At a weekend party for kids, I overheard this interesting conversation between two mothers. Tara – ‘Madhu, I hope the next set of tests for these kids is not coming up too soon! I had to travel to Australia on work and haven’t been able to teach Maya for over two weeks.’ Madhu – ‘Wow …

The banter of excited friends meeting at their 10th-year reunion filled the college lawn with verve. Gautam, a classic backbencher and now Marketing Director took this opportunity to flippantly tease his batchmate Neethu, presently the AVP-HR of a prominent bank. Gautam angled – ‘Neethu, I heard that women in the Banking industry are getting promoted …

Our team looked forward to weekly Monday meetings as it allowed us the opportunity to share useful updates with one another. I noticed that every time I began with my updates, Prasad, a recent lateral hire, would cut me off, to ask questions. Or midway through my sentence, he would second guess the outcome. Within …

Our dear friend Dhruv was test-driving a BMW car, on the verge of realizing his long-cherished dream of owning one. My husband – Raghav and I were happy for him. So when Dhruv asked us to join him on a drive to give him feedback on the leg-room space and passenger experience, we were thrilled …

Remember the powerful slogan ‘Because I’m worth it’? From the stunning L’Oréal’s advertisement featuring actress Aishwarya Rai? Well, even in the 2000s, it cleverly captured the developing sentiment of a spirited zeitgeist that was to follow.  Two decades later and the transformation of the present-day woman is well underway. From acknowledging her ‘self-worth’ to the …

Reading an amazing article by Dulini Fernando and Ajnesh Prasad on “How Managers, Co-workers, and HR Pressure Women to Stay Silent About Harassment” made me think of Kripa, the smart recruit, whose short stint in our team was marked with turbulence. Kripa was hired to provide Senior Management with daily operations numbers. To ensure that …

While climbing down the stairs at the office, a kind co-worker slapped a bug off my behind. He showed me the dead bug, and I profusely thanked him. Over the next couple of months, I stumbled upon stories of three other colleagues who had experienced an ‘altruistic’ co-worker crush a bug either off their shoulder, …

At the beginning of a training program on Anti-Sexual Harassment, the trainer enthusiastically asked us ‘What do you expect from this session?’ Our group, noisy till then, miraculously turned silent in response. Each one expecting the other to answer. Finally, a senior employee salvaged the situation by providing a politically correct answer and appeasing the …

My friend Madhav hosted a dinner for his foreign counterparts visiting India. As his millennial team had had no experience in attending formal get-togethers, he gently guided them to dress and behave suitably. To his pleasant surprise, the team outdid his expectations by dressing immaculately and appropriately engaging the guests, making the party a roaring …

At the end of a glitzy office party, a few of us colleagues who were good friends continued the party at one of our houses. Taking a break from the regular boss-bashing, we instead, tore apart a senior leader who we noticed had got close to a female worker at the party. For, all of …