[mashshare]
Our team has gown from the last time we wrote about “You know you are at Sutra if…”. Today we are strong team of 30 who make it a unique place to work at.
Here are 15 points which make Sutra a fun place:
1. The average number of candles on every birthday cake, never exceeds 23 (max 24).
2. One of the first sounds any visitor will notice are: HAHAHA or HEHEHEHE (scooby doo style) or HOHOHOHAHA. These are just a few of the various varieties of laughter you can discover, which you never thought existed or are humanly possible.
3. Walk in, anytime. Walk out, anytime. Just make sure there’s 9 hours between the “in” and “out” OR there’s a proof that you’ve earned your team some good amount of money that day (cheque or closure).
4. During lunch time, you’ll forget which dabba is yours’ and end up having cuisine from all around India.
5. You find the bosses washing plates or serving coffee to everyone in the team.
6. Training and development starts with how to sit on your chair, or switch off the fans/lights/plug points when you leave.
7. Jay is about employee management (work hard) where as Waqar is about employee retention (party harder).
8. Everyone is single and the only married person never tells the new guy she’s married.
9. Calories are discussed with lots of seriousness, and promises are made to join the gym or climb up the stairs to office next day. Few minutes later you’ll here things like, “hello? yeah, please send a large cheese burst, with extra chicken toppings” OR “bhaiyya ek paneer roll bhejna jaldi” OR “ek plate sev puri, doh plate bhel puri, aur dahi papdi chaat”
10. Wearing formals is considered “weird” and sometimes even a sign that you went for a job interview somewhere else!
11. After 9pm you’ll hear rock/trance/bollywood/hip-hop music in the private terrace lounge of our office, and the air will be filled with the smell of Apple, Pan Masala, Kacchi Kairee, and god knows what! (various hukka flavours).
12. Every Monday the office looks like that scene from the movie “Hangover”, when everyone wakes up and can’t remember what happened last night. Basically, like a place where you know someone had a rocking weekend!
13. Ex employees are often dropping by to say how much they miss us. Basically, you might stop working here but will never stop hanging out.
14. Don’t be surprised if you find an email in your inbox with the Subject: “Please Flush Your Shit!” (if you ever don’t flush after, ahem)
15. You hear a Bengali guy from our hacker (dev room) room, shouting like an Arab –“WaaaaalLLlllAAaaahhHH! Tum kya karti, WaaaaalLLlllAAaaahhHH!”
So if you want to join the mad gang, drop us a line on mansi@sutrajobs.com
Women and the Glass Ceiling
[mashshare]
March 8 –International Women’s Day, celebrated across nations to cherish and acknowledge women who have been a part of our lives. Corporate India is more so celebrating it to reward its women employees and appear all women friendly.
November 19 – International Men’s Day – I don’t even remember celebrating it here in India!
This difference, in the way these two days are celebrated sets me thinking. Is it that Women’s Day is celebrated only to make women “feel” that they are respected and regarded as one among the men?
The role women have played in society has changed drastically in the past few decades, especially so in India. They have grown from strength to strength, from being home makers to leading some of the biggest corporate houses today.
Though women have proven their mettle time and again, their ability is often questioned! Some question their strength, some their commitment while others question their ability to perform professionally, vis-à-vis their male counterparts. Women have been facing the “glass ceiling” effect ever since they tried venturing into the male dominated business scene.
This glass ceiling can be felt in more ways than one. For instance, women are paid differently for the same work when compared to men, or they are often excluded from informal networks, etc. They also face another ceiling called the “hour glass ceiling” which means they’re discriminated against, based on the number of hours they work. Women also face a lot of hindrances in progressing upwards in the corporate ladder, and not to mention – Sexual Harassment too! These noticeable and commonly known issues relating to working women, proves that corporates tend to have preconceptions and stereotypes about women workers and their abilities, which makes them behave in a way which is discriminating against women and their spirit.
I wonder how this discrimination even came in. I don’t want to be a sexiest and blame all the men for it! From a rational point of view, I fail to understand the difference in what women and men do. Men work outside their homes to earn a living while women work equally hard to run a house and raise a family of well groomed individuals. Both men and women put in the same amount of work. As far as I understand, “the man” being superior came in when they started taking part in commerce from where they earned money, and money being a way to buy things that one wants made women depend on them ages ago. This dependence is seen fading off in today’s age and often men find it difficult to accept this change. I do not blame them for not liking the change, after all most of us don’t like change!
Workplaces need to be more responsive and to create situation where men and women are treated with equal dignity. Corporates need to be more open to women leaders who have the ability to cut through a male dominated work place, and make their own mark.
There is a common thread that unites all women. They were strong, intelligent, individualistic, and comfortable with themselves as women. Strong women don’t need male pretensions and don’t emulate male behavior. There are lots of examples of women who have stood their ground in testing times and emerged victorious. To name a few – Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chanda Kochhar, Indira Nooyi, Barkha Dutt, Kiran Bedi. The women on my list achieved what they did before the feminist movement told us that such feats were not possible for women living in a “man’s world”. These women achieved great stature, not by adopting male behavior, but by using the strengths that are unique to women and not possessed by many men.
(This is dedicated to all women at Sutra)
Cheers to Women Power!
(This article is not in favour of women and against men. It is a perspective on the Glass Ceiling that women face in spite of being capable and worthy)