Lets per say assume, we all want to reach the un-flagged, virgin land with twigs around, gliding in an ocean-full of water, swinging on the branches of larger than life trees, cuddling serenity, surrounded by every imaginable being in flesh and blood – from red ants to havoc creating whales to meek looking sloth to ferocious spider monkeys. It’s just a matter of calling names and they’ll come forth to make sure that their being is acknowledged. There is no ship, no boat and no coast guard to help you, guide you or to get to the shore. How would you go about it???

 

Halt! This view is from the other side of the grass.

 

Come back to the real world!

 

We took you for a ride for a second. Give it a third thought and see if you can find similarities between the two worlds…

 

If you have scratched your brains enough, here goes the allegory:

 

1. The unflagged beach is the territory we aim to be the masters of.
2. Twigs are the resources we ought to capitalize on.
3. Wretched and not so wretched beings are apparently the people you collide with, on your way up and down, adding to your bagful of pleasant and not so pleasant experiences.

 

Of what we know, Pearson India started off amidst such grounds, where it had to fathom the unconquered realms, capitalize upon its strengths, crush the competitors and hoist the flag of victory. Pearson has been there. Seen it. Done that. Inevitably, it is still is in the process of raising the bar since it knows that the law of success dances to the tune of ‘Survival of the fittest’. Since no one beats the law, Pearson has sprinkled the seeds of concrete and obviously this concrete is its people – the Pearsonites!!! Today each one of us proudly associate ourselves as not merely a part of Pearson but also being a part of the molecular unit (respective departments) of Grand-pa firm!!!

 

To define this molecular unit - a team, we find it appropriate to quote the thought proposed by Gestalt school of Psychology: “There are wholes, the behavior of which is not determined by that of their individual elements, but where the part-processes are themselves determined by the intrinsic nature of the whole.”

 

As a department we too sketched our aspirations and believe we have much more to achieve! Rights & Contracts department after coming to the forefront, took up the task of solving the puzzle when it came to the accomplishing the task of remitting royalty. We recovered lump some licenses from the US and UK. Do we call it an achievement? Well, there was more to follow.

 

Through the medium of book fair, rights were sold. Pearson India books reached Nigeria and China too. In fact it is through this that various international organizations that were aware of the mighty stature of Pearson US, UK came to know about Pearson India and its books!

 

Never before was there a permissions desk but this too was set up in May ’08. We work closely with the editors to work on permissions and lubricate the process of book development.

 

Further to it, living up to its name and educating millions, Pearson continues to penetrate in the Indian soil as well. Another major task of translation has been taken as a challenge by us. We are aiming on bringing out substantial number of translated texts not just for generating revenue but because our aim is also to make those books accessible which can work wonders by crossing the barriers of language.

 

With the arrival of winters, the mood was set to work upon author satisfaction. The author satisfaction survey was circulated and Pearson’s first ever author and distributor meet was organized across the four metropolitans. It was a successful event with praise earned from the authors and distributors. Unfortunately, towards the end, Chennai flight was clipped due to fog but our colleagues handled the meet with ease.

 

Teaming up and streamlining our goals has been quite a task. We are glad that we are living up to the vision we had eyed and are taking baby steps to reach the finish line, where another race lies ahead of us! With a warm heart we thank all those who’ve been supportive and encouraging throughout!

 

To pour a final food for thought, our post doesn’t categorically fit into this week’s theme – My Achievement. We feel that the spirit with which we worked was exploited to the best partly because we are a team! That we think is an achievement in itself!

 

Until next post, we sign off and wish everyone a Superbiful year ahead!

 

Regards,

Team Rights & Contracts

My Biggest Achievement for Year 2008

My biggest achievement this year was to realize USD 42720/- which were nearly 24 months old and it was an uphill task when I was assigned with the role of entire foreign collections. Even though the amount is not too much in the currency terms but pitching with foreign customers were difficult as they were grossly clumsy in terms of managing it as from India it is quite difficult to convince them through e-mails without meeting them face to face and able to make them understand the statement and reconciling them to their satisfaction. There were no representative till late 2007.

After persistent mails & phone calls to every customer be it Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Maldives, I was able to win their hearts and minds and then only make them convinced of the age old debts which were realized this year. I want personally thank Pooja Gaur, Mukesh Khandelwal, Jawad Tareen, Naval Shukla and last but not the least Suresh Gupta for the efforts & cooperation they have extended to me to realize the amount without which it would have been a distant dream for me.

Regards

Kuntal Kar

Pearson Education

Ph No. +91 11 43030225

Fax No. +91 11 22146071 

 

My biggest achievement this year

It's a hard topic that Jonaki has set for us for this week. For many of us, there have been so many achievements, on both the professional and personal side. It's tough to highlight any single one as the biggest achievement. What was yours, Jonaki?

I am merely the sponsor of the prizes, not the judge, so I thought I'd pitch in and try to answer. I also have lots of time on hand, as I sit at Delhi airport waiting for the fog to lift. Yesterday a bunch of us were trying to get to Chennai, and we sat in the aircraft for 5 hours before we aborted our trip. With naïve optimism or utter stupidity, I am trying it again, this time trying to get to Bombay.

Actually there is one project I had hoped to close within the year, which might have qualified, but I couldn't close it in time.

So for me, if I have to sum up my achievements for the year in a single sentence, it would probably be : I didn't mess it up! This was my first year as a CEO, in a new company and a new industry. In retrospect, the chances of making big errors (of either omission or commission) were huge. But I think we had a good year. We performed well, we have set ourselves up for continued success, and we had fun.

Thank you, everyone at Pearson, for helping me (and us) get to where we did. Having such a great team makes my life so much easier.

We are blessed to be working in an economy and an industry that has so much potential. I know that 2009 will be even better for all of us, and I hope that you all have a wonderful start to the New Year, surrounded by people you love.

Enjoy yourselves, and see you back at work on the 5th.

Vivek Govil
Sent from my BlackBerry

My achievement during the year 2008

MY BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT IN THE YEAR: 2008

 

 

The year 2008 has been very eventful year for me. Prior to joining Pearson on 5^th November, 2007, I was working with a well known German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp, as the Head of Indirect Taxation, managing taxation matters of 28 states in India. I earned much kudos from CFO for single-handedly managing the indirect taxation matters to the satisfaction of all. When I got the offer from Pearson as Manager-Finance, my previous organization’s CFO, Managing Director, Zonal Finance Controllers and concerned Advocates / Consultants wished me wholeheartedly for a bright future in my next assignment in Pearson.

 

Perhaps, their blessings inspired me in making some worthwhile achievements during my tenure with Pearson. In my initial few days at Pearson, I was learning the dynamics of business, its accounting policies, reporting standards as well as pulses of other departments. Slowly, I came to terms with the system as the rigors of Chartered Accountancy profession helped me in understanding any system, whatever be its complexities. I was told by VP-Finance and other senior colleagues that 3D P&L reporting had been long overdue after I joined here. This is a three dimensional Profit & Loss Account analyzing profits / losses for our three divisions, e.g. Higher Education, Professional & Trade and School. I was given the stiff target of developing the 3D P&L in a fortnight.

 

This has been the operation from the scratch. First, I had to understand the accounting codes, profit centres as well as the P&L groupings being followed in TMS. Basically, it was an exercise on accounting concepts and policies tailor-made for a publishing industry. The fact that I had no prior experience in publishing industry, made my task even for difficult. But, my self determination to achieve something, which, I knew, would be highly beneficial to the company, propelled me to contribute towards attaining new heights of company’s financial analysis.

 

Amongst other jobs, I involved myself throughout day and night, whether at office or home, in developing the well sought-after report. It took all of my skills so far accumulated over my 14 years’ professional experience in the fields of accountancy, finance as well as computer applications to make it operational.

 

I earned praise from my seniors and colleagues, but these adulations were nothing when a thought came to my mind that I had done something very good towards organizational goals. I am not exaggerating the fact that throughout my career, I never looked upon my career as a priority, rather, I felt enlightened at the benefit derived by the organizations from my work. May be, this was considered as weakness by some, for not becoming ambitious. But, I don’t care. Becoming ambitious only does not fetch me any peace of mind. Rather, I want to move up the ladder as a member of the team. I feel proud as a member of a brilliant finance team of Pearson Education, India especially after this achievement.

 

 

Regards,

 

Sujiban Ghosh

 

Yes!!!!we did it again

 

 

Every year in the month of December almost all of us ask each other this question “did you get your numbers ?” New joinees often scratch their heads puzzled thinking what “numbers” these people are talking about! We rush in during the day and after the office hours as well, scribbling the orders from the customers on each and every piece of paper we see around, checking the inventory, running up and down the stairs towards Customer Service and manufacturing for the titles in demand. Orders come in from each and every possible mode of communication like phone, fax, e-mail and even on sms .Its   really fun to read them and many a times I feel them referring to some intelligence department for decoding like KnG 1-8 # 200 or Dark O Brown 3/200 (if you are wondering what is this? it refers to one of our prominent authors Mr. Derek O’ Brien whose name our distributors fail to pronounce despite their best efforts).

 

Some times I wonder how the maximum sales numbers we did earlier in our monthly budget few years ago are now being achieved in a single day by our go getter sales team .Yes we can!!

 

Well, this year again we did our budget in style well before the day of closing on 24th itself and I celebrated Christmas partying all night with the friends, just now I got confirmation from my colleagues that the party is going to continue over the weekend .

In all it was a great financial year. On behalf of School Division I would like to thank each and every department, our customers, authors and vendors for their continuous cooperation and support for making things happen. 

 

Prashant Rathore

 

   

Just the other day, my friends/colleagues and I were discussing how our lives have changed significantly after the thing called "recession" hit the market. Right from spaces in newspaper columns, magazines, and journals, it affected the subject and content of every conversation floating around. Everything going wrong could now be tagged as being a result of this demonic thing. To put it very simply, I could fathom that one needed to be careful about a few more things in life. It took a little more than brushing up my high-school economics to understand the whole phenomenon. But everywhere I went, from marketplaces to restaurants to bookshops to coffee shops, people suddenly seemed to have discovered a lot of common things to talk about. Different people came up with different reasons, causes and theories, and I continued absorbing them along, retaining what I liked to believe, and discarding those that did not sound romantic enough. Of course, the story of this man about to get married, losing his job in the United States due to this villainous occurrence, and his wedding getting postponed appeared to me to be extremely romantic (I think all sense of romanticism comes with a sense of loss, and so pardon me if I sound heartless and cruel here)! So here were exciting times - people losing jobs, losing money, losing people they would love to be with, and I think these were the times people actually felt grateful and started valuing factors we usually take for granted.

 

I was having a conversation with a friend on the phone right after his appraisal got over. He sounded quite satisfied, if not positively happy. Later I realized that all the satisfaction came from the very fact he had not lost his job, even though there was not even a paisa raise in his salary. So here was one man, satisfied and devoid of greed, just because of this thing called "recession". Well, had any other person, deconstructing this so-called "evil" phenomenon, stumbled upon its spiritual benefits? I wonder.

 

So under these given circumstances (validated with a mail from the CEO declaring the fact that a raise in salary would only be a rare thing, and that all of us should be cooperative in these times of recession), we were given another choice to think of a place we could fix up for our NSM in 2009. Incidentally, my friends/colleagues and I were discussing once more what an ideal place for our NSM would be. Of course, just as everything is related to everything else, we could not keep away "recession" from our discussion for too long. We know how we ought to be thrifty and considerate, and we kept coming up with ideas. Somewhere close by - one wise suggestion - as it saves travel cost. So what would be the places close by? Manali, Ranthanbhore, Rishikesh, Lakshmanjhula, Dehradoon, Mussoorie, Sariska, Corbett, Jaipur, Shimla, Nainital, Bhimtal, Chail, Ranikhet, Alwar, Manesar, Gurgaon.and we realized that the list gradually was closing down to places around and almost inside Delhi. So once we did include areas we visit almost regularly in our list, we became more accommodative. Places in Delhi are not a bad idea at all. After all, so many people do come to visit this city as well. In a lesson learnt a few paragraphs earlier, we ought to be less greedy and not take things for granted. And what better way - just because we work in Delhi and meet each other regularly on the other side of the Yamuna does not necessarily mean Yamuna loses its charm. After all, so many poets have scripted love songs and poems on the lovely banks of the Yamuna (which, I realized seemed no broader than a canal only after I came to Delhi)! What about Patparganj Industrial Area? There is a river, a canal, villages, and houses made of clay, there are cows (in abundance), and often donkeys and elephants - all things that we completely disregard, but might have found fascinating had we seen them in a place much farther away from our place of work. And besides, we have our office here, which I am sure we will miss once it shifts to Noida (or so as I hear)! And now, with the new cafeteria and coffee machines, new flat-screen desktops, the office looks pretty attractive! And finally, the good thing about an NSM right here, in our office, would also mean saving travel cost at a time when we do take expenses seriously. And I wonder what it would feel like to stay over nights after nights (for almost a week, during the NSM) at a place where we come to work everyday. If not anything else, we would have spent enough time in our 482 FIE Patparganj office, by the time NSM gets over, to not miss it any more once we shift to some other workplace we would soon learn to call our own.

                                                                                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NSM 09

Dear Jonaki,

It is a wonderful contest and I want to congratulate you for such a wonderful thinking to start such type of issues for which generally we discuss among each other but couldn’t get our result, but might be possible now we could get a recognition for our thoughts so as you have given very latest issue on which now days our colleagues are murmuring with each other.

First of all I want to concentrate my discussion about the issue that our meeting should held outside of India or within India!

NSM 09--------Our NSM 09 should held outside of India like BANKOK,MAURITUS  because we get a chance to go outside with our colleagues to discuss further planning and issues for best of our Family(company) once in a year so generally this tour is Sales Meeting cum Tour with our colleagues so I have various reasons for our NSM outside of INDIA:

*As Publishing Industry is very small industry so generally our distributors and our competitors discuss about these meetings and if we come from outside of India we proudly reply to our distributors, suppliers and competitors about our NSM and it make us very proud that we are in Brand and we are best in this industry so it enhances our Moral as well as motivate the young and new joiners that they have joined best publishing company among all publishing companies.

So our NSM should be Sales meeting as well as memorable Tour for everyone.   

PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE!

REGARDS

RAJESH MISHRA

(PEARSON EDUCATION HIGHER EDUCATION)

09838502347 (UTTAR PRADESH)

 

Daman and Diu!

 

Why? It’s unusual and is still unexplored and experienced for any sales meet or conferences by any one.

 

Logistical issues are obvious but I refrain. Come on we are talking about sales meet, I am sure the participants have comfortably reached to the most remote locations before and Daman is not an exception.

 

I know any beach is no different from other but if you are thinking of a beach destination it could also be Daman Diu.

 

Goa is very crowded and Chennai’s Marina beach sounds very uncool. Think about it!

 

Amit

 

 

NSM

International trip might sound very expensive but conducting the NSM in Bangkok is similar or might be cheaper compared to the Varanasi.

 

For example In Taj we paid the room rent of 5 K /per day and stayed about 5 days, which is equal to 25 thousand + travel expenses.

 

But flight ticket to Bangkok is 20 K to& fro and can be very well bargained when we book in bulk.

 

Even the room rents for a 5 star hotel is 1.5 K / Per.

 

Regards

Bivin Jacob

***************************

Sr.Sales Executive – PTG & Trade

Pearson Education

+919900211303

Visit us:  www.pearsoned.co.in ;

  www.informit.com ;

***************************

 

The Pearson India Blog Contest

The sins we all committed in Colombo (or Manali, or wherever) are washed twice over, first at Jagannath Puri and then in the sacred waters of the Ganga in Varanasi. A hat-trick of visits to the holy cities may upset the pilgrim’s appetite for progress in worldly pursuits. I guess the time to be indulgent is here. Goa is a worthy location for a National Sails, oops, Sales Meet. And, with Goa as the destination, answering the why should not be a problem. In fact, the wise ones wouldn’t raise a question, but a toast to this suggestion. What say?

 

 

_________________________

Ashish Alexander

Development Editor

Pearson Education

SCO 127–128, Top Floor

Sector 17 C

Chandigarh – 160 017

Phone: 0172-4603004

 

 

Hi!

I just read all the previous blogs written by Pearson people.

 

I was on three month leave, joined office yesterday.

 

It pains to read the death of a colleague Gopal Deb. I interacted with him on a few occasions for organising Maths books. He was most helpful and respectful. Loss of a life is such a painful experience for family and friends. They have to bear the loss, live with the pain and treasure the memories. I sincerely hope God gives them the strength and courage to bear the loss. I don’t know how to put it across but if we as a company who understands social responsibility could assure the family in some way that one of the younger siblings of Gopal Deb would be given employment with the company in future which would make the loss just a wee bit less painful.

 

Manisha

Pearson Education

482 F.I.E

Patparganj, Delhi - 110 092

Ph: 011 43030236 Mo: 9899011543

 

FW: Pearson Vs McGrawhill match in pics

 

Pearson Vs McGrawhill match in pics

Some early moments clicked from my mobile. The first ball of the match

 

 

 

This is Amit Kumar leaving field after getting out for a duck…hardluck didn’t last longer when he came out to ball he was handy took crucial wicket and a spectacular catch which took the game away from McGrawhill

 

 

Amit Chauhan

 

Pearson vs TMH

Pearson & TMH locked horns once again in the field but this time round it was not an institute, school or University. This time it was a lush green cricket field and for a change we had cricket gear in spite of books and teachers manuals, at around 9.30 in the morning we started with formal introduction of teams. Binit Shukla captain of Pearson side called it right , and as we had unanimously decided earlier Mr. Shukla elected to bat. Opening was not too good for us as Amit Kumar came back hand in glove with a duck, as it was early morning dew and extra hard pitch because of which the ball was coming with some extra pace, bounce and swing, anyways I tried putting the scoring back on track but could only score 3 runs and joined Amit back in the benches. We lost 3 wickets in quick succession, it was only when Naveen and young turk Abhishek Shukla sent the TMH XI on the leather hunt and followed by some good partnerships we reached at 123, which we discussed in the middle and thought about it to be a lucky number for most of us and a winning total as well.

When we set our foot for fielding the conditions had changed and the pitch was not supporting the bowling side at all , but the fiery pace of Abhishek and Binit always kept the TMH openers on the backfoot, Abhishek got the first breakthrough setting the tone for the other bowlers to follow suite. I chipped in with my medium pace, to which three of TMH batsmen didn’t have any answer and went back to the bench one after other, It was then Amit’s turn to seek revenge who despite bruised shoulder fired two very good overs and got one wicket. TMH was five down but still not giving up, It was then Kamal  came down heavily on them with his medium pace sending one after the other back to pavilion.Finally TMH required 18 more runs to win with last pair on the ground but again a beautiful delivery by Kamal caught The Last Man standing with his Leg Before Wicket and that was the time when the PEARSON playing eleven and our team mates on the bench erupted with joy on the field and did a victory dance on the ground.

FW: Obituary

 

The sad demise of Gopal dev on 26 November 2008 at the young  age of 26  in a tragic accident is a great loss to his family and to all of us at The Pearson Education , particularly so because our young colleague was on his way to his sales assignment on the fateful day.

Gopal was a hard working and diligent co worker and friendly soul.  During his short stay in our organization, he worked as dedicated and sincere employee. His tragic loss has left a long-lasting void in our hearts and entire Pearson team. Lets us all pray to almighty god to grant eternal peace to the departed soul and strength to his old parents and young siblings to bear this great loss.

 

 

Pearson Education

482 F.I.E. Patparganj

Delhi 110092

[:123:] Gopal and Mumbai and Cyclones

Dear everyone,

 

It’s been a hard few days. As most of you already know, our colleague Gopal Deb passed away late on Wednesday night, after a horrific accident. Gopal had been a member of the school sales team for the last two years or so, and was a popular member of the team. His parents flew in from Siliguri last evening, and the cremation took place late last night by the banks of the Yamuna. Let us pray for him, and for the strength that his parents and family will need to cope with this loss.

Condolence messages for Gopal have been received from senior management across the Pearson world, including Tim Bozik, Rona Fairhead and David Bell.

 

Mumbai has been under siege for the last two days. Fortunately all our colleagues are safe. However many of you will have friends or associates who were killed or injured or traumatised by the events, and many of our associates are still trapped inside the buildings. Again, I think the most we can do at this stage is pray for them, and that this crisis passes swiftly.

 

And in the meantime, a cyclone has been pounding Chennai for the last two days, and our staff there have been braving flood waters to come to the office. Today the office has been declared shut. However, our first major sales training initiative is taking place in Chennai, starting tomorrow. Despite everything else that happens, life must go on. Ranjani, Srini, Naval, JS and I will be in Chennai tomorrow, to kick off this major initiative.

 

Regards,

 

Vivek

Update from Vivek

The last few weeks have been focused on getting our Operating Plan together, for a discussion with senior management. As we have grown in size, one of the prices we have to pay, is a higher standard of reporting and planning. (I welcome all of you with editorial ambitions to suggest how that last sentence could have been better structured). Anyway, Sudipta and Hitesh and all of the finance team slaved away to put the document in order. Thank god for mobile communication. I have had reviews in the office, late evening at my residence, from Bangalore airport and from my hotel room in Frankfurt.

Anyway, it all paid off, as our plans were broadly approved, and that means significant investments in a number of areas that will make us bigger and more profitable, as well as a better company to work for. On a public site I am not going to reveal details, but I hope to hold a series of meetings where I can brief you about our plans, and your role in them.

We have also lost some good people in the last few weeks. Sudipta has elected to leave the company to set up his own practice. Aman and Rajan both left our Production team to head production for other companies. I wish them good luck with their future careers.

I was able to hold an open house in Chennai, and I hope it was of some use to those who attended it. I continue to be surprised at the aspirations that Pearson has to be a great company, and while we may not be there as yet in India, we are working on it, and we will get there in the near future. I find these forums useful to understand how people are feeling, and what we need to do as a company. Unfortunately in Chennai I spoke too much, and there were fewer questions. However, it did become clear that we need to be more responsive as a corporate office, so that people in remote locations are given the support they need. We have made some headway in developing a service mind set to external customers; we need to bring that mindset to internal customers as well.

I am still hoping that more of you will write on this blog site. Again, the method is, if you send a mail to manav.y2j.pearsonindia@blogger.com it will come straight up on the site. Put your name somewhere in your mail, so that everyone knows who's writing.

I'm writing this in Bombay, grabbing a quick pav bhaji before a meeting, and it has just been placed in front of me, so I'm going to focus on eating...

Vivek
Sent from my BlackBerry

Our new Pearson India website

Dear everyone,

I am delighted to inform you that our new look Pearson India website(http://www.pearsoned.co.in/) is now ready.

Over the last three months, a team led by Anindo and Vibhor have worked with HCL to develop a world class website, and have made it ready within a week of their original schedule. This was a true cross functional team, with people from marketing, sales, editorial and IT across our School and Higher Ed divisions contributing to this project.

The new website has the look and feel of a Pearson site, while giving it a distinctively Indian touch. It allows us to feature our newest and most important books, and to make heroes of our authors. We have also incorporated a few features that are now standard on the web, such as allowing readers to rate our books, or contact our authors.

As with all new websites, there are bound to be a few bugs, and if you come across any, please point them out to Anindo, Vibhor or myself so that they can be fixed. A few features are still under development and should be up on the site in about 3 weeks.

Please let your customers and associates – authors, professors, school administrators, distributors, printers – know about the site.

And congratulations to everyone who worked on this project, from Pearson and HCL for a job well done.

Thanks

Vivek

I can’t believe three months has passed since I first set foot on Indian soil. It seems like yesterday when my head was spinning from the honking horns, and the crowded, dusty markets, and the million colorful saris on the streets and the new languages floating past my ears. Still, so much has happened since July 7^th. I’ve learned all about the process of development editing as the Higher Ed division practices it. I got stuck on a bus for 24 hours when we were diverted by landslide after landslide on my trip to Himachal Pradesh. I’ve served bread at 5:30 in the morning at the Bangla Sahib Gurdwara. I’ve seen temples and tombs and beggars and sadhus. I even had a glass of tea at a drain party and lived to tell of it. I have triumphed over the Delhi belly.

Last night, Srini asked me what I found different in India. I told him everything except the pigeons. Day is night here and night is day. Even the light switches are the opposite: on is off and off is on. But then I had to think again. There are more commonalities than that. The people I’ve met at Pearson have reminded me of my colleagues at home. They are passionate about the work they’re doing because they know it makes a positive impact on the world. They are fiercely intelligent and talented, witty and wise. They made my stay here a positive delight, and I have caught myself tearing up on more than one occasion thinking about how to say goodbye. I have met kindred spirits here with whom I share so much in common: a love of books and language and art and history and humor and natural beauty. I will take those friendships with me back to the United States where I am positive they will endure.

Thank you to all of you for sharing your office with me these past months, for welcoming me into your culture, your business and your lives. I will return to the States a much richer person than the one I left behind at the gates of O’Hare airport.

Vicki Krajewski

vicki.krajewski@pearson.com

vmk_us@yahoo.com

Its been a long time since I posted anything on this site, and I guess the reality is that the last few weeks have been an absolute whirl, and I have really not been in control of my life. I hope that my schedule will soon come under control, and I will have more time in the office, and to travel domestically to meet our sales staff and customers.

Being so overwhelmed with work things, I missed out on the book sale, and by all accounts, that is a real loss.

I know the coffee machines are an old story by now, but I hope you are enjoying them. I certainly love the smell of coffee that pervades the office. I overdosed on
Caffeine when they first came in, but am now trying to be a little more healthy.

I got my confirmation letter on having completed six months, so I guess I'm here to stay for a while.

This is a festive time, with eid just passed and Dussehra on its way. I hope its a happy time for you and your families.

Vivek
Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

Book Sale for Staff

 

The fresh recruits to Pearson have been asking their experienced colleagues about the upcoming book sale. Some want to know if there will be books in good numbers and for all topics – fiction to philosophy; some ask ‘will there be a separate kids’ section’. To this, Jonaki quipped meaningfully – ‘Yes, and they will be arranged in alphabetical order.’ How convenient! However, since I find our book sales really interesting and do not want my new colleagues to miss it, I would like to tell them a little more about the book sale.

 

The seasoned book lovers begin to queue up at the warehouse gates well half-an-hour before the scheduled time. The moment the gates open, people crash in and within the first hour, all DK encyclopedias and children’s books are gone. So be there on time if that’s where your interest is. For the first timers, it is really not easy. The first problem is to figure out which direction to head towards, and then where exactly to look for the books you want. If you are lucky, you might notice the books you have always wanted in other people’s cartons. That can give you a direction. Ask them which area/room they picked those books from.

 

As for the ‘alphabetically arranged stacks’, the truth is you will find them piled up in huge heaps. It is quite a sight (and I love it). Some, however, are systematically arranged on the floor from one end of the room to another. Then there are book hunters wearing lost and hassled expressions, carrying their cartons from one pile of books to another (while having their already filled cartons lined up near the billing counter), still looking for more, perhaps something better. It is not a surprise that the sight of seas and hills of books makes people forget whatever mental list they may have prepared earlier. You will also get to see some people sitting on the top of the mounds of books, which can be as high as 6 feet (or even more) from the ground. They ensconce themselves around some depression, caused by the zealous climbers, and keep digging into the stack (making it adventurously unsafe for other climbers) till they find something that can hold their interest. Occasionally they generously raise a copy high up and shout out things like – ‘Anyone for William Darlymple?’, ‘Want Amartya Sen?’ and more of such, followed by ‘yes’s and ‘no’s’ from all corners, also accompanied by some fresh requests at times.

 

It is undoubtedly an interesting sight. Our book sale is definitely worth a visit, not just for the books (the priceless treasure that you get to build) but also for the amusement it offers. Do go there. Do not miss it.

 

Preeta Priyamvada

Upinder Singh's Book Launch - Video Coverage (5th Aug)

Dear All,

We’ve uploaded an edited version of the video coverage of Upinder Singh's book launch. The video is in two parts which has a few clippings of Vivek's speech followed by Upinder’s.
A special thanks to Manav for his efforts and support for uploading and editing the video!
Enjoy!









Thanks,
Babita

Thank god we're all safe

I'm writing this as I drive to office after being away for three whole weeks, my mind still filled with the terrible images in the morning papers. Thank god everyone in the Pearson family seems to be unharmed by the blasts in Delhi. Let's say a prayer for those who did suffer through this senseless act.

My focus of the last 3 weeks has been my own family - I have been settling my older son into his new life in Vancouver Film School. For any of you who find yourselves in Vancouver on holiday, I'm sure Dhruv will be happy to show you around what must be one of the prettiest cities on earth.

And now its back to the office, and believe it or not, I am actually looking forward to diving back into it, and whatever surprises this crazy business is going to throw at me!

Vivek Govil

Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

Upinder's book launch in Kolkata

Dear All,

A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India by Upinder Singh was successfully launched at Rabindranath Tagore centre ICCR Kolkata on 26 August 08.

The event had Dr B D Chattopadhyaya, Professor Bharati Ray, and Professor Hari Vasudevan as speakers. Reba Som, director of the Rabindranath Tagore Centre, welcomed the panelists and the guests. The book was released by the governor of West Bengal—Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi. The governor lavishly praised Upinder’s efforts, her use of archaeological evidence and how they contribute to the seriousness of a book that is otherwise attractively designed.

Professor Hari Vasudevan, chaired a panel discussion. He spoke on the challenges of history teaching and his experience as a teacher. Bharati Ray praised Upinder’s patience and labour. She also spoke of the role of women in ancient India and how Upinder had focused on that.

Professor B D Chattopadhyaya dealt with the book in detail and raised critical questions on issues it had dealt with, especially on issues of nomenclature and terminology.

Upinder thanked the panel and recounted her experience of writing the book, its genesis and how it took its final shape. She emphasized that even as scholarship was an issue, she wanted to ‘get on with the story’—telling the whole story of ancient India was more important than engaging in debates on historiography. Her responsibility towards her students, a passionately felt responsibility, propelled her narrative of ancient Indian history.

Journalists like Rudrangshu Mukherjee, actor—Barun Chanda, academicians like Tapati Guha Thakurata, Sugata Bose, Vice-Chancellor of Vishwa Bharati University Shanti Niketan University—Rajat Kanto Ray, historian Suparna Gooptu, teachers of history and archaeology from the University of Calcutta and Jadavpur University, curators and librarians from the Indian Museum and the Asiatic Society attended the programme. Representatives from the trade were also there. Mr Dipak Dasgupta, of IBD, Aurobindo Dasgupta from Dasgupta and Sons, Sanjeeb Bose from Bharti Bhawan, and Ms Maina Bhagat from the Oxford Bookstore, Kolkata were there.

The event was covered by Kolkata TV (they telecast Upinder’s hour long interview live and repeated it twice), Star Ananda, Tara TV, 24 Ghanta and ETV Bangla. Anandabazaar Patrika interviewed Upinder and also published a preview of the event in its edit page on 25 August. The Telegraph, The Statesman and The Hindustan Times covered the event. Upinder was also interviewed by The Telegraph and The Hindustan Times.

Attached are the photographs of book launch.

Best,

Babita Chauhan

Introducing Macroeconomics on Blogger

Hello everyone!

 

 As you all know, Macroeconomics by Errol D’souza was launched on 2 August, 2008. The Media Resources division of Higher Education has set up a blog for publicity and promotion of this book. Prof. Errol D’souza has been very supportive and has consented to post on a regular basis. His first post is up on the blog.

 

Please go check it out at http://errol-dsouza.blogspot.com and contribute with a post/comment/feedback!!

 

Thanks!

Gargi.

 

 

We had one too!

                       The setting wasn’t exotic Goa or one of the top ten tourist getaways in India (according to the Cosmopolitan). But, we, the hitherto ignored Higher Ed team, had our very own NSM at Varanasi in May this year. There were a lot of firsts in our NSM. The development editors presented their major titles to the sales team; some of them running from one conference room to another as they were supposed to simultaneously present B&E and ESM titles (Business & Economics and Engineering, Science, and Maths, for the uninitiated). They could have given pointers to the 100 metres sprint contestants at the Olympics. Amar astounded everyone with his dancing skills and caused some minor upheavals on the dance floor while Nagaraja, on behalf of the Chennai team, laid territorial claim to the dance floor and refused to relinquish his rights to anyone. Ashish (PTG Chandigarh) managed to successfully miss the train to Delhi while leaving for the NSM, and then to keep up the good work, he got left behind in the Sarnath museum.  He let us all down, however, by catching the return train to Chandigarh. The women in Marketing and Promotions raided the city shops and the prize for most-Saris-bought went to Babita (or was it Anjali?). Madhur clicked embarrassing photographs of everyone, some asleep, some half-awake and some completely zoned out, and Vivek used them to add punch to his presentation. The meat eaters had a field day as there was bacon, ham, and two kinds of sausages for breakfast everyday apart from the normal fare of scrambled eggs, pancakes and syrup, idlis, puris and so on. There were unofficial beer (and other spirits) guzzling competitions every night. But it was difficult to figure out who won; the competitors were usually past caring.

                        Hope I have done a little towards keeping the Higher Ed flag flying. By the way, great posts from both Soumitri and Gitesh.

 

 

 

                           Anindita Pandey

Lunch Break

The greater part of my lunch break is spent opening heavy doors and climbing up and down tedious flights of stairs. On Thursday, during lunch, as I was about to open one such door, it swung open, seemingly on its own…and what followed was a moment of doubt and resolution. Please don’t accuse me of unnecessary exaggeration…I let our authors practise that art…I’m just trying to put a harrowing experience in words! Coming back to the door, I stopped in my stride to fathom the mystery behind its opening. My dear friend Yajnaseni (Jogu, in popular jargon) was also equally suspicious. Within a fraction of a second a figure emerged into sight…none other than our CEO Mr Govil, engaged in an animated phone conversation. I don’t need to explain to you that he had graciously opened the door for the ladies to pass. Well, I’m not writing this post in the middle of the night to furnish proofs of Mr Govil’s adherence to the haloed institution of chivalry. The best part of this encounter, I’m yet to disclose. After the customary nods and smiles were exchanged, Mr Govil turned to me, knitted his brows and said, ‘Soumitri, you owe us’! Immediately my world was hit by a giant wave of tsunami and I saw it disintegrating in front of my own eyes…’I owe the company money…!’ Dark images surfaced in front of my eyes…I saw myself, in handcuffs, being whisked away by the cops to some godforsaken prison…and there…I saw the conclusion of my potentially eventful life…Well, in my imagination I had already climbed on to the police jeep when Mr Govil chose to complete his unfinished sentence. ‘You owe us a blog post.’ Without wasting a minute I got off the police jeep and reclaimed my life. The bulbs in our office had never shone with such zeal as they did at that moment. I knew what he was talking about. I was supposed to write about the School NSM 2008 in Goa.

 

With that lengthy introduction I now embark upon my original task.

 

The School Editorial is a great Pantheon of magicians (editors, as they are popularly known as), who can perform any kind of miracle at any given moment. The miracles, of course, come in the shape of beautifully crafted books, which are brought out in frenzied conditions. This year, we travelled to Goa to celebrate our miracles and let our babies bask in the sun and the sand (it’s a different matter altogether that the sunshine was sabotaged by the rain)

 

As we occupied our seats on the train, the party began. The train chugged along, gradually leaving Delhi and NCR far behind. It was a great start to three days of fun and frolic. We had our priorities in place. We were equipped with all the ingredients for the perfect picture. Rohit Sir and Naveen Sir ensured that there was never a dull moment. Kundan and Amit ensured that our jaws didn’t get a minute’s respite. Few kind souls ran back to back movie shows to ensure that no one sulks for the lack of entertainment. And the bubbly heartily supported all these enterprises.

 

The Konkan landscape offered a kaleidoscopic view of verdant fields, sprightly brooks, truant streams and hills and hillocks of various shapes and sizes. The quaint little stations without a speck of dirt left us awestruck (though we did our bit by scattering a few cigarette stubs here and there to make them appear more real).

 

From Mudgaon station our hotel was about 35 km away (don’t expect me to write down the name of the hotel…an editor is supposed to know all the difficult spellings but I don’t know this one). A short bus ride got us there. We enthusiastically occupied our respective state-of-the-art rooms. The dinner was awesome. For the next three days we were slaves to the Danish pastries and the fish cooked in Goan style. They acted as the perfect anti-stress potion.

 

We used to start our day very early, with a quick breakfast and stumble into the conference room, feeling groggy and sighing at the kind of injustice that we had fallen prey to. The conference provided the editors an excellent platform to unveil their books. The sales guys gained necessary information about the products that they would have to sell in the market. The day’s work was followed by crazy evenings replete with music, dancing, amazing jigs, rush of adrenaline and overflowing spirits (it’s the human spirit, this time). If that wasn’t enough, some of us would wrap up the day by rushing to the beach, rolling in the sand and braving the rain for another session of music and bonhomie. After all this some inspired souls felt motivated enough to visit the casino to nourish their penchant for disaster.

 

We all had great fun during those three days. However, the fun wasn’t always restricted to the booze, food, parties or presentations. An NSM is about people and their spirit. They make the occasion special. On the first day I came across many unknown faces from different corners of the country. At the end of the three days, all those faces had become familiar to me. We speak to our sales guys so many times over the phone, mutually pestering each other for something or the other. We also spend a lot of time dwelling upon each other’s limitations. Unfortunately, most of us wouldn’t even recognise each other in a crowd of faces. They are faceless entities to us, with whom we often share a volatile relationship. To them we are strangers. Our interaction is restricted to telephonic conversations and exchange of emails. The NSM presents an opportunity to all of us to connect names and voices with faces and look beyond the realm of mutual professional interest.

 

During my first NSM in 2007, I had no idea that so many people were a part of our organisation and Pearson Education was not just about the handful of faces one came across every day in office. Let alone the sales guys, we don’t even interact with our colleagues from other departments and on other floors on a regular basis in the Delhi office itself.

 

Goa allowed us to break all barriers and rise beyond our day-to-day dissatisfactions and frustrations. Smiles were exchanged, friendships were struck and acquaintances were made. Great ideas floated around. Our platter was always full. From books and strategies to clothes and spouses – we discussed practically everything. They say, ‘A lot can happen over a cup of coffee’. I have reservations against this statement. I can tell, from personal experience that a humble cup of coffee often fails to live up to popular expectations in many situations. You may agree or disagree. But we all agree that, ‘A lot does happen over an NSM…’

 

Soumitri – school editorial