his life has endured. Our association lasted less than a year but I still have some memory from those early days.  His primarily role when I think back was to help with our homework and engage us in some routine activities. As a consequence we were disciplined about our afternoon study sessions, something that continued all through our student life.  For us he was irritatin

Checklists & Construction Success

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This was first published in LinkedIn I have been a proponent of checklist all through my construction management days and I usually practice what I champion. The checklists has been part and parcel of construction process and procedures for years. Other high risk industries like Aviation, or ship building too uses this as missing a step could result into expensive losses of time, money and sometimes human lives. The Hedge fund managers too have their own checklists. In our industry it is mandatory to attach a checklist while submitting “method statements” or ITP (Inspection and Testing Protocol) for consultant’s review. These are equally important while conducting a Risk Assessment before commencing a fresh construction activity at sites. It is difficult to apprehend why there should be such resistance in implementing a powerful tool like this one in their day to day work activities. It would be interesting if a research was carried out to find out if the reason behind thi