Couplets From a Mom to a Daughter...

No matter where you go,

No matter what you do,

My love is present everywhere,

My blessings follow you.



Life always comes with lessons,

Some easy others tough,

You can count on my love

Whenever your day is rough



Being a mother makes me always

More sensitive to your pain

You might get hurt but get up

Yet my heart will carry your pain.


Not everyone is fortunate

To have a daughter like you

With a heart pure as a pearl

With kindness in soul tats true.

SWE Pune - 2017 : An event from the eyes of an Amateur

The Society of Women Engineers had arranged for a 2-day Conference event in Pune.

The event was an absolute delight where female engineers from

various companies, of various streams met together, exchanged ideas,

encouraged each other and in short had a blast.

The cherry on the cake was the SWE Local app on mobile phones

which got updates from engineers sitting in different sessions

so, that they could gain double the knowledge even without

being at multiple sessions at a time.

Day 1

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Keynote was presented by Priya Kumar, CEO &

chief facilitator of Priya Kumar Training Systems. 

Her energy was infectious and as soon as she climbed on stage when she remarked

that as Women we would be scanning her from top to bottom, she wasn't wrong.

But listening to her while looking at the fact that she seemed younger and smaller than most of us, we remembered the quote that "Big things come in small packages".

She talked about how she would keep moving throughout the stage to make sure- each of us was awake and listening. She also made us do an exercise from time to time of

responding with a "Hi" when she said "Hello" and a "Hello" when she said "Hi".

Sometimes in between sentences she would call out a "Hello" and we needed

to be alert to reply it with a "Hi".

Her timing was superb with tidbits like,” If a woman is good at office and at home,

only God and she knows how she did it. But if She is Super at office and at home,

only she knows how she did it.  Then God also doesn't know how she did it."

She emphasized that we must satisfy our "Need" and sometimes that does 

require "Personal Sacrifice". We should believe in "Hope" but that "Hope"

should have a deadline as well as proactive actions from our side in 

order to keep moving in "achievement" of our "Need".

She motivated us to "Do things for Fun before it becomes a Need."

Then as a physical activity, she made almost 20 women, 

balance a thin iron rod (sariya in hindi) on their collar bones.

As two women balanced one rod between themselves putting it on their collar bones, 

they had to look into each other’s eyes, move towards each other, thus pushing the 

rod down to bend it in a "U" shape.

Moral of the exercise for me was when "Women Move forward together with their Trust in each other, they can bend the biggest Problems, out of their way".

By the time the keynote ended, we all were screaming "once more" in our heads

but had to move on to the next Agenda of the event.

Men as Diversity Partners: Being a Champion of Women in Engineering

This was a panel discussion with participants’ like

Anant Talalulicar (Cummins)

Sharad Lodhi (Eaton)

Rahul Khare (Honeywell)

Gautam Gulati (Schlumberger)

Liju Augustine (Northern Trust)

Jessica Rannow (SWE)

The session achieved a tremendous applause from the audience with jewels like:

• Men as diversity partners should change the narrative from 'women need to be empowered' to 'let’s get out of their way'.
• Flexibility for men as much as for women!
• Reinvent the leadership lens.
• Walk the talk, don't limit to only tokenism.
• Number of women are less at the top of the career pyramid due to unconscious bias. Woman are thought as sensitive and not provided feedback which actually helps to grow. Treat women equal and give the right feedback- which is the stepping stone in building more women leaders.'

Networking Exhibition

Around the same time, the networking exhibition opened and

companies like Cummins, Eaton, Emerson, Honeywell, 

John Deere, Microsoft, Schlumberger and many others opened up their

doors and hearts (literally) to the immense talent around them.

Most stalls had Standees and flexes displaying the happy faces 

of their employees and videos on Monitors about their work culture.

Some of them had something special for the visitors too,

like at Emerson we were collecting visitor info on a card, and giving

a part of the card as a "Bookmark" to the visitor.

Why Strategic Leadership Matters

A well-informed session by Nancy Goel(Emerson) regarding the importance of Strategic leaders in recent times. 

Key takeaways:

1) A leader is made not born.

2) Strategic Leadership has statically provided better growth patterns

compared to Managerial and Visionary leadership.

3)Managerial and Visionary Leaders can be Strategic if they imbibe

those qualities and are ready to change.

Three surprises about Change : How to change when change is Hard

A motivating session by Jayshree Kirtane(Alchemy Management) to embrace change and let go of our inhibitions.

Key takeaways:

1) What looks like laziness is often exhaustion.

2) What looks like resistance is often lack of clarity.

3) What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem.

4) Always have affirmative goals.

5) Emotions and feelings have tremendous power.

Women Rising : Make Men our Allies

A combined session by Sindhu Bala and Kaushika Kumar(Dow Chemical)

about how we need to have men as allies in order work towards women Equality.

Key takeaways:

1) The first woman pilot of India Sarla Thakral on 1930, whose 

father-in-law was responsible for admitting her to the flying school 

and she flew a plane in a saree(surprised!!!)

2) He for she is a solidarity campaign for the advancement of women initiated by UN Women.

3) Take men as your allies and support pillar for our growth.

4) When men are not involved, gender equality is not possible.

Lunch Break

A quick lunch break with delicious dishes like pasta, shahi paneer, 

daal makhni, peas pulao and an awesome dessert comprising of 

ice creams as well as cakes, was a welcoming delight.

Confessions of a First-Time Manager

A witty and cheerful session by Gauri Joshi(Schlumberger)

Key takeaways:

1) Being a manager is immensely fulfilling...makes you confident to deal with uncertainty and insurmountable challenges that come your way and most importantly you are maximizing people's potential.

2)People are not an engineering problem - appreciate working styles of different people.

3)It's easy to forget your own development.

4) You get 86,400 seconds in a day, use them well.

Dare to Dream

An inspirational session by Vinaya Ket (Pune University), the first female solo car driver of 3911 kms(Kashmir to Kanyakumari) in 4 days.

Key takeaways:

1) Passion gives you sleepless nights. It makes you want to remain "awake" and achieve.

2) Do your home work and arm yourself before setting out to achieve.

3) Document your achievement so you can prove it to the world.

4) Never be afraid to ask for help.

3 Myths of Work Life Balance

A light session by Mitali Monalisa(Intel India)

Key takeaways:

1) Myth #1: You can do it all. [Support is always needed]

2) Myth #2: Balance is constant. [It keeps changing, need to understand priority of actions]

3) Myth #3: Work Life Balance is your problem to solve. [It’s just a condition which can be prevented or cured]

We Achieve Celebration

A recognition of achievements was done in this time and a felicitation of

all the sponsors of the event, including Emerson. 

Hence Day1 ended with a note of achievement and we all waited with bated breath for day 2 to start.

Day 2

Management in the age of globalization

Amazing panel discussion between 4 powerful women:

Neelu Khatri (Honeywell)

Shobha Pandey (John Deere)

Jennifer Rumsey (Cummins)

Anuradha Srinivasan (Intel)

Key takeaways:

1) As you dream of the things you want in your life, you would find the passion and the technology to achieve it.

2)Always keep the steering wheel of your career journey in your hand and don't let

anyone else take charge of it.

3) Reach out for mentors...Don't wait for the mentors to approach you.

4) Enable your environment to enable yourself.

5) Always Feel good about yourself; never stop feeling good about yourself 

and you will keep moving forward.

6) Have zero tolerance to harassment, even as observer! Make it a personal responsibility.

The important thing was- we keep searching for role models in celebrities while these

women should be advertised and bought into the mainstream India since they are working towards a common goal of upholding Gender presence on a global scale.

Influentially yours, choosing the right influencing strategy:

This session was energetic and fascinating with the kind of research work done on it by Gita Jaisinghani(Aligne Consulting).

Key takeaways:

1) Influencing requires clarity of thoughts and purpose and the correct target.

2) Influencing needs Tailored communication and evaluation of communication style

3) Gender of influencer does not matter but that of influence does.

4) 4 major types of bosses-

    a)The Cerebrals (logical, rational and number oriented)

    b)The Prudents (Conventional, Conformists and not risk takers)

    c)The Dominants (Enthusiastic, charismatic and risk takers)

    d)The Aggressives(Credibility checkers, history oriented and egoistic)

Beyond Robots and Jetpacks: The next decade of Engineering

A knowledgeable panel discussion facilitated by Ria Ghosh (John Deere) comprised of

Yamini Kaur (Cadence)

Sreekumar Panikar(Eaton)

Padma Priya Gaggara(Microsoft)

Udaya Srivastava(Honeywell)

Key takeaways:

1) Whatever you enjoy, you will be good at.

2) Stay informed, stay relevant.

3) Learn adjacencies.

4) Recognize the opportunities and grab them.

5) Be innovative.

Break: A light lunch comprising of sandwhich , patties, samosa, paneer roll, juice, pear and brownie so that we remain alert on the final afternoon of the event.

Inclusive Leadership

A knowledgeable session taken by Parneet Kaur(Emerson).

Key takeaways:

1) When people have a voice in decision making, they consider being included.

2) Different people tend to have conflicts when they come together but Brainstorming embraces the diffeences of opinions.

3) Our unconscious biases make people feel excluded.

4) Equal pay should be asked for.

AI, Machine Learning and Automation

A technical but interesting session by Rakhi Rajalekshmi(Eaton) regarding Artificial intelligence.

Key takeaways:

1) This field is interesting because its highly interdisciplinary.

2) Industry is moving towards autonomous vehicles.

3) In terms of a scale, we are still at level 1 of automation and have many more levels to go.

Parivartan hi sansaar ka niyam hai

A sessions asking us to embrace change, conducted by Neeta D'Souza(John Deere) was enlightening.

Key takeaways:

1)Individual change must be done by me so keep adding new skills.

2)There are something's life chooses for you, but there are some you choose for yourself. 

3)Take the oath- I will "Embrace" change.

Closing Keynote:

It started with a vote of thanks from Neelu Khatri and a piece of advice that take one step at a time,

diligence and stead fastness take you far.

This finally brought us all to the best session of the whole event. 

Dr. Renee Moore, a qualified neurosurgeon and motivational speaker, stepped on stage while listening to our claps and applause and spoke her first sentence:

"I am just a girl who thought she could- so she did"

She presented us all with "Be unstoppable" badges with mirrors so that we could tell

that to ourselves whenever we felt low. She talked about her childhood in poverty, the lessons she learnt and how it brought her to finally starting her business. 

So many Takeaways:

1) We could either be a Creator or Reactor. Create our situations or just react to situations.

2) What you focus on, becomes your destiny.

3) Whenever presenting your idea to someone, practice a success mantra like-"This is going to be great, they are going to love it."

4) Math formula for to achieve zone of genius: Talent +Passion +Life purpose

5) Keep reminding yourself about your expertise

6) Keep moving forward for your dream.

7) clarity of what you can achieve, break it down into steps.

8) In a bowl of orange fishes, be the one that's blue. Be the one... that is different.

Though she performed several illusions for us, the one which I liked the most was the "Frame of Life".

A wooden puzzle to signify that life is made up of different pieces, my family, my dreams, my ability to choose, my leadership, my private piece and so on.

She could fit all the pieces together to form a perfect rectangle.

She picked up the wooden frame and showed us that the whole puzzle fitted perfectly inside the frame.

          Then she removed the frame and got a black colored wooden piece - which could signify something "bad" in our life but it had to be in the puzzle. She moved all the pieces around- fixed the black piece between them and again formed a perfect rectangle. She picked up the frame and it still fit perfectly.

          Lastly she got a big red piece saying it signified our achievements and even they had to fit in our life somehow. She moved all the pieces again, put the red piece in between and yes-she again formed a perfect rectangle. She picked up the frame of life and told us:

"And after moving all the pieces around-You will find the frame of life still fits."

Thus, ended the most Fantastic session of the whole conference which rung with

thunderous applause across the ballroom.

No doubt the two days were special, but the closing key note was Spectacular.

Angelic Arzeb

Arzeb Advice

So I wake up in the morning and hear Arzeb's sound,
As I go sit in the chair next to his bed, he climbs
in my lap and hugs me. We sit like that for a few minutes
with me asking him if he wants to eat, pee or get up and
he just keeps shaking his head.

Finally I tell him,
"Chalo drawing room mein chalte hain"
He asks,
"Kyun?"
Me "Arre mujhe thoda exercise karna hai."
He looks at me with concern and says,
"Theek hai par pehle kuch khaa lo, ok?"

And I thought- I was the "Mommy" ;)

-----------------------------------------------------------

Arzeb Choice

So as we are talking about the Bollywood hero that
dance well- Izhaan tell me,
"Mumma , I like Tiger shroff"
and I say, "Yes he really dances well"
Then Izhaan asks Arzeb, "do you like Tiger, Arzeb?"
Arzeb answers "No"
So I ask him,
"Arzeb tumko kaun achcha lagta hai phir?"
Arzeb says-  "Salmaaaan Khaaaan"

--------------------------------------------------------------

Arzeb the Driver

We are in the car, and Imran is driving us to the Reliance mall.
He stops to get the parking token, but once he starts,
Arzeb is like "Haan Papa- abhi straight , correct, right now this way"

Seems as if some days later, he will start with
"Papa, its better if u let me drive" ;)

Height of marketing

Me at the Hospital Orthopaedic accessories counter.

Me:Mujhe flat feet ke liye shoe sole chahiye (showing him the sample). Milega aapke paas?
SalesMan: Haan ye toh mil jayega, shoe ke liye, saath hi sandal wala bhi hai.

Me: Sandal nhi pehenti main, bas shoes.
SM: chappals?
Me: Chappal bhi nhi pehenti, bas shoes.
SM: Ghar pe aap pehenti hongi?
Me: Nahi ghar pe barefoot rehti hun mein

SM: Ghar pe aapko pehenna chahiye, kitna time toh ghar pe hi rehta hai
Me( getting angrier now): Bhaiyya main offc mein rehti hun 5 din
SM : Magar offc mein chaliye aap bahut rheen 10 ghante, baaki time toh ghar pe hi.
Me: ( boiling more)Usmein 8 ghante sona hai, mushkil se 2 ghante chalna hai, so nahi chahiye.

He asks me to remove my shoes, place my foot on paper, draws my feet with a pen.
SM : Arre aapka sirf yahi problem nahi, ye dekhiye aap ke pair mein haddi nikal rhi hai, sling pehen lijiye thumb mein toh andar chali jayegee.

Me: Ye mera khandaani issue hai iska kuch nahi ho sakta.
SM: Arre main dikhata hun ( some sad looking brown hard bandage) isko bas  sote samay pehen lijiye...
Me: din bhar kaam karun, aur sukoon se soun bhi naa?
SM: Arre pata thodi chalega , kuch saal pehenne se andar chali jayegee..

( Ok...now he totally asked for it)
Me: Kuch saal? Bhaiyya 36 years ki hun main, 4 saal mein 40 ki hojaoongi- ab ye sab pehene se haddi andar nahi jayegee- bas pair ko jis takleef se bacha sakti hun woh kar sakti hun, 20 saal ki umar se pehenti toh haddi andar jaati; itni umar mein sab haddiyaan form ho chukti hain, ye pehenne se theek nhi hoti ..OK?

SM: ok......
raseed deta hun phir sole ka.

(Finally...phew....but he had asked for it..rite?)

Pride in Being A Woman

Long time bak i read a small story regarding 2 women. They both had their dreams. One dreamt of going on pilgrimages and the other dreamt of relaxing on a hammock in the woods. Years passed, they married , had kids, lived their lives with their husbands. One fine day, they were free of their domestic duties, and the had the resources to go out alone. The first one used her savings to finally go on all the pilgrimages, she wanted. The second one bought a cabin in the woods, and just relaxed on her hammock.

For me, the writeup was just a realization of what a large range womanhood has. There was no right or wrong, just an account of how each of us has a different way of attaining peace . Both women should be admired that they never shied away from life's demands and yet achieved their dream as well.

Today morning, I talked to two of my friends-
One who has been working for a long time, and inspite of taking breaks for her kids has finally become a Project Manager at Amazon. It was a long and difficult way, but she made it.

The other one had put her career aside for about a decade, rejoined work , only to leave it saying she wasn't enjoying herself.  She sought out a school for Autistic kids and is now loving every moment of working there.

(Not mentioning ur names, but just want u two to know, I am proud of having friends like u.)

We women are really powerful, we change
The world for better, every day.
We just don't always know it.