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Wednesday 25 June 2014

Names of lizards & bosses

As per news paper reports four scientists from Bangalore under guidance of Varad B. Giri discovered a new species of lizard - a dwarf geckos in Kaas area of Western Ghats. They decided to name the new lizard in the honour of their guide or guru as Cnemapsis Girii. Very nice gesture indeed.

But here in our Regional Office we honour bosses with new but simple names instead. It is customary in our office to award a nick name to incoming new boss. It must be happening in your office as well I presume. This name remains confined to a select group & is spoken in whispers. However this ritual should be taken as a token of love & affection towards boss & therefore must be taken in the right spirit. The nick names are reflective of characteristics of the boss & helps you to understand him. This process adds to better management I am sure.

For example the boss has lost his hair due to excessive use of his brain cells is nick named The Baldy. So you never raise hair-raising question with him & do not dare to gift him hair oil or hair colour.

Our Asstt Regional Manager has been nick named Narad Muni. He has a habit of conveying whatever you said to a third person in a twisted manner & sow seeds of misunderstanding. If you & third person pick up a fight, Narad Muni would be content to the core of his heart. So whenever you are going to meet Narad Muni you must be on alert that your spoken words do not get twisted by him.

Take the case of Deemak -the termite- boss. He eats up your mails, notes & even files! He would therefore know more about the issues than you do. Please therefore be prepared well with your noting & files or else you had it. Such are the uses of nick names.

You see names of lizards, reptiles, birds & animals come in handy for nick-naming the bosses. In school days & more so in college days these were used for naming the teachers. Cobra, chameleon or girgit, scorpion or bichhu were quite popular nick names.

Certain names of characters of Mahabharat & Ramayan suit very well for describing the bosses. Have your pick from Ravan, Kumbhkaran, Kekeyi, Duryodhan, Jarasandh, Kans & so on. Not that every boss is a nasty or vindictive, there are good ones also for whom both Ramayan & Mahabharat are good sources of choosing names.

One of our bosses was called Mogembo. I am not sure about meaning of this word Mogembo but its origin lies in a Bollywood film. It however denotes cruel boss who rarely smiles or laughs or is a pervert. It is rather difficult to please him & if you do succeed, the boss is likely to thump his chest & shout - Mogembo khush hua! If he does that your annual bonus is assured.

Then there was a boss Mr D B Gupta who was renamed as Mr. Dibba which was very apt & convenient. It also described one of his characteristic that he never opened up in a conversation formal or informal. His views remained confined inside a Dibba!

I wish somebody adds a chapter on this type of ritual of nick-naming the boss & its beneficial results on management in the Book of Management.

Big Boss


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