Ashim Writes

International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected a sluggish couple of years we are heading towards. Moody's Analytics predicted the global economy to grow at 2.7 per cent in 2022 and slow to 2.3 per cent in 2023. The impact is already visible in the form of mass layoffs in tech giants like Google, Meta and many others. Smaller companies are also going with 3-5% reduction on their workforce in the name of low revenue and huge loss they incurred in the last year or two. I am sure you would have known some if not many who were impacted by the recession we currently are in. After the Wave 2 of Covid, when world had barely resumed to the new normal, we got into Russia-Ukraine war. Followed by China Real Estate Crisis. Market is not good and that may hit you tomorrow or the day after. What preparation have you done incase the employer decides to let you go? Do you have a backup? When we go for a long drive, we ensure the car has a stepney or a spare wheel. Do you have one for your income to...

Siddharth Shukla, KK, Raju Srivastav, A family member of mine - all were in their fifties. They were of different built, their lifestyles were different, their diet habits were different yet one thing in common - they died of Heart Attack or Cardiac Arrest . In the last few months, we saw a sudden increase in the deaths by Cardiac Arrest/Heart Attack, especially people who are below 50 years of age. Social Media is flooded with posts about Heart Attack after workout, deaths on the dance floor, deaths while simply walking on the road. Cause? Cardiac Arrest or Heart Attack. What is Cardiac Arrest and how is it different from Heart Attack? As per # MedicalGuardian , "A Heart Attack occurs when one of the coronary arteries—the arteries which deliver oxygenated blood to the heart muscle—becomes blocked and the portion of the heart muscle it supplies is damaged. This usually occurs when a cholesterol plaque breaks open and platelets rush to the site of the damaged artery a...

Alarm at 2:30 AM woke me up. Went to brush my teeth and grabbed a cup of tea. 10 minutes later, the cab driver gave a miss call. By 3:00 AM I was on my way to the office. The Australian shift (Or the Graveyard shift) pissed me off a lot. Used to get dressed and then sleep so I could wake up and board the cab that early in the morning. Most " Call Center Employees " would have gone through the trauma called Graveyard shift at least once in their career. This is a tale of one of them - "I". Most of you probably know how good we are (people from Bihar/Jharkhand/UP) in spoken English. Not because we never learnt but because we never practiced in the real life. For us, English was an optional subject and clearing it in the exam was not even mandatory. From that kind of environment to an International BPO - as we call it - was a tough journey. Couldn't clear the first attempt of voice and accent training in 2007 as the Mother Tongue Influence caught me there. I am s...

After multiple unsuccessful attempts, I gave up. Woke up from my bed and went straight to the kitchen. Made a "Kadak" cup of tea and while enjoying it One Sip At a Time, I thought of writing this blog. In the winters of 2007, I was in Kolkata. As fresh IT graduates - completely unaware of the global meltdown which was heading our way - a friend of mine and I were trying our luck with IT firms. Being from the middle class, we didn't have much to spend. So we decided to share a small hotel/lodge in Bada Bazar area of the city. The city is usually warmer than the rest of India. The temperature rarely drops below 18-15 degrees. Hence we used to get up quite early so we can get ready and go for "Job Hunting" in the Salt Lake City - the IT park of Kolkata. Right beside our lodge there was the huge wholesale market - probably the biggest in India (Or Eastern India to be more precise). Right at the corner there was a Chai Walah (Tea Seller) who had employed over 20 peo...

"India Wants to Know" . "This is my show" . " Krantikari , Bahut Krantikari " . " Sawal to hum puchenge hi" . These lines are so deeply rooted in our minds that we don't need to think twice before we could say the name of the TV anchor who uses these. I am no journalist. I am no scientist either but I know if I jump off a building, I will go down because of the gravity. Sometimes common sense is what you need to understand and decide what is right and what is wrong. I remember when Indira Gandhi died, the  anchor who read this news couldn't stop from breaking herself up in the live TV. May be that was the first time an anchor went against the set rules of Journalism that states "Do not include your personal views/emotions. Present the news as it is". In Today's rat race of TRP, anchors sensationalize a small thing to the next level and force the public to think about it over and over again. The TV screens are dazzled an...

NewYork, NY – the financial capital of North America. Someone rightly said “New York is so amazing that they named it twice ;-)”. What all you can experience will depend on how many days you spend in the city. NY is a bouquet of different flowers that caters every visitor in its own way. From beaches to museums, from buildings to Monuments – You get everything you wish to see. Must See Places:   Ground Zero:  Who doesn’t remember 9/11 – the day that shocked the whole of humanity. No matter where you stay during your visit to the city, Ground Zero should be the first one in your list of  Places to visit.   Freedom Tower:  A stunning view of one of the tallest buildings in the world would not let you leave the place.  WorldOne  or the  Freedom Tower  is said to be the tallest building in the country. The restaurant on the 101st floor gives an amazing view of the NewYork skyline. You must visit the restaurant if you want to experienc...