Confessions of a non-shopaholic

Marriage on the cards=shopping has its effect of your credit/debit cards.Indeed, ever since my wedding has been fixed, one of the patent questions that has come my way ...'So, have you stared shopping?'..Though, I've never been a shopaholic ,I've observed broadly two kinds of shoppers:
1. who shop with an impulse
2. who shop with an agenda
For the first group, more often than not,it's just shopping for the sake of it...they don't have to wait for ceremonies or festivals or end-of-season sale's, for them it is a perennial extravaganza that goes on throughout the year. However, to be a passionate shopper like this , one needs to have a fat bank-balance, so that any amount can be shelled out anytime for anything that catches one's eye in stores.
But, for the second group, buying things come into the picture only when they are needed...actually, only when they are indispensable.
The big question is, which group is better?
definitely, it's not advisable to be extravagant for one's passion for shopping & pick up anything & everything that comes in the way. Also, it's not right to be miser enough to use things till they become unusable & only then go for buying a new substitute.In fact, very often it's seen that in such situations owing to the urgency of a purchase, the buyer has to compromise in buying whatever is available at that moment, which if not up to the mark gets damaged very soon & has to be replaced again resulting in double investment.
Shopping, I feel should be a balance between need & want , and a well-estimated manifestation of one's affordability combined with desire to fulfill one's own satisfaction.

Why attrition is good for companies??

As I embark on the verge of completion of 1 year in a Govt job, the greatest cause of disbelief to me has become my change in mindset, regarding my job....while I was determined to leave this job as soon as possible since the time I joined, gradually I'm finding myself entangled in the Psu-life & culture. In fact, it is the case with 99% govt employees as hardly any have left or want to leave because they neither want to forego their job-security nor their post-retirement financial security(read 'pension') ,& understandably so. But, is Zero-attrition actually good for companies?? Maybe, on paper, it is the dream for any organization to boast of such utopian retention-stats...but there's also many flip-side's to it. Every organization, big or small, has a pyramidal structure of growth, which invariably narrows towards its tip.Hence, if there's no attrition at all , then the wide base of fresh-recruits are all going to be vying for the topmost position of the company 30 years down the line.Also, zero-attrition implies no mid-level recruitment which means the same employees who join as trainees & stay back at the same place for their entire live, being unaware of the outer world , hence leading to a myopic & claustrophobic organization-culture.Therefore,companies... let some employees leave if they want to , let them look for greener pastures....alongside, let some willing others come in...in short, let the fresh air come in !

The Training Burn

The word 'Education' is undoubtedly one of the most 'pious' words in the English Dictionary & 'Knowledge' is widely hailed as one of the biggest virtues of mankind.What makes 'Knowledge' so ubiquitous is invariably its free-flowing nature...the way it gets transferred from one entity to another.However,the quality of knowledge spread/imparted depends entirely on the source.....how well it is taken is incumbent strongly on the way it is given.Therefore, comes the importance of 'Training'....a core-area of Human Resource Management.Though,the term 'training' is too pervasive & is omnipresent in our life...maybe more often coined as 'learning',what's haunting me more nowadays is 'forced-learning' for professionals at workplace,coined as 'training'. Every Company is investing big-time on training these days.After all,what impact does it have on the work-force? For the few interested,it might be 'learning'...but for the reluctant many,it's just a break from work...more so in case of outstation-trainings.Hence,comes the challenge of designing better training programmes & content so as to avoid the potential 'fish-out-of-water's.equally important becomes a proper training-need-assessment exercise which is largely absent in psu's.But,when it comes to fresher-training s in IT-companies it's a different ball-game altogether.Some software-biggies have the creepy provision of firing trainees if they can't clear the much-dreaded exit-tests.Probably,those companies can afford the loss...which the trainees who get sacked can't.Training,by definition is imparting knowledge,not an elimination process.Still,if it turns out to be so then the actual selection process has to be deemed faulty.lastly,I'll come to 'Behavioural Training'.MDPs or programmes on 'Team-building& Leadership',however enjoyable they can be,hardly stay back with the participants...as they leave with the mindset..."Asif we didn't know all these'. Therefore,comes the importance of preparing specific training-material for the particular group/organisation/industry catering to in order to make it relatable & follow up with seeking feedback after some time so as to gauge effectiveness of the training at workplace. Training is in every way a team-work,and it is not only as good as the trainer but also the trainees.