Dream Team! My work place!

Those sports fans out there, have you heard of this team? The dream team? They went out there and defeated its opponents by an average of 44 points en route to the Olympic basketball gold medal. That team is described as the greatest sports team ever assembled on planet earth.

When my boss, who is embarking on a two year study leave said this about the team I am part of now, it got me thinking.

Dream team? Are we? What makes us special? No, the team does not have the talents which the original team of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson had. Not even a semblance of that. Not one, except may be the boss herself has the charisma that will turn the eyes on you.

The team contains a bunch of ordinary mortals. Yet, they pull off works of the magnitude that, believe me, has set standards very high. What makes this team great? My mind repeated the question again. What makes me want to go back to work day in and day out? Though many times, it is bloody hard work. What makes the team attractive that I don't mind being part of this small group of people all my life, and gives me immense Job satisfaction

I have worked in good teams before. Have had really good bosses. Have seen the best of the IT world and also the best of the NGO world. Have been in the poshest of cities, also been in the remotest of villages. Yet, dare I say, these two years are the best I have ever had. The question beckons me again! What makes my team good? I mean, great!

I doubt the answer is that simple! Yet, that word 'Simplicity' as a noun may be the answer. "Simplicity is the virtue of removing the extraneous to reveal the essence. In other words, every body is just their innate self in this team. Nobody hides. Nobody plays otherwise. Everybody is just themselves. And that I think is the greatest advantage. Nobody has to hide anything. The team works around weaknesses. Works with them. On them. Through them. In fact, weaknesses are sometimes boasted about. That makes people secure.

Make people secure in their work place world! And you will have a dream place and team to work with. A lesson my boss taught me in the last two years. 

Cheer up 30s!

It was a mad summer of 1999! Steffi Graf was playing her final wimbledon. I had just entered my teens. Graf was the first teenage crush. But the entire media attention was on this little 15 year old kid who was playing her first Wimbledon semi final.

Lucic Baroni played her only other semi final two days ago in the 2017 Australian open! Yes you read it right 2017 it is! after 18 years.

In the post match interview, she said this and I quote! "I can't tell you what happened to my life in between. But I am back here!" At the age of 33. She is back in a grand slam semifinal. After messing up most of her twenties. Life!

And whom did she play in the Australian Open semi final? Venus Williams! That girl played her first final against Martina Hingis in 1997. Phew. And Venus has a sister called Serena who is 35 herself playing her umpteenth final.

And even as I'm typing this, Nadal has booked a place in the final against the ageless Federer.

What's up 30s? You don't quit when you are 30, do you?

I was a loser. All my 20s went away in my own pursuit of what I thought was life! The world suddenly started looking old. Everybody around looked better, coz they handled life better in their 20s. The paunch slowed me down. The face became round! Well, more round. The specs became bigger.

Are you in the same boat friend? Belonging to the generation which has just entered the 30s? And look around lost at the fast paced world? Do you look at the younger lot with envy? Is the mind quitting more often?There is hope! 30s is not the end of it. You can begin life at 30. So showed Baroni, Williams, Nadal, Federer and the ilk.

I'm not quitting on myself anytime soon!