Half Man- Half Tree

Yesterday while changing channels,I happened to see a documentary in one of the channles,which nearly caught my breath...

A half man -half tree man!!!!!!!
I coudnt beleive my eyes.....i have never seen such a thing in my life...
I could only say a glory to be father then.....

A 35 year old man Dede in a remote village in Indonasia has root like growth from the surface of the skin around his arms and feet
He couldnt work because of this and he is deserted by his wife...what a fate!!!!!

His words " I am happy if somebody could cure me ...I fear it will pass on to my children" , Made me thank agen agen god almighty for making us and giving us so wonderful a life....

He is supported by his extended family now ....the documentary also showed some other people like the bubble man- with buble like growth all over the body and the lady with the misplaced face. The poor dede has paired with these men to earn a living by doing street shows....

recently they removed around 3.5 lbs of this growth through a day long surgery....but its growing back fast....
Doctors are still trying to find a cure for this!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gatlinburg and Smokey Mountains -Crème de la Crème

Writing a Travalogue is like rewinding the scenes you have seen , getting back the kind of bliss you had during the journey,while your heart and thoughts were wandering through the true gifts of nature!!!!!

The trip we took to the Great smokey mountains was the Crème de la Crème of all our trips. Chic little restaurants in Rural highways of Tennesse,real country stores in Gatlinburg..... The best thing I ate the whole trip was the Peruvian chicken from a Cuban restaurant and the American country side breakfast from Flapjack. My taste buds couldnt believe the tatse of theses food .IT HAS TO BE TRIED TO BE BELIEVED..

We started with the tiny picturesque town of Gatlinburg, in the valley of smokey mountains.It has a population of about 3,800, and was found by the cherokee Indian- hunters. It has now transformed into a mountain resort destination packed up with lodging of every sort,dozens of local and national restaurants and attractions galore.

Some attractions include,Museums,aquariums and a lot by Ripley's,Mysterious mansions,off road voyages,Ski resorts,haunted adventures and so on and on...

But what we enjoyed the best is the walk through the beautiful tiny town,decorated with beautiful flowery plants,as if they have Spring year round....There was no rush,every one was so relaxed.This is what you call a perfect get away from all the hustle- bustles of life in urban/semi-urban life.

We stayed at Deer Ridge Mountain Resorts,which was on the top of a mountain .It offered us a spectacular view of the Smokeys in the night.OF course we saw a lot of moonshine ,since our log cabin had a beautiful patio....Moonshine is something you cant miss during a romantic get away!!!!

The Smokey Mountains was the homeland of Cherokke Indians. we started the great expedition with a small trial to see Angel Falls. The falls was nothing but a small gush of water from rocks.

I have been to many good hiking trails in India but it was not as awesome as this one here...The hiking through the deep dense forest offered us a chance to walk through a population of "Wild Black Bear"- a signficance of Smokeys...That was a Lifetime experience.

Though the caution sign boards about the attack of bears startled us in the beginning,we decided to continue,and later we realised that it was a wonderful decidion to make.

Lot of Hikings and falls filled the days

Finally we took a drive to a loop-Cedar Cove- a 11 mile loop through the wild woods and green pastures which proved to be Incredile. It is a visible reminder of the former use of land and its forests which is slowly disappearing .Run down houses,Old barns,Remains of the fire in 92......A Baptist and presbyterian church ...Can you imagine it...all these are preserved as historic exhibits...All these gave us a glimpse into the way of life of old time southern Applachia....

The 5 day vacation in the beautiful town of Gatlinburg and Applachian mountain chain, charmed me in a way , that i didnt think possible for an average Keralite like me.....

We had more fun,Laugh longer ,and enjoyed ourselves the best in this trip...We are always ready to return to embrace all these again and again...!!!!!!!!!

Happy Reading!!!!!!

HR and Recession

"Big Hat , No Cattle" ,this has always been one of the endless rants against HR profession. When you say some one that you work in HR,the usual sarcastic response is "Lucky you,No job at all right,cool man!!!!"
But I am good damn sure,the opinion would have changed atleast in these times of economic downturn.... and they will be able to prove "HR's strategic relationship to business"

Every day we hear companies announcing number of people being voted off the isalnd.I wonder how many pink slips HR departments around the world might have prepared by now...
If Recruitement was the main job that HR professionals was doing in times of Industry boom,Creating Payroll Orphans is what they do now....
But do not underestimate HR's job as just seperating people from the companies ,there's more to it.

Some of the tasks the HR's are fighting with now are

• Ofcourse Preparing pink slips
• Finding innovative ways to manage through the downturn
• Salary reductions through basic pay, variaple pay reductions
• Though recruitement is very less, most of the companies target on taking aboard people with key skills for specific jobs.beleive me thats the toughest job.People will have to use very creative recruitement methods to keep away from frauds.
• Talent Management,developing a talent pool with existing employees through career sucession plans
• very stringent policies in Performance management so that the % of underperformers can be easily pulled out

As one of the talent management fellow of Aviva has said this seasonal change provides Hr with an opportunity to pause and reflect how well HR's have secured the companies they work for!!!!!

I believe if Human resources management stands the tests of this tough times,and prove their mettel, they have gone a long way in proving their credibility!!!!!!!

Happy Reading!!!!!!