Monday, December 14, 2009

Atten' Hun''! General on the deck..

So, finally the co creator of the idea that is A-L has taken a plunge and joined us full time. Well, to celebrate we went for a late evening show of 'Rocket Singh' and both agreed that we could relate to the movie! Apart from the innumerable similarities, the movie has its description of the egoist boss and both of us dread and hope that we do not turn into the neanderthal devil shown in the movie (and experienced by us in real life)..


Surbhi's professional profile can be viewed in any of the different profiles that are in circulation (would be glad to send u a copy) but there are some interesting facts which I should share with our friends. The first time I worked with her was as her starry eyed researcher (student version of junior) in a moot court competition down south nearly seven years ago. I remember that while getting on the train, my father asked me to obey her, since she was the senior (then and now, I do beg to differ)!!! As time has flied since that experience, we do agree that we could have never imagined going about starting our little venture and sharing a common ideal. Her decision to take the plunge was in the offing since quite a while, but as she says, what attracted her to this setup was pure jealousy in seeing me have all the fun.

We hope that we take this setup and the A-L idea to great hieghts.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Watching the moon rise!!

It has become rare for me to take out time to indulge in no-destination travel by road i.e. a travel experience in which you know where u r headed only when the car starts. At least had not done so since college days when me and my buddies did some very interesting journeys. But, as time moved on, stuff happened, we got stuck in heavy schedules and we started running out of time! Last weekend, a concoction of a need for a break and a desire to get out of delhi took me back to mountains of Uttarakhand, where I really do feel @ home..Of course, to give me company were two strangers (till then) and a buddy from initial years of college, who i hadn't quite met since a long time. To add to the experience was the fact that at the start of my journey, I did not seem to have much in common with my new found travel compatriots except the journey and the destination and the umpteen desire to chill out. Even our professions were not remotely connected, they being from the shipping industry, and I cannot anticipate if I would ever deal professionally with any of these guys. As our journey consumed enormous quantities of highway, which i admit was very difficult to digest, I realised that they were not strangers but, reflections of some of my closest friends. The fact of them being from different industries or following completely different music, different sports and different treatment of journey time just brought in a new dimension to my experiences. For most part of my education, I have been in company of people from similar backgrounds or pursuing similar objectives. In the profession of my choosing, I met more and more people from diverse backgrounds, but more on a professional front. I have made acquaintances in my journeys, but this was different from all my earlier experiences.

As I sat with my travel compatriots, watching in amazement how beautiful the moon looks when it is rising in the horizon early in the evening, I realized that life has a lot more surprises to throw. Some in the form of experiences and some in the form of challenges. But, the day one closes his mind to experiment new things, is the day he ceases to be a student of life and becomes a sceptic. When we first spotted the bright orange glow of the full moon across the mountains, we first thought that it was a forest fire. At its outset, not in the wildest of our dreams could we have foreseen that it would be so spectacular.

To wake up early in morning to capture the sunrise was indeed chilling , but except the will power that it needed to wake up so early in the morning in sub zero temperature, the joy of watching the valleys of Jageshwar covered with cloud from a mountain top at the dawn of the day, was second only to what we saw last evening. My second driving experience in the mountains is getting me to be more confident and may I am ready for the journey to leh by road. What I take back from this journey is a desire to study more and this time, amidst people from varying backgrounds. Maybe, I will go to a B school. Maybe, we at A-L will create academic programmes during ther experiences with us. How and when this happens, is an answer only time can tell.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Charity begins @ home

At A-L, we have been hard selling our climate change practice area and project ourself in a niche position to handle projects on carbon mitigation advisory and documentations. It is not just that we are quite passionate about it. Our environment friendly practices encouraging transactions (example: avoiding printouts of emails and first drafts), use double sided prints, where possible, raising digitally signed memos (i think we are unique in that aspect), to use and encourage our clients to use and avoid cheques where convenient and use online banking solutions (including recommending banks offering strong online solutions, using public transport (NOIDA's new Metro) for single transaction field work, whenever possible and some sporadic activism oriented streaks to save the environment. Of course, apart from the latter, these actions also translate into low overheads enabling us to provide low cost solutions. (please note that accepting practice of vegetarianism is still beyond our abilities especially in lieu of the quantity we gulped down @ karim's)

But, occasionally we get ourselves involved in sporadic activism, and encounter interesting views, reactions and uncalled for publicity. One event that has transpired recently is my taking of cudgels against senseless cutting of trees in neighbourhood, all in the name of pruning. Now, in this instance, I did leave my cloak and coat behaviour and got involved in what can be termed as a streetfight, all in noble cause of saving a tree, which had been handed capital punishment by a fellow neighbour for the offence of blocking sunlight from his kitchen garden. Now being witness to such ghastly activity, I, as per procedure, ought to go back, file a written complaint and await for a committee decision to bar the gentleman from cutting the trees. But, seeing the ghastly action in front of my eyes, took the short-cut and gave the worker and his 'employer' a piece of my mind coupled with what can, at best be termed as a 'push that resulted in a shove'. Of course a complaint was made to local committee heads, followed by what can be termed as humorous exchange of words in writing and a due acknowledgement of me being a lawyer (my partner calls it free publicity).

Well, the lack of understanding on basic community issues of joint ownership and rights over common property , including trees does not sadden me as much as the thought of viewing trees as a hindrance to good living. Yesterday, we were roaming around in the streets of Jama Masjid's mini market and amidst the messy traffic and bakr-id preparations (we were surrounded by goats for a mile), I was amazed by the sight of a huge banyan tree bang in middle of the chandni chowk mess. The tree was supporting a 'shrine' near its roots, a barbershop at its front, a pan shop, several boards (including those of musclemen), yet stood on its own encumbering these aberrations in its ambit. This tree was indeed an institution. Trust me, it would have blocked sunlight for several houses, yet was untouched because somewhere, someone did what it takes to allow it to just grow old and become a landmark in middle of goat mess. Though, I hope that the tree which we managed to save does not grow to entertain shops as mentioned above. Now, food for thought is not what we can do to change the attitude of viewing trees as enemy. I just hope I do not have to adopt vegetarianism. But if thats what it takes, thats what it will get.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Cheated!!

Honest Abe once made a comment on legal profession that probably every law student has heard at the beginning of his (extraordinarily) long student life. It has something to do with it being the route to highest office in the land! Well, in my brief career, I have experienced instances that support this view. You will not believe how far the black coat and white shirt can take y0u without security verification! And more often than not, there is an inherent change in mannerisms.

But Friday was different. I had to bribe a peon, a receptionist and a senior bureaucrat! All for a procedural compliance which was rightfully mine. At the end of the whole thing, such was the level of my frustration that when the parking attendant of the department told me that I needed to park my car at the adjacent parking lot or else he would be fined 200 bucks, I nearly offered him a couple of gandhis!My partner told me that this gross ineptitude should be indulged only if I am sitting in a merc and not from my poor li'l small car! During the whole process, I had a 100 rupee note in my front pocket, a 500 rupee note in my inner pocket, a couple of 500 rupee notes in my side pocket and so on....all, as part of my preparation to face the devil's department. Its not that I have bribed a lowly clerk for the first time, but in this instance, I found myself in a government department where almost everyone was nice to you for a price.People wanted their own 'fees', they wanted fees for others! I would not have been surprised if they had not charged me for my services as well.

Now, government processes are something like tatkal services. You always have the option of going by the regular process! But to cut short time, you always have the option of oiling the system to get the desired result in good time. I personally do not like that, but, can't wash away my guilt! You will be surprised to know that my experience of bribing the whole department came in an office where everything is timebound! I plead guilty of playing a part in going along with the system of corruption, when I feel so strongly against it! My former boss taught me that when entering your office, one should throw morality out of window, and I did exactly that! And I have that sinking feeling.

Yesterday was Indira gandhi's 25th death anniversary. I am told that I was born when the country was burning due to riots after her death. The elders often recount how those were troubled times and it was only with a lot of difficulty that some of my family members could pay me a visit. Now, I really have no opinion on Indira, but live through this legacy of extreme corruption at all ranks, which I have reasons to believe, are a result of her legacy. This might be uncalled for, but i wonder what will it take to get out of this mess. Another Indira or for us to change??

Monday, October 26, 2009

Patna hille la!!!

Visiting my home state has never failed to amaze me. Having spent time in the whole of this country, I can safely say that Bihar is indeed the most politically conscious state in India. Everybody is blessed with an opinion on what is wrong with the state and and its polity and no one fears to express it. Using the visit to take care of some family and professional obligations, as usual, this visit entailed meeting some really interesting people, and of course hearing what they had to say. In fact, in Bihar, all you need to survive and get familiarised is having a political opinion. It doesn't matter what opinion you have, i.e. no one will love you or hate you for being a a leftist, rightist, anarchist or secularist(i hope that is a recognised term). All you need to be accepted en masse is the ability to make public your opinion. And you will definitely get a stage. In a family get together, any greetings have to be followed by a conversation on what was the newspaper headlines. No even is spared to discuss politics, whether they be marriages, post funeral rituals (occasionally funerals too) or any event in which members of the joint family are meeting. There is a new found pride in Patna's new roads, improved law and order and of course, attribution of lack of the same to the poster boy of bihar politics. Everyone seems to be in anticipation of the next congress government in the centre with Rahul Gandhi at its helm. I came across theories pertaining to Rahul Gandhi's mistress in sweden and the factum of his having two kids. I came across theories which state hotels as the most powerful institutions having impact on policies because they have sleaze videos on every politician!!! Journalists are considered the new power brokers and any deal involving state machinery has to involve journalists. Some of them are so hilarious that you would need a crash course in controlling laughter lest you offend someone or his views. If time is not of the essence, these discussions find their way into professional meetings.

What amazes me further is that all this consciousness does not translate into development. Somehow, there is a dire need to change the attitude of arm chair philosophy and pseudo-intellectualism. Anyways, A-L's new Bihar venture hopes to play some positive and constructive role! Wish us luck!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Mc Mohan line, patrols and growing up in Arunanchal!!

McMohan line a.k.a. Line of actual control is the alignment of the Himalayan foothills constituting effective boundary between China and India (although its legal status is disputed). It owes its origin and definiton to the Simla Accord of 1914, which is rejected by the Chinese regime, and as wikepedia tells us, even by the current British government, which released a statement to that effect in 2008 practically negating the essence of the agreement.

The official maps and surveys released and adopted by Indian government, which we read and mugged up in our schooldays reflect the Mc Mohan line as the international border. Of course, across the border, our chinese compatriots have grown up believing the same to be illegal and recognise our Arunachal Pradesh as southern tibet and i respect the fact that their views on the same would be as strong as anyone else this side of the border. Anyways, my purpose of writing this blog is not to carry out a thesis, but to reproduce an anecdote which I heard from a veteran who has served extensively on that 'border'. It is surprising that despite our chauvinism, most of the areas adjoining Mc Mohan line on the Indian side are mostly inaccessible. The foward posts of Assam Rifles, are also 25-30 KM away from the LAC. This gentleman served a tenure of 3 yrs there around 20 years after the 62' war. On one routine patrol, one of his initial ones, he came across remains of Indian soldiers who had perished in that battle. What surprised him was that his troops, who knew the area better, were aware of these remains and were content to relegate the existence of the same as folklore. He organised a burial of these remains(cremation would have required reseources, which his regiment may not have been keen to spare). He recounted another instance where they recovered a chinese military equipment, which was proudly brought back to the regiment as a trophy! It was a PLA marked volleyball, which the patrol found floating on a stream, which poor chinese fellas must have lost courtesy a bad shot. Of course, the volleyball provided the patrol with a welcome break and a quick game!

In all the noise that media has been making in the recent past about chinese incursions, maybe, it would not be out of place for some of them to actually go to those areas, a.k.a. Barkha dutt in kargil war, and try to figure out as to how exactly can we detect whether the chinese have been undertaking incursions or not. Instead of making comparisons on number of jets and tanks, we ought to study if the connectitivity has improved since 62'. They did capture Tawang in 1962 war and drove out the Indian administrative machinery from Assam, a fact which, is used by ULFA elements as a propoganda tool balming India and Indians to be deserters. Of course, since their sole intention was to teach indians a lesson, the Chinese withdrew. I have had the priviledge to have spent a considerable partof my childhood there and can remember the emotions, a mix of fear and hatred, which the name "China" evoked! I did some of my schooling in an area, which during 62' war, had been taken over by the Chinese. In fact, our games used to be called 'India-China' where China was the eternal enemy, which I recognised much before knowing about what pakistan was.

Despite the humiliation, most of the disputed territories remain inaccessible. Till date, most of the bridges are temporary constructions and can hardly transport heavy equipment. I remember having to get off the vehicles because the bridge could not support a maruti with people inside. We can go on and on on military ill-preparedness to fight a battle, but the enimity has created its own share of hawks this side of border, which does include me. I rememeber a relative telling me about the collection drive during the 62'war, when people in my maternal village in Bihar gave away their entire jewelleries and assets to the govt to raise funds for the army. I dont doubt that when needed, the country will rise up again, but I do doubt the credibility and vision of the political and babu class, which grossly underestimates the china factor, till date and forever, thereby really creating a doubt as to on whose payroll they actually are.





Thursday, September 24, 2009

Human will!!

There is this movie which i must have seen at least 5 times!! It goes by the name of "Forrest Gump. I dont like it for the acting, but for the idea that if a man puts his mind to it, he can achieve anynthing! Now, after a working weekend and some deadlines met and waiting for yet another working weekend, today was one of the lighter business days at A-L! For me, it started with getting a regular update from rediff. They were running a feature on the real heoes and had a write up on Flight Lt. MP Anil Kumar. Now, here was a name whose name I could instantly recognise because he writes regulary on strategic and defence affairs and I have always liked his style of writing for the simple reason that he knows how to keep it simple, unlike most other writers of his cadre. The article carried a mini biography and started with the fact that he has been paralysed below his neck since the age of 24 due to an accident. Now, that was an aspect which I never knew. I read and re-read the article and was simply overawed! Its not just the aspect of him working with a disability (i hate this word, but my limited vocab didnt give me alternative), but the idea of completely re-orienting himself at the age of 24. Now, I may not be able to relate to him, but I can try to imagine the passion in him of flying a jet and a realisation that he could not do it anymore! Re-orienting himself to have such a good command over his subject matter is something thats truly inspirational. The article does not tell us much on that front, but it sure had its impact. Any ways, i decided to send him a mail ! I got a prompt reply which I will reproduce

" My dear Kaustubh,



Many, many thanks for your mail and the generous words. Please convey my regards to your folks. I hope life at your end is cruising on an even keel.
Cheers ............... MP"


Now, at A-L, we sure have our fair share of problems! But, at the root of the problems is the difficulty we face in re-adjusting or rather re-orienting from finely tuned life in earlier assignments ("processes")! But, it ain't impossible is it?? Thanks MP, you are truly our hero! And yes sir, now life definitely seems to be cruising on even keel!

till nxt time!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Office Infrastructure

When A-L was being conceptualized, we knew one thing!! we needed office and we needed infrastructure....now, a question which is second only to 'what is it that a girl really wants???' ! what all do we need to make make a room into a functional office.... i will not venture into the issue of room cauz' that is a tricky question which has consumed my life savings :) so, here it goes...tables , boss chair , other chairs, lappy, printer, racks, ac, file storage, stationary , stationary backup, BOOKS (and a lot of them) and yet it does not feel enough!! need something to hide the seepage creeping into wall (damn the 2nd floor waala)!! I wonder what is amiss..

yeah...have recieved suggestions for better table, a full time clerk..maybe we also need full time accountant!!! have been trained to live without a paralegal, so, that is a distant need!! and if i employ one of the latter, then will have to forgo my own income! so, we outsource the admin support!! But, i would luv to offer my clients a cuppa tea...and considering that I would be charging a time rated fee for the conference, they may not appreciate it if i leave them in office to go and brew a cuppa...my dad had a suggestion! he said i should emply one of the washermen's kids!! now i dont want to indulge in child labour, do I?? and considering this is NOIDA, really dont want to emply someone who i do not know (am still to recover from the shock of a stolen camera 10 yrs bak)!! Anyways, leaving tht aside, i need a better database! though a lot of stuff is available on net, but one has to pay through nose fr it!

U know what, i really need a 'Jinny'! what an idea, i should just rub the lamp, and whatever i need can be here. Now thats what is really called wishful thinking (or maybe the base of an entrpreneur idea, if anyone is listenin!) As far as tea is concerned, if u r visintin my office, dont be surprised if the tea is already ready! and Plz dont criticise it!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

project report!!!!

Note: names of clients or details of projects are not being disclosed for confidentiality reasons!


These days, A-L is busy acting as project consultant to some dev. sec organisations bidding for international grants!! Of course, A-L is involved right from conceptualising the project after getting the broad framwork from the client and creating and collating the documentations. These projects are distant cousins of large, capital intensive infrastructure/other projects where project finance divisions of law firms take care of the documentation aspects! Largely, big NGOs have being doing this on their own but, it is a niche market that A-L wants to break into. The biggest problem which I am facing rt. now is evolving a constant/fixed fee structure for such projects! Now, I cannot say that fee will be chargeable as a commission on succesful reciept of grants (or approval) because that would risk voilating my Bar Council rules. Alternatively, placing a time rated fee schedule to the client will not be suitable as my targfet segment are unlikely to have the capacity to commit funds on projects that they do not have! So, trying to figure out a mutually convenient solution...So, as of rt now, A-L is taking it forward project by project! but hopefully, a stable structure will be put in place soon. Of course, that is subject to ideas!!!

Anyways, the woods are dark and deep, and A-L has deadlines to meet, and I got tonnes to write before I sleep ..........

My li'l project, processes and more

Disclaimer: This is not an attempt to advertise my setup. For that, you should visit http://www.adhritlegal.in/. Of course, as of now, you will be greeted by what seems to be my eternal status : 'Page Under construction'.

I have always wanted to mantain a blog. Primarily, its because I end up having an opinion on almost everything! During my student days, my buddies bore the brunt (earning me my nickname 'poruu'! During the initial years in professional life, my office colleagues got their share of piece of my mind (even my boss, who did seem to have some patience). Now, as I spend hours of solitude in my small cabin, with inteaction with outside world strictly on professional matters, I thought that this is the right place to vent out my views.. I want to speak about a lot of things. About the problems I face in day to day operations of my setup, about dealing with munshis and babus, about the nautanki that is the austerity drive, about how I feel that we will fight a war with china sooner or later, about INS arihant, about sources of professional gossips and infos, about the books that I want to buy for my setup, about my eternal need to get out of Delhi, etc, etc. So, friends, romans and countrymen, lend me your ears.

I realise that I am not bound by a process any more. Job, or committed association with any firm, is being part of a process that someone has worked very hard to create! It is a process tuned for generating max revenue for what is invested on you! Of course, as u rise, u shape the process as per your requirement or the requirements of your organisation. A 930-730 commitment is a major component of that process and efficiency and success of the process is dependent on your availability for the same. But, the question that I asked myself repeatedly is whether is it possible to create a process where the stakeholders (clients, associates, admin) have the flexibility of creating their own sub-processes which you direct? And all this without losing control or direction of process.. Is it possible to have worktimings of your convenience without missing the deadlines? Is it possible to work as a team, while enjoying an occassional break from the team? What does it take to create a new process and can a succeful process be replicated? I have read about these things, but now, will find the answers by creating my own process. Of course, will try to update you with my new discoveries and realisations and will hope that if you are reading this, you would like to place a comment............

till nxt tme!