Book Exhibition 2008

Sunday I went to Chennai book exhibition with Don, Chithu and Ranjith. It is great to see more people are visiting the exhibition. There are more Tamil publishers displaying their books. It is good that more crowd in their stalls. I am happy to see more Tamil lovers in Chennai. We came to know there are so many publishers in TN. But many were unknown publishers.

There were lot of philosophy and Astrology books. Ranjith saw only one book on Astrology and moved away fast!!!!!! I thought he will see more books there.

Ranjith purchased "The 12 Universal Laws of Success" by Herbert Harris. I looked only Children book shops. Even that we are not able to complete 50% of the stalls.

I purchased books for kids and one book for me. I got two books for Krithi (Science experiments & Sudoko) and few books for Guru. I purchased "Execution" by Ram & Larry. This book I liked very much(I borrowed from Shailesh and returned the new one to him).

I saw today in News that Karunanidhi went there to release a book. This is a grand mela for book lovers and I am visiting there for the fifth time.

I was not able to visit completely. I have to go one more time there. It was boring for Don.

Get toghether - Annamai PG 1990 - Part2

I had a nice sleep for almost 8 hrs. Morning I walked on the road towards Walparai to check for any water resource to take bath. There was a canal, which is from upper Aliyar and store the water in the lower Aliyar dam. The canal was very narrow and the water was flowing in a high speed as the reservoir was few yards from that place. Chock annan, Sekar, MS, Manoj & Sugi joined me.

We went towards the upper Aliyar along the canal bed to see a safety place to take bath. We had a nice bath there. The water height was neck level. We swim in the canal for some time. It was really a new experience for all of us.

We went to room and went to Vethathiri Maharishi temple. It was calm place. We spent one hr there and went to Aliyar dam in the van. Took some photos and started towards Kerela. On the way we went to Masani Amman temple. It was almost noon.

After having the Dharisanam, we went to Malampuzha dam. We had lunch there. It was not so good. The we went in the cable car ride. In Malampuzha, there is a water game place. Kids were very much interested in going there. Especially Kanmani, Manoj, and Krithi. Some of us not interested in it.One group went to the water games and the other group went to the dam park.

Guru, Sathish and MS went for a ride in the toy train. Praba, myself, Mrs. Sekar, Aruna and Geetha went inside park and also visited the hanging bridge. We started from there at 7:00 pm and reached Pollachi at 9:00. Mrs. Sugi and Masha joined us in the hotel. Chock annan cut the cake (get togethar cake) and we had some fun. Mani arranged a buffet and every one enjoyed the dinner. It was a nice dinner.

MS. family and Sekar family left to CBR as they have booked the return ticket for Saturday. Mani and Chocks requested them to stay back every one until Monday. But they wanted to go back home. They also convinced Kodi to stay back until Monday. (As we have booked the rooms in Top Slip on Sunday night). I told them if I get flight for Monday, I was ready to stay.

We gave send off to MS and Sekar families and took rest in the hotel. Next day morning I tried ticket through yatra.com and I booked flight for Monday Noon from CBR. Prabakar planned to return on Sunday morning, said he will come with us for the Thirumoorthy fals and from there he will go to CDM. We went to Thirumoorthy falls. We walked for 20min. (2km.) and reached the falls.

Thirumoorthy hills was not too steep and the height of falls is normal (it is betterthan the monkey falls). The water was very chill and great force. We took nice bath there and went to Thirumoorthy temple situated at the foot of Thirumoorthy hills. The temple has a Amalingeswarar Idol, which looks like a nacked kid doing sirasasanam.

Prabakar also decided to stay back and decided to come with us to Top Slip. We went to Pollachi room, had lunch and vacated the room. It was almost 4:00 pm so we have decided to send one van back. We started in one van and two cars.

I went with Prabakar in one car to get dinner (Sungam Biriyani). One van and a car left to Top Slip. They reached there in time. On the way Sugi called his brother and arranged for accomodation. It was realy great that Sugio got a dormatry for us. We had only two room booked before that(32 people!!!!!!!!!!!!).

After reaching ther we saw Elephants, Deer. Kids were playing throw ball for almost two hours. Then we went to the room to finish our dinner as the night saffari was delayed. We went for night saffari at around 9:30 pm. It was a thrilling experience in the night. We saw elephants, bisons and deer.

We went to bed around 11:30pm. Morning we got up at 7:00 am and started in JPS car to CBR. It was a pleasant tour organized in a short duration and every one enjoyed it. Thanks to Mani, Prabakar, Sudhakar, Mani, Sekar, MS, Kodi, Sugi, Chock Annan for making this trip grand success. We will arrange similar trips at regular interval so that we will relax from our routine work.

I was telling my friend Shyam(he is now in India) that we can go for a family trip during Dec. end. But I made a different group trip and I missed to meet him with family.

How to Terminate Employees

http://www.restaurant.org/legal/law_termination.cfm

I was looking for a document to get to know how I can handle a situation like this. This doc clearly explains when to terminate an employee, how and what to talk to him and how to handle the post termination.

When to fire an employee

The first step is to know when to fire an employee. You must know for sure that all other options have been taken before going ahead with the termination.

• Be sure you have given the employee all of the advantages that you promised in the hiring process. If you made no promises or promised no job security, then the decision to fire is much easier.
• Warn employees of unacceptable behavior and the likelihood that it will lead to termination if continued. Then document the warning on the employee's file and have the employee acknowledge the warning in writing.
• Never fire employees on their birthday, anniversary or before a holiday.
• Never fire employees on a Friday. The best day to fire them is early in the week, to give them sufficient time during the work week to seek other employment opportunities.
• Avoid terminating an employee on the spur of the moment. An angry attitude by you will provoke an angry response by the employee.

Once you have made the decision to fire an employee, you must choose your words and actions carefully in the termination meeting. The next step will help you get through this difficult time.

What to say and do during the termination

The key to proper employee termination is to be succinct and to have facts that justify the firing. Here is what to say and do:

• Give concrete examples of poor performance. Don't tell the employee, "It's just not working." Failure to give actual examples could be grounds for a wrongful-termination lawsuit.
• Tell the employee the effective date of the firing, whether it's today or two weeks later.
• Tell the employee the benefits, severance pay and unused vacation time that he or she is entitled to, if any.
• Limit the conversation to 10 minutes.
• If the individual being fired has access to sensitive information or computer files, terminate the person immediately and give him or her two-weeks'-notice pay. Consider changing passwords and codes when such an employee is terminated. Offer this employee outplacement counseling, if possible.
• Resist tears and begging from employees, or else word will spread that you can't fire anyone.
• Don't get into a shouting match with the employee.
• After the firing, call all remaining staff members together and explain the termination. Tell the employees how the firing will affect them, the responsibilities that will be shifted and when you plan to hire a replacement.
• If you hold an exit interview, focus on facts that led to the dismissal, not on the individual. Conduct the exit interview in private and at the close of business.
• If you suspect the employee might turn violent, arrange to have law-enforcement personnel on standby.
• Treat the employee courteously and do not publicly embarrass him or her.
• Don't sugarcoat the termination; your words can come back to haunt you.

Following these steps will make your job as manager easier. There are a few final steps to take to ensure that your firing is legal.

How to make sure the termination is legal

Botched firings can quickly escalate into a lawsuit against your restaurant. There are steps you can take to prevent an unlawful-termination lawsuit:

• Review your employee handbook and make sure it includes an employment-at-will statement, which spells out that the worker can quit at any time, or be fired at any time.
• Do not have statements in your handbook that say employees will be terminated only for good cause.
• Do not tell new hires that they will be employed for as long as they perform satisfactorily, because that is essentially a promise of lifetime employment.
• Establish clear position descriptions.
• Institute a system of evaluating job performance.
• Consider whether the employee is a member of a class or individuals protected on account of race, sex, religion, national origin, age or disability.
• Have a third party present at the termination who can serve as a witness, if necessary.

By taking these steps you can make this difficult act as painless as possible for you and your employee. In addition, following proper firing techniques could ward off a lawsuit and a decline in employee morale.

Get toghether - Annamai PG 1990 - Part1

We had a pleasant get together of Ten families in Pollachi between 27th Dec. and 31st Dec. Mani and Sudhakar organized the trip and everyone enjoyed it. It was planned in ashort duration and it was a grand success.

Ms, Kodi, Rajasekar and me stared from Chennai by train on 27th night. We reached Coimbatore in the morning. Sugi and his br. in law's son joined us in Coimbatore. I arranged a van there.

Mani, JPS, prabakar and Chock annan were there in pollachi on 27 th night. Sudakar joined them in the morning. We went to Pollachi and joined the group. We refresh ourself there and started in two vans from Pollachi to Aliyar. We directly went to Aliyar Dam. Everyone went to the dam top in the hot sun.

There we arranged the lunch. We asked the hotel person to give the lunch as parcel. But It was not ready. We went to monkey falls and sent back one of the vans to get us the lunch. We had a nice bath there in the falls. Geetha came out with the snacks and a monkey snatched the mixture pocket from her.

We spent almost two hours there and then started towards Walparai. On the way we stopped at 9th bend and visited "Lomes View Point". We had the lunch around 3:00 pm. The food was very good. We had a photo session there. It was fun in getting everyone at one place and take the photos.

It took almost one hour for us to reach "Balaji Temple". The road was very bad and we reached there around 4:30 pm. The temple was nice and calm sourrounded by hills. It is a private place. We had a nice dharisanam. We played throw ball for 30 to 45 min. It was really interesting evening. We wanted to go to walparai from balaji temple. The CBR driver was not comfortable in going to walparai as he felt it was already very late. He suggested to get back to Aliyar room.

Meantime we missed the route and at last we have decided to get back to the hotel. On the way we had coffee in a local tea shop. Mrs. Rajasekar liked the coffee there.(sekar was telling me that she won't take tea/coffee in local shops). We reached the room around 9:00 pm. We had the dinner (Paratta & fish) . Some went for a walk. It was not good climate. We expected it will be very clod but we felt hotter compared to chennai. JPS was telling that for the first time he is not seeing mist in the walparai!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend at Tiger caves and Dhakshin Chitra

Yesterday we planned to visit tiger caves. It was decided at 9:00 am and started at 10:30 am. Ramu, Pappi, Mama and Guna annan joined. Last min. Pavi and Vachu also joined us.

Athai prepared lunch for us. We first went to Tiger caves and Ramu started taking photos. Kids were running around the place and were enjoying by climbing the rocks. The place was neatly maintained. Fully of grass and in between some small rocks. It was a hot sunny day and mama took a small nap after reaching there.

I went to the beach and there is no place to take lunch. We requested the guard and took lunch there.

Later we went to beach. We went to the beach through the trees. It was little risky. Every one enjoyed. We played cricket for some time. Mama and Guna Annan also played. Sai Ram scored the max. runs. Snega and Guru played the throw ball. We spend some time on the beach.

We then went to Dhakshin Chitra. It was a wonderful calm place. Full of greenery and you wont feel the heat. They have created heritages of four southern states, of which two fully completed. We were enjoying the TN heritages.

The Sathanur house looks like our Manalmedu/ Thalainayiru house. We were telling SaiRam, Gowtham and Krithi about the old houses. Pappi was explaining Vachu about the Sashtiyapthapoorty photo.

It was wonderful recollection of our village house memories. Kerala houses also very good. We took snaps all over the places. We need atleast four hours to visit completely. Spent only two hours. Had bajji, vadai and coffee there in Arusuvai Arasu before leaving.

It was a nice surprise enjoyable picnic.

Slow and Steady

Last few days I am in great confusion on doing things fast and give a temporary solution & later work on the improvements. Some people will spend more time in design and get the things completed perefetly by doing once.

I have a personal experience. I was trying to get the customer conversion for our downloads for the past few months. I did not get perfect result till now(of course it is difficult to get 100% accurate results). But I saw one of our managers is able to get the results to some extent. I wanted to compare the results to get the perfection.

He was using a AU student to do this work for his product alone. I was trying it with a Er. Trainee. He is planning from the step one and designing it from the downloads/access and proceeding. I am trying it with the log data we have.

There is a big difference in both approaches. He is doing smart so that today he will not get the result but once he gets the result, he can get all the levels(coversion, lead time, source, etc.) In my case I may get the result for the source, but to get the other results, I have to put in more effort.

His approach is smarter and mine is working hard and get the result fast(but not accurate). The result was not even to the expectation. The difference is I will be getting the results for all the products, where as we have to run different instances for different products. The other difference is if he fails the effort put in will be less compared to mine. In both the cases we will not get the result for all the customers but the accuracy will be good for him.

SSLC Results - At a glance

This year SSLC results were published yesterday. Girls from small towns and villages performed extremely well. This is great news.

City students are having more exposure and their studies are highly deviated due to this. They are not utilizing the advantage of the better exposure. One of the reasons is their parent. They are busy and they are not able to spend more time with kids (Including me). Also in city schools teachers are not able to concentrate on individuals due to the strength and due to their busy city life. In contrast to the above, parents and teachers are spending more time on students and the students are not having any distraction.

Five years back, I had a discussion with my family members regarding my future!!!!!!!!!!! I wanted to settle in a small town and work as lecturer. My wife was totally against it. She was telling me that kids would do well in studies if they were in the city. I was telling her that the technology is so improved that everyone will know the development happening in any part of the world very fast.

Today the SSLC result shows I am correct. To make it happen, we have to spend time with the kids so that they are properly guided at the early stage.

My father did not like convent studies and he put me in a normal school. If I had studied in a convent I would have been in a better position. This was my feeling when I joined my first job. But it is wrong. I did well in my work at all level.