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5 things to consider when getting a new office

We present 5 factors to consider when you get new office space, to create a good working environment for staff.
by Reyna Mathur

Many start-ups don’t have the resources to open shop in swanky locations. At least for the first two years of a start-up’s life, unless it starts doing phenomenal business from the word go, there is no option but to take up a location that suits the owner’s budget. Staff members just have to go with the working space till a bigger, better one is acquired.

Though any person will prefer to work in an upmarket, well-equipped office, many start-ups begin their professional journey as a hole in the wall. However, if the business owners go beyond only economics and look for a space that meets at least the most basic needs of employees, everybody will be happy.

Here are 5 things to consider when getting a new office space.

1.Account for the number of people you are hiring. If the nature of your business is such that staff will have only desk jobs, then you will need more seating space. Some of your staff members may have roving jobs, ie marketing and sales personnel, who will require a desk. However, you can have them share their desks with other staff when they are not at work. If possible, zero in on a space that has seating for at least two extra members in the team, plus a seat for the office boy.

2. Ensure the place has a toilet and water connection. Most offices, especially the ones located on the ground floors of residential buildings do not have water connections, so there will not be a toilet inside the office. Your staff cannot spend the day without a visit to the washroom, and they can suffer health complications because of it. However, if you find that there is simply no scope to put in a toilet in the office, find out what alternate toilet arrangements you can provide the staff. You must consider that if there is no toilet inside your office or a common facility close by, women will be the first ones to refuse to work for you.

Pantry for office3. A pantry is a must. Every office should have a small pantry space, where the staff can brew tea or heat up their lunch or afternoon snacks. If you get an office with a spacious pantry space, your staff will love you for it. People like to share their lunch with each other and sit together and gossip over their afternoon tea, so if there is space to put in a common dining table, it will be a big advantage for your office. However, if there isn’t enough space for a pantry, at least ensure that you create a space for a hot plate, a microwave oven and a storage space for Styrofoam cups, sugar cubes, soup packets, spoons, plates, forks and knives. It can simply be created by segregating a suitable corner with a partition. A small refrigerator is also a bonus.

4. Check all electricity connections. When buying or leasing out an office space, you will need electricity connections for your mains, the air-conditioner, computers, water filters (if there is a water connection), printers, scanners, etc. If there are not enough plug points for all your machinery, you might need to get the space rewired and new points created as per future use. You should also check if the existing connections and fixtures work properly and all lines have been properly earthed. Take a look around to see if there is any existing leakage – if there is, there is a chance of it causing short circuits in the monsoon season. Get it rectified before you move in.

5. Check for security. In today’s times, we have to take care to ensure that our work environments are secure and there is no internal or external threat to the staff. Do not get an office in an area that suffers power outages in the evenings, and look for well-lit access roads leading to the office. Second, inquire what security measures the building has in place for the shops and offices in its premises. An armed security guard who takes down details of all visitors to the office is a bonus. However, if there is no security provided, you can install CCTVs at the entrance door, as well as a live security access door that can be clamped down under five seconds in case of a threat from outside. It is a good idea to install biometric access systems so that only bonafide staff can enter. Also ensure that the front door is fixed with shatter-proof glass panes. Inside the office, you must ensure your employees’ safety and security from theft. If necessary, install a CCTV system to keep a watch on the office floor.

(Pictures courtesy www.alliancevirtualoffices.com, www.tripadvisor.com. Images used for representational purpose only)

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Turtles on silk: Original Jatin Das serigraphs unsold

The noted artist donated his depiction of Olive Ridley turtles as Vishnu’s ‘Kurma’ avatar in 2010, many serigraphs unsold yet.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Every year, Olive Ridley turtles turn up at Odisha for mass nesting. This is a sight too wonderful for words, and it always invites artistes and photographers to capture the image for eternity.

In 2010, however, noted artist Jatin Das made a visit to Rushikulya in Odisha during the mass nesting season, and inspired by the sight, made a special serigraph (art on a silk screen) depicting the Olive Ridley turtle as Vishnu in his ‘Kurma’ avatar. The serigraph was given as a donation to the Dakshin Foundation in a series of 500. Numbered and signed serigraphs are normally quite expensive, but this special edition sells at Rs 10,000 each to forward the cause of marine conservation. The unsigned serigraphs are sold at Rs 1,000 each. However, several of the serigraphs are still unsold.

In an email interview with The Metrognome, the Dakshin Foundation’s Dr Karthik Shanker and Murali M explained the concept of the serigraphs and why the artwork is important. Excerpts:

How was this project conceived?

Dakshin Foundation and the International Sea Turtle Society (ISTS) approached Jatin Das with the prospect of making an artwork for the occasion of the 30th annual Sea Turtle Symposium in Goa in 2010. This was in keeping with the tradition of creating a special memento for the Symposium which is held at a different location each year. The 30th Symposium was held in Asia for the first time and was co-hosted by Dakshin Foundation and the ISTS.

How did you get artist Jatin Das on board?

Turtle_Kachua Serigraph by Jatin Das(Unsigned)Jatin Das was contacted with the proposal and invited to Dakshin Foundation’s field station in Odisha to witness the mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles, a grand phenomenon also known as an arribada (Spanish for ‘arrival’). Of the seven surviving species of sea turtles, only two species of Ridleys (Olive and Kemp’s) nest simultaneously in large numbers on specific beaches. Jatin Das himself was born in Odisha. On witnessing this unique event in 2010, he created the serigraph depicting the Olive Ridley as the ‘Kurma’ avatar of Vishnu.

Are there many artists working with serigraphs today?

As per our information, not many artists work on serigraphs. However, some very prominent artists such as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Andy Warhol, MF Husain, FN Souza and SH Raza have brought out serigraphs. Serigraphy is a versatile, elaborate and intricate technique. As the Saffronart blog puts it, ‘serigraphs are a great way for art lovers and art investors to start collecting, because they cost a fraction of the price of the paintings or other works of renowned artists’. Also, limited edition and signed serigraphs are a good investment as their value increases over time.

What is the current status of the project?
The project was completed in 2010 itself, albeit a couple of days after the Symposium ended. Hence, the serigraphs were not sold out.

How many serigraphs have been sold yet?
Not many serigraphs have been sold. We are still in possession of 500 signed serigraphs and 60 unsigned ones.

What are you doing to spread awareness about the project, and about Olive Ridley turtles in general?
We have a dedicated outreach and awareness programme as part of the Sea Turtle project. Direct efforts include publication and distribution of various posters, books and manuals to schoolchildren, forest departments and a network of NGO partners working on sea turtles and coastal conservation (Turtle Action Group).

To buy the special edition Jatin Das serigraphs depicting Olive Ridley turtles, contact Dr Shanker at kshanker@ces.iisc.ernet.in or call Dakshin Foundation at +91 80 42113509.

(Featured image courtesy www.greenpeace.org. Serigraph image courtesy Dakshin Foundation)
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10 things to know about Yakub Memon

This chartered accountant will be the first to be executed among those accused for the 1993 serial bombings in Bombay.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The country is currently discussing the upcoming execution by hanging of Yakub Memon (52), one of the many accused in the horrific 1993 bomb blasts of Bombay. A Mumbai resident, Yakub is a chartered accountant by qualification, and has been lodged in lodged for the last 21 years.

But who is this man, and why is his execution so significant? Here are 10 pointers on his involvement in the case.

1. Yakub is the younger brother of underworld don Tiger Memon. They grew up with their family in Byculla, Mumbai, in a largely Muslim neighbourhood. Tiger later shifted to Mahim with his family. The Memons were known to be hospitable and generous, often inviting everyone for family celebrations.

2. Yakub studied chartered accountancy from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Mumbai. He completed his course in 1990. Previously, he studied for M.Com at Burhani College of Commerce and Arts.

Yakub Memon3. He was arrested from New Delhi in 1994, though he has maintained all along that he and his wife surrendered to the police instead of fleeing the country. His confession about the 1993 blasts and the roles of everyone concerned was compiled into a thick dossier that laid out the entire conspiracy with names and timelines. He admitted that the plot was masterminded by his brother Tiger, who has since fled the country and is said to be living in Pakistan and UAE.

4. Handsome and articulate, Yakub was the obvious choice for his role as bookkeeper and back end planner for the 1993 blasts operation. He confessed to keeping a track of expenses, arranging for funds, ensuring money reached the handlers, and also arranged for some of the vehicles used in the bombing.

5. Judge PD Kode, who presided over the 1993 bombings trial at the TADA Court, held Yakub guilty on four charges: Criminal conspiracy, Aiding and abetting and facilitating in a terrorist act, Illegal possession and transportation of arms and ammuntion, Possessing explosives with intent to endanger lives.

6. While in prison, Yakub added to his educational qualifications with two Masters degrees – one for English literature and the other for Political Science – from Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU).

7. Yakub’s lawyers previously argued for leniency in his case, citing schizophrenic tendencies in their client. However, this appeal was later dismissed by the court.

8. In all, Yakub has filed three appeals for clemency in the matter. After the third was rejected by the Supreme Court of India, the Court upheld the Government of Maharashtra’s demand for Yakub’s execution.

9. Jab We Met and Highway director Imtiaz Ali played Yakub Memon in director Anurag Kashyap’s critically acclaimed film Black Friday, which was based on the 1993 serial bombings.

10. Yakub will turn 53 on July 30, 2015, the day of his execution by hanging. He will be hanged at Nagpur Central Jail.

(Pictures courtesy www.talaippu.tk, www.ndtv.com)

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5 ways to teach your children about money

It’s never too soon to teach your child the value of money and how to spend money responsibly. Here’s how.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Kids these days are so attuned to what’s happening in the outside world, they will quickly demand some new product they see on TV, or ask for money to eat the new pizza advertised in the papers. As indulgent parents, we go along with most of our kids’ demands, but stop to ask yourself this: are you harming your child by indulging his every demand?

Instead, why not teach your child the value of proper spending? By giving them whatever they ask for, children do not learn to value money or the effort it takes you to earn it. Unless they learn these lessons, they will grow up fiscally irresponsible and suffer from reckless spending habits.

That is not to say that you clamp down on your child’s every demand and keep preaching about money to him – doing this will instil a negative connotation in the child’s mind, that money is the most important thing to possess. Here’s what you can do:

1. Be a responsible spender yourself. You have no right to preach to your child if you are a reckless spender. Nor can you tell your child to share his possessions or pocket money with a sibling or close friend if you don’t know how to share. Take the middle ground, instead. Cut the temptation to buy everything in sight when you go shopping, and make sure your child sees you shopping for household groceries and paying the household bills before making personal purchases. Let your child see you compare the labels on products and explain why you chose one product over another. This will get the child thinking that shopping must be done thoughtfully and not recklessly.

2. Ask your child to help you balance the books. Children enjoy being treated like grown-ups. The next time you list the monthly expenses in your budget book, invite your child to help you calculate the numbers with a calculator. Your child will be happy to be trusted with the calculation process, and will also learn to see numbers in a new light. Discuss simply where you overshot your expenses and where you saved up. Your child will immediately get an idea about the household budget and if you are in a position to buy him or her something new.

Teaching how to save and spend3. Take your child into confidence. Too often, parents make the mistake of shielding their children from their financial troubles. They are doing so with the intention of not scaring their children and making them insecure. However, if you don’t reveal to your child that your current financial situation is slightly worrisome, he or she will have no clue why you are not increasing their pocket money despite repeated requests, or avoiding giving them money for a new mobile phone. Sit your child down and explain that you are currently facing a slight crunch. Don’t burden them with too many scary details but let them know that you are trying your best to tide over the problem. A sensitive child will even offer to help by breaking his piggy bank for you.

4. Insist that your child save pocket money every month. Give your child a weekly or monthly allowance, and tell him or her that no extra money will be given in that time period under any circumstances. This automatically prompts your child to watch how he spends his money. Also inculcate the habit of saving a part of his pocket money every month. When he or she has saved a sizeable amount, give him a small treat. If he or she has been saving up to buy something, add the equivalent amount that he has saved to encourage him further.

5. Let your child earn privileges. The one thing we must take away from Western parenting is the manner in which parents in the US and UK make their children earn their pocket money by taking up small jobs. We must follow a model where if a child wants to treat his friends on his birthday, you can give him a job to do around the house and pay him per completed task. This teaches the child to help around the house. Also, encourage older children to put their talents to use to earn money – they could give tuitions to younger children, or take art and hobby classes. Let them keep the money they make, but occasionally ask them to go out and buy vegetables or a few groceries without giving them the cash for it. This will inculcate the habit to contribute to the household expenses without being selfish.

What are the ways in which you teach your child about money? Tell us in the comments section below.

(Pictures courtesy micheleborba.com, www.speakingtree.in. Images are used for representational purpose only)

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Mumbai gets modernised air rifle shooting range

The State Governor inaugurates a modernised air rifle shooting range at Dadar; it has trained several shooters in nine years.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

The Governor of Maharashtra Ch Vidyasagar Rao recently inaugurated the modernised Air Rifle Shooting Range at Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak, Dadar, Mumbai. Ace shooter Anjali Bhagwat, Chairman of the Swatantryaveer Savarkar Rashtriya Smarak Ranjit Savarkar, former MP Bharat Kumar Raut, Trustee Manjiri Marathe and many national shooting players were present on the occasion.

Governor inaugurates the rifle range

Said Ranjit Savarkar, “The Rifle Shooting Range has produced several national and international shooters. The Range has been modernised by incorporating the latest Hybrid 8 lane Olympic Standard Target System. This is the only non-Government range in India to have modern facilities.”

The 10- meter Rifle Shooting Range was inaugurated by Anjali Bhagwat and Suma Shirur on February 19, 2006.

Vishwajeet Shinde is the Chief Coach at the Range. During the last nine years, more than 3700 students have received basic training at the Range.

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BMC completely lax on addressing citizen complaints?

Report on working of Ward Committees, lack of questions asked by councillors paint a very sad picture for Mumbai city.
by The Praja Foundation

Every year, Praja Foundation releases a report on the working of Ward Committees and civic problems in Mumbai. What we can see is that the situation of civic governance in the city has deteriorated drastically when it comes to the redressal of citizens’ civic complaints. The civic administration, which is a service providing body, has revealed itself to be inefficient and lax when it comes to resolving civic issues. In 2014, on an average it took at least 87 days for closing ‘contaminated water supply’ complaints in ‘S’ ward and 59 days to ‘repair pipe sewers/main sewers’ in ‘H/E’ ward. Contaminated water supply complaints should be resolved in one day according to the Citizens’ Charter, and sewers should be repaired in 7 days.

To add to these woes, what is seen is complete apathy on the part of our Municipal Councillors, 27 of whom have not raised a single question in ward committee meetings all year! Not only that, there are three councillors who have not raised a single question in the last three years – Anita Yadav (representing Sassoon Dock, World Trade Centre, Geeta Nagar), Ujjwala Modak (representing Bandrekar Wadi – Ismail College – Natwar Nagar) and Jyotsna Parmar (representing Mahim Sonapur – Labour Camp)!

Nitai Mehta, Founder and Managing Trustee of Praja Foundation, says, “Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Devendra Fadnavis recently announced Project Mumbai to become an International Financial Centre to attract global investments, jobs and development. How can we achieve this status when basic civic needs of citizens are being neglected time and again? And to add to citizen woes, our elected representatives are clearly not interested in raising civic issues and taking the Executive to task for not resolving them and proving efficient services.”

Despite the many problems in the civic governance of the city, the councillors have not been as active as necessary in addressing all issues. Between 227 of them, the Municipal Councillors have only asked 970 questions in 298 ward committee meetings in 2014, which is a meager three questions per meeting!

Milind Mhaske, Project Director at Praja further added, “Only 35  per cent of the 66,747 civic complaints in 2014 have been closed by MCGM, whereas 63 pre cent have not been addressed.”

On an average it takes the MCGM 17 days to address civic complaints such as contamination of water, drainage chokes and blockages, and lifting garbage, when it should actually take only three days. High rate of complaints regarding these issues is hazardous to the life and health of Mumbaikars. How can we have a global city which is unable to address these basic issues on wards which have seen high rates of contaminated water complaints, such as P/N, K/W, R/S wards, have also seen a high rate of diarrhoea cases (196 cases) in the last three years, and wards where pest control complaints are not resolved, K/E, K/W, P/N wards have the number of malaria and dengue cases (75 cases) skyrocket.

The number of complaints on the state of roads in Mumbai has decreased by 48.3 per cent in 2014 as compared to 2013, whereas the number of complaints on in 2014 drainage has seen a decrease of 26.1 per cent. Complaints on water supply issues have risen by 25.8 per cent and solid waste management by 32.8 per cent.

Even though on paper, the system looks good, when it comes to implementation, there are serious flaws. The MCGM already has a decent complaint redressal mechanism, Central Complaint Registration System (CCRS), which should have been a one stop shop for registration of complaints, integrated with latest tools such as Mobile Apps. Despite the existence of 1916 and CCRS, people are not using these services enough. This is mainly because they are not being advertised and promoted sufficiently. A parallel system for pothole complaints has also been introduced, with a separate portal – http://www.voiceofcitizen.com/ in 2011.

According to Mhaske, “The Municipal Commissioner went on to announce that citizens will also be able to register complaints related to Storm Water Drainage and Solid Waste Management in the portal. Plans are being made for systems that are, eventually, never implemented. Ideally, the MCGM should have integrated all the tools into the CCRS and worked on existing gaps to strengthen the system.”

Despite the many problems in the civic governance of the city, the councillors have not been as active as necessary in addressing all issues. Between 227 of them, the Municipal Councillors have only asked 970 questions in 298 ward committee meetings in 2014, which is a meager three questions per meeting! 109 questions out of 970 (11%) were on the issue of renaming of roads and chowks. 27 councillors have not asked a single question in the year 2014, with K/East ward having the highest number of councillors (4) who have not asked a single question. Three councillors have not asked a single question over the past three years!

Mehta concludes, “The apathy shown by our elected representatives is appalling. By raising appropriate issues and questions in ward committees, our elected representatives can improve civic governance in the city and see to it that citizens’ lives are made easier. The civic administration should be more engaged with the reality of citizens’ lives and take proactive steps to improve implementation rather than announce lofty schemes.”

(Picture courtesy www.thehindu.com. Image is a file picture)

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