As the saying goes - Communication is vital to one's personal and professional growth. With more and more insecurity creeping into the minds of employees, it has become extremely imperative to have an open communication between the employer and the employee. Employees certainly want to know what's going on within the organisation, especially during the present economic condition, and the decisions taken by the management. Do you agree?

Last month, when the US Airways flight 1549 from New York's LaGuardia airport to Charlotte, North Carolina crash-landed into the Hudson River, passengers on board couldn’t stop praising the actions and courage of pilot Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger for his sharp presence of mind.

Passengers offered "kudos" to Sullenberger for a landing that minimised damage to the aircraft and its 155 passengers and crew.

And now we have Captain Sukhinder Singh Kohli, the commander of IC-866, who has become the latest hero of Indian aviation, saving 170 lives with his timely action. Indeed, 30 seconds of deft manoeuvring converted a potential tragedy into a close shave.

Bravo captain!

 

 

A two-and-a-half inch signal cable wire caused one of the biggest railway disruptions and brought Mumbai city to a halt for over six hours on Wednesday morning. And look what our heroes have done! They managed to catch the victim who stole the wire and presented him in court where he was fined Rs 2000, and after failing to pay, he was sent to jail for 20 days. Now, is that the only punishment levied upon him to cause such a major havoc and disrupt the lives of millions of office-goers? Aren't there any stringent laws for such menacing acts?

First of all, my heartiest congratulations to Parvathy Omanakuttan. The lanky beauty had done us proud. So what if she's been crowned the first runner-up. I think she's very beautiful and extremely talented. Kudos Parvathy. We are proud of you. Another feather in India's cap.

There is no doubt that with the economy slowing down and companies looking to reduce cost, it’s a challenging time for the HR folks. With companies looking to reduce cost across the board in the current recessionary market, reduction in HR spending too is high on the agenda of organisations. The question is – How are they coping with it?

Someone I know passed on this first hand account to me....
************************ 
 Hi Guys

I was outside Leopold’s about 3 mins after the firing took place, and then spent the night at St George’s hospital trying to do my bit. its fortunate that there were no media persons at the hospital, since the sights were too terrible to print or show on TV.  i have written a small account, which i have pasted below. read it for what its worth.  there are still several of the victims recovering, so lets pray for them.  meanwhile, keep the anger going, but please try and translate some of it into reality as opposed to the usual immediate post 'outrage' and then heading back to our protected lives. its also a sad reality that this rage has manifested so strongly, because this time it was 'people like us' which were targeted and not far-off virar or bhayender. hope we can make an eventual difference.

Aashish S. Contractor – class of 1987

The night of terror, began for me around 9:45 pm, as I drove along Colaba Causeway. The stretch outside Café Leopold was deserted, and I saw a body lying in the middle of the road.  Sensing something terribly wrong, I pulled over and ran to the side of the pavement. In the distance there were gun shots being fired. There was no movement for a few minutes, except policemen with assault rifles across the road from Leopold's. Then slowly, people started trickling out from the restaurant and it was evident that carnage had taken place inside. An ambulance arrived and I jumped into it and we took two badly bleeding victims and rushed to St George's hospital. One of them died during the journey. At St. Georges' we were amongst the first to arrive with casualties. For the next fifteen minutes more poured in from Leopold's and the first task was to triage the victims between those who were dead, critical, and just wounded.

Around 10:15 pm, all hell broke loose as bodies started literally pouring in from the front gate. They were coming on handcarts, in ambulances, and in vehicles. Within minutes the entire ground floor outside casualty resembled a war zone. There were bodies everywhere and we had a hard time figuring out who needed the most-immediate attention. Several policemen were amongst the victims, some of whom were fatally injured.

The staff of St. George's responded valiantly to the crisis and threw in their best effort. More staff were mobilised in a reasonably quick time, and there were nursing students, medical students, as well as dental students who all pitched into help. The next five hours were spent in attending to the ones with the gravest injuries and shifting them to the ward. The operation theatre was running in quick time, and 4-6 surgeries were simultaneously being performed on those who needed them.

Most of the injuries were either due to bullet or shrapnel wounds. What made the diagnosis and triaging doubly hard was the fact that sometimes a bullet makes a very small entry wound, and if there is no 'exit wound', it becomes hard to know for sure if the bullet is still lodged in the body, and the extent of internal bleeding. So, a person could look relatively 'fine' on the exterior and actually bleed to death internally.

By around 4 am, the situation was under control and everyone was attended to. Just as we were getting ready to take a breather, several of the Taj hotel staff arrived, but most were not in critical condition. The authorities then took the decision to transfer the most critical patients to J.J. Hospital, and it was then easier to handle the fresh casualties, who trickled in every few minutes.

By 6 am, the total count of the dead bodies was 65, including several children, foreigners and policemen. The sight of the disfigured bodies of the victims, was heart breaking and in hindsight I think it was a boon that there were no camerapersons to capture it, or it would have added shock to a city, which has become numb. Credit must be given to the hospital authorities and the medical staff who worked courageously through the night, without a break. The blue collar workers and several citizens, also pitched in did the best in a terrifying situation. Though the best was done under the circumstances, we definitely need to work on an organised disaster management plan for hospitals to better cope with mass casualties in the future. Meanwhile, lets pray for those who are still struggling for their lives, including the British citizen whom I first transported to the hospital.