You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2008.
has come… and apart from putting on tricolor at every conceivable place, and putting on blaring music featuring some quasi patriotic songs, no one is in a mood to to something different. The scene is same as last year, or years before that.
What we need is not rhetoric about change and improvement or comparisons which are as empty as the water reservoirs in the summer. We need discussions that are action oriented and implementation focused.
India is lagging. We are losing out on the gifts which we have received one way or the other. Instead of having a structured agenda that is party independent, the autocratic rule still persists as different levels. The oldest democratic party in the country still is ruled by a dictatorial style, the head treated as empress. Even in school, the principal is god+king, and the participants ( students) have absolutely no say in any of the policy decisions.The ministers are treated not as public servants by any stretch of imagination, but as modern day rulers.
This has to change.
One way to start is to focus on what concerns me and millions more. In mumbai, people are alien to the concept of comfortable traveling. Trains are impossibly crowded, and instead of finding solutions to create other channels of public traveling, we laud the tolerance of people. Some weird thoughts are they not ?
The roads are filled with potholes, and no one gives a shit. People who can make a difference are busy feeding stray dogs.
By the time I reach office, I have already traveled in one of the worst crowded public transport system for more than an hour, and what ever energy I had in the morning is almost done with just stay alive at the end of the journey. I can easily predict my effectiveness and amount of value add done in the office. Specially when I know I need equal amount of energy to return home.
By my calculations, I lose four hours every day in traveling. Add eight hours of sleep and eight hours of work, and I am left with two free hours for myself. too less to be creative or to work out after getting tired so much just by traveling. People have gone through similar grind for decades. By the time they are retired, they are hardly left humans i guess.
The quickest way to increase productivity is to provide comfort while traveling. A/C trains would go a long way to conserve energy, specially in the hot and humid climate of mumbai. The gains would be then immediately visible. People are paying five to ten times the normal ticket for the first class, and the situation remains exactly the same.
My point is the mentality has never been to expect luxury. If it is working, its a miracle, because we have never been exposed to anything better. I guess this needs a fundamental shift in the thinking.
No longer is the world okay with anything less than best, and neither should be we.
Expect the best, demand the best, starting from yourself, and spreading to everyone who is a service provider.
I guess the rewards would be late, but enough to take our beloved country to new levels.
Happy Independence day.
Take care…
can be pretty irritating at times. Especially when you are in contact with many a hot babes at the same time ( okay, this is just to increase my coolness quotient ).
The incidence is like this…
My boss and I head out for a meeting at 5 pm. I should have thought about the time and carried my cell with me, but I was too happy to go out of the office to meet a client. I leave my cell there.
The meeting goes well, and my boss drops me off near the office to head for another meeting. I don’t have the office keys with me, because my keys are with a person who has not come today to office.
After about 45 minutes, I am in the lift, and planning to just grab the phone and leave the office.
I reach the 12th floor and push the door.. the door refuses to budge. I am like… hehe, very funny guys.. HEY!! wtf!!…
The door stares placidly at me. I am panicking…..
I am back to my normal self, and decide to head home WITHOUT a cell phone. Luckily the wallet is with me, and the train pass in inside. Normally I keep it secure in the office drawer. Lucky me.
I am in the train, and feeling very VERY uncomfortable, without my cell. I desperately need to play that game which i cleared while hanging out of the train door with only one hand. I need to sms, I need to call up someone…….
I am at home, and feeling suffocated. I need my cell!!!!!
I am on the net.. I feel connected with the world… breathing is normal again.
Take care….
I am one of those who remember even the smallest mistakes they have made. And berate oneself repeatedly over it. I cannot stand making a mistake. Mind you, if I don’t know something and try to do it, I am okay if it goes wrong. One the other hand, if I had done it beforehand, even once, then anything wrong becomes unforgivable. Once is enough for learning how to to it.
I am sure some think this is pretty extreme self regulation, but it has also helped me be alert and learn much more than I would have had I let myself loose. By natuSre, I tend to be someone who always finds path of least effort for a process. I heavily belienve and practice automating and delegating the chores. Simplify, reduce, eliminate, contain, alter, exclude, tweak… these are the actions I am always thinking about. Its more of going with the flow than putting my power in forcing the flow to divert. Kind of zen i guess. Use the natural flow of energy but direct it using the slightest efforts. Your mind can save you lot of efforts down the line… Plan properly, to the T, and then improvise as you go along. I am that kind of person.
I am wrong about mistakes.
Now that I am three months into my first job, I have realized the priorities are different. What I think is important may not be relevant for the client who seeks it. Do I then, spend considerable more time on it, just to get it right? or should I just do a shoddy but passable work, which is not to be seen by anyone in any case?
No, I am not a proponant of ‘chalta hai’ or ‘good enough’ attitude. I prefer to do the things once, and closer to perfection, and a shoddy job would really irk me. The question is of balance of investment of energy, efforts and time versus the rewards, utilization, benefit.
Right now, I am in a confused state, seeking the balance between both the perfectionist and ‘good enough’ views.
Take care…
what is more important in life?
This was the question raised by someone whose friend is addicted to books and is totally in the book Fountainhead right now. Of course this question could only be raised by someone who is yet to experience the ‘zone’ if I can call it. That feeling when time does not exist, neither does the world. I have been in the zone for as long as 10-12 hours at a stretch, not even eating or drinking, just so that I could read the next page, the next line, the next action… the next idea.Its a high unlike any other.
What books are, is the main point of contention. Are they not the minds of the people who have written them? So when we read a book, its as if the person has come through to us, through time, space and culture. Just to share what he/she/they feel about something. Its exactly like hearing a speaker narrate his thrilling tale of adventure, or a philosopher sharing his years of thinking by distilling it in just a few hours.
What better thing could it be then , to choose whose thinking you want to hear? When we meet people, they are limited. Limited by the world that they see, experiences that are mostly manufactured be media and sold to them over various channels of communications. You hear opinions sculpted by spin doctors. In contrast, you can just grab a book by newton, aristotle, socrates, plato… and have a day out in a different culture. You can also pick a book like the great gatsby, or ana carenina, or war and peace and get the feel of the national culture, not of the 2000 but of much older. You get the choice, to go across all the boundaries, and hear the thoughts.
You get the choice to pace it to your speed of thinking too. If at all one gets a chance to meet some one in flesh, the time is of essence, and it runs out. Once, though, the ideas are written, they are immortalized. Their worth is really tested in the currents of time.
I presume we do need people, to stay in touch with reality, to maintain our sanity. We need books to grow, to feel the ‘zone’, to learn. Books have become a inseparable part of me. So have some of the people who leave their thought print.
Its not books or people.
Books, in their essence, are people.
Take care…
or what makes an embryo human??
The Mumbai High court denied an abortion to a woman, whose embryo was detected with a heart condition. I have my own personal observations to share about this.
My younger sister would tern 17 tomorrow. Even if I write “many happy returns of the day” she cant read it. She cant read anything for that matter, or see a movie or the rainbow. She is blind, congenitally. She is also autistic. Some part of her brain refused to develop, along with the rest of it. The eyes never got developed. She cant speak. And yet, she is intelligent enough. She can very well emote, and identify people and enjoy life as she sees it.
It confuses me to no end. What exactly is a human being? I am sure philosophers are dusting off their books in anticipation of a new virgin entering in their hunting grounds, but I dont want all those brainy answers. My questions are different. For example, does she have a voting right? what if he has no clue of what is democracy and why she is pressing the button, will she still vote?
I am confused.
On an unrelated note, I had to climb up 12 stories to reach my office. Of the 3 lifts in the wing, one is under repair, one is broken, and almost all of the employees of the myriad offices turn up in the same narrow window of time. The queue stretches to infinity. So I took the stairs. And immediately noticed the difference in me. The tiredness has come down drastically. The thigh muscles are still under worked, but the respiratory system has become efficient enough. Till the 9th floor, I was not even breathing heavily. Last time when I climbed up, I was panting since the 4-5th. I like my breathing exercises. Whats more, they are simple, take around 5-10 minutes… AND ARE FREEEEEEEE!!!!! I guess raw food is helping the cause too..
I am planning to buy a cordless headphone set for my sister tomorrow. She enjoys music a lot.
Take care…
feeling tired.
Okay! I am only half kidding. I am feeling very tired since the last week. The quality of my sleep has been shot and that I guess is showing finally. Add the month end load factor and it is a recipe for a disastrous mistake in work. Or worse, in some relationship.
I have already started my Nth back to good health program. Pranayam ( more of the pre pranayam or shuddhikriya…. means cleansing breathing practices) 3-4 asanas ( positions ) regularly in the morning. Also, I have just shifted to eating banana smoothie and raw food in place of dinner. The next step is to cut down on all the gallons of coffee I have been drinking while hanging out with friends in this or that coffee shop. The cups of tea in the office are killing my digestive system too, guess too much of powdered milk will make me feel acidic in stomach.
Next target for me is a drastic one. I am going out on a 3 days 2 nights trek with my local friends. I need to get in shape for that. Guess I really need to push my body in the remaining two weeks to get in some semblance of shape at least. I guess I would focus on push ups for the next three days. Waking up early enough and for that matter sleeping on time must be my priority.
After Wednesday, I have hopefully woken up early for all the three days. Then comes the going out in the morning for a morning walk part. By Friday,I must be jogging. I am so totally out of walking and jogging part that I am getting friction burns due to all the sweat while I walk. I am not aware of any solution till now, which would get rid of all the extra fat that has found place in my thighs. Specially when I am strictly opposed to following any crash fad diet.
Luckily I learnt a crucial thing during the last trek. Its more about mind than body. I am sure of myself that I can push my body to the limit easily, without any mental struggle sapping my energy. That was of great help to me that time, hope it comes to my rescue this time as well. Other wise I am toast with all the extra pounds of fat I am always carrying around on my tummy and thighs and what not places.
Another weekend over, another chance of relaxing and recovering and regaining strength lost. Learning from mistakes sometimes is just plain more difficult in some areas than others.
Take care…
are totally different topics to post on, so I am finding it difficult what to choose as todays blog topic.
I guess local trains is a miracle sent directly from heaven, just because so many people believe in god. you can read up on it at this wiki page. 6.1 million official travelers ( many people just have no clue that ticket needs to be bought to board a train, and also that the first class compartment is less crowded sometimes for a reason).
The flow of masses is unidirectional in both morning and evening time. In the morning, to reach the office by 10, I get up at 7 and I am ready by 7.45-7.50 ( actually every minute matters). I have to be on the platform before the train comes, or only viable option is the next train. From 7.30 in the morning, till about 10.30 one can see a war happening, with its casualties, on the platforms. I catch the train from the station from which it begins its route to the church gate, the last and my target station. Now while the train starts from my station, before reaching there its already full, and the vantage places are taken. That is because it halts at other stations while coming, and many people, who have the whole timetable by heart simply catch the train going in the wrong direction, and just wait.
Getting in the train is a guerrilla war, with its numerous strategies. Now it is extremely difficult to explain them in a blog, but I guess I will try my best.
One has to stand one compartment before the target compartment. That is because by the train stops completely, it is already full by the people jumping the the slowing train. So, you must remember the Olympic motto, citius altius, fortius. Jump early, in the faster train, with a higher chance of getting a good place.
Another thing is, where you want to get down ? there are rigid rules to forma queue and other wise the person violating the rules will be brutally crushed by the human mass in the compartment which moves in a chaotic rhythm.
safe places for a longer traveller are, standing near the window, or in the door, holding the front door or having ones back to the door. it is quite difficult to actually explain this.
I guess I have tried enough, and I am not making sense to myself. So I will stop!
The week was very long and tiring, al though I have slept properly last night, I can still feel the tiredness in me. This is it for today i guess.
Take care…
