Kumud's musings

a) In a world where GenAI is becoming increasingly useful, TRUST is the utmost necessity for sellers.

What should be the focus of Artificial Intelligence?

I've been reading and watching a lot of content related to AI and it's widespread impact on almost everything that matters to human beings. Let's get started with a video I watched last year: it showed that the priestly duties in a funeral was being conducted by a robot somewhere in Japan. (definitely subject to my memory being serving right) The reason being people were reluctant to take that job as it was very low paid. Now this is what I would call "Only humans can, at least now, make appropriate judgement as to what should AI do". Definitely AI would self learn and would automate such judgments as well.

This blog post has been triggered after reading the blog by revered SAP's CEO on AI here: https://news.sap.com/impact-of-artificial-intelligence-machines-cant-dream/?url_id=banner-us-homepage-row7-3blog1-mcdermott-machine-learning-jan18r2
- an extremely well articulated blog. My key takeaways from the blog has been the cautioning advice given to humans and the skills needed in the years ahead. However, one would infer that the blog ultimately hints that no job would remain untouched by AI and suggests collaboration between AI and humans. This would ultimately mean saying "Good Morning" to a robot when we go to workplace and expect it to return the wish. In my view the blog indirectly says that "Machines can't dream, at least for now" as even that is that not unconquerable.

Let's take a step back and understand who is controlling AI now? My mind would suggest it to be humans and technology. So, it's derivable that focus of AI too could be streamlined but only when humans can collaborate among themselves, the biggest challenge of the century, in my view.
It's not the competition between AI and humans, it's more among humans themselves.
Bill Gates, no wonder, suggested to introduce tax reforms on robots considering this.

Let's come to the point that I've in my mind. I live in the capital of India and live in a society having security. Who is the security? They are couple of old men whose job is to open the gate every time a car needs to go out of the gate or a car enters the gate and check if there is an unknown person entering the premise. How many of those in US would know of such job?
This comes to my mind because when I visit US, I stay in an apartment where the gates open on entering the apartment number. The point is who would be benefited if the job of the security guard in Delhi is automated? Would the initial investment cost along with maintenance charges be same as that paid to the guard? Can the old guard take up another not-yet-automated job? Can we even talk about re-skill options here?
Yet another example from the same apartment in Delhi, it has a gardener (again an old man) whose first activity each day is to water the plants? How many in US have seen a person watering the lawns? In the evening, when I go for a walk in US, sometimes the sprinklers don't hesitate to sprinkle water on the pavements and people. How visionary and impressive would it be to automate the old gardener's job by giving him enlightening mantras of up-skilling and re-skilling?

The intention is to highlight the need of a balanced approach for things to stay in control by automation. This would be making policies to combat the vociferous force which at this moment seems more viable that collaboration among humans to decide the right focus of AI.
Just because  a job can be fully-automated should not be the only criteria to start with. The impact, replacement strategy and most importantly the need should be the criteria.

Let's go to the other part of our daily lives - the corporate. Early last year, the client I was working with complained of high backlogs of issues to be fixed in SAP systems. The approach followed by management was to first segregate the issues based on different technical areas and then to see how many of them could be automated. Was there a need for automation? I would have to admit a "Yes". The reason being dependency on humans to work in night shifts when a great chunk done during that time could be automated, should really be done. Most of the time, employees are also not happy by working on activities which does not give them continuous learning. Such areas which involve human dissatisfaction are a great use case for automation. Increased backlog also led management doubt the productivity of the employees. Many would know of tools available which would track and report the activity done in computers and laptops. So, who did this job of tracking the employees before?
So, definitely automation has come into our daily lives.

Let's take the case of human dissatisfaction outside the corporate walls and into general world. In India, it's pretty often that we hear cases of  workers dying during cleaning of drainage systems. It's pretty unbelievable to imagine that a human has to get inside the drainage to clean it. Similarly, there are other perilous job activities, which could even be applicable to only few regions. AI could try to fix problems which are location-specific and need driven.

To sum it up, the Japanese example highlighted in the beginning, serves as the right mindset as to what should be the focus of AI.

Because She can be exceptional after maternity break!

She looked a little anxious as she moved with her MacBook, a book and a pen to the recreation cum study hall of her society. She was regular there on weekends and in the evenings of weekdays when her spouse was back home from work to take care of their a year and a half old child.

On few days she would find Mrs. A studying in the same hall. Gradually, they started talking and Mrs. A told her that Mrs. A was brushing up her software skills as she was trying to join the workforce back after a gap of her first child.
She realized Mrs. A was in the process of attending interviews after a maternity gap and was glad to find someone in the same boat.

Past few months had been terrifically different for her as her entire world revolved around the child.
Taking care of a newborn had been the most challenging experience for her. Thankfully she had learnt quite a bit and was going through it in almost balanced way!
On many interviews that she attended, discussing her personal status of being married or not, a mom or not was generally not asked till the final stage.
However, it took a very renowned electrification and automation company to make her realize that being a mom might mean she would not be able to extend beyond-working hours! The male interviewer had asked her about a challenging situation at work in her previous organization and as expected it involved working extra hours and weekends. Interviewer was quick enough to put forth his opinion that she could work extra because she was not a mom then and would not be able to do that again! The outcome of the interview did not matter thereafter.

She was happy to finally join an organization know for inverting the pyramid of management by the motto "Employees first, Customers second" and known for providing flexibility. She was happy being a developer again. Surprisingly, she realized that coming back after a gap had caused no harm rather she had become more efficient at her work.
Joining work meant she had a battle to win everyday which is modernized today as "Work life balance". But her priority being clear as "Family/Child first" she could mend her work style that suited the child's routine. It ultimately turns out after an year when her performance appraisal is done that a little effort towards setting up a routined life not only helped her being a fairly good mom but also being a good employee.

This made her to think what really worked for her. It is not that she was any less before being a mom but a working mother is definitely different than a young office going girl.
She summarizes some of her learning from motherhood below:

• You can't start preparing milk for baby when she starts crying for it. You have to pre-plan according to the baby's routine. The same attitude reflected in her work too and enabled her to  become a better planner in most aspects of life. This is also called being proactive by many!
• You can't have two priorities of equal importance at the same time. When you are a house bound mom you just don't take care only of baby but also of house, family (spouse predominantly) and also of your interests. The activities have to be sequenced or when possible pipe lined or even multi tasked. At work it is often the case she had only become better at it than before.
• Having a positive mindset. To have a positive mindset probably is more of a habit that has to be regularly cultivated and grown rather than a one-time attitude. Motherhood definitely helps one to be patient with circumstances till the dawn arrives.
• When she took a break, reading books she always wanted to, unconsciously helped in shaping her towards the personality she always wanted to see in herself. Getting along well with the team you work for majority part of the day only helps to get you better.
• Performing Yoga. Motherhood is the best time to realize importance of being in harmony of body and mind. When a time is fixed for any non-work related activity, one tends to become more productive during working hours.
• Importance of time. The saying,  "Time and Tide waits for none" is having a much deeper meaning with motherhood. "Being in the present" is a powerful message that life either teaches you gradually or forces upon you.
• Having time for no nonsense activity. When you are a working mom you've so much on your plate that you can never be found sitting and contemplating things that have no importance to you or anyone of importance to you.
• Being a mom of a "She" you have to be careful of how you behave in your day to day life as your daughter would need a role model when she grows up.
• Getting up early. If one has to take one learning from her experience, it would be getting up early in the morning. Being a mom, she had to wake up early before baby wakes up in order to find time for herself.

She has realized that being a mom is not a one-time activity and she has no option but to get better with time. Life does not stop throwing challenges in the life of any "She" and its always good to remember nice experiences and its cause. This is probably the reason she has written this blog!

Aananya's first birthday - an year of motherhood!

I successfully completed a year of motherhood this past August 22nd. It has absolutely been a thrilling experience so far and has also brought tons of maturity in how I handle day to day life activities. This past one year has been full of emotional ups and downs and each day pushed my tolerance and acceptance levels higher. It would have been completely impossible for me to accept the way I am now two years before.

This change could also be due to the fact that I have taken a break from my day job for the past 6 months. Though it makes me irritable to handle repetitive household activities daily but also provides an opportunity to see a kid growing up. It has been an enormous learning phase for me. It encourages me to possibly write a blog on advantages of taking a maternity break.
My observation skills are at its peak. The greatest observation is a kid doesn't shy away from doing anything whereas a grown up would, thinking what would others think of it. There are few must have traits as we grow up but we tend to loose them. No wonder there is a saying "Keep the child within you alive".

There is also a strange behavior that comes along with motherhood to me, FEAR! When I am with the baby and even if there is a slightest risk involved I tend to restrict myself from going ahead. e.g going out when there is slightest of lightning :) I was not like this before, not sure if this feeling is temporary and would go away soon. But at the same time, I sometimes think that mind makes excuses not to do things making baby as the source of excuses.

I would give rest to my pouring emotions now and let pictures convey the celebration. I had decided to give dedicated time to baby for an year before I jump back to my work schedule and that is happily over now!

The other side of 'M' in being a Mother

"Oh, it's hilarious. Her smile makes my day. The sparkle in her eyes brings back the spark in me. Her excitement of learning something new every day makes me excited like never before. The experience of bringing and nurturing a life from zero is thrilling and cannot be shared in words." Whoa!

Well, this would have been nice to share as an status update on FB or sharing experience with not-so-close people. The reality has much more than this. It's like what others see is the glitter part of it.

To give a glimpse, a scene from movie Sex and city comes to mind where the character shuts herself in a room and vents out her helplessness as a mother of two kids until the nanny arrives. She was privileged to have friends with whom she could discuss the hardships of being a mother. The group finally went on a vacation!

I am celebrating Mother's Day as a mother first time today and the mom inside me is not letting me rest until I share the experience. Without doubt this is strictly my personal experience and cannot be generalised.

I would candidly accept that though I have always respected my mom, the respect and love has increased many times after I myself became a mom. In general I have never taken pride in being a woman as much as I do now. Living still in an era and country where education, independence and self-esteem of a woman is questioned I consider myself privileged to act and take decisions on my own. I remember the morning when I woke up with the feeling of severe itching on hands and feet. I had talked about the itching to people before and they said that it was nothing serious and hence did not discuss with the doctor. That morning, I just did not talk to anyone rather searched randomly on internet and found that it could be due to liver functioning problem causing sudden death of the baby without giving an iota of hint. Wow!, that was at the end of eight months of pregnancy. I rushed to the doctor and the LFT (Liver function test) confirmed that I was having the rare problem that happens to 1 in 4 women. The main doctor after a day said that I could not have a normal delivery and the baby had to be taken out at the earliest. The lady's doctor exact words were "You are sitting on a time bomb" followed by words posing risk to baby in a way I would not even like to remember at this point of time. How could it be possible that these doctors on whom we risk our entire lives are so unemphathic? 

I had a preterm delivery and a healthy baby girl was born. I cannot express the feeling when the paediatrician said to me in OT " You are mother of a healthy girl. She is alert and doing good." I saved myself because I acted correctly on developing the itching sensation. Is this not a real case scenario which highlights importance of women having access to Internet? This comes to my mind because the other day I saw a debate on FB on women having access to Internet or something on the same lines.

The most surprising fact after becoming mother is why do people not discuss the pains associated with it. My own mother never highlighted the hard facts before, it's only now that she do accept my feelings and agrees to them. I don't want to sound like a pessimist or negative person but I have to say that pregnancy and delivery procedure has been the most traumatic experience of my life so far. The testimony to my good health is I have never been admitted to a hospital in 29 years.

The cut below my stomach is so deep and prominent that I know the mark is life long. I remember in OT the doctor just before operation said that an injection would be given on my back so that I don't feel the pain also known as anaesthesia. Injections after injection, I have lost count of injections I had to take in that period. Two ladies doctor were performing actions on the area I have the cut mark now and then after few minutes another doctor literally jumped to action to push the baby who must have been visible by then and then the next sound I heard was "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa". That's it, any pain I had suffered before was a thing of past. The future looked different and smooth. 

My body had to be transferred from OT to intensive care unit for an hour as that was the procedure followed by the hospital. I don't know if I can say the transfer experience to be funny. I was completely helpless to move any part of my body and could only see nurses doing the work. In ICU though I was aware of the surroundings I was just a body lying on the bed. I could hear another lady moaning in pain  with sounds like "aaaah". I did not open my eyes and to remain optimistic thought of the word - progressive pain, meaning I would not suffer the same pains in future and any new pain would only be in the way of me getting better and back to normal life.

I cannot forget the moment when my body had to be moved from ICU to hospital room when one of the nurses asked me to lift my body. I am not sure if I said anything or they themselves figured out that I was still under the effect of anaesthesia and was not feeling every part of my body. A bottle and a bag were temporarily attached to my body. The hospital room was going to be my home for the next 7 days! For someone who completely hates hospital and has never been admitted there before, 7 days were really not easy.

I could not get up from the bed without assistance, could not even go to toilet without assistance. I really don't know if everyone faces this or it was just me! My body was completely messed up. For two to three days I had to take bath with the help of a nurse. I did not know something like this would happen with me in the process of becoming a mom. No one ever discussed these things with me. For the first few days I could not even manage to have the baby with me. 

Well this is just one part of a big process. The ailing body has to become ready for the next big thing called lactation. I have seen close to a dozen mothers feeding their babies in my own surrounding but never knew that to get started with it takes real effort. I along with other moms were given a class by paediatrician in the hospital on lactation. It was said that the mother's milk that comes out after a day or two from delivery is essential for the baby because it protects the baby from diseases in long term. At that time I was difficulty managing my own body, lactation was a distant act all together. I would restrict from writing all the painful experiences I had during the early days but would share the experience of last day in the hospital. The doctor had suggested medicines for greater production of milk without explaining that the milk produced had to be given to baby regularly else could lead to other problems. I faced those other problems!

On the last day the doctor suggested ice pack treatment to break the accumulated milk and make the organ back to normal to enable lactation. That evening I really couldn't control my emotions and when the doctor came to check and started giving suggestions, I broke and emptied few buckets from the ocean of water under my eyes. I had never felt more helpless than at that moment.

After getting discharged from the hospital I had the excitement of starting a different life. Babies are really not easy to handle in the first few months. It was a very strange time when I really did not know how were the days passing by. Proper guidance really helps in the initial days and importance of family is realised to the best. I have to thank Internet and people as for most of the information that I have got so far regarding babies have proved to be really true. The best part of motherhood is, it gets better, smoother and enjoyable with time. 

The experiences are like collection of short stories. It did not come naturally to me to understand and accept that a baby comes to world by actually knowing nothing actually NOTHING. They learn as they grow. Doesn't this fact adds more responsibility and pressure on parents? Per me it certainly does. After reading close to century of perspectives on success my personal take is, family background also plays a crucial role. 

 The first three months were really hard. Nights were day and days had to be night to be in sync with baby. Babies cry a lot in the initial months as per my experience. Now, it's her ninth month and she does not cry even 100th part of that in initial months. I have to keep myself stable and controlled at all times without becoming impatient at any moment. The expectations from women have really become tremendous in modern times.

 I remember the night when she was just a month old and started crying all of a sudden. Not knowing what to do, I just placed my palm on her head and was surprised to see her becoming calm real quick. That was the first time I felt importance of mother's touch.

All the dedicated efforts and time that I have spent on her gets rewarded with her activities giving encouragement and motivation to the mother inside me. At this time, she is on her way to learn words and talk but in the meantime eyes convey a lot. One day her dad tried real hard to make her sleep and failed and the moment I took her in my hands, the expression on her face changed so expressively that remembering the moment could make me sleep even in most troubled time.

The responsibilities of a mother are really too much and cannot be compromised. The fact is I as a mother will not be satisfied and happy until my daughter is. So anything I do as a mother is first to make me satisfied and happy. There are times when I really need time for myself and have to figure out ways to find that. Motherhood has induced several good things in me including tolerance, patience, greater pride in being a woman and greater respect and love for all other women. It adds new dimensions to life and gives an added purpose to live happily. 

To end this blog I would say motherhood is not easy and hence goes with the saying "No gain without pain". It has many more sides to it than I thought few years ago. Some aspects are real hard to accept while others are enjoyable. No one has ever made me feel more important and needed than my nine months old daughter, Aananya. 

Happy Mother's Day!

What's with the last name?

I did not know that our society is obsessed with last names or surnames, until recently. It's said, you are known by your company but few mind sets cannot be changed even if people are sent to Mars! It so happened that I have married a guy with a different surname. Thanks to some much needed modernisation in the society that I was not forced to change my surname or other ways getting the surname changed in all the educational documents and passport would have costed a lot of effort and time and hence my identity was left intact. Then, I became mother of a beautiful daughter and whoa!, I couldn't get much examples where surname of mother is preferred in kids' name, in case parents have different surnames.

Let me tell that at least in India, one cannot delay much in selecting name for the new born as making the birth certificate could unnecessarily become tedious. Now, the name cannot be pre-decided as the gender of the baby is not revealed. I started looking for names and finally got settled with Aananya. Now that's the first name. How about last name? To remove any conflict I could have gone with just first name but that's not good in long run. Ok, I am not obsessed with last names and went easily by adding the last name of my husband to her name. I had still not communicated the name for the birth certificate. I will not pretend here and disclose that I had a feeling of discomfort suppressed within me that why is the baby named after dad's surname and the mothers' identity is lost completely?

One day, with no specific intention, I tried googling how common is the name of my daughter. Alas! little did I know that googling could land me into long term problems! I landed a site which predicted the future of babies based on first and last names. First name of the baby predicted a wonderful future but with the addition of last name, it predicted few health related problems.

People who knows me would understand that I just don't take these things seriously. But somehow, this time, mindset of a silly first time mother won over the general thought process. Let me add that my baby is a pre-matured born baby. 

I couldn't stand my decision of the name given to baby and looked for options of changing the first name. I couldn't take much time as birth certificate had to be made. No better first name than Aananya  could be found, of course per my opinion. So, the option was only the last name. Thank goodness that my husband did not express any hard opinions when I expressed my concerns over the name of baby.

I also talked to one of my college mates who too married a guy with a different surname. :)

I asked her if she too felt discomfort while keeping the name of baby and I was happy to know that I am not alone there but she said she would not want to put herself in any adverse situation, so she went with the flow. Well, I was also going with the flow until I fell into the future predicting site and failure to ignore it.
The name got finalized with the last name of mother and the same got printed in the birth certificate.
Then came the step for making her passport.
We live in very strange society. On one side the entire nation and media goes gaga over the fact that Obama's guard of honor was a lady but on the other side nothing much really happens when it comes to practical stuff. I remember seeing the news of guard of honor on every possible social media and big words like women empowerment, nari Shakti (power of a lady) being used repeatedly.
Guess what, while filling the details of baby for passport, I noticed that the "Name of mother" field was marked optional while father's name was mandatory. I can still not find rationale behind that.

My husband is currently outside India and in one of the most developed nations of World. It must have happened that he showed copy of baby's passport to his friend who out of everything else noticed that the surname was of mother and pointed that it's not usual. I agree it's not usual but is it that difficult to accept?

Could someone please help me understand as to why mother's surname cannot be preferred for kid's name? What difference does that make? Why does our society make it look so complicated?
Do I really owe an explanation to everyone on the surname of my own blood?



 

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

I caught this tweet which has already gained much attention on twitter:

#Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka: Indians don't speak up, just follow orders ow.ly/FqXv1 

Before I go deep into the article I would like to know how many of you think that our environment ( I am trying not to use the word culture here) support "speaking up", asking questions like "Why". I can't answer for the best possible cases but by now I have experience of working in both, an Indian based company and a non-Indian based company and my answer will be a big resounding No. The culture pushes us to follow the hierarchy and act accordingly. Talk based on your position. 

I would try to share some experiences which might not be exactly relevant in this case but would at least show the consequences of speaking up and not following hierarchies. In my first project as an SAP consultant, I was not supposed to talk directly to the customers. I had to take instructions from my immediate boss who would many times not understand the requirements clearly. This caused unnecessary iterations. When I tried to speak up, there was no solution found rather my appraisals were screwed up inspite of getting many good recommendations from the customer. I was not aware of the consequences of not being in good books of my boss which only means do-as-you-are-asked-to do. Don't question. Not just appraisals but there were other opportunities which never came my way because of it.

It is a very different feeling when your peers are treated differently in the same team because they follow the flow and not try to disrupt anything. The biggest shock was when I saw the 360 degree review going for a toss.The fact is, in most of the cases people at a certain hierarchical level always try to please the immediate next hierarchical level. So there is no confidence that giving the negative feedback would actually correct anything rather bounce back on the employee's career at the organization.

Fast forward to some of most recent happenings. Few clients would prefer documentation for any activity that happens in the project and managers would pride themselves of knowing the clients standards and guidelines. I faced one such manager who said I am not being right by transporting deleted entries in a transport request. He wanted me to directly delete entries in production because he had done that in some past case. In case of such horrific scenarios, I usually would be too shocked to  discuss anything. He would not encourage a discussion at any point of time, rather " do as I say because I am your manager" attitude. In most of the cases when I would have asked "Why" I received reply like " Because I want you to do this " or because his manager wants it to be done that ways. Because of my "speaking up" nature he would not miss a chance to demean me. I feel extremely disturbed when I see many blindly following instructions and never questioning them. But then it is this attitude which fetches gains, at least in the short term. 

The next time I faced this was when I participated in a community event. There was a template for everything and one had to follow that and not one's own style. I pulled myself out of the event without any argumentation.

But then there are good people too but I don't know which one dominates the culture.

These scenarios are at a very low level but then they distinctly illustrate the point that speaking up is not encouraged in most of the cases. You never know when you end up offending someone.

So in short creativity and boldness is not yet completely accepted and encouraged in our environment. So may be if one fine day, someone will ask me to give creative ideas, I will not be able to do that because I was never encouraged to do so.

I would not like to end the blog on a negative note, hence would add that following my own style is must as society would "Damned if I do and damned if I don't , so it's better that I do".

P.S. - Damned if you do and damned if you don't is a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt and I have used it as a blog title and also while ending the blog. ( http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/e/eleanorroo109473.html)