c'est la vie

Another Journey Ahead!

2011-12-31T11:41:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers!

Wishing you & your family a Happy New Year 2012. Let the year ahead be a more enlightening, happy and learning year for you. As the new year begins, i would like to share few key aspects which i have embraced in my own life. There is a lot more to learn, more to explore, more to experience, still i hope the things which i have learnt would be useful for you too.

The below things, i have been fortunate to learn from my many mentors/teachers who i have had in my life. The 5 things which i wish for you would be:

1) Quest for infinite learning
2) Invest in yourselves
3) Consider every experience (success/failure) as a stepping stone to your life's purpose
4) Enjoy the journey rather than await the destination
5) Share what you have with others

1) Quest for infinite learning: There is a quote "Known is a drop, unknown is an ocean". No matter what the circumstances, always keep learning and more importantly, be open to learning. Of course, Learning comes not only from books, but from meeting people, situations. The list is endless.

2) Invest in yourselves: Apart from your routine work, study, ensure you keep investing in yourself. May it be a hobby, interest or anything which you have liked doing, just go ahead and start doing it. It's never late to invest in yourself. Now is the best time to START.

3) Consider every experience (success/failure) as a stepping stone to your life's purpose: Most of life problems are anticipated ones, rather than the real ones. The cause of anxiety is having expectation on the outcome and the tendency to differentiate situations as bad and good. Instead, look upon every situation as a learning experience to help you move forward in life and accomplish your mission in life.

4) Enjoy the journey rather than await the destination: This encompasses the above aspects in the sense, enjoy every moment of your life journey. It's the journey which helps us evolve the most, and which truly empower us. hence, the journey is the true bliss.

5) Share what you have with others: We are very fortunate to have so many things in our life but we realize it very less often. The law of universe is that the more you give, the more you get rewarded. May you give to others, what the needy requires, and accordingly your needs would be taken care of.

Some of the above things, even Iam trying to follow earnestly. Hopefully, I would be able to accomplish it. Iam a man of less words, as a result many a times, many of my friends think Iam inexpressive or secretive. I on the other hand believe that it's best to let our actions do the talking rather than spend time in proclaiming what about it. Experience has taught me that the former works much better than the latter. I hope that in this year you achieve your dreams, ambitions and get a little more enlightened (Of course, do leave few things out for the subsequent years ;) )

Wish you a Enlightened, Happy New Year 2012.

Best wishes,

PS

Is it impossible for another Steve Jobs to be born in this world?

2011-12-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

Iam currently reading ‘Steve Jobs’ by Walter Isaacson, and completely glued to it. There are many incidents which spark a chain of (positive) thoughts in different directions. Anyways, don’t worry. I won’t be elucidating the nitty-gritty of the book in this article. Nor Iam going to speak about Steve Jobs and his legendary work. I leave it up-to you to get a hold of the book and see it for yourself. The main reason why I got inspired to write this post was to raise a simple question. “What does it takes to become a legend like Steve”

In one of the chapters in the book, Steve Jobs after addressing Stanford University students makes an observation that “the new generation of kids has become more materialistic & careerist than his generation. He says that there was a wave of practical purposefulness which was present but now students aren’t thinking in idealistic terms or nowhere near it.” Now, how is this statement related to the title of this article?

It’s my personal belief that to do great things in life, one has to be great himself; in the sense, great in terms of thought, attitude and value system. And why do I say that? Steve Jobs life has many instances where his actions were guided by certain maxims, by his belief systems, strive for perfection and his passion for creating WOW products. There were few situations where in he did it just to get an experience and in the process somehow connected the dots and made use of the opportunity which presented before him.

Unfortunately, many of today’s youngsters are motivated by job titles, compensation, perks etc rather than the most important thing which is required at-least a Passion for the work being done. Iam not saying that everyone has such mindset. Some of my good friends are passionate about what they do, and that’s why they do what they do. And it mighty feels good to see them working on their passion. But my concern is the vast majority of the student population who are getting into jobs just to make a living.

The need of the hour is people recognize that there is innate potential waiting to be tapped in them and it’s better to do what they like doing. If 5-10 people passionate people can make a difference, imagine the difference 5K-10K people can make?

I would say the following 3 traits is required to create and do great things. [Of course, other traits like hard working, perseverance, patience, humility, visionary etc else is needed. But the below highlights the few MUST criteria’s to be able to succeed]

a) Open attitude to experience

b) WHY & not WHAT

c) Strive for perfection

One with an open attitude to embrace life in its fullest will experience uncertainty & risk. While it brings a whole set of good and bad things in to your life, understanding and learning from the up’s and down moments will help us wade through uncertain times & succeed later.

Many times in our life, we are motivated by ‘WHAT’. What will I get if I do this? What’s in it for me etc etc. but we forgot that to become truly successful in anything we do, what matter is not the WHAT but WHY. ‘Why should I do it’, Instead of asking ‘What is in it for me’ ask – “Why is this for me”. If you can come up with a good answer for that, there will be no doubt about the outcome of your work.

Man’s search for perfection lends a meaning to his life. Otherwise, routine life brings with it routine job which is just ROUTINE. Strive for perfection in any work you do. That’s what Martin Luther King Jr famously said “Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

To sum up, the tenet on which I raised the question ‘Is it impossible for another Steve Jobs to be born in this world?’ is based on the state of mindset of current generation on pursuing materialistic things which are transient. But if we realize that and start exploring things, begin doings thing we love or love what we do (which holds true either way) & a focus on doing things perfectly as much as possible, all the traits which were one of the prime reason for Steve Jobs to be an iconic legend, will be applicable for others too. I firmly believe that each of us can make a dent in the universe too.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish :)

Lessons from the movie 'Charlie & the Chocolate factory'

2011-11-18T06:09:00.000-08:00

Iam sure many will like this post at-least for the name ‘Chocolate’, if not for the lessons from this movie. Still, this is one such movie which has a good amount of creativity, fun as well learning integrated in it. A friend of mine liked the movie because of the subtle messages which sensitized the audiences on finer values of life. We will see some of the learning, but before that for those who haven’t seen the movie, here is a brief description of the plot. (Of course, the suspense has been kept secretive as much as possible)

The movie is about Charlie Bucket a kind, loving boy who lives in poverty with his mother, father, and four bedridden grandparents. Directly across the street from their house is a world-famous chocolate factory, the owner of which, Willy Wonka, has long since closed access to the factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage that ultimately led him to fire all his employees. One day, Wonka announces a contest in which five Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, and the winners will be given a full tour of the factory, as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate. One ticket-holder will be given a special prize at the end of the tour.

The first four tickets are found by Augustus Gloop, a greedy, gluttonous eater from Germany; VerucaSalt, a spoiled girl from Buckinghamshire; Violet Beauregarde, a boastful, competitive gum chewer from Atlanta; and Mike Teavee, an arrogant, aggressive video-game addict from Denver. The rest of the movie details the tour of the chocolate factory (which wows the audience with every new scene) and how each of the bad children disobeys Wonka's orders after being tempted by something related to their individual character flaws. I hope that you have some idea of the movie plot. Let’s move forward with the lessons from it.

Spoiling children with too much pampering:

The movie shows in a typical way how today’s children are spoiled by too much pampering. The girl Veruca initially asks for the Golden ticket so her father buys hundreds of thousands of Wonka bars to find the Wonka ticket. After 3 days of effort, when the Golden ticket is found, he gives it to his daughter who immediately after having her desire fulfilled, asks for a new pony.

Pampering a child will lead to bigger & greater disappointements as the child's expectations grows with each fulfilled wish. The child not only begins to demand things to happen (because they want it) & expect all things to be delivered to it in a silver platter, which surely prepares it for failure later in life. The idea here is that many parents think that if they pamper their child with money, toys and other thing which they desire, the child will be happy and that they will like them. Unfortunately, that is far away from the truth. What a child truly requires is the love, care of his parent. Hence, the parents should try to instill values in their child rather than spoiling their childby fulfilling all the child's wishes.

Value Character over Champion:

The girl Violet is a very competitive person and her mom states that proudly in the interview that Violet has won more than 200 trophies till date. She says to Violet “Eyes on the prize, Violet; Eyes on the prize” to win the big prize at the end of the tour. The movie shows that her competitive & boastful character, results in her failure during the tour.

This is very prevalent in the current generation too. Parents want children to be a winner in life. There is nothing wrong with that. But the sad thing is that children have become a medium to be show cased as victory trophies. The parent proudly display their child talent in literary, sports, and arts to other people. Not to mention that the child becomes adamant, egoistic as he grows up which contributes to his downfall. A simple look at our mythology as well as on the life of great leaders reveal that during childhood, it’s the focus on character which matters greatly rather than upbringing a child to be a winner. Winners evolve with the right values but right values don’t evolve by winning in life. (Just to clarify, Iam not advocating not to win in life, but to have a good set of values rather than just a desire to win. If you have a good set of values, there is no way you won't win :))

Taking Chances in Life:

When Charlie gets the Golden ticket and shows it to his parents, he feels that they can sell the Golden ticket in exchange for money so that the extra money will help them in some way.(His father loses his job adding to their existing poverty). That’s when his grandpa says “There is plenty of money out there. They print more everyday but this ticket; there’s only 5 of them. And all that is ever going to be. Only a dummy is going to leave something like this."

Extrapolating this to our lives, imagine the ticket to be our lifetime in this Earth. We get only one chance at living, still we spend all our waking hours running after money at the cost of neglecting our dreams, family etc, thinking it will provide us some security. The idea which I want to emphasize is that money is present in abundance out in the world. But your dreams, your ambitions are unique and few. Hence, don’t exchange your dreams for money. Chase your dreams/ambitions which will give you lasting happiness & peace (and unimaginable monetary surplus), rather than chasing money.

Holding on to the past or a thing:

In one of the rooms where chocolate is made, the kids are told that they can eat anything they like. The girl Violet plucks a candy and to eat it, she takes the gum which she is chewing from her mouth and saves it for chewing at a later time. Charlie asks her “Why hold on to it. Why not start a new piece.” For which she replies that if she did that, she would be a loser like him”.

I believe that most of us too hold on to something, similar to the girl Violet holding on to the chewing gum. it can be our past or a thing; The past could be an incident, experience; the thing can be your home, car or any material possession and as long as we hold onto it, we not only hold back ourselves from growing, we shut ourselves from experiencing new things in life. So, just give a thought to it. Are you holding yourselves to something which isn’t benefitting you?

The quality of your thoughts determine the quality of your life:

This is one of my favorite lessons. In the end, when Wonka proposes an offer to Charlie and he rejects it, Wonka is disappointed & hence begins to feel terrible. When wondering, why his candy isn’t tasting as good as before, he realizes that “I make the candy I feel like, but now I feel terrible so the candy I make is also terrible”.

That is so true in our life. Everything which you do in your life will be of the quality similar to the quality of your thoughts. This is similar to the law of attraction. That’s why the wise people have always said that to achieve Enlightenment ; look inside yourself. All the problems of the World can be solved by looking inside ourselves & searching for the truth. Once you attain peace within yourself, automatically you will transcend greatness. Genius is what you do and how consistently you do that, and it can be achieved by realizing your inner selves. Your thoughts create your destiny, hence always be mindful of the quality of your thoughts.

Those were the 5 learning which i had derived from the movie. I hope you found it to be useful. If you havent watched the movie, i strongly recommend you to see it once. As always, have a enjoyable time absorbing the values in your own life for a better living.

Learn, Integrate, Empower.

Happy Living!

Perfect Show with Himanshu Rai : Exploring Life's Passion!

2011-10-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

After a good long break of 4 months, Iam happy to present the next edition of Perfect Show. This show is something which I had been planning for a long time & will be liked by many. The Show guest; apart from being my Professor in PG, is someone who is highly respected & looked up-to. I had admired him both as a teacher as well as an Individual. May it be his innovative way of making the classroom session interesting or the eloquence with which he utters the Slokas, he always leaves an indelible mark on his students. It’s my pleasure to have Dr. Himanshu Rai as a guest in this edition of Perfect Show.

Dr Himanshu Rai teaches PG and Doctoral students at Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, India, and his core area being Human Resource Management, Negotiation, and Leadership. He has also taught at XLRI Jamshedpur. Apart from academia, he had a corporate stint with Tata Steel for eight years where he played a pivotal role in developing Quality Systems for his Departments and the Communication Policy for the Company. In addition to his professional commitments, he is deeply involved in academic research, training executives across the board in various industries and management consultancy.

The latest feather in his cap was Common Admission Test 2010 (CAT 2010), as the Convener of which he successfully led the largest format change in world’s testing history exceeding all global standards of testing. He hails from a Vedically oriented background, making him a connoisseur of Sanskrit literature. He is strongly committed to yoga, which he has also taught to his students and is passionate about adventure sports, having led a dozen expeditions in the Garhwal Himalayas. An avid quizzer, he has conducted about 50 quiz shows across the country and has had a delightful stint in dramatics with many plays to his credit. He also juggles a keen interest in reading and collecting books with a strong dedication to music. You can know more about him here

Let’s begin with the Show now!

Guest: Dr. Himanshu Rai (HR)

Host: Prashant Sree (PS)

The PERFECT SHOW

PS: Welcome to the Perfect Show, Sir. Thank you for accepting my invitation to be in the Perfect Show.

HR: Thank You Prashant. It’s my pleasure be in the Show.

PS: Starting with the Perfect Show, What are you passionate about in Life?

HR: I am passionate about living, and I am passionate about learning. Life is beautiful and I love living every moment of it. In particular what excites me about it is the tremendous opportunity it provides me to learn and experience. I do it through my passion for mountaineering, trekking, reading, music and yoga.

PS: That’s sounds wonderful. To keep pursuing your passion in-spite of your busy schedule shows your passion for life. What are your life lessons which you would like to share with others?

HR: What I have learnt is that detachment is a virtue that can help you become a better human being as well as a professional. The concept of “Nishkama Karma” suggested by Krishna in Gita is the beacon that guides my life to a large extent.

PS: If you could change one thing in world, what would that be?

HR: It is impossible to change just one thing for the consequences of that change would affect the entire course of history as it plays out. However, if I leave alone the intellectualization J and just play it like it is meant to be, the one thing I would change is the position and movement of tectonic plates! We seem to be having one too many earthquakes these days!

PS: I would have preferred the former reply to the latterJ. Who is your favorite Mythological Hero and why?

HR: My favorite mythological (or historical, depending on one’s faith) hero is Krishna. His life itself is a huge learning with the Gita being the icing on the cake. He is one character who is at once artful, diplomatic, detached, and sagacious. The way he handles issues, both philosophical and realpolitik, is amazing!

PS: What would you like to evangelize in your life?

HR: The need for our country to focus on primary education and community health, especially for the female child.

PS: What do you consider to be your charm, which you feel attracts people to you?

HR: My sense of humor.

PS: I can surely vouch for that. :) What is your Thumb Rule for Life? J

HR: ‘I don’t believe in miracles; I rely on them. Occasionally I create some!’. It actually is inspired by an Og Mandino quote which said, “I can accomplish far more than I have, and I will, for why would the miracle which produced me end with my birth? Why can I not extend that miracle to my deeds of today? “. Further, I have realized that I have been more fortunate than many others in my life and I owe it to divine intervention. J Being an eternal optimist, I expect these interventions to continue and in the journey, possibly, make a difference to some other lives as well.

PS: Wonderful saying; it is one of my favorite quote. It is certainly motivating to enable people to create miracles in their lives. Being a book enthusiast, what are your three must read recommendations for others & the reasons?

HR: My choice would be;

Gita: for it teaches you how to live

Siddhartha (by Herman Hesse): for it teaches you how to explore

Any PG Wodehouse book: for it teaches you how to write!

PS: Quite nice! I have found these books to be inspiring & enlightening, especially Siddhartha. Moving onto Entertainment, Name three movies which you have found most inspiring?

HR: My top three choices would be:

Life is beautiful, Gandhi & Dabangg

PS: Dabangg! Iam curious to know why Dabangg features in the list?

HR: Dabangg unapologetically presents a hero with darker shades of character, a Hindi speaking Robin Hood, but who is also a cop. Through its protagonist, it represents the importance of courage and also elements of realpolitik.

PS: Certainly, Dabangg did set a kind of precedent in the Bollywood Industry. What is your advice to the youngsters; on how to be successful in their professional & personal life?

HR: More often than not we are surrounded by negative thoughts for we have been told by people around us that we are not good enough, or not as good as someone else. You must learn to love yourself for what you are. Do not seek love or approbation from outside; seek it from within. Positive thoughts have to come from within; they can’t come from outside.

PS: My next question is regarding the Human Resource field. It is considered to be an easy job requiring not much effort. Can you share your thoughts on what could be done to make a difference in this field?

HR: Human Resource is all about motivation, and to do so you need to understand people and their individual needs. Having dealt with ideas and machines earlier, I can say with complete conviction that dealing with human beings is the most challenging job, one that has an extremely high emotional cost. So the statement that HR is an easy job is a myth.

One needs to understand that motivation is all about direction, intensity and persistence, and to instill that in people, one needs to observe and understand people with a detached perspective.

PS: What is the skill sets required to be successful managers/leaders?
HR: Skills required to be a good leader: Communication, Negotiation, Networking, Persuasion; Traits required to be a good leader: Emotional Intelligence, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Openness to new experiences and people

PS: On a final note, Iam sure this question would be of interest to the wannabe IIM aspirers. What is the secret to unlock the impenetrable CAT?

HR: There is no Secret ;). On a serious note, IIM Aspirants ought to focus on their basics in terms of the four areas of testing: Quant, Verbal, DI and LR. They need to analyze their preparation objectively, identify their strengths and weaknesses and then plan accordingly as to which areas to devote more time on in the prep stage. It is always useful to have a blank day just before the test, so that the mind is well rested and stress free on the test day. Also, they need not get bogged down by expectations, either raised through self or by others. They need to understand that CAT is not life, but a part of life and life has much offer to offer beyond CAT.

PS: Well said, Sir. With that, we come to the end of this show edition. It’s been a real pleasure having you in the Show and interacting with you. On behalf of my show readers and myself, I thank you for sharing your life lessons with us. Iam sure your life lessons would have been inspiring and motivating to young readers like me.

HR: It was nice to be a part of the Show. Thank you for your wishes and I wish you the very best too…

That's the end of this edition of the Perfect Show. I hope you enjoyed this edition. Let me take this opportunity to wish you and your loved one's a Happy & Safe Diwali!

The Stranger – Part III

2011-10-17T10:23:00.000-07:00

Read Part I & Part II of the Stranger series.

I was left speechless on hearing that his son had passed away. Hearing it made me feel more pity for him, who was already in such a bad state. “Iam sorry to hear that, Baba”, I replied. The fact that my cousin was in hospital in a highly critical state was a troublesome situation for my family, hence I could empathize with him completely. I didn’t know what to say to him.

“He is not there anymore. He has left his parents all alone in this nasty world, saying so he started coughing again along with rivulets of tears flowing down his face.

“Why don’t you take the medicine now?. Hope you had your lunch” I asked trying to change the subject.

“Yes, I had something in the morning” replied the old man.

As he took the medicines, the bus to the main bus terminus arrived. Being a weekend, the bus was crowded with passengers having with their own plan for weekends. We got into the bus & somehow reached one corner of the bus and held to the support railings.

“India is so different from Bahrain. The roads are much better, people are so nice and everything goes on smoothly there”, he said.

Not wanting to let Bahrain score against India, I interjected “India is one of the diverse nations and the world’s largest democratic nation too”.

Yes. India is certainly rich in diversity & culture, he said

Not only that, India also has huge deposits of varied natural resources, I said proudly & regretted the moment I said it.

No wonder, you still import petrol from OPEC, he quipped. Life is better in Bahrain compared to Saudi. Or for that matter any other Muslim nations. But at the same time, one has to adhere by the state ideals. Though we aren’t an authoritarian state, we expect people to respect and live by the code as directed by our King & state.

“Oh, Bahrain has a King too”, I asked.

“Yes, he replied looking at me as if I was mentally challenged person. We have a King who lives in a luxurious palace. You know what I had the fortune of meeting our King in person. The company I work for is owned by the King’s eldest son. So, being a head of the division I was asked to visit the palace once to submit a report to my company head (the eldest prince).

I was trying hard to imagine the old man as a head of a division. Probably dressed up in formal suits & shoes. “So did the King meet you?” I asked.

No. I was waiting in the main lobby when I saw our King. He was returning back to palace from some work, he said. He looked at me & smiled as he went in. I will never forget the day.

I was wondering why this guy was going crazy over getting a smile from the nation’s King. Then I realized that in India, the frenzy fan following for any actors/actresses will definitely beat that of his King.

“There would be lot many women in the palace, quipped a nearby passenger, thinking that the King’s role was to enjoy & move around with women all day. I looked around to see who had asked the question & saw that half a dozen passengers were looking at us intently. I realized that the topic of King had invited the curiosity of few nearby passengers who were glued on to our conversation.

“Oh… Actually No, replied the Old man. Our King was meeting with foreign dignitaries that day & was coming back from meeting them. That’s when I met him, replied the old man.

Disappointed at not getting an answer for his question, the man tried again “The King would have many wives with him always, isn’t?”

The old man gave a puzzled look. He wants to know if the King had many wives & if all of them stayed in the palace, I rephrased the question for the old man.

He has few, not many wives and they reside in the palace with him, he said.

“I heard from my friend that electronic items are available very cheaply there. Is it true?” asked another passenger nearby.

“Well, not really. But we do have ample supply of those goods hence the availability at low cost, said the old man. Few more passengers took part in the conversation. It seemed as if I was hosting a reality show with the old man as the guest. The old man was slightly surprised with the new found fame still

was patiently answering all the questions.

Thinking that if the conversation went forth, people would start asking random questions on Bahrain women & goods to the old man, I asked the old man “I think we have reached the bus station. So where are you planning to go now?”

“I will be going back to Kerala now to our ancestral home. Now that our son is not with us, I will have to go & look after my wife who is alone there, he said. Since the topic had changed from the King to Kerala, the passenger’s interest faded away and they got back to their normal routine of dozing & gazing outside.

I nodded my head in agreement. I was finding it hard to console a guy who has lost his only son & hence thought it is better to stay silent rather than saying anything.

“Son, I would need a small help, said the old man.

Yes, Baba. Tell me, I said

“I would like to borrow some money to go back to Kerala. The money which I had in my purse was stolen by those thieves. All my money is in my bank account in Bahrain which will take a week’s time to be transferred back here. Meanwhile, it will be helpful if you can lend me some money for the bus

ticket. I will send the money to you, as soon as I get my money, he said.

“No problem, Baba. You can give me the money later. I don’t have the money now. I will withdraw it from the ATM machine and give it to you, I said.

The bus had reached the main bus stand. Getting out of the bus, we enquired the place where Kerala buses will start. The conductor directed us to a spot. We asked the driver about the ticket fare to Kerala. “Normal fare 195, Non A/C pushback -290 & A/C- Rs.650”replied the driver as if reciting a hotel menu. “There is a last bus today & it will leave in half an hour”, he said.

I told the old man to wait near a shop so that I can go & withdraw the money from the ATM. After withdrawing the money, I came back & extended Rs.1000 to the old man.

The old man gave me a quizzical look.

“I know Baba. I suggest that you travel in a push back seat instead of a normal one. You would have to sit straight in a normal seat which will be highly inconvenient. Also, you would need some money to buy something once you reach there.”

“Thank you & God bless you, Son. You are very caring & considerate.” Give me your address so that I can send some gift to you. That is the least I can do for you, replied the old man.

“Now, that is not required, Baba” I said.

“No, no. I insist. Tell me – would you want a digital camera or a TV”, he asked.

“Well, if you say so, a camera would be fine, I said. I have been planning for few months to get a camera. Now that, the opportunity presented itself, why not make the best use of it. Thinking so, I wrote out my name & address in a piece of paper and gave it to him.

“Let’s go & get your tickets, Baba” I said.

“It’s not required, Son”. You have really done a lot to me today. I don’t know how I will be able to repay you. I will have something to eat and then buy the ticket. I don’t want to hold you from your journey. You have your own bus to catch now.

I realized that I was yet to get a ticket for myself. Generally, I book the tickets online & hence have a ticket. Since, it was an impromptu travel decision; I was yet to find out the bus schedules. “Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you till your bus”, I asked.

“No Son. I think I will go & call my wife & tell her about my journey now. And I will inform my company to about my resignation. Then have some food before boarding the bus”

“Okay, Baba. It was nice to meet you. Take care” I said.

“You too Son. Thanks for everything. Come to my home in Kerala if you ever come there”, he said with a smile & went off in the other direction.

I reached the ticket area & bought the tickets for the bus to Chennai. The bus was supposed to leave in 45 minutes. Since I didn’t have any work to do & the downpour was still continuing outside, I decided to wait in the bus until then. I kept my bag & sat down in my seat listening to the music in my iPod. The other passengers started walking in gradually. My weariness overtook me and I slowly drifted off to sleep. I thought about the condition of my cousin & mumbled a prayer that he should get fine. Then, the old man image appeared in my dream. “Poor guy. His situation was so pitiful. He had been working so hard abroad to save money for his family & for a better future but now all of that is just an empty dream. It’s always better to spend your time with your family; Time spent with family is much better than spending time running behind money”

As these thoughts were flashing in my mind, my last conversation with the old man played out.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to accompany you till your bus”, I asked.

“No Son. I think I will go & call my wife & tell her about my journey now. And I will inform my company to about my resignation.

Hold on. What did the old man say “call his wife & office?” During our earlier conversation, the old man had said that he had lost all address which he had. How can he call someone without having their details? I wondered.

“Don’t be stupid. It’s his home & office number. He may remember it, I thought.

“Let’s assume he can do that. But then he said he didn’t remember any other information during our conversation. How can he remember their details now?” I wondered.

I looked at the watch. The bus to Kerala was supposed to start by 7pm. It was 7:05pm now. My bus was still filling it; hence an idea occurred to me. I went out and ran to the place where the Kerala bus stood, hoping the bus would still be there. I spotted the bus around the corner. The bus conductor had gone to get something and the bus was still waiting near the gate. I dashed on towards the bus. As I climbed in, the bus driver shouted “No seats available; Get out”. I just barged in & glanced around at the passengers hoping to find the old man. I couldn’t find him anywhere. The passengers gave me a scornful look.

The bus had started to move. The reality of the situation dawned on me. As I got down from the bus, I heard the song which was playing in my iPod. It was Frank Sinatra’s & it went

“That's life, that's what all the people say…”

The End...

A Tribute

2011-10-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Steve Jobs died yesterday at the age of 56. The whole worldis mourning the loss of a creative visionary, genius, leader and a lot more. Anddeservedly so. Iam not going to writeabout his rich exploits or inventions as numerous articles has been writtenabout him. This article is a tribute to theman who I admire for certain things. Everyone has a lot to learn from SteveJobs, his life, his philosophy. I read an article on “The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs”(McGraw-Hill, October, 2010) which reveals the 7 principles that are largelyresponsible for his breakthrough success; principles that have guided SteveJobs for his entire career and, more important, principles you can adopt todayto “think differently” about your company, product or service.

Iam sharing the 7 principles here for your benefit. You canapply it in your own life, business, career and as Steve Jobs liked to say youwill certainly become ‘insanely enriched’ by following these principles. Sohere we go;

Principle One: Dowhat you love

Passion is everything. Innovation—which simply means—new ways of doingthings that improve our lives---cannot flourish unless you are truly obsessedwith making something better—be it a product, a service, a method or a career.

“Have the courage to follow yourheart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.” Jobshas followed his heart his entire career and that passion, he says, has madeall the difference. It’s very difficult to come up with new, creative ideasthat move society forward if you are not passionate about the subject.

“Passion won’t protect you against setbacks, but it will ensure that nofailure is ever final.” – Bill Strickland. How to do find your passion?Passions are those ideas that don’t leave you alone. They are the hopes, dreamsand possibilities that consume your thoughts. Follow those passions despiteskeptics and naysayers who do not have the courage to follow their dreams.

Principle Two: Put a dent in theuniverse.

This speaks to vision. Innovation doesn’t take place in a vacuum. Youneed to know where you’re going, what the ultimate destination is, and you needto inspire others, evangelists.

Steve Jobs has never underestimated the power of vision to move a brandforward. In 1976, Steve Wozniak was captivated by Jobs’ vision to “put acomputer in the hands of everyday people.” In 1979, Jobs took a tour of the Xeroxresearch facility in Palo Alto, California. There he saw a new technology thatlet users interact with the computer via colorful graphical icons on the screeninstead of entering complex line commands. It was called a “graphical user interface.” Inthat moment, Jobs knew that this technology would allow him to fulfill hisvision of putting a computer in the hands of everyday people. Jobs later saidthat Xerox could have “dominated” the computer industry but instead its‘vision’ was limited to building another copier. Two people can see the samething but perceive it differently based on their vision.

Steve Jobs set out with a vision to change the world. What’s yourvision for your product, brand, and your career? Passion fuels the rocket, but vision pointsthe rocket to its ultimate destination.

Principle Three: Kick-start yourbrain.

Creativity leads to innovative ideas. Job believes that a broad set ofexperiences expands our understanding of the human experience. A broaderunderstanding leads to breakthroughs that others may have missed. Breakthroughinnovation requires creativity and creativity requires that you thinkdifferently about…the way you think.

“Creativity is just connecting things.”

Steve Jobs creates new ideas precisely because he has spent a lifetimeexploring new and unrelated things—seeking out diverse experiences. Jobs hiredpeople from outside the computing profession, he studied the art of calligraphyin college, meditated in an Indian ashram, and evaluated The Four Seasons hotelchain as he developed the customer service model for the Apple Stores. Lookoutside your industry for inspiration.

Principle Four: Sell dreams, notproducts.

Your customers don’t care aboutyour product, your company or your brand. They care about themselves, theirhopes, their dreams, their ambitions. Help them fulfill their dreams and youwill them over.

Principle Five: Sayno to 1,000 things.

Jonathan Ive, Apple design guru: “We are absolutely consumed by tryingto develop a solution that is very simple, because as physical beings weunderstand clarity.” Your customers demand simplicity and simplicity requiresthat you eliminate anything that clutters the user experience. Steve Jobs reduced complexity inthe Smartphone category by eliminating the keyboard.

Principle Six: Create insanelygreat experiences.

“People don’t want to just buypersonal computers anymore. They want to know what they can do with them, andwe’re going to show people exactly that. Jobs has made the Apple Store the goldstandard in customer service by introducing simple innovations any business canadopt to create deeper, more emotional connections with their customers. Forexample, there are no cashiers in an Apple store. There are experts,consultants, even geniuses, but no cashiers.

Apple created an innovative retail experience by studying a companyknown for its customer experience—The Four Seasons. Apple Stores would attractshoppers not by moving boxes, but by “enriching lives.” The lesson—don’t move“product.” Enrich lives instead and watch your sales soar.

Principle Seven: Master themessage.

You can have the most innovative idea in the world, but if you can’tget people excited about it, it doesn’t matter. Steve Jobs is considered one ofthe greatest corporate storytellers in the world because his presentationsinform, educate and entertain. Steve Jobs thinks visually about presentingideas, products, and information.

Don’t let the bozos get you down. One more thing… Innovation takes confidence, boldness and thediscipline to tune out negative voices.

“Wedon’t need you. You haven’t gotten through college yet.”

“Getyour feet off my desk. Get out of here. You stink and we’re not going to buyyour product.”

“Yourproblem is that you still believe the way to grow is to serve caviar in a worldthat seems pretty content with cheese and crackers.”

“There’sno reason why anyone would want a computer in their home.” Imagine howone young man with big dreams must have felt when he heard the following.

Of course, these statements were all directed at one time or another toSteve Jobs. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own innervoice.”

“Dreambigger”

Perhaps the ultimate lesson that Jobs teaches us is that innovationrequires risk-taking and risk taking takes courage and a bit of craziness. Seegenius in your craziness. Believe in yourself and your vision and be preparedto constantly defend those beliefs. Only then will innovation be allowed toflourish and only then will you be able to lead an “insanely great” life.

Lastly, a lot many people say Steve Job will be missed. I don’t thinkso. It is said that every life has its own purpose. And I feel that in his lifetime, Steve Jobs has taught us manifold lessons and it will be more than enoughif we understand & inculcate them in our life.

As Steve himself says, “Quality is more important than quantity. One home run is much better than two doubles”,I would say the adage “The quality of a person’s life is more importantthan the quantity of their life” suits Steve Jobs life appropriately.

To wind up, let the words of one of the world’s inspirational figuresguide you throughout your lives.

“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”

The Stranger – Part II

2011-10-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

Read the first part here

Iam not sure if it was the old man’s tone or the fact that the tears were flowing across his face that made me listen to him without reacting back. People generally react by shooing away a stranger or be indifferent to him. But somehow, seeing the old man made me feel that I could relate to him on something. But I wasn’t sure what that was. Since we were standing at such close proximity, I could get a clear look at him. His age seemed to be slightly over 50-55 and he had very few hairs left on his head, a sign of old age. His face seemed crinkled with tensions and worldly worries and he sported a beard which grew uneven across his face. He was visibly thin made more visible by the fact that he was wearing an over sized kurta. The picture was complete with an old leather bag hanging on his shoulders which seemed to sag a little due to some heavy object kept in the bag.

“What do you want, Baba”, I asked him. (Baba is a salutation used to address elderly people)

“Help me out son. I came here to visit my son but I have been tricked & my stuff stolen from me, and left like beggar on the roads. Saying so, he coughed violently.

I thought that since he has come to visit his son and that he must have forgot his son’s address and got lost. Bangalore is a big city to find someone without an address or a contact number. So, he basically wants me to help him find his son. A difficult task but at-least I can direct him to a police station.

“Baba let me see what I can do”. Do you know where your son lives? Any address or other information?

“I had just an address with me. Now I have lost that too. That doesn’t matter now.” He replied

coughing.

His coughing seemed to re-occur frequently. I was amazed by how his fragile body could withstand such a heavy onslaught of bouts of cough. I asked him “Your coughing looks pretty bad. Are you alright?”

“Iam unwell & I haven't taken my medication for the last 2 days. In addition, this bad climate seems to be aggravating my situation”, replied the old man.

That’s too much of a gloom for a person to handle. Bad health, bad climate, lost hopelessly in a new place – a recipe for a perfectly un-perfect situation for any person.

“Why don’t you take some medication? That will improve your health”, I replied.

“I have my personal doctor’s medication list but I can’t buy them” he said.

“Why? Aren’t the medicines available here?” I asked

“I don’t have the money to buy it”, he said and started coughing again.

He seemed to be in a real bad shape and his frequent coughing was taking a toll on him. Definitely not a good place for him to be standing in the rain. My heart reached out to him, so I asked him “How much does the medicines cost. Let me have a look at that list”

The old man gave me a small chit from his bag. Few medicines were scribbled across the sheet. “Let’s buy these.” Saying so, I asked him to follow me and took him to a pharmacy shop across the road.

The old man seemed to be startled or at least that’s what his face expression seemed to look like. The pharmacy was crowded but then this is the time of the year when the pharmacy guys makes a killing. The worse the climate, more the number of people who fall sick & hence more customers. As we waited for our turn, I asked him how he had turned up here.

“My son was working in the company here. 5 weeks back I got a call from India, saying that they wanted me to come down here regarding some important thing. My wife is old and is bed ridden in Kerala, that’s where our ancestral house is. They had conveyed the message to her initially. Because she is old, she couldn’t travel here. Last week, I got an emergency courier informing about this. I was busy with my work hence couldn’t get leave immediately, still I let my boss knew about the emergency and rushed back here”. The crowd at the shop had lessened in the meanwhile, and I used the pause in our conversation to inform the pharmacist to give the required medicines. The pharmacist packed our medicines and I paid for the bill. Coming out of the shop, I handed the medicines to the old man.

“I thought all the people here are evil. Fortunately, even good exist. Good people like you”. I didn’t know how to react to that one. I said “It’s not like that. There are a lot many good folks too”. I suggest that you take some medicines now. It will improve your situation. Saying so, I gave him my water bottle and he took few medicines and gulped them down.

“My son would have been the same age as you now. He too was caring and understanding as you are“. Being made the point of adulation again, was proving to be embarrassing for me again. To divert our conversation to another topic, I asked him what had happened next after he arrived in Bangalore.

“I reached my son’s office and inquired about my son. They directed me to go to another office nearby to meet someone else. I reached the place & when I tried to enter the office they said that I have to leave my luggage outside before entering it. There was no one outside except two young people so I asked them to take care of my luggage and I went in. I was told to sign few papers after which I would be allowed to meet my son”.

He paused for a moment.

“After signing the papers, I met my son & when I came out, all I could find was this old bag. Those tricksters had taken away my money, belongings, clothes etc. I looked all around but couldn’t find anyone”.

The old man really seemed to be very naive. Trusting someone with your belongings without any proof meant a clean sweep of one’s stuff. “By the way, did you ask them about the papers which you were asked to sign?

“Oh, that. “I didn’t get time to read it, as they were forcing me to sign it quickly. They said that it’s routine paper work for any visitors. I was more interested in meeting my son, so I didn’t bother much about it”.

There you go again. Signing a paper without reading it in India meant one thing. Being made a complete fool. I didn’t want to bother him further by saying this could mean more trouble later. This man seemed completely out of place. I got curious to know which part of India was he from as staying in India and still being oblivious of all these facts. “Where do you work?”

“Bahrain”, he replied.

So he had traveled from abroad and found himself in this situation. No wonder, the beard explained the place he came from. Then I recalled that he had said that he had met his son. Then why the hell did he leave his son. All he had to do was to go to his son’s office and meet him. His son would take care of him.

“You said you met your son. Why did you leave him there and returned back”, I asked

“I haven’t left him there. I have him with me”, saying so, he took out a small pot from his bag.

“What do you mean”, I asked him.

The old man said “My son died last month in an accident in his firm”. It dawned on me that when the old man had said that he had met his son, he had meant his son’s ashes in the pot which he had collected from his son’s company.

To be contd...

The Stranger – Part I

2011-09-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

The day began as any other day except that it had rained the night before and now a slight drizzle was greeting the morning visitors. I walked up to the balcony to take a breath of fresh air and lazily looked out at the roads. There was some traffic in the roads. It was ‘Friday’ today and as people have plans for the weekend, they tend to get back home sooner and hence to leave sooner, many start for their office quicker in the morning.

‘Not getting ready for office yet, Arjun’ said Ganesh, who was my roommate.

‘Yup. In sometime. Just observing something, I replied.

‘You and your observation, God only know what you observe’ said Ganesh smilingly. Ganesh makes fun of me saying I had an inclination to observe everything and anything under the sun. It’s just that I get lost in the thoughts seeing something, which I end up explaining as observation to him.

‘So what plans for the weekend?’ Ganesh asked breaking my chain of thoughts.

‘Dunno. You tell. Iam fine with anything’ I replied.

‘Ok, how about watching a movie and then hitting the mall’ asked Ganesh.

That was our favorite hangout place which had its own benefits. With less out-flow of resources (read -money), the potential gains were extremely high. All that was required was time to spend and we had loads of it with us. ‘The usual plan, ha?’ Iam fine with it. Chalo, I need to get ready now. It’s 8:15 now. The cab pickup is at 9:00 am’. Saying so, I came back into the room and started to get ready.

Within 30 minutes I was ready. ‘I will call you in the evening, once I leave office’, saying so I started off for office. The cab was waiting at the scheduled place for the pickup. A 15 minute walk to the office took 45 minutes to reach the office because of the morning traffic rush. Still, one can use the extra time to catch some additional sleep.

By 9:45am, I was in my cubicle all set to begin the routine day. It’s been 3 years I have been working as a software engineer and the routine was coding, debugging and testing. 30 days a month, 365 days an year. By then, one gets used to the normal routine. That day would have been another routine day except what happened next. My phone rang. I looked up the display and saw my uncle name. Strange for him to call me at this time, thus wondering I picked up the call.

‘Namaste Uncle. How are you?’ I greeted him

‘Iam good, Kutti. How are you? How is your health?’ [Kutti was my pet name at home]

‘Iam doing well. You tell me, how are everyone at home?’ I asked.

I expected the usual reply of everyone well at home etc etc. Instead I was greeted with silence on the other end.

‘Uncle, is everything alright?’ I asked.

‘No Kutti. Chitti met with an accident yesterday night.

I was stunned. Chitti was my elder cousin & he was very close to me. Words were hard to come. ‘How is he now?’ I asked.

‘He has been taken to the hospital. It’s a very serious one and he is critical. All are coming to see him. So thought of informing you. It would be nice if you can come to see him during the weekend’.

‘Ok. I will be there for sure. Have you informed Dad and Mom?’

‘Yes, they are on their way now’.

‘Please be hopeful. I will pray for his quick recovery’, I said.

‘Yes Kutti. Our prayers are for his quick recovery. You come home safely. See you tomorrow. Bye’, saying so, Uncle ended the call.

The rest of the day passed in a daze. My elder cousin, who was 3 years elder to me was more than a cousin to me. We had stayed together for 5 years when we were young. Later, we used to visit each other often and the bonding became tighter. After schooling, we didn’t time to see each other much but we used to connect up over phone. He pursued medical stream while I choose engineering as my interest. We were planning to connect up in few months, but it never occurred to me that I will be meeting him in such scenario.

In order to escape the Friday evening rush, by 4pm, I told my manager about the situation and he accepted my request. I went home by 4:30 and by 5 pm had packed the things required for the journey. I checked my purse and saw that I had only 250 bucks left. “I will withdraw money from the ATM for the bus tickets, after reaching Main Bus stand” thinking so, I left for the bus stand with my bag-pack on my back. I called Ganesh on my way and told him about the situation and my plans to leave for my hometown. The downpour had increased meanwhile, so I opened the umbrella & held it in one hand and continued walking carefully on water logged road. It was cold outside with a slight breeze of air.

Thinking that having a hot tea would be a good idea, I stopped at the Shanti Bakery which was our favorite eat-out destination & ordered a cup of tea. While I was waiting for it, my eyes fell upon a person moving in the road. I wouldn’t have noticed him if he had been moving like everyone else, he was moving in a wayward manner, and was walking front and back. Sipping the tea, I tried to get a better look at him. A closer inspection revealed that he was old & was trying to get the attention of the passer-by’s. It was as if he was trying to ask something to others. But people were quite pre-occupied with their own thoughts, so very few noticed him or stopped to listen to him. But the man kept on trying. “I wonder what he is asking for” thinking so I paid for the tea and started off.

I walked on for few feet and then crossed the road to reach the bus stop. I was reminiscing about my childhood days, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back to see the same old guy standing before me and his words were ‘Son, Please help me!’

To be contd…

Lessons from Harry Potter Saga

2011-09-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

I guess the post title might seem attractive to a Potter fan. And who wouldn’t feel so. JK Rowling did weave a magical net which had all enclosed in it. The journey had been a pleasant one which had come to an end with the release of the HP and the Deathly Hallows-II. A memorable journey indeed. Keeping away the nostalgic recollections of HP journey let me get down to what this article is about. I have put down my thoughts on the learning from the movie i.e. few snippets of wisdom (if you can call it that way) or motivational stuff which I believe will inspire us to live a better life ourselves. Before I start, it goes without saying that you will appreciate the article much more if you had read the book or seen the movie ‘Harry Potter series’ or at least have an idea about what the series is about. Nevertheless, you can read the article and appreciate the lessons shared. Let’s begin.

One meets his fate in the path one takes to avoid it: The first learning is the fact that one meets his fate in the very path which he takes to avoid it. The reason Voldemort tries to kill Harry is because of the prophecy that he will meet his end at the hands of a child. So he finds out Lily and James hide-out, kills them and while killing Harry, it backfires on him. The very thing which he wanted to stop resulted in him initiating it. If Voldemort hadn’t attacked Harry, neither would have Harry became as popular and ended up being a threat to Voldemort. Similarly in our lives too, we take extensive measures to avoid something and in the end, no matter what we do, we end up in a situation which we wanted to avoid (I know the above sentence was confusing to read. To put it simply, don’t run away from things which are your primary responsibility. Things have a way of getting onto you, no matter how hard you try to avoid it)

Respect everyone for what they are: Another recurring theme which keeps coming up in Harry Potter is the fact ‘Respect others for what they are and not for what they have’. Harry showed respect for characters like Dolby, Hagrid when many people disliked or hated them for the way they were like. In exchange, Dolby, Hagrid and many others were ready to do anything for Harry’s well being. It’s not just about getting favors from people but the fact that you respect people for what they are and for that they will be eternally grateful. In our lives too, sometimes we may get carried away by status and power. Not that it’s wrong to respect power or status, but if we respect people irrespective of their status, position or power, your stars will prove lucky in due time :)

A Parent's true responsibility: Though Iam not qualified (yet) to make this judgment either by experience nor by credentials based on what the wise people have said, I can safely claim that the best thing parents can do for their children is to trust in them & allow them to make their own choices in life. In Harry Potter if you take the case of Frank & George, Hermione, their parents had given them the freedom of choosing what to become. In real life most of the times, Parents try to live their dreams though their children which is a good thing if the child also wants it. But if the child aspirations are different and if he is forced to live his parent dreams, then it only leaves the child living in a hopeless world inhibiting him to reach his truest potential. All a Parent can do is to convey to your children that you love them for what they are and no matter what happens, you will be for them.

Hope; a light during dark times: In Harry Potter, many times Harry and his friends had no clue of how things will turn out yet they continued to go on by hoping for the best. Instances like when Dumbledore being killed, Harry caught by Death eaters etc seemed like the end of the world for them. But they continued to persist to see circumstances change, new help arrive at the most uncertain times. Similarly in life, we may not know what may happen, how the future will turn out, but if we just continue to belief that the best will happen more often than not, things will turn out to be better. Hence, no matter how circumstances are in your life, Hope for the best and stand your ground.

Love is the Ultimate power: In Harry Potter, the weapon which eventually kills Voldemort is his lack of understanding of the power of Love. It is the same thing which continued to save Harry Potter from Voldemort most of the times, the love of his mother for him, the love of Snape for his mother, Lily which led Snape to look out for Harry and love of his teachers & friends for him. In real life, the solution to most of our problems is to understand the true power of Love. As someone said, Love can move mountains and any obstacles. Hence, it will do us well to remember that as long as we share, embrace and exchange Love with everyone around us, we will continue to live in harmony and continue to evolve to higher states of being.

That’s just few of the learning I had from the Harry Potter saga which I hope were useful to you. I would love to hear your own lessons from the movie.

On an ending note, a question had popped up which I thought I will put it to you. If you had followed Harry Potter, take a pick at the question --> “What is the star sign of Harry Potter?” ;)

Connect the dots

2011-08-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

It’s being a month and half since I blogged. And just last month, I said to myself that I will blog once a week. Life has its own way of making us realize our folly of assuming to be in control of a situation. Well, few updates from my work place. It’s being 2 months in my job and the experience has been good until now. Except that as being in corporate, one gets very little time for oneself. The reason why iam stating all this is because there have been numerous times when I have got many ideas for writing articles. But I didn’t get the time, rather I didn’t make the time for it. Hence, the lull for more than 45 days. Fortunately, the jinx has been broken now.

Iam sure you have heard the famous speech by Steve Jobs at Stanford University during the Graduation ceremony. If no, I strongly suggest you spend some time watching it, his speech is very inspiring & insightful. For those who have seen the video, Steve Job shares 3 lessons from his life. This article is on the 2^nd lesson which he shared “Connecting the dots”. (For those, who havent seen the video, the 2^nd lessons tell about how Steve during his graduation time, attended a course on calligraphy. At that time, it didn’t make sense for him to take that course. However, after he founded Apple, due to his calligraphy knowledge, Apple was able to bring in different fonts which we use today. If he hadn’t attended that course, there wouldn’t have been this variety in the fonts. Steve says ‘Connecting the dots at a later point of time makes us realize that whatever had happened, happened for a reason’)

I was discussing about life with one of my friends, (Don’t be scared. We don’t do that kind of talking often. Still, being human we are bound to commit mistakes sometimes ;) ) We were reminiscing on the turn of events from our times of graduation. We have had some dreams, aspirations as we were grew. Few dreams got fulfilled, few never materialized yet at this point of time, we are in a place and situation perfectly suited for us. Few of us call it destiny, like things have already being pre-ordained and things are bound to happen in a certain way. If we look at the journey we undertake each day in our life , the journey towards our dreams, aspirations , the aspiration for a Big home, the aspiration of earning 6 digit salaries , the aspiration for a promotion etc. But sometimes, we may end up not achieving it. The causes may be intrinsic or extrinsic. Whatever be the cause, the fact of not achieving our aspirations hurts us to a large extent and we lose hope in ourselves & resign ourselves to fate. Or, we end up blaming Tom, Dick and Harry for our misfortune and continue to live our life cribbing on our bad luck. Now guess what the surprising part is. Some years later, we feel that somehow things have got in place. The things which we had aspired have materialized and we feel probably that’s the best way it could have taken place. Unfortunately, in the interim time which we had spent cribbing or regretting has gone away. If only we had known that things would turn out to be better later, we could have spent the interim time in a much more effective & happier manner.

Just imagine the possibilities of things, activities you could do by being a little more positive minded during the hard times. So do we have a secret of being happy no matter what happens? Guess what, we just heard the secret. Simply by connecting the dots. Yes, connecting the dots in REAL TIME. When we live our daily life, whenever we face failures, challenges and obstacles, all we need to do is to happily maneuver them & to say “Gosh, I know how this is gonna turn up. Things are happening in a way, which helps me reach my goal. Just that I need to be prepared and this situation prepares me for my future.”

Connecting the dots when the unexpected things happen enables us not only to stay pleasant but also helps us retain a positive mindset which ensures we strive towards our goals in a healthy, effective manner. Moreover, we wouldn’t be blaming anyone, or blaming our misfortune for any happening. Because we know that what’s happening today is happening for our future benefit. If things go our way, we are Happy. If things don’t go our way, we are still Happy. We don’t have a choice but to lead a Happy life, as long as we connect up the dots in REAL TIME.

Happy Living J

Lessons from Kung Fu Panda 2 !

2011-06-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

In my previous article on ‘Kung Fu Panda’, I had remarked that KFP (Kung Fu Panda) was an awesome movie, both in terms of entertainment as well as from a learning point of view. Watching its sequel, Kung Fu Panda 2, took the levels of awesomeness to another level. As the publicity folks of KFP2, rightly say – it’s EXTRA awesome!!! Without hyping to much about the movie, let me get down to the learning from the movie. I will provide a brief outline of the movie, so that one can connect with the lessons. (Read ahead at your own risk, if you hadn’t watched the movie!)

In KFP, Po becomes the dragon warrior by defeating Tai Long and saves the village. In KFP2, the Peacocks, (emperors of Ancient China) have a son, Shen who resorts to violence for getting power; due to which he is banished from the kingdom. In turn, he builds cannon and uses it to get back his kingdom from the Kung Fu Master’s Council. Hence, Chi Fu sends his students to go and stop Shen. Check out the movie to know how the story goes ahead… With the outline set, let’s go ahead with the lessons.

Never ending Knowledge: There is a proverb. ‘Known is a drop, unknown is ocean’. This emphasizes that a person learning never stops. ShiFu demonstrates a skill at the start of the movie and says that “for a Master, it is the next phase of the training”. Even for a Master, there are skills to be learnt, potential unearthed, and that the journey for Knowledge goes on. It is never ending… The moment someone says that he has mastered all, that’s when the downfall begins.

Inner peace: I guess this will be quite hard for many to understand (Even Iam wondering about it still), but attaining Inner Peace, is a pit stop before becoming Enlightened. Chi Fu says ‘Anything is possible, when one has inner peace’. And from the movie, I decipher that finding the purpose of one’s life is a means to attain inner peace.

Secret of Team Success: This is more of a management lesson. For any team to succeed, it is necessary that the members of the team work to each other skill’s advantage. No one is better or bad. Each brings on value add based on circumstances. This is clearly illustrated by the fact that the Furious five and the dragon warrior complement each other and leverage their skills. There is no ego between them and mutual respect and understanding exist. A team success is dependent on the success of the individual team members.

Know thyself: When Tigress and Po have a sparring session, Tigress tells Po that she used to punch the Iron wood trees while practicing, and now she doesn’t feel anything. Po asks for a shortcut so that he too doesn’t feel anything like Tigress, for which she replies that “Hard style isn’t your thing”. It is apt to quote Sun Tzu wise words “Know thyself and you can win hundred’s of battle”. Each of us has our own strengths. Most often, we try imitating someone or try to be someone else, hoping to achieve their success. Sadly that doesn’t work out. What might have made other man succeed can’t help you succeed. Hence, the foremost task for a person is to know himself, his style, his way of working etc.. That’s what differentiates him from the rest and makes him/her unique.

Times go on: In our life, we hope and pray for the good times to come. And we fear the bad times… Wise people understand that good and bad times are just phases in our life. They come and go. For, we can’t predict when the bad times can come or when the good times can end. Similarly, the movie shows in a wonderful way how things can change in a short duration. Shen uses cannon on Po, and everyone thinks he is dead, and all things seem lost. Then, Po comes along and saves the Furious Five. They are joined by the Masters - Storming Ox and Croc, and Master ShiFu. It seems they are gonna rout Shen’s troops and win the war. That’s when Tigress and Po gets shot by the cannon again, tipping the scale in favor of Shen. The same is true in life. May it be bad or good times, one thing will help us bear them, that ‘all things will pass’

Facing fears: Another aspect which I would like to discuss is, regarding facing one’s darkest fears. We try to run away from our fear, thinking that will make the fear disappear. But the truth is that as long as we keep running away from it, it becomes that much stronger. As someone said, FEAR is nothing but, ….In the movie, Po refers to his nightmares as bad memories and tries to block it. But the soothsayer tells him to “Stop fighting, let it flow” and when Po embraces his fears, he achieves Inner peace. In real life, it may not be that easy to achieve Inner Peace, but embracing one’s darkest fear will certainly help to let go of the fear and understand oneself.

You are what you choose to be: This is my favorite lesson from the movie. These soothsayer lines are simply wonderful. “Your story may not have such a happy beginning. But that doesn’t make you who you are. It is the rest of the story, who you CHOOSE to be”, that makes you who you are.

We are faced with innumerable challenges, obstacles in our daily life. Sometimes, it is very easy to pass the blame and wash off our hands. Telling reasons like “I didn’t have a happy childhood, I didn’t have a good schooling, I didn’t have money given to me by my parents” etc, may make us think that we aren’t responsible for our life troubles. But we forget that by doing so, we choose to be not-responsible for our lives. Every moment, we have a choice and the choices we make determine who we become. It determines “WHO WE ARE”. And that in turn, determines our DESTINY.

That’s all I have from my end. Iam sure you too would have had plenty of learning yourself. It would be great if you could also share your learning here. And I hope this article helped you learn something in turn too…

Take Charge…

Perfect Show with Mr.N.K.Chaudhary : Revitalizing Social Entrepreneurship !

2011-06-11T00:09:00.000-07:00

One of my previous article on Jaipur Rugs, talked about Social Entrepreneurship and how the company was making a difference in the life of the rural artisans. I had the humble experience of meeting Mr.N.K.Chaudhary who despite his busy schedule entertained us and answered our questions patiently. I requested him to share his impressive rise from a humble background to a successful social entrepreneur, and as always he was kind enough to share his life experiences so to benefit others. So here I present before you, N K Chaudhary (NKC) is the Founder-Chairman & Managing Director of Jaipur Rugs Company Private Limited. The legendary to many, NKC has received the 'Best SME Corporate Social Responsibility' by Business Today & Yes Bank, 'Indian Achievers Award for Business Excellence' by Indian Achievers Forum and many more. "University of Michigan" invited him to share his thoughts on his groundbreaking concept of empowering the bottom of the pyramid. His company ‘Jaipur Rugs’ has been making a huge difference in the lives of rural villagers by empowering them to earn a livelihood and live a better life. To know more about Jaipur Rugs, click here

Over to the Perfect Show now.

Guest: Mr.N.K.Chaudhary (NKC)

Host: Prashant Sree (PS)

PS: Welcome to the Perfect Show, Sir. It’s great having you in the Show.

NKC: Thank You Prashant. It’s my pleasure.

PS: Your success across 3 decades is really impressive and inspirational, both as a entrepreneur and as a person. So, what are you passionate about in Life?

NKC: I am passionate about social entrepreneurship. It gives an opportunity to achieve social change - one that could transform the lives of grassroots level people. Though I believe social entrepreneurship is not just about addressing the social change. It is meant for the benefit of every stakeholder that you have or you work for, and whatever you do should be realized and taken as fair and equitable by every stakeholder.

PS: Rightly said Sir. One can go ahead in his life only when he has a bigger concern at heart. Could you share your life lessons which have changed you completely?

NKC: I spent my entire youth with underprivileged people. I realised the impact of poverty while working in the remotest areas of India. Poverty is more than a curse. If you can help or empower one person in eradicating his or her poverty, there can’t be any bigger success than this.

PS: That’s a noble thought Sir. If you want to change one thing in world, what would you change?

NKC: If I have to change one thing in the world, I will change the way the money is used. Economic reforms have not reached to their essence just because the key flow of money is still directionless across the world.

PS: Well said. Money has the power to bestow financial independence. Hopefully things will change, with people becoming empowered soon. Moving on to something mythical, who is your favourite Mythological Hero and why?

NKC: I admire Karna for his commitment to himself. He lived his spirit of giving throughout his life which he took it as his karma. Moreover, he followed it while he was just going to die after getting defeated by Arjuna. It is said that while he was on a deathbed, Lord Indra and Surya disguised themselves by becoming beggars to take his generosity test further, since Lord Indra had questioned his generosity. They asked for something, for which Karna replied that he had nothing left to give. They informed Karna that he had some gold in his tooth which could be very useful for them. He immediately picked a stone and broke his tooth, and gave that tooth to the beggars. This is something which an extremely great soul can only do.

PS: I agree completely. Moving on, what would you like to evangelize in your life?

NKC: I believe in true education - one that makes you understand what you want to do. Unless you know what you want to do, you can’t deliver your 100%, besides you won’t take learning positively. Education helps you to know yourself for work. We shouldn’t forget we take education for work, not money. However, we all know wealth always follows the great work. When it comes to work everyone needs to be clear and committed. It should be part of one’s aptitude and attitude.

PS: Well said Sir. I also believe strongly in that. What do you consider as your charm, which attracts people to you?

NKC: People appreciate me for what I have done and what I am doing. They also find me extremely simple and down-to-earth.

PS: I certainly can vouch out for that, since I have interacted with you personally. Could you share your Thumb Rule for Life?

NKC: Put special and practical efforts and integrate them, results will definitely come. I have been following this rule since past 33 years when I started from scratch with just 2 looms and 9 weavers. Now Jaipur Rugs has a base of 40000 artisans. Remember, something becomes failure when you stop putting efforts on it.

PS: So, in your words, Persistence is the Key to success. Who have been your role models in your life and the reasons?

NKC: Any inspirational story or work becomes my role model. There are many people who do something which needs to be told or which has something to be learnt from. How you deal with ordinary things makes you extraordinary. One needs to be a good observer and analyzer to find out what is interesting and motivating for one. There is an unlimited scope for learning, improvement and inspiration. I don’t think one or few role models could completely help you for them.

PS: True. It is said that knowledge is everywhere; it is up to us to decide where we want to look and learn from. Name few books which have had a profound influence on you .

NKC: There have been many, yet I would name these three books:

I. Good To Great by Jim Collins

II. The 8^th Habit from effectiveness to greatness by Stephen R. Covey

III. Maverick by Ricardo Semler

PS: You recently received the Entrepreneurship for the year 2010. Could you share your story of how you started in this entrepreneurial path.

NKC: I started with 2 looms and 9 weavers in 1978. I kept on adding and developing artisans, and delivering high quality carpets. I realized that this industry has potential to eradicate poverty. I made the production of hand-knotted carpets completely meant for grassroots level people. Jaipur Rugs delivered work at their homes for yarn production and weaving, in spite of wherever they were residing across the country. Our supply chain extended from procurement of raw wool to exporting the finished carpets. Over the years, our turnover increased and Jaipur Rugs evolved 40000 underprivileged people into artisans. Now, we have about 300 customers and we export to over 20 countries. While managing this supply chain and growth, I realized people have started discerning me a social entrepreneur. They were the first to recognize me as an entrepreneur. It was not me.

PS: That’s good to hear Sir. Could you share few words on Jaipur rugs and your plans for the future.

NKC: We want all our stakeholders to value Jaipur Rugs for what it makes, how it makes and why it makes.

a) What it makes – the widest, newest and most exquisite range of handmade carpets

b) How it makes – a) Standardizing and reinventing the process cycle comprises of over 60 processes and b) Setting up in-house R&D department for design, colour and texture development

c) Why it makes – a) to offer the globe - the ultimate luxury of a carpet world b) to change the lives of grassroots level people. Our future plans mean to better, innovate and expand Jaipur Rugs for above mentioned points.

PS: What do you think are the main success ingredients for being an entrepreneur?

NKC: According to me, the main success ingredients for being an entrepreneur are:

a) Entrepreneurship spirit should be a drive-cum-commitment

b) Understand your work domain completely and be open for learning always

c) The good leadership is about converting key people into specialists/experts

d) Give importance to work than people to avoid favoritism and preconception

e) Be supportive and systematic

PS: Your advice to the first generation entrepreneur.

NKC: Work for the cause. It is also destined for great markets and profits.

PS: Iam sure that aspiring entrepreneurs will remember that. Coming to Corporate business ethics, it is believed that it is hard to be honest and become successful. What is your view on this? Can one make a mark in-spite of being honest and truthful?

NKC: I can’t say about other corporate businesses, but a social entrepreneur can’t achieve success if he is not honest and trustworthy. Social entrepreneurship is about working with and for grassroots level people to ensure social change. You can’t grow without evolving them, and to evolve them, you have to follow the best practices. We all know - honesty and trustworthiness are in-built traits of best practices.

PS: Now deviating a little bit from business ethics. And moving on to the million dollar question, do you believe in destiny... Do we have a destiny? Or do we create our own destiny.

NKC: Yes, I believe in the omnipresence of destiny. We all have destinies. But the best thing about destiny is that you can control or determine or take charge of your own destiny. I always feel destiny do not make you, you make the destiny.

PS: A profound thought, Sir! It’s been a real pleasure having you in the Show and interacting with you. Iam sure your life lessons would have been inspiring and motivating to young readers like me. On behalf of my show readers and myself, I thank you for being a guest in the Perfect Show and sharing your life lessons. I hope that Jaipur rugs continues its journey of empowering people’s life and goes on to empower a lot many more people in coming days.

NKC: It was nice to be a part of the show. Thank you for your wishes and I wish you the very best too…

That's all we have for this edition. I had visited Jaipur Rugs and have shared my experiences in this article Jaipur rugs

Pursuit of Happiness

2011-05-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

If you think that this post is on the movie “Pursuit of Happyness”, I commend you for guessing something which most of us would have done. Anyways, this article isn’t about that. I was reading an article on balancing life and money, and I realized how many of us over rate money in our life. Not to suggest that having more money is bad. An i-pad, i-phone, a new car, a trendy watch definitely brings a smile in your face (and jealous glances from others), still it is surprising to see the extent to which money is sought after. Likewise, Happiness is equally under rated in our lives, albeit all of us want happiness, but only few dare to take steps to be happy. Many of us get so busy running after money, hoping to earn some extra cash, that we forget that we are letting ourselves into a money trap. The more you think of getting rich, the more you exhaust your mental and physical faculties, resulting in the decline of your health (the very thing required for leading a happy life)

“Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” --- Nathaniel Hawthorne

So I have penned few thoughts on the ways to be more Happier in your life. I dont claim that these are the only ways to pursuit happiness. There a lot many things which one must do so to lead a Happy life, and these things are few of such ideas to be Happy...

1. Have a purpose: Having a purpose in life creates wonders. Great leaders have always emphasized that having a greater mission or calling gives you the energy to go about doing your daily activites. Hence, make ‘living rich’ your life purpose rather than 'getting rich'. The pursuit of money as a primary goal has negative mental health consequences. resulting in lower self-esteem,depression, and more trouble in the relationships."

2. Indulge in fun activity: I have used the word ‘fun’ to indicate things which one loves doing. May it be taking a walk, swimming, book reading or whatever be the activity, take sometime of your daily life for it. Studies have shown that doing things which one loves, not only is a great entertainment, it also rejuvenates the mind and the body. When was the last time, you did the activity which you loved doing. If the answer to it is anything before 1 month, its high time you do something about it.

3. Be ‘pragmatic’: It’s always better to be realistic rather than be ‘dramatic’ in our lives. The main source of sadness/disappointments in our lives is due to our unrealistic expectations. As a wise sage said that all we need is what we really need, remaining else is ‘just extra’. If we think about it, we will realize that there are very few things which we really need, the others are extravagant. Hence, leading a realistic life is a sure way to lead a satisfied life.

4. Beware of the ‘Matching feeling’: Most often in life, we are concerned about the things our neighbor has, rather than what we have. This matching concept leads us to live others life. We let others decide what we buy, when we buy and why we buy. Happy people concentrate on their own successes and don't compare themselves -- their income, their family time -- with others. So, its time to unlock yourselves from the clutches of ‘matching’; un-match and live your life.

5. Stop thinking and Start living: God has blessed us with a unique gift - brains, and we ended up being so grateful that we decided to use this gift for everything. And I mean for everything. Probably, our ancestors took an oath that we will continue to use our brains until the end. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to say that we shouldn’t think. On the contrary, we should think before doing something. But the ‘thinking’ has to have a limit. If you could look into your own life, think of the times when you spent lots of time on thinking, planning, ……ing…ing…ing…! Yea, that’s true. Just recall the number of new ideas which you have got until now and how many times you were excited to go about doing it. Yes, you would achieved a lot many of them, only if you hadnt thought much about the other variables. Will i be able to do it, would my parents approve of it, will i be able to get the necessary support etc etc... Many of our plans don’t fruition because of our habit of perennial thinking/planning. Life would be better lived if only we could stop worrying of the various consequences and take the first step to execute your plans…

6. A Googly: I was just checking if you do follow, what you read. There is no 6th idea. So enough of reading and start living ;)

Wishing you a Happy living and a good journey towards the pursuit of Happyness…

Am I with a right partner?

2011-05-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

During a seminar, a woman asked," How do I know if I am with the right person?" The author then noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so he said, "It depends. Is that your partner?" In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?" Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind replied the author. Here's the answer. Every relationship has a cycle...In the beginning; you fall in love with your partner. You anticipate their calls, want their touch, and like their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything.

That's why it's called "falling" in love. People in love sometimes say, "I was swept off my feet." Picture the expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something happened TO YOU. Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few months or years of being together, the euphoria of love fades. It's a natural cycle of EVERY relationship. Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse’s idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship; you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage. At this point, you and/or your partner might start asking, "Am I with the right person?"

And as you reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when relationships breakdown. The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found. People blame their partners for their unhappiness and look outside for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most common. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your relationship. It lies within it. I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else. You could.

And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later. Because (listen carefully to this): The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found. SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. You have to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort, and energy. And most importantly, it demands WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make it work. Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery. There are specific things you can do (with or without your partner). Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. If you know and apply these laws, the results are predictable.

Remember this always: God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you refuse to let GO!!

Source: Mail. Thanks Preeti for sharing this. And Happy Bday to you. :)

Que Sera Sera

2011-04-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

Que Sera Sera means Whatever Will Be, Will Be.

There lived an old man and his son near a mountainous area. They belonged to a tribe which consisted of 30 other families. The tribe’s primary mode of occupation was cattle rearing. Cattles were used not only for their livelihood but other avenues of revenue generation such as farming, transportation etc. Among the cattle, the sheep constituted the majority of the cattle followed by horse. Since the majority of the revenues came from renting their cattle nearby village, the wealth of a family was determined by the number of cattle they possessed, which it turn reflected the social standing of a family among its tribe. The tribal man had 5 sheeps and 1 horse which he had obtained from his father and had continued the same occupation since he was young. He too had trained his son in the same occupation. The young son specifically looked after the horse while the old man cared for the sheeps.

One day, the old man received a note requesting him for few goods from the nearby village. He instructed his son to leave for the village. The young son left in his horse along with the goods. While returning, due to the continuous journey, he stopped in a place for taking a brief nap. When he woke up, his horse had vanished. He wondered if the horse had been taken by some bandits or if it had run away. Mulling over this, he reached home and conveyed the sad news to his father. Possessing a horse was a matter of pride among the tribe and losing the only horse affected the old man’s status in the village. When the villagers came to know of the news, they all remarked “How unfortunate. What are you going to do now”? The old man remarked “Que Sera Sera”. The villagers nodded silently and left but internally they mocked him. Maybe he has become very sad and hence replying like this.

Months went by. One day, the young son woke up and opened the door. He was surprised to see his horse standing outside his home. More surprisingly, there stood a female horse along with his horse. His horse had gone into the jungle along with a female horse and now it had returned back home.The son ran to his father to convey the good news. The villagers were surprised by the turn of events. They went to the old man and congratulated him. Now his status had increased in the tribe. Having a male and female horse was perfect as they would produce more horses. ‘Your life has changed now. This is an occasion for big celebration, they remarked’. The old man smiled and replied ‘Que Sera Sera’. The villagers wondered what the old man meant. Instead of celebrating with them, he was playing it down. Crazy old man, they said and went away.

The young son started training with his horse and its companion. During one such training, the son took the two horses to the mountains and while on the way back, he tumbled and fell down. Due to the fall, he broke his leg. Somehow he reached home and was hospitalized immediately. He underwent therapy but the doctors said that the young man can’t walk normally again. He would have to limp for the rest of his life. When the villagers came to know of the news, they met the old man and offered their condolences. ‘Poor guy, it must be really hard on you to see your son in this state’ remarked one fellow. The old man had a grim face. He felt sad about the state of his son and felt sorry for him. He just replied ‘Que Sera Sera’.

The son got well and resumed his daily work. Though he couldn’t walk normally as before, he got used to moving around with a limp. Few weeks later, the messengers from the King arrived in the village. They had a message from the King. There were rumors that the neighbor king had plans to attack their country. In order to have his army at full strength, the king had passed a declaration making it compulsory for all the young people to come forward and be a part of the army. For all the youngsters volunteering, their families will be awarded 5 gold coins. The villagers were excited on hearing the news. All the youngsters from the village were able to join the army and were awarded 5 gold coins. Everyone except the son of the old man. The villagers remarked ‘You won’t get the gold coins since your son’s leg is broken & he can’t join the army. The old man replied ‘True. My son can’t fight properly due to his current state and volunteer for the army’. ‘You would have been lucky had your son been in good health’, said the villagers. ‘Que Sera Sera’, replied the old man.

The youngsters were taken to the city capital as part of the army. No news came from them for two months. The villagers wondered what had happened. Then one day, a messenger from the King arrived there. He announced that ‘the neighbor king had attacked their kingdom. The war raged for 2 month and finally with great difficulty, they were able to subdue & defeat the enemy forces.’ The villagers cheered. ‘But there is sad news. In the war, many of the young soldiers had died while fighting for their country. & others have been badly injured. ‘Saying so, he read the list of soldiers who had died in the battle & those who had been injured. All the bereaved families would be given some compensation from the King’s treasury. The villagers were shell-shocked. For the next two days, the whole village mourned the dead soldiers. The old man & his son visited the bereaved families and expressed their condolences. They said to the old man ‘Please apologize us for mocking at you before. We have lost our only child’. The old man consoled them and said “Que Sera Sera” and walked on…..

P.S: Life has its up and downs. We don’t have control over what might happen in our life but we do have control over our reactions to it. Understanding that all events (both happy and sad) are transient would be a source of everlasting joy in our lives.

Some of the Life's Important Lessons !

2011-04-21T04:38:00.000-07:00

I had come across these stories before. Recently, i got to read these through a friend. No matter, how many times one reads it, it keeps getting more funnier, Not to mention the morals which are ever green.

Lesson 1: Naked Wife

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next door neighbor. Before she says a word, Bob says, “I’ll give you $800 to drop that towel.” After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob.
After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 dollars and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks,…
“Who was that?” “It was Bob the next door neighbor,” she replies. “Great!” the husband says, “Did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?”

Moral of the story:
If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2
A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, “I’ll give each of you just one wish” “Me first! Me first!” says the administration clerk. “I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.” Poof! She’s gone. “Me next! Me next!” says the sales rep. “I want to be in Hawaii,relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.” Poof! He’s gone. “OK, you’re up,” the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, “I want those two back in the office after lunch.”

Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 3
A priest offered a lift to a Nun. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said,”Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest removed his hand. But,changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, “Father, remember Psalm 129?” The priest apologized “Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.” Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, “Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.”

Moral of the story: If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 4
A crow was sitting on a tree, doing nothing all day. A rabbit asked him,”Can I also sit like you and do nothing all day long?” The crow answered: “Sure, why not.” So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the crow, and rested.
A fox jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Lesson 5: Power of Charisma
A turkey was chatting with a bull “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, but I haven’t got the energy.” “Well, why don’t you nibble on my droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of dung and found that it gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after a fourth night, there he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Moral of the story: Bullshit might get you to the top, but it wont keep you there.

Lesson 6
A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Moral of the story:
1. Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy
2. Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend
3. And when you’re in deep shit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut!

Perspective

2011-04-12T11:45:00.000-07:00

Recently I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine. She was narrating a situation in which she and her colleague had some disagreement about something. My friend had suggested going to a temple. Her friend wasn’t interested in going to temple and had rejected the idea. Moreover, being an atheist, she made few strong statements on the non-existence of God. My friend who is quite a pious person strongly felt about this. Though she didn’t voice her disagreement openly ,thinking it might affect their working relation, she found me as an outlet for venting her anger on her colleague. “How could she say that God doesn’t exist and that one shouldn’t go to temples”. While, I understood her feeling about being reverent, she was unable to take the feeling that her colleague had mocked at her beliefs. I felt bad for her more for the fact that she was allowing her time to be wasted by thinking about something which had already happened. More-ever, her friend can't be blamed too, since she believes in the non-existence of God and hence she would justify her own thoughts. My friend wasn’t really convinced with this.

We tend to come across this kind of situation many times. Sometimes, our colleagues, friends behave in a way which is completely unacceptable to us. Irrespective of their behavior being right or wrong, the message which I want to share with others is the concept of considering the perspective of others. At least for the sake for not upsetting yourselves and end up wasting your time by thinking about others. Though, we may think that our view is justified, there is a chance that the other person may be right in someway. In order to substantiate my point, let me take you through a small exercise. Look at the picture shown below very closely and try to see anything you can. Make a note of, what you see in that.

Now, what if I say that there are 2 images in the picture. 1^st image which you obviously would have noticed (for those who have identified the 2 images, you made my job easier) and the 2^nd, image waiting to be found. The image most of you would have identified is the image of a nice, fashionable lady with a petite nose and wearing a hat and a necklace. The image which would have eluded most of you would be the image of an old woman with a big hook nose and her shawl. [Trying looking at the image more closely for sometime, if you aren’t able to see the 2^nd image. The young woman’s chin is the nose of the old woman and young woman’s ear is the old woman’s eye]

This research was done in Harvard Business school. Half of the students were shown the image of the young girl and remaining the old woman image. Then they were called to the classroom and shown the picture. Almost all the students who were shown the image of the young woman saw the young woman in the picture. And the students who had seen the old lady image saw the image of the old lady. When the class was asked to explain what they had seen, the class started arguing about the image identity, half the class saying that there was a young girl in the picture and the other half claiming it was a old woman. Finally, only when a student went up to the board and pointed to the drawing saying that it is the woman’s necklace, did another student pointed that it was the old woman’s mouth. Then only the student started calmly discussing the specific points of difference and both groups came to see each others opinion. This was shown to demonstrate clearly and eloquently that two people can see the same thing and yet disagree, and yet both may be right.

The general message which I want to share here is the fact that next time you disagree with your Mom or your best friend or your boy/girl friend or your colleague, Just before raising your own tone and trying to prove your point, take some-time in considering their perspective. You never know that both of you might be true but may be looking at different aspects of the same problem. You may end up winning the battle but may lose the war… Hence, it always helps to ensure that you appreciate other people's viewpoint and look at their point of view and then share your view point to ensure that you not only solve the contention peacefully but also end up becoming a little bit more wiser…

The Grammar of Anarchy

2011-04-07T09:29:00.000-07:00

I came across an article shared by one of my friend. It is taken from 'Perspectives' by Dr.B.R.Ambedkar. The content was too erudite and was a good read. hence, thought of sharing it here. Here, goes the article...

As much defence as could be offered to the Constitution has been offered by my friends Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar and Mr T T Krishnamachari, I shall not therefore enter into the merits of the Constitution. Because I feel, however good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. However bad a Constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it, happen to be a good lot. The working of a Constitution does not depend wholly upon the nature of the Constitution. The Constitution can provide only the organs of State such as the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The factors on which the working of those organs of the State depend are the people and the political parties they will set up as their instruments to carry out their wishes and their politics. Who can say how the people of India and their parties will behave? Will they uphold constitutional methods of achieving their purposes or will they prefer revolutionary methods of achieving them? If they adopt the revolutionary methods, however good the Constitution may be, it requires no prophet to say that it will fail. It is, therefore, futile to pass any judgement upon the Constitution without reference to the part which the people and their parties are likely to play.

The condemnation of the Constitution largely comes from two quarters, the Communist Party and the Socialist Party. Why do they condemn the Constitution? Is it because it is really a bad Constitution? I venture to say ‘no’. The Communist Party want a Constitution based upon the principle of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. They condemn the Constitution because it is based upon parliamentary democracy. The Socialists want two things. The first thing they want is that if they come in power, the Constitution must give them the freedom to nationalise or socialise all private property without payment of compensation. The second thing that the Socialists want is that the Fundamental Rights mentioned in the Constitution must be absolute and without any limitations so that if their Party fails to come into power, they would have the unfettered freedom not merely to criticise, but also to overthrow the State.

No right to bind succeeding generations
These are the main grounds on which the Constitution is being condemned. I do not say that the principle of parliamentary democracy is the only ideal form of political democracy. I do not say that the principle of no acquisition of private property without compensation is so sacrosanct that there can be no departure from it. I do not say that Fundamental Rights can never be absolute and the limitations set upon them can never be lifted. What I do say is that the principles embodied in the Constitution are the views of the present generation or if you think this to be an over-statement, I say they are the views of the members of the Constituent Assembly. Why blame the Drafting Committee for embodying them in the Constitution? I say why blame even the Members of the Constituent Assembly? Jefferson, the great American statesman who played so great a part in the making of the American constitution, has expressed some very weighty views which makers of Constitution, can never afford to ignore. In one place he has said: “We may consider each generation as a distinct nation, with a right, by the will of the majority, to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, more than the inhabitants of another country.”

In another place, he has said: “The idea that institutions established for the use of the nation cannot be touched or modified, even to make them answer their end, because of rights gratuitously supposed in those employed to manage them in the trust for the public, may perhaps be a salutary provision against the abuses of a monarch, but is most absurd against the nation itself. Yet our lawyers and priests generally inculcate this doctrine, and suppose that preceding generations held the earth more freely than we do; had a right to impose laws on us, unalterable by ourselves, and that we, in the like manner, can make laws and impose burdens on future generations, which they will have no right to alter; in fine, that the earth belongs to the dead and not the living;”

I admit that what Jefferson has said is not merely true, but is absolutely true. There can be no question about it. Had the Constituent Assembly departed from this principle laid down by Jefferson it would certainly be liable to blame, even to condemnation. But I ask, has it? Quite the contrary. One has only to examine the provision relating to the amendment of the Constitution…I challenge any of the critics of the Constitution to prove that any Constituent Assembly anywhere in the world has, in the circumstances in which this country finds itself, provided such a facile procedure for the amendment of the Constitution. If those who are dissatisfied with the Constitution have only to obtain a 2/3 majority and if they cannot obtain even a two-thirds majority in the parliament elected on adult franchise in their favour, their dissatisfaction with the Constitution cannot be deemed to be shared by the general public.

The danger of divisive politics
[But] my mind is so full of the future of our country that I feel I ought to take this occasion to give expression to some of my reflections thereon. On 26^th January 1950, India will be an independent country. What would happen to her independence? Will she maintain her independence or will she lose it again? This is the first thought that comes to my mind. It is not that India was never an independent country. The point is that she once lost the independence she had. Will she lose it a second time? It is this thought which makes me most anxious for the future. What perturbs me greatly is the fact that not only India has once before lost her independence, but she lost it by the infidelity and treachery of some of her own people. In the invasion of Sind by Mahommed-Bin-Kasim, the military commanders of King Dahar accepted bribes from the agents of Mahommed-Bin-Kasim and refused to fight on the side of their king. It was Jaichand who invited Mahommed Ghori to invade India and fight against Prithvi Raj and promised him the help of himself and the Solanki kings. When Shivaji was fighting for the liberation of Hindus, the other Maratha noblemen and the Rajput kings were fighting the battle on the side of Mughul Emperors. When the British were trying to destroy the Sikh Rulers, Gulab Singh, their principal commander sat silent and did not help to save the Sikh Kingdom. In 1857, when a large part of India had declared a war of independence against the British, the Sikhs stood and watched the event as silent spectators.

Will history repeat itself? It is this thought which fills me with anxiety. This anxiety is deepened by the realisation of the fact that in addition to our old enemies in the form of castes and creeds we are going to have many political parties with diverse and opposing political creeds. Will Indians place the country above their creed or will they place creed above country? I do not know. But this much is certain that if the parties place creed above country, our independence will be put in jeopardy a second time and probably be lost for ever. This eventuality we must all resolutely guard against. We must be determined to defend our independence with the last drop of our blood.

The importance of constitutional methods
On the 26^th of January 1950, India would be a democratic country in the sense that India from that day would have a government of the people, by the people and for the people. The same thought comes to my mind. What would happen to her democratic Constitution? Will she be able to maintain it or will she lose it again. This is the second thought that comes to my mind and makes me as anxious as the first. It is not that India did not know what is democracy. There was a time when India was studded with republics, and even where there were monarchies, they were either elected or limited. They were never absolute. It is not that India did not know Parliaments or parliamentary procedure. A study of the Buddhist Bhikshu Sanghas discloses that not only there were Parliaments—for the Sanghas were nothing but Parliaments—but the Sanghas knew and observed all the rules of parliamentary procedure known to modern times…Although these rules of parliamentary procedure were applied by the Buddha to the meetings of the Sanghas, he must have borrowed them from the rules of the political assemblies functioning in the country in his time.

This democratic system India lost. Will she lose it a second time? I do not know. But it is quite possible in a country like India—where democracy from its long disuse must be regarded as something quite new—there is danger of democracy giving place to dictatorship. It is quite possible for this new born democracy to retain its form but give place to dictatorship in fact. If there is a landslide, the danger of the second possibility becoming actuality is much greater. If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgement we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us.

The politics of pedestals
The second thing we must do is to observe the caution which John Stuart Mill has given to all who are interested in the maintenance of democracy, namely, not “to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with power which enable him to subvert their institutions.” There is nothing wrong in being grateful to great men who have rendered life-long services to the country. But there are limits to gratefulness. As has been well said by the Irish Patriot Daniel O’Connel, "no man can be grateful at the cost of his honour, no woman can be grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty". This caution is far more necessary in the case of India than in the case of any other country. For in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.

Social democracy
The third thing we must do is not to be content with mere political democracy. We must make our political democracy a social democracy as well. Political democracy cannot last unless there lies at the base of it social democracy. What does social democracy mean? It means a way of life which recognises liberty, equality and fraternity as the principles of life. These principles of liberty, equality and fraternity are not to be treated as separate items in a trinity. They form a union of trinity in the sense that to divorce one from the other is to defeat the very purpose of democracy. Liberty cannot be divorced from equality, equality cannot be divorced from liberty. Nor can liberty and equality be divorced from fraternity. Without equality, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Equality without liberty would kill individual initiative. Without fraternity, liberty would produce the supremacy of the few over the many. Equality without liberty would kill individual initiative. Without fraternity, liberty and equality could not become a natural course of things. It would require a constable to enforce them. We must begin by acknowledging the fact that there is complete absence of two things in Indian society. One of these is equality. On the social plane, we have in India a society based on the principle of graded inequality which we have a society in which there are some who have immense wealth as against many who live in abject poverty.

On the 26^th of January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment or else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of political democracy which this Assembly has to laboriously built up.

The second thing we are wanting in is recognition of the principle of fraternity. What does fraternity mean? Fraternity means a sense of common brotherhood of all Indians-if Indians being one people. It is the principle which gives unity and solidarity to social life. It is a difficult thing to achieve…

To build a nation
I remember the days when politically-minded Indians, resented the expression “the people of India”. They preferred the expression “the Indian nation.” I am of opinion that in believing that we are a nation, we are cherishing a great delusion. How can people divided into several thousands of castes be a nation? The sooner we realise that we are not as yet a nation in the social and psychological sense of the world, the better for us. For then only we shall realise the necessity of becoming a nation and seriously think of ways and means of realising the goal. The realisation of this goal is going to be very difficult…The castes are anti-national. In the first place because they bring about separation in social life. They are anti-national also because they generate jealousy and antipathy between caste and caste. But we must overcome all these difficulties if we wish to become a nation in reality. For fraternity can be a fact only when there is a nation. Without fraternity, equality and liberty will be no deeper than coats of paint.

These are my reflections about the tasks that lie ahead of us. They may not be very pleasant to some. But there can be no gainsaying that political power in this country has too long been the monopoly of a few and the many are only beasts of burden, but also beasts of prey. This monopoly has not merely deprived them of their chance of betterment, it has sapped them of what may be called the significance of life. These down-trodden classes are tired of being governed. They are impatient to govern themselves. This urge for self-realisation in the down-trodden classes must not be allowed to devolve into a class struggle or class war. It would lead to a division of the House. That would indeed be a day of disaster. For, as has been well said by Abraham Lincoln, a House divided against itself cannot stand very long. Therefore the sooner room is made for the realisation of their aspiration, the better for the few, the better for the country, the better for the maintenance for its independence and the better for the continuance of its democratic structure. This can only be done by the establishment of equality and fraternity in all spheres of life. That is why I have laid so much stresses on them.

I do not wish to weary the House any further. Independence is no doubt a matter of joy. But let us not forget that this independence has thrown on us great responsibilities. By independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves. There is great danger of things going wrong. Times are fast changing. People including our own are being moved by new ideologies. They are getting tired of Government by the people. They are prepared to have Governments for the people and are indifferent whether it is Government of the people and by the people. If we wish to preserve the Constitution in which we have sought to enshrine the principle of Government of the people, for the people and by the people, let us resolve not to be tardy in the recognition of the evils that lie across our path and which induce people to prefer Government for the people to Government by the people, nor to be weak in our initiative to remove them. That is the only way to serve the country. I know of no better.?

B R Ambedkar was the chief architect of the Indian Constitution, apart from being an activist, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, and revolutionary.

Original Source (http://pragati.nationalinterest.in)

“Pathetic” Politics: The Need Of The Hour

2011-04-03T12:49:00.000-07:00

“Politics is like sewage. Those who enter it will themselves get soaked in it”. One word to describe the current state of politics. ‘Pathetic’. Corruption, Money laundering, Family politics, Struggle for power, Lawlessness, Bad mouthing, you name it we have it in the current politics scenario. Be it national politics or regional politics, things are same everywhere. Except a few who are still upholding the true values of what the politics was supposed to do, the current level of politics has become irreparable beyond repair. Just to quote one blatant mockery of us, with the elections just round the corner, freebies are being promised to the people as if the politicians are spending their own money. Blasphemy to its max. I can rant on and on about the current condition of our politics. But instead what I want to discuss about is regarding redemption of politics and why I feel it is hard to redeem. I have added some thoughts on the kinds of leaders who are required for the political redemption. My fellow friends who might read this article can contribute a few more which they can think of.

It is said that one way to elect good leaders is to elect educated people. My belief goes on a tangential note in this case, because I feel educated people won’t be much different than the current group of politicians. It is said that to cure a disease it is necessary to identify the root cause rather than cure the superficial symptoms. The politics isn’t much different. The root cause according to me is the value system of the individual rather than his credentials. The current acts of the politicians who ensure that their power is passed on to their bloodline is nothing but a simple act of a human trying to ensure that his future generations enjoy the same comfort which they had. While I don’t say it is wrong thing, I believe that a person having such a value system isn’t the right candidate for being a leader of the people. But unfortunately, many among us have such inclinations. More so ever, the educated tend to exhibit such acts in an increasing manner than the uneducated ones. I have seen instances in which people of the highest qualifications tend to pass on their power or elect those who are close to them with no regards to their ability. While it is easy for us to dismiss it as a just a minor flaw, our casualness tends to be taken for granted by the politicians who do the same with the power which vest in them. And no one questions it. the reasons why we don’t question it, is a different matter to be debated on, but more importantly what matters is that many of us don’t have the right to question it because we end up exhibiting the same characteristics when we are vested with power.

I have thought of the characteristics of a person whose presence is required if we want to cleanse the politics of today. There are leaders of yesteryear's whose life had inspired us, inspire us now and will continue to inspire us in the future too. Few leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Periyar, Kamaraj, , Vallabhbhai Patel, APJ Abdul Kalam, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King etc. have had the following characteristics which have made them a legacy. Iam not saying that the leaders who I have quoted have been perfect in every way. They might have had their own imperfections still what I have considered here is that fact that when they had the authority of power in their hands, they displayed the below characteristics which made them belong to a unique league of great personalities. The characteristics of the politician should be:

Having a Vision

All these leaders were motivated by a common vision; of living to the full potential, of living a better life. The best example that comes to mind is Martin Luther King. When the blacks were widely in-discriminated in the society, Mr.King didn’t ask the people to revolt against it. Nor did he blame the whites for their current predicament. His famous words that continues to inspire people all over the world and which effectively mobilized the blacks were ‘I have a dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ All great leaders have a vision which they share with the people and make them believe in it too. Not only that, they inspire people to achieve it. Our own Mr.APJ Abdul Kalam also exhibited this when he was the President of India. He inspired India to become a Super power by the year 2020. The fact that many of us have forgotten that now is a sad reflection of today current state of affairs. Yet, during his tenure, all of us were aware of India’s potential and truly believed in it. That is a true case of inspiring & visionary leadership.

Being Responsible

The great leaders knew that the position they had made them responsible to the people. Instead of looking at their positional power as their moral right, these leaders were conscious of the fact that apart from a positional responsibility they also had a moral responsibility towards the people. All the leaders had a sense of ownership about the work they did. They took it upon themselves to finish a work they started. Be it be a great manager or a leader, this sense of ownership is what makes one complete a work which they start rather than look for laurels. Take Mr.Sardar Vallabhai patel for instance. He used his authority to single handedly unite the entire India. He acted not because his actions would have earned him something but because he knew that he was carrying the aspirations of the entire nation with him.

Selflessness

Almost all the leaders were self less in nature. They always placed the well being of the common man before their own good. These leaders had the greater good as their main priority before taking any action which also ensured that the masses liked them. Periyar, a great leader of South India has lived a simple life and always placed the greater good of the people ahead of his own interest. The great leaders empathized with the common folks and brought about lot many changes for their common good. Kamaraj is still remembered for bringing school education to millions of the rural poor by introducing free education and the free Mid-day Meal Scheme during his tenure as chief minister.

Leaving Legacy

The leaders had a motive of leaving a legacy behind. One doesn’t go about saying that he wants to create legacy and then create it. One is driven by the passion to make a difference and in the process they end up creating a legacy of their own. Take Che Guevara or Bhagat Singh for instance. Both of them were driven by a passion to proof something. Bhagat Singh inspite of his young age displayed the highest form of courage and was defiant in his attitude against the British domination. Che has been a symbol of rebellion and has evolved into a quintessential icon of various leftist-inspired movements. Each in his own way created legacy’s which continues to inspire people of all ages.

Being a Role model

Promises are nothing but a shadow unless one acts upon it. These leaders not only espoused things but they also ‘walked their talk’. There are many people who have been inspired by the lives of these great leaders and whose life is still an example to be followed. Gandhi ji considered the father of the country was a perfect role model for non violence. I understand that Gandhiji had his own imperfections. Yet, I believe that in case of teaching the lessons of non-violence to the world, he did mankind a great good. Not only he talked about it, he walked about it and exhibited it in his every actions. People looked up to him and felt that yes, non-violence is not for cowards, rather it requires more courage for a person to be non-violent than show violence.

Reading the above makes one think that all these things are possible, only in utopia. Yet, I sincerely believe that people exhibiting such characteristics truly exist. And that a day of redemption for politics isn’t far behind. A day will come, when true leaders emerge who will care for the common good putting aside their indulgences. Many have spent their life looking for the true elixir of life. The elixir which makes them immortal. The leaders who will live their life in a way living for others will have truly found the elixir of life: their chronicles scripted in the pages of the history and more importantly, in the hearts of the people who he had served, thus making them the true IMMORTALS.

P.S: Having done my specialization in Human resource too, I have tended to use many of the examples from the subject of ‘Leadership Discovery’. I hope that my colleagues will forgive me for this indulgence.

10 things to learn from Japan

2011-03-30T06:03:00.000-07:00

A nice forward which i got today. Thought of sharing it...

Its highly unfortunate that Japan has been hit by multiple calamities - the Earthquakes, Tsunami & the Nuclear explosion. Still, the resilience shown by the Japanese amidst these is truly amazing. The 10 things which one can learn from them are as follows:

1. THE CALM
Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated.

2. THE DIGNITY
Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture.

3. THE ABILITY
The incredible architects, for instance. Buildings swayed but didn’t fall.

4. THE GRACE
People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something.

5. THE ORDER
No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding.

6. THE SACRIFICE
Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid?

7. THE TENDERNESS
Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak.

8. THE TRAINING
The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that.

9. THE MEDIA
They showed magnificent restraint in the bulletins. No silly reporters. Only calm reportage.

10. THE CONSCIENCE
When the power went off in a store, people put things back on the shelves and left quietly

Let us try adopt at least a few of these...

Jaipur Rugs: Building people, Creating wealth

2011-03-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

Business is evil. That’s what many of us think. The logic being business means profits and profits being exploitation of the people. But consider a business which not only gives attractive profits but also empowers the needy people. To top it off, what if the business considers social empowerment as the root purpose of its existence. Sounds illogical right? Welcome to the world of Illogicality. Welcome to ‘Jaipur Rugs’

‘Jaipur Rugs’ is India’s leading manufacturers of handmade carpets.. The success of any business depends to a large extent on its Leadership. That is quite true in Jaipur rugs case too. The company was started by Mr.N.K.Chaudhary in 1978 who had been fascinated with the art of carpet weaving. When he had to make a choice between a bank job and doing something on his own, he choose the latter. He initiated his carpet business with just two looms. Over time he moved to Gujarat where he expanded his business operations in its tribal regions. After staying there for a span of 13 years he returned to Jaipur to launch his independent firm called Jaipur Carpets in 1999. This is a splendid case of being successful in an endeavor which one loves doing.

I recently got a chance to visit ‘Jaipur Rugs’ along with two of my friends Sanjay Dhir and Laxmi Narayanan. We got to see many aspects of the company and also interacted with the company employees and the management team. One thing that stood apart in Jaipur Rugs is the company culture of empowering its employees. Generally in corporate, people are given opportunities or promotions based on their qualifications. It doesn’t take into consideration the person talent/skills nor his interest in doing that activity. Whereas in case of Jaipur rugs, the company believes in a system of promoting people based on their willingness to learn things and their interest in doing new things. A splendid case which was told to us by the HR head Mr.Yadav was that they were looking to recruit someone for the role of receptionist whose responsibilities included attending the calls and receiving the company visitors. Many qualified individuals with good degree had failed to do the work properly. The company has a dedicated canteen for its employees which had an employee who had studied up to 8^th standard only and had been doing cleaning stuff. Mr.Yadav had observed that he had been good in dealing with people coming to canteen and had been managing it pretty well without any issues. He believed that given some training, the person can do the receptionist role too. So, the person was given some training and now, he is doing the receptionist role pretty well. The company has many examples like that.

Another example is that of a young MBA graduate Miss.Shikha who had joined the company as a Human resource person. During her course of work, she showed active interest in other work such as the production department as she found that interesting. Mr.Chaudhary called her and asked her to focus completely on production department. In 6 months, she is leading the Production department with few colleagues. This unique philosophy of believing in the employee and giving them the opportunity to prove themselves is something which keeps the Jaipur rugs team united as a whole.

From left to right (Sanjay Dhir, Laxmi Narayanan, Prashant Sree, Founder-Chairman & Managing Director Mr.N.K Chaudhary ,Kavitha Chaudhary, Design Director)

Another aspect of the company which stood out prominently is the fact that the company as a whole believes in the values propagated by the management team. We had talked with few of the managers of different departments and each one of them echoed similar sentiments about working in Jaipur Rugs and the culture that existed there. I guess that would be a dream come true for many companies to have its employee believe in its values and work accordingly. The reality is that not many employees actually do that. The management team spends humongous amount of time in trying to convey their vision to its employees. In case of Jaipur Rugs, it has been able to successfully propagate its vision to its employees. I believe that the secret has been the “top management actions’. It is said that Actions speaks louder than words. It is very true for Jaipur rugs. The top management acts as per what it says, may it be recruitment, promotion, dealing with suppliers or buyers. It stays true to its said vision. Hence, it becomes easy for the company employees to understand and imbibe the company philosophy easily.

The final aspect of the company which stands apart is regarding its vision for the society. The company had been at the fore-front of empowering the rural artisans and enables them to live a better life. In the current age, when corporate social responsibility has become a norm, Jaipur Rugs started implementing CSR during its initial days itself. Early in 2000, the company founded Jaipur Rugs Foundation in order to improve the livelihoods of the artisans, and educate them of the market conditions and help them earn a better wage for their work. In the process, the company creates a win-win situation for itself as well as for the artisans. The company is currently undertaking steps to enable the artisans to become self sustaining entrepreneurs.

Overall, we had a very good experience of visiting Jaipur Rugs. We learnt a lot about carpet industry, carpet making process etc… Did you know that a carpet undergoes around 96 processes before it is ready for shipment. So not only, we had a good learning about carpets from Jaipur Rugs, we also got to know a company which creates wealth with the exception of people but with the inclusion of people, its employees and the artisans…

Hearing from the Legend ‘Warren Buffet’

2011-03-25T10:07:00.001-07:00

I was scrolling through different channels at my home, after the end of first innings of the SA-NZ cricket match, when I stumbled upon the programme in NDTV Profit called the ‘The Class Apart – Warren Buffets speaks to B-School students’. The show was moderated by Prannoy Roy and the guest were Mr. Warren Buffet and Ajit Jain, Berkshire Hathaway Group’s reinsurance division president. Management students from top notch B schools were present in the audience. Warren Buffet doesn’t need any introduction. His eccentric way of working and philosophy has baffled the so called fashionable market guru’s who would love to prove him wrong, except that his philosophy of sticking to the market fundamentals and his exceptional performance across the years have made him a legend among the investors. Coming back to the programme, it was interesting to listen to him and his views, which seemed unconventional most of the time. Iam going to share some of the insights which he had shared. Iam not sure how much of the programme I had missed, hence, I will be sharing the insights from the part of the programme which I had viewed… (And the parts which I could recall while writing this article).

The talk was on about the high IQ levels of the students present in the audience. So the anchor asked Buffet about the high IQ levels determining the success of an individual. Buffet replied that irrespective of the IQ levels of the students may it be 160 or 130; in the long run it doesn’t matter. What matters is whether the people have the right temperament & to see things in the right perspective and act. I feel that this is very true. Take any successful person (except Bill Gates) most of them have been college drop outs or even illiterates. What had mattered is their attitude to see obstacles as opportunities and their temperament of swimming against the tide.

Another thing which Buffet mentioned was about doing what one likes to do. I guess this has been the major success factor for Mr. Buffet or for any of the successful persons. All of them do what they like doing, instead of doing what they have to do because they have to earn a living. I feel that the current generation has to think in this angle of deciding to do what they like/love doing. That brings me to another point. A student asked him whether making money now was easy compared to 20 years ago when there wasn’t much competition. Buffet replied that ‘Making money is very easy now’ compared to 2 decades. What matters more is that one should do the work which he loves. Rest all will happen by itself. If one continues to do productive work over the years, the snow ball effect is bound to act and there is nothing which can stop one being successful. I feel this is quite true too, and other great leader have also emphasized the simple thing that there is no shortcut to success and if one persists over a period of time with due focus and hard-work, he is bound to succeed.

I loved Buffet’s philosophy of doing things which you know about, or at-least learning about things which you want to do. His words were “If you don’t know it, don’t allow the words of someone who knows it to make you take decision to do something about which you still don’t know anything”. Mesmerizing lines indeed… No matter how abstruse the words may sound, the simplicity of the words logic just hits you in the face…..

On being asked why he had avoided India for a long time, when India is being proclaimed as the next growing market, he replied that maybe it was a mistake on his part not to have invested in India until now. On a serious note, he added that he didn’t understand the way businesses operate in India. His words were to “know the facts about something and do it. If it doesn’t make sense, skip it and go on”. Getting involved in something which doesn’t make sense really doesn’t make sense. He added that he hadn’t got any calls from any of the India business all these years.

To a question about India being considered a volatile market, whether he sees foreign investment in India, wise or not, his reply was that “I love volatility”. If the market is stable, anyone can make money. It’s due to the volatility that one needs to understand the basics of the market. And that’s what one needs to succeed and which differentiates the winner from the loser.

Mr. Buffet’s wit also knew no bounds. To a question regarding whether he sleeps peacefully at night, or does he has any sleepless nights or worries, he said that he has no sleepless nights. And that he sleeps like a baby. The anchor put the same question to Mr. Ajit Jain, who said that worries exist but they don’t end up being sleepless nights, so he too sleeps like a baby. Mr. Buffet added that they were indeed babies, as ‘they wake up crying over the realities of the life the next morning.’

Finally Mr.Roy asked him what the B-Schools should teach the students (as Buffet had said that the B- Schools don’t teach the students what they should know). Mr. Buffet replied that the B-schools should teach them “how to value a business in the right way”. All in all, it’s always inspiring to listen to someone as legendary as Mr. Buffet and similar legends. I always feel that this is so, not only because of their high accomplishments but also the fact that the philosophy which they follow in the life and which has made them successful are the simple virtues which we all know but only few of us act on it. As someone rightly said ‘Common sense is indeed uncommon’

P.S: I had found the link of the video recording here. You can view it if you want to see the entire telecast.

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/ndtv-special-ndtv-24x7/warren-buffett-ajit-jain-answer-students/194516

Lessons to be learnt from ‘perfect entrepreneurs' – Part II

2011-03-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

The second and concluding part of the excerpts from the speech of Mr Subroto Bagchi, Vice-Chairman and Gardener, MindTree Ltd.

Understanding the 70:30 principle

The sixth great entrepreneur is Dr Devi Shetty. He saw opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid. People think you can build a great business if you sell a Mercedes or start a five-star hotel. Nothing can be farthest from the truth. The economic power is shifting to the poor because they may be individually poor but collectively they are rich. So Dr Devi Shetty started his hospital. He drew inspiration from Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy who started the Arvind Eye Hospital.

The hospital model was that 30 per cent of the paying customers took care of the 70 per cent of free customers. This number is huge because last year 2.4 million people were seen and 3 lakh people operated upon; 70 per cent operations were free. The same principle applies in Narayana Hridalaya. If you are a child below three, irrespective of your country of origin, you are operated free. In addition, Dr Shetty got the Karnataka Government to start an insurance scheme called Yeshaswini whereby every farmer in the State can get insurance for Rs 5 a month. You can get an open heart surgery done if you have a heart condition. In the US, it costs you Rs 40 lakh. In India a few lakhs. Here, it is for Rs 5 a month. It happens because of the principle of the bottom of the pyramid. When millions of farmers pay Rs 5 a month that pays for the cost of the surgery. Dr Shetty understood the principle of the 70:30.

Feelings

The seventh is of feelings. Nobody understands that better than Mr Harish Hande who founded Selco. It is a social enterprise, a profitable company. Mr Harish got his Ph.D from Boston University. When he was doing PhD, a chance visit to South America made him realise that there's a connection between poverty and darkness. Poor people do not have electrical connections. Forty per cent of Indians do not have connection to a grid, not electricity, but to a grid. They remain poor because they cannot do business in the dark. He came back and decided his whole life should be devoted to bringing solar energy.

To really understand what it is to live in darkness, he felt he must go to a country where he does not understand the language and must stay with villagers to see through their actions and not words what it is like to live in darkness. He went to Sri Lanka and realised that what they needed most was solar energy not for cooking or lighting but to keep the elephants at bay because every evening the elephants would come and devastate the villages.

He came back to India and has made this his life-long desire. He creates solar solutions for vegetable vendors, cobblers and small farmers in the remotest parts. His principle is nobody should buy his solutions with their revenues or profits but should buy it in such a way that it extends their business so that additional business is for the price of the solar solution. If you are a vegetable vendor, don't take away from your savings. Mr Harish brings the solutions and if you sell for eight hours instead of six, the additional two hours of business will pay for the solutions. If we have a future Nobel prize winner, it's Mr Harish for you. His starting point was not capital, nor was it was technological brilliance, but feeling. It was for people who lived in darkness.

Love and competence

The next thing to be a successful entrepreneur is you need to find the love and intersect that with competence and find your own path. Ms Anita Shah, who started Hibiscus, was a homemaker till her 40s. Her passion was gardening. She started attending trade shows when she was in the US. There she started Hibiscus. She found that lot of people would go to trade shows and buy ceramic urns. On her own, she went to source the ceramic pots in Thailand and Indonesia. She established contacts and made friends with local suppliers. Today, she is the most important destination for people who love gardening and other gardening artefacts. Because she loved something she went the extra mile and because the path was not available to her, she went to find her own path.

Customer service

Two other entrepreneurs, I chanced across – Printo, a place for doing photocopying, for putting photos on mugs and Tee-shirts. It is also a good quality place for documentation and spiral binding. Here I was talking to the sales person that I need so many copies and he said it would cost Rs 18,000. Since I was doing this for a school, I asked for a better deal. Who is your owner? I asked. He said it was started by two people. One is a lady called Ms Lalana Zaveri. He gave me the number and I had no hope that this number would get picked up. But she did and I explained to her in two minutes what I was looking for. She said if I could send that material by mail, she would call me back. At 10 she called up and said this is the best deal we can do for you. At 11 in the night she has given me a solution that works.

Integrity

The 10th idea is not finding a lot of currency in the world today. And that is integrity. Mr Azim Premji's father started an oil business in Maharashtra in 1947. Mr Premji was forced to come back to India. After the oil mill business was stabilised, he felt he must get into an engineering business where the input-output ratio is better and went into the software business. The rest is history.

At this time he needed to get out of Maharashtra as he did not want to have all the eggs in the same basket. He started an oil plant near Tumkur in Karnataka. The plant was all set to go into production, but the electricity authorities would not give the connection unless he parted with some money.

He would not give money and it became a tug of war. The plant was losing money every day as the capacity was not being utilised, the people were hired and there was no production as Mr Premji would not pay a single paise. This went on for one full year. Then one day out of sheer disgust the electricity guys said that this fellow will not pay any money, they came and connected the electricity.

The people who take bribes see if you are willing to give bribes and people who take bribes test out like beggars at the intersection. I'm deliberately making the comparison. They will not waste time if you don't seem like one who will give money. Bribe takers are highly optimised. Rather than waste time, they will take the next victim. This was a game of nerves. And Mr Premji was willing to play it. When we don't walk the path of integrity we think we should have a special red carpet welcome.

Actually you will get a welcome on a bed of thorns. But when you take two steps on the bed of thorns, a whole new world will open up before you. The same Mr Premji in a day and age that criticised the government was also given the Padma Vibhushan award. People like Mr Narayana Murthy and Mr Premji actually tell you even in this corrupt society if you stand by your own principles, the same people will also stand up and respect you.

It takes vision, displacement, self confidence, you need to find your passion, and your passion will not find success, you have to find other ways by which your passion can bloom into success, capacity to postpone gratification, look into the future, connect the dots, the future does not come in stereophonic sound, but in low whispers and only some people can hear the whispers of the future.

The whole world is changing and the man who can do business with the poor can be a rich man, but for that you must have feelings. Mr Premji says being good in business is not for charity. It makes good business sense if you are good because good people will work for you, good customers seek you out in a world where good people are becoming scarce.

(This article was published in the Business Line print edition dated February 28, 2011)

Lessons to be learnt from ‘perfect entrepreneurs' – Part I

2011-03-02T11:30:00.000-08:00

Mr Subroto Bagchi, Vice-Chairman and Gardener, MindTree Ltd, speaks about lessons from 10 entrepreneurs of Bangalore. These people offer different facets to entrepreneurship, he says during the course of his speech at an event organised recently by Business Line in Bangalore. This first part covers the first five entrepreneurs and the lessons learnt from them.

Excerpts from his speech:

Vision

First and foremost, I think entrepreneurship is about vision and every vision creates displacement. It is best exemplified by Mr V.G. Siddartha, who started the Café Coffee Day chain. He departed from the family business of growing coffee and went to Mumbai to learn what investment banking is all about. His father gave him Rs 5 lakh and said “May you do well and if you don't do well, you can come back.” He did not invest the money in the stock market. Instead, he bought a piece of land for Rs 3 lakh and put aside Rs 2 lakh because he felt that the money given to him by his father should not be invested in an area that is uncertain.

The key thing is you should not do things that you do not understand. He took a bus to Mumbai and hired a room with a shared toilet to understand the world of investment. He understood that coffee growing was not the most lucrative of businesses and for its true value to be unlocked it is important to get into retailing. When he wanted to get into it, people wondered who will pay Rs 40 for a cup of coffee. When he insisted, his marketing team said that it's your money and maybe the whole of Bangalore needs three Café Coffee Days. Now there are more than 1,000 all over the world and 300 in Bangalore. Mr Siddartha represents the spirit of vision.

A lot of people may have wonderful ideas. What they don't have is the preparedness to displace themselves. When he went to Mumbai in search of knowledge he was entering a place he did not know. He was far more comfortable in Karnataka but he necessarily displaced himself. All great entrepreneurs have vision and pay a price for vision by embracing displacement.

Self-confidence

The second entrepreneur from this city who's a great example is Ms Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw. Vision is not enough. You have to have self-confidence. She wanted to study medicine but she could not make it because she fell short a couple of marks in the merit seat. She went to her father and said she would at least study medicine by paying donation. Her father did not support the idea. She said, look if I was your son, you would have given the money. He said this argument will not cut ice with him. Then she came again and said you will get me married and you will give me money and gifts. Instead give me money to study medicine. This didn't work.

Ms Kiran then studied zoology and then brewing in Australia and became the first brewmaster of the country. When she came back she was completely shattered as nobody offered her a job as the country was not ready for a female brewmaster in a male-dominated field. She didn't get a job. While waiting, somebody offered her a proposition to grow enzymes from papayas and that's how Biocon started. Now, when I ask Ms Kiran what is the secret of her success, she says it's about the ‘can-do' attitude and self-confidence. She needed to prove to the world that had rejected her for being a woman that a woman entrepreneur can not only build great business that women are as good as men. She's the biotech queen of the country today.

Passion

The third quality is about following your own passion. Mr Narayan Manepalli is a man who started Bangalore's first micro brewery. I know this is a wrong example to give in an educational institution. Mr Manepalli found his partner in Standard 4. Sometimes you find business partners as early as that. They graduated together and both of them studied engineering in two different places.

When he was in the West Coast, he stumbled upon micro-brewing. When he came back to India, he met his old friend and decided to start. Here's the catch. You may find your passion and the world may not be interested to support it. You could make beer but cannot get into micro-brewing. They did not give up. They exported the formula to Belgium, got the product made there and imported it. The law said they cannot start micro brewery in the country, but it did not say that you cannot import beer.

It meant that when you pay the customs duty, a beer that costs you Rs 40 costs you Rs 400. Both of them thought that it is important to establish the brand. It is called Geist. Mr Manepalli found his passion and it is the capacity to hang in there that makes you a successful entrepreneur.

Postpone gratification

The next important quality is the capacity to postpone the gratification. These individuals who can postpone their desire are successful. Infosys will soon be 30 years old, TCS 40 years old and Wipro was established in 1947. It is not possible to build a sustainable high performance enterprise in 5-10 or 15 years. It takes at least 25 years to build a company that will not fade away after the founder has gone. There are great examples of postponed gratification, sometimes for 25-30 years.

Work has to be done, the results will come later. A man who symbolises that best is Mr N.R. Narayana Murthy. If Mr Murthy had thought of making money, buying an apartment, buying a second apartment when he started Infosys, he would not have been able to build one of the most memorable companies, an institution that is globally respected. The important requirement to build a great organisation is the capacity to postpone gratification.

Connecting the dots

The other great entrepreneur is Capt G.R. Gopinath. His capacity was in terms of connecting the dots as he looked into the future. The future does not present itself as a clear picture. It presents itself at best as a pattern and you have to have the capacity to connect the dots in the pattern and certainly the pattern emerges and you see something that others do not.

Capt Gopinath was an organic farmer. In Bangalore, he met his old friend Sam who was an ex-army pilot. They used to play squash together. Sam did not have a job after retirement. Helicopter pilots do not get jobs that easily after they retire. One day he told Capt Gopinath that he found a job as a regional manager in a courier company. Capt Gopinath was shattered. He thought, we really need airlines and pilots and here was a pilot joining a courier company. Shortly after that Capt Gopinath went to China. He read a newspaper report on a Vietnamese woman who was returning to Vietnam. On seeing her country, she started crying. “Oh my God, my country is shattered. What can I do to rebuild that country.” Maybe I should start a helicopter company.

Capt Gopinath was in China and suddenly he had the capacity to connect the dots. If Vietnam needed a helicopter company, India needed it 10 times over. With liberalisation, the country will need air connectivity. He put the two things together and said I'll start a helicopter company. When he started it, he did not even know the price of a helicopter.

He said thank God for that, because if I knew, I would have never gone into the business. One day when he was flying to Goa, he saw every village had a dish antenna. Then it occurred to him that this is a not a country to be subsidized and fed. This is a country where a billion people can fly. He saw how the dots connected into the future and that's how he started the first low-cost airline of the country. He had the capacity to connect the dots.

…to be continued

Source: This article was published in Business Line, Feb 13^th 2011.

Lesson’s from the Movie ‘Spirited Away’

2011-02-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

If the Americans (Pixar, DreamWorks, and Disney etc) are good at making animation movies, the Japanese are the experts. Directors like Hayao Miyazaki have set high standards in terms of the animation as well as imaginative story telling. Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine (Ayan Adak) and it turned out that he also was a great fan of Anime movie, especially fantasy ones. He suggested a movie to me, Spirited Away, whose lessons I will be sharing in this article. One thing I have observed in Japanese Anime as well as Manga (comics originally published in Japan) series is that apart from a creative storyline, it represents various aspects of human behavior/ relations in a subtle manner. ‘Spirited Away’ is one such movie in which apart from the animation technicalities, the story touches you in a sweet way.

The following trivia should be good enough to increase your curiosity level. Spirited Away is the highest grossing film of all time in Japan. It is also among the top ten in the BFI list of the 50 films you should see by the age of 14 (Source: Wiki)

Spirited Away is a story of ‘Chihiro’, a sullen ten-year-old girl who is moving with her parents to a new town when they become lost and find what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Chihiro's father decides to explore it while a reluctant Chihiro and her mother accompany him. They soon discover a stall with food, and Chihiro's parents sample the food in-spite of Chihiro’s protest to get back. Chihiro soon realizes that she is in a magical world when she sees her parents literally turn into pigs. Chihiro finds a boy, Haku who smuggles her into a large bathhouse and tells her to find a job so she can stay there until he can help her recover her parents and escape. He instructs Chihiro to see Kamaji at the boiler room to ask for work. Kamaji, a six-armed, grumpy, but kind-hearted fellow, says he has no work for Chihiro and entrusts her to Lin to take her up to Yubaba, a cranky, elderly witch who runs the bathhouse, agrees to let Chihiro work for her, but takes all of Chihiro's name except the first character of her first name which Yubaba calls "Sen." Sen later learns that Yubaba controls her servants by taking their names. The rest of the story chronicles her adventures in a world of spirits and monsters and how she brings them back to human form & rescues them.

Here are the lessons from the movie… Fasten your blog belts and enjoy! ;)

1. Hope & Believe In The Best:

When Haku gets hurt and Chihiro goes to Zeniba (twin sister of Yubaba) to save Haku, Zeniba asks Chihiro to recall how she is connected to Haku in order to find a way to save him. After trying hard, Chihiro exclaims that she isn’t able to recall anything from her past. She starts crying because she is unable to save Haku, her parents are still in the pig form and she may not reach in time to save them. At that time, Zeniba says “Wait, just a little bit longer”. After sometime, Haku turns up there safely and both of them return to save her parents. The same can be compared in our lives too. Sometimes we feel that we are overburdened by many things and nothing is turning out as expected. At those moments, it is wise to just hold on for a little bit longer. Though we assume that things are not happening as we want it, they will turn out to be good eventually. So the best we can do is to hope for the best and believe that the best will happen. Having this attitude really helps.

2. Perseverance Pays Off

There is a part in the movie where Haku tells Chihiro to find a job with Kamaji, the boiler man; otherwise she will be turned into a pig. Kamaji tells Chihiro to go to Yubaba and get a job. She goes to meet Yubaba and asks her for a job. Yubaba initially refuses any job and insults her and tells her to go away. But Chihiro persists and asks for a job repeatedly. Finally, Yubaba relents and gives her the job. Albeit, a well known fact, it is worth repeating that persevering in-spite of odds makes impossible things, possible. Many of us relent at the signs of smallest obstacles. But success comes to those who not only face the obstacles but also persists until the end. As the saying goes, the difference between the ordinary and the extra-ordinary is the little “Extra”!

3. Small Acts Of Kindness Count

There is an instant in the movie when Chihiro sees ‘No Face’ outside getting drenched in the rain and leaves the door open for it to come inside the bathhouse. ‘No Face’ instantly gets a liking to Chihiro for her act of kindness. The same holds true in real life where small acts of kindness does wonders may it be our workplace or anywhere. People respect you for what you are and how you made them feel. Hence, no matter how high you go in your life, having concern for a complete stranger may benefit you in ways you wouldn’t have imagined

4. Free Money Doesn’t Stay Long:

In the movie, a character named ‘No Face’, a masked spirit enters the bathhouse and starts giving gold nuggets to the staff there. All the staff gets greedy and starts hailing and suck up to him to get the gold. Though ‘No Face’ offers gold to Chihiro, she doesn’t accept it because she doesn’t see any reason for accepting the gold. In the end, while examining the gold, the staff realizes that it was just dirt which was appearing like Gold. Hence, anything which one gets without having worked for it in the right way is bound to disappear or go away faster than it had appeared. I recall a dialogue by the Superstar Rajnikanth in a movie ‘Padaiyappa’ where he says that “Without doing hard work, one doesn’t get anything, things obtained without doing hard work, never stays in the whole lifetime”

The movie is filled with many more important insights. I have explained the major lessons which I felt would be motivating to many. I leave it to you to see the movie for yourself and enjoy it the way you would want. Finally a note of thanks to my friend, Ayan for referring this wonderful movie. Thanks mate.

Float like a Cadillac, Sting like a Beemer – Lessons from the Movie ‘Cars’

2011-02-14T14:12:00.000-08:00

I got to see this movie quite late when compared to other animation movies. I used to think that it was another random racing car movie. But once I watched it, there was a whole new gamut of insights which the movie had. Pixar had lived up to their reputation for producing a wonderful entertainer with a human touch. As always, my learning series will just provide the important lessons in the movie and provide the broader aspects.

Before we start racing, some background detail of the movie, so to put things in perspective.

Cars takes place in a world populated by anthropomorphic motor vehicles. The film begins with the last race of the Piston Cup championship, which ends in a three-way tie between retiring veteran Strip Weathers aka The King, perennial runner-up Chick Hicks, and rookie Lightning McQueen. The tiebreaker race is scheduled for one week later. McQueen and Chick Hicks are in a race to take the King’s place in the Dinoco team, which is a highly lucrative, sought after team. So both of them want to win the Piston Cup, and the King wants to win his last race too. McQueen touted as the next star racer is ashamed of being sponsored by Rusteze as he thinks it hurts his super brand image. Lightning McQueen wants to reach Los Angeles soon so to meet the founder of the lucrative Dinoco team. He forces his big rig, Mack to travel all night along, though Mack wants to sleep. Mack starts nodding off while driving and due to mischief by a road gang, the sleeping McQueen rolls out of the back of the trailer unnoticed & he gets lost, and ends up in the run-down town of Radiator Springs. A mishap with the local sheriff causes McQueen to inadvertently tear up the town's main road. He is arrested, and is sentenced to repave the road as community service. The movie showcases his stay in Radiator Springs & ends with the final tie-breaker race which has an interesting climax. (Watch the movie to see it for yourself) Now onto the lessons.

1. Everyone has something to offer:

McQueen considers himself to be a class apart from other cars. When he lands up at Radiator Springs, he looks down condescendingly on the other cars. But gradually as he spends time with them he realizes that each of them has something to teach him, things he doesn’t know himself. He learns a new trick from Mater, the cable guy about reverse driving style. Luigi, the assistant to Guido, (the Tire shop owner) has always dreamt to be a part of the pit stop & change tires for a racing car. In the final race, Luigi changes the tires in a record time pit stop even though he is mocked initially by the other racing teams. McQueen who initially is a very self-obsessed individual gradually learns to think about others and to care for others and most importantly to respect others for their skills, however small it might be.

2. Realize the worth of your close ones:

Most often in life, we don’t realize the worth of what we have. We spend our life going after things which we perceive to be worthy. The movie stresses on the importance of having true, loyal friends. In the beginning of the movie, McQueen is a loner with no friends. He has his Sport agent who has no time for him but is only concerned about his performance. He even neglects his big rig and his pit crews as he doesn’t recognize their value. But his short stint at Radiator Springs makes him understand the importance of true friends. Everyone at Radiator Springs showcase interest in his well being and want him to win the Piston cup. He initially hates rusted cars but gradually he starts to appreciate people for what they are, rather than what they have. This is showcased in the end, when he is approached by Dinoco to be his team lead car when he politely rejects his offer and decides to remain with Rusteze, his old sponsors who had given him the first break.

3. It’s not always just money, honey!

Another aspect the movie dwells upon is the fact that money is not everything. While his stay in Radiator Springs, he keeps on cribbing about reaching Los Angeles in time for the race. He wants to win the Piston cup race at any rate, so that he could get the sponsorship of Dinoco. One day, he learns that the Doc is actually the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, a three-time Piston Cup champion who was forced out of competition after a serious accident ended his career over 50 years ago. McQueen is amazed at the Doc winning 3 piston cup, but the Doc tells him that in the end, it is nothing than a cup. The doc points out people at Radiator Springs are good folks who care about one another. McQueen realizes how artificial his profession had been, which had neglected the Hudson Hornet after an accident and had written him off. McQueen’s realization is showcased in the final tie-breaker race which makes him win the hearts of everyone.

4. Everything happens for a reason:

I felt this is one of the most important learning in the movie. Sometimes in our life, we crib about things not happening according to our plan and curse our fate for it. The movie helps one adopt an optimistic attitude towards life and believe in the best. McQueen is initially disgruntled about getting lost in the Radiator Springs. But over the course of his stay, he learns many important things, finds his true self and also ends up becoming a person loved by one and all. Hence, no matter where you are now in life, it always pays to think that it is happening for a purpose. You never know what you might end up finding which can change your life forever!

To sum it up, Iam sharing a soundtrack from the movie called “Find Yourself’ which tells about finding our self in the course of racing arena called ‘Life’.

"When you find yourself in some far off place
And it causes you to rethink some things
You start to sense that slowly you're becoming someone else
And then you find yourself

When you make new friends in a brand new town
And you start to think about settling down
The things that would've been lost on you
Are now clear as a bell and you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself

When you go through life
So sure of where you're heading
And you wind up lost
And it's the best thing that could've happened
Cause sometimes when you lose your way
It's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself

---- Instrumental Interlude ----

When you meet the one that you've been waiting for
And she's everything that you want and more
You look at her and you finally start to live for someone else
And then you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself

We go through life
So sure of where we're heading
And then we wind up lost
And it's the best thing that could've happened
Cause sometimes when you lose your way
It's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah, that's when you find yourself"

Source of Soundtrack Lyric: http://www.poplyrics.net/waiguo/country/bradpaisley/057.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cars

Hope you liked the lessons. As always I suggest you to watch the movie, not only to have a fun time but also to reinforce the lessons. If any of you has watched the movie, it would be great if you can share any good aspect/insight which you had from the movie.

May the power be with you! ;)

Adventures of Rim, Jim, Sim – Quest to identify the inhibition to talk to a Girl! – Part II

2011-02-07T10:04:00.000-08:00

Adventures of Rim, Jim, Sim – Quest to identify the inhibition to talk to a Girl!: Part I: here

The atmosphere was grim… The three of us sat facing each other. The only difference in the sitting styles was that I was looking down, Jim sat looking up and Sim sat with his face nodding in an oblique angle. One could say that our pose was reflective of our predicaments. I had just returned back from office and was really tired as I had a hectic day. But due to Jim’s insistence for coming up with a solution to the problem he faced, I was more or less forced to sit down with him. We had a 3 hour discussion about why he hadn’t been able to speak with the girl, but we hadn’t arrived at any solution yet. So I was wondering about his problem and about how long would this so called meeting would go on. Jim on the other hand was looking upwards, as if asking God for an answer. You might wonder about Sim’s pose that of an oblique angle, that’s coz he has a unique knack of sleeping while appearing to be hearing. You might ask how one could do that, that’s one of Sim’s special ability. He will make it seem as if he is listening to your conversation while at the same time doze off. His head will be nodding continuously more so coz he is asleep rather coz he is listening to you, but making the speaker think that he is intently engaged in the conversation. Only when you have spent a major amount of time with him that you would realize what he is actually doing. Few things that give him away would be things like his answer to your statements. No matter whatever you say, you will get the same reply. You might exclaim to him that you got to speak with a girl who you had been planning to talk to, and his reply would be ‘Ummmm’. And the same ‘Ummmm’ will appear when you tell to him that your boss shouted at you. Anyhow, presently Jim was too pre-occupied to think about Sim’s sleeping. The poor guy was lost in his own thoughts as to why only he had the inability to talk to the girl who he liked. And one would really sympathize with him. Finally when the clock ticked 1’O clock, we decided to call it off and retired to our beds.

The next few days went by with very less remarks about the girl from Jim. We assumed that the matter has died down with him. But unknown to us, the whole thing had been troubling the poor guy. It was at this context when the fate decided to play its dice. We had just returned from dinner when Sim rushed in with a paper in his hand. And he pointed to a column in the paper indicating some fashion show which was to happen this weekend.

‘We have got to go for it, guys’, remarked Sim… ‘See it’s also written that only limited seats. Let’s call the guy and book our tickets’

Jim remained mum. Not that he was an eager, talkative person normally but due to this particular enigma troubling him, he was more quiet.

‘Leave it, Sim. It’s better to hang out at some other place’ I said while indicating to him with my eye not to speak about this as this will remind Jim about the girl.

‘Hey come-on, this is a good chance for Jim to forget the girl and see few more attractive girls. Who knows he might end up liking someone and he can go talk to her’, remarked Sim, completely ignoring my signal.

None of us replied and remained silent.

‘You guys are bore, I think I will ask the new girl who had joined my team’ Sim said, flung the newspaper near us and went out of the room.

I was wondering what to do to engage Jim in a conversation, when he replied, ‘Let’s go for it’.

I didn’t get what he was talking about. Then I saw that he was holding the newspaper in his hand and was looking intently at it. I was surprised that Jim could change his mind about going to fashion show so soon when I realized that he was looking at a column at the corner of the paper. It was a tiny column about some seminar and went on to say about something called ‘Emotional Intelligence’. It said that if you are suffering from the following – “Not able to interact with people well, not able to express your emotions well, not able to utilize the best of your potential’, you had to attend this seminar.

I found it surprising that it had mentioned all the ‘NOTS’ in our life. After reading the ad, one might think that a human was not capable of doing anything on his own other than eating & sleeping. Nevertheless, Jim was completely enthused about this and decided to call up the guy and book 3 tickets. It was to happen on Saturday. I wasn’t sure if Sim would join us for the seminar coz he was pretty enthusiastic about the fashion show and had planned to go there with his friends. Anyway, I told Sim about the plan to go to a seminar on Saturday and invited him. ‘Ha ha, you old people go for this kind of seminars. I need to live my youth… Hope you will have a good time listening to some old greybeard deliver some lecture’, ‘ saying so, he left.

On the day, we were supposed to go for the seminar, Sim left the home pretty early to go and pick up his colleague before going to the fashion show. I and Jim were about to leave the home, when he came and parked the bike. He had a sullen face.

‘What happened. Did they cancel the fashion show. Or was it a male fashion show,’? I asked

‘Nope. She got stomach ache and couldn’t come. What fun is there by going alone. So I thought why not come along and take you guys to the fashion show’

‘Come on, Sim. You know how serious Jim is taking this. We can’t come with you today’, I said.

‘Guys, think about it. Haven’t you spent your college days listening to college professors. Why do you have to make yourself undergo this torturous experience again?’

We didn’t say anything, started our bike and left for the seminar. After sometime, we found Sim following us. We reached the venue well in advance. The only problem was that Sim started sulking too coz of the missed opportunity and for making us drag him here. Even I thought that the seminar would be boring. But as soon as we entered the inner hall, we found around 4 pretty girls clad in saree and welcoming people to the hall. Probably they were checking if people had the entry tickets and were guiding them inside. Sim’s joy knew no bounds. He dragged us towards the girls as if he was the man in charge, he told them about our booking and went on to talk about his job, how busy he was etc. The girl checked the tickets while patiently listening to him. She then asked us to go inside the hall. We came and settled in our seats. Hardly a minute would have passed, when Sim excused himself and went outside… I went outside to stroll for some-time when I saw Sim talking to the girl. I dragged him back to the hall and made him sit. Shortly thereafter the seminar began and a young man started the session.

During the course of the seminar, the guy wanted a volunteer for some activity. And as fate would have it, he ended up selecting Sim as the volunteer. Sim was asked to reminisce an incident from his childhood where he was bullied or he saw someone being bullied. He then went onto show how people mature & become emotionally intelligent at a young age. The audience gave him a warm applause. A thing to note about Sim is that he always wishes others to recognize him and tries real hard for that. In that sense, I think the speaker inviting him onto the stage really made an impact on him. His engagement for the whole duration of the seminar amazed the speaker itself. I guess he hadn’t ever seen a more enthusiastic volunteer involved in his talk before. What we eventually learned about emotional intelligence is the fact that EI is a self-perceived ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups, this in turn leads to an increased self-awareness, self-management, social awareness & better relationship management. It seemed as if the speaker was addressing Jim’s problem. Jim too was hinged onto every word of the speaker. The speaker also mentioned a main point about Daniel Goleman being the one to introduce Emotional Intelligence to the world. And the session went on. The lecture finally concluded and we left for our home. Sim’s scrambled at the last moment to get the autograph of the speaker as a souvenir, really moved the speaker to a great extent. The next day being Sunday, I was surprised to see Sim waking me up. This surely had to be miracle as he doesn’t gets up soon. I told him that I had to sleep more and asked him to leave him undisturbed. I could only hear his voice trailing off saying ‘Iam missing a big goldmine’. ‘Whatever, who cares about it now.’

I slept peacefully for 7-8 hours and woke up relaxed. I opened my eyes to smell a strong scent emanating from the scented sticks with my room thick and completely dense. It got me wondering if I had being teleported to Heaven… while I was contemplating about it, Sim entered and gave me a smile. I followed him to the living room to see lines written on the wall ‘Jai Gole, Jai Gole’. I got confused that Sim would have adopted Sanyasi living and ‘Gole’ must be some god in the vast list of Indian gods. It was when I saw the photo of Daniel Goleman kept in the center of the room and decorated as that of a deity, when I realized that the Gole was an abridged version of Goleman. Near the photo were stacked Goleman aka Gole’s various books on Emotional Intelligence… I asked Sim what was all of this. He replied that he and Jim had decided to follow Goleman’s teachings in their day-today life and one way they could integrate it in their daily life was to see him daily… Certainly few gods would have wished their devotees to pray to them like Goleman was being revered. The next few days saw Jim savor 3-4 books of Gole in rapid succession. He seemed to learn something from it, at-least it seemed so. Sim on the other hand restricted himself to saying bhajans of ‘Jai Gole’ and hoping that it would rub off the Gole’s magic on him. Sometimes during the night, Jim would sit and share few learning from the book. One interesting thing about it was the fact that Jim realized why he was facing inhibition while interacting with her. There is something called Amygdala effect which is nothing but the response of a gland called Amygdala (an almond shaped structure in the brain) which determines the significance of the external stimulus and triggers emotional responses like freezing or fleeing. The amygdala is specialized for reacting to stimuli and triggering a physiological response that’s described as the "emotion" of fear. Amygdala being the storehouse for the memory of fear, misinterprets signals from the body and cause inappropriate actions such as panic, increased breathing, increased temperature, localized sweating, freezing etc. This certainly made sense why people acted in a weird way. Sim reasoned here why not remove Amygdala gland itself as it was causing so much nuisance in the brain. Jim said it doesn’t work that way and said that Amygdala is beneficial for humans in certain critical times. Emotional Intelligence certainly seemed to be important in one’s life.

As the saying goes, ‘If you desire something truly, the whole universe conspires to help you achieve it’. That was very true in this case. Somehow, after a week, Jim returned from office excitedly and remarked that she has been put in his project. The management had decided to shift her into his team for a new project which he was about to work on. Now, because of the close proximity, Jim got to try out his new EI skills with her. Sometimes he failed miserably. Once he was sitting in his cabin, when she came to a cabin next to him. He looked up and to his joy/misery, realized she was there. Joy coz he generally gets excited when he sees her, miserable coz he suffers from Amygdala effect due to high anxiety. When she looked at him, he smiled and in return she smiled back. She asked him ‘Howz work going on’. Poor Jim, he wanted to talk a lot, except that like the kid in ‘Taare Jameen Par’, his mind was full of colorful images of what to reply, but his mouth was completely shut. Thankfully, one grey cell in his mind was still functioning and he picked up his phone and acted as if he had received a call, while at the same time, managing a smile on his face. Somehow, he escaped the situation without embarrassing himself. By constantly re-affirming the fact that he is in control of himself and by undertaking few activities like breathing slowly etc, he was able to relax himself back to normal self.

Things started improving gradually. He was able to have small conversations with the girl now. As far the updates goes, he had taken her out for a dinner… To top it, Jim came home once and happily remarked that he will be going to the fashion show. The girl had always wanted to go to a fashion show and when Jim offered to take her, she readily agreed. Imagine what surprised us the most… Sim instead of fighting with Jim to go to fashion show smiled. When we asked him what was his plan, imagine our surprise, when he took out a ticket of the EI seminar and waved it at us… Irrespective of who had wanted a solution to a problem, it was heartening to see Sim on a quest to conquer Emotional Intelligence. His plans were to do a research on EI and put forth the concept of EI for animals. Who know which animal he may help in overcoming it’s inhibitions… nevertheless, it was good to see a good ending for Jim as well as Sim regarding his new conquest for knowledge…

The Top 5 Activities of MBA students in the final phase

2011-01-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

Come the 6^thaka final term of a two year stint in a MBA programme, and one finds quite a few unique things happening around/to oneself. It is a different matter altogether that something keeps happening to/around oneself throughout the MBA course. But the 6^th term is somewhat special. May it be regarding activities, academics, interest or casual time pass; all of it gains a new perspective and like a kaleidoscope appears to bear a multitude of different things. Based on my observation of few things, this is a humble attempt to pen down the Top 5 activities actively (or passively) indulged by the majority of the students in a MBA campus. As Margaret Fuller says ‘Nature provides exceptions to every rule’ so is the same true here.

Do try to check if you can correctly identify the Top 5 activities by your own (Of-course before you reach the end of this article).So here we go with the activities stated in no particular order.

1. Quest for Nirvana

As surprising as it sounds, the fact of the matter is that many students develop a new interest in the attainment of Nirvana or Enlightenment during the ending phase of the MBA programme. It may be either coz they have seen/experienced a lot in their 2 year life period which makes them seek a higher purpose. But it’s to such a high degree that even the sages of Himalayas might feel insecure seeing the passion of these young fella’s. And yea, as the quote goes, ‘Its not in the idea but its execution which actually matters’, the students actually perform the Tapas (Meditation) most of the time.

They get good support from student administration who schedules the classes’ at a heavenly time appropriate for Meditation (Morning 8am). It’s becomes more convenient for the students to enter the class, sit in their places (depending upon the acoustic of the classroom) & enter the tapas mode in search of the Nirvana. There are also two different categories in this namely the inexperienced and the experienced ones. The inexperienced folks who are yet to master the secrets sit in the first-second rows & depend on external support (the Prof’s lullaby) to enter the Tapas mode. The more experienced ones detached from the external environment choosethe last row and enter the Nirvana state on their own accord. It’s amazing to watch a class after say 30 minutes of its start, and one can see ample amount of students in their steady, meditative state focused sincerely on a single minded focus to achieve enlightenment.

2. Job hysteria

This shouldn’t be hard to guess for any MBA grad. After all the main purpose why many left their well paying jobs and entered a two year Vanvasa was to ensure they get a good plump offer at the end of 2 years. (It’s a different matter altogether that what they expect and what happens is similar to intelligence and beauty quotient in girls aka Beauty Brains Paradox). Still, come the final term and it is the time when all things come to a standstill. 99% of the academic related activity whichever a student undertakes willingly would be for this factor ‘A Job’. May it be CV (Curriculum Vitae) preparation, CV submission, CV review, CV re-review, the fear factor ensures that you end up doing all of it and still wonder if the CV is good enough to feature in a company shortlist. Also, a new expert group emerges (who have been lucky enough to have pocketed a PPO (Pre-Placement Offer) assisting out the poorer souls to help them conquer the Mountains of NoJobPhobia (read No-Job-Phobia).

3. Virtual Corporatization of the Institute

Few may argue that this activity should fall under the previous activity. While I completely accept the argument that it is more or less qualified to be a sub category of the previous heading, this has enough strength (qualities) to stand on its own. Let me explain why. While the frenzy over the job makes the students run around haplessly, this activity is undertaken by most of the student batch whether they have an option or not. And yea, the expert PPO groups aren’t left to choice too. It is a common belief that the orchestrations of all this is done by a special group aka You-Know-Who or They Who Must Not Be Named… Well, so the Virtual Corporatization refers to the corporate culture which the campus finds itself in. Hold on, don’t mistake that all of us evolve and start behaving like professionals which is hoped for in a corporate culture. Na, Na, far from it. What I refer to is the visible phenomena which could be seen as in a corporate place. Yea, iam referring to the suited Men & Ladies who run around helter-skelter to attend the company ppt’s, company interview, group discussions etc… The whole scene looks like hordes of suited people moving around. So for a person who might venture into the scene out of nowhere might wonder if he has entered a corporate office (excluding the jungle setup). I personally feel that the students deserve some Bravery award just to admire their courage to brave the bitter cold and live to attend the next day’s ppt too.

4. Awakening of the Explorers

Many of us seek inspiration from others who have achieved something great. In this case, one person to whom many look up-to would be Ferdinand Magellan (Yea, he wasn’t the first person to circumnavigate the world, rather it was his slave Enrique, yet going by popular belief & well known names, let’s go with Magellan).

I wonder how many of the MBA grads would have gone around the campus once, so going around the world can’t be thought of at all. In that case, the only option left to the so called explorers is to circumnavigate all the places in the nearby vicinities. So, gathering inspiration from Magellan or Columbus (If you like him), there arise a group intent on covering all these places. Well these places aren’t that well known to raise a second glance, yet to name few places near Lucknow, it would be Dudhwa national park, Khajurao (quite a distant 380 kms away), Agra, Delhi, all the religious bathing sites (Haridwar, Rishikesh, Kashi etc), Nainital & some places in Uttaranchal. So as soon as we get a free weekend, the explorers set to conquer these less well known places and derive satisfaction at the end that their adventurous appetite has been attended to. For the others who don’t prefer to wait for the weekend time, they ensure that they circumnavigate the inner areas of Lucknow almost on a daily basis.

5. Entertainment Marathon

This last activity is something which is indulged by almost every living soul in the campus. The time which we get excluding the time spent on Nirvana meditation and the Job run is exclusively devoted to this aspect called the ‘Entertainment Marathon’. This is nothing but the continuous watching of movies, sitcom’s, drama etc etc… It’s as if the life on the earth is about to come to an end, and every person has an unfulfilled commitment to watch a certain set of movies before time runs out. Few common conversations which could be heard would be suggestions on the movie names from the so-called movie experts. You might say what about the Bollywood flicks which release on a frequent basis, yet gauging from the failure of the recent flicks of Bolly movies (Tees Mar khan, ToonPur ka Superhero etc) to fulfill the student expectations, many have resigned to the fact that it’s better to see better movies in the comfy of their rooms rather than venture out. But there are still those who believe that their commitment to maintain the legacy of watching all the movies in theatre has to be continued and that their expectations will somehow be fulfilled by at-least movie.

Whatever happens, one thing is for sure… The life goes on. May it be the acads, competitions, events, a common thread unites most of the students and that is the intent to enjoy the best of remaining few days in the institute and to imprint few evergreen memories. Suited or not suited (where we really don’t have an option), one thing is for sure, as Barney in the well known sitcom ‘How I met your Mother’ says

“Its gonna be Legen… (wait for it)....Dary" for the remaining days.

P.S: If you are still scratching your head over intelligence and beauty quotient in girls, the axiom says that intelligence is inversely proportional to beauty, or that beauty varies inversely with intelligence, or that people (read girls) aren’t typically endowed with both beauty and brains!