Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sunday Times

This Sunday has come after a long time. With the mad rush of things I have recently gone through, I don't remember the last time I encountered a Sunday.

Yeah well, I got married, for one, then went to a week-long trip to 'God's Own Country' Kerela. After my return, I had to immediately rush to another friend's wedding 30 hrs away in Andhra Pradesh.

In my total travel to Kakinada, I only attended the function for about 6 hrs and then started my journey back. Phew! That was the day preceding last Monday.

The adjoining week was action-packed, with no time to breathe. And like a small commercial break in a long movie, came Sunday. It will fade into time as soon as it has appeared, while I try to figure out what I am going to do in it.

So while I make a check list of things to do, you go ahead and enjoy Sunday!

Monday, October 27, 2008

Happy Diwali!

A very happy and prosperous Diwali to all the readers!

May this Diwali bring new opportunities, hope and success to all of you!!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

understanding the worth by spending more

have you ever experienced this?

you think something is worth something , but you had to pay more amount just to realise that it was worth less.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Free as hell

"Free as hell", an angel said while promoting heaven

"what price would you pay to get to heaven?" - "Life", said the angel

so why die, why not continue living and ponder upon more tangible things like Life and the Materials that it constitues, rather than speculate about such intangible notions.

Why dont we have the freedom to live, as we have to die? why can't we 'choose' to be immortal? how do some people die and still become immortal due to their deeds while others continue to just live life of a living dead?

"dont remember to forget" - I said to myself, "and dont forget to remember"

Should we be like lighthouses, who just stand at a place and show the path? Naah! "Thats just so passive". "Be Active. Get a torch in your own hand and illuminate your path"

"Choose someone who has faced bottlenecks, who has stumbled in a pothole sometime. Someone who can guide you and if you stumble, can come to your help to lift you and provide the necessary impetus and the drive and the energy to continue your journey"

Thoughts of an unarranged kind

[what appears in your mind is not to be ignored, but to be pondered and remembered; expressing free-flowing thoughts without speed-breakers or potholes] 

Striking similarities between two events,
separated by time and unassuming distance,
Unknown, and sometimes incognito, remaining in oblivion
two spirits finding their true mettle

Two turns facing each other,
oblivious of the road that passes through,
stand ignorant of the past and an unknown future
relishing the present that exists

saving thoughts of an unrational kind,
bridging void, searching for the l'il connect,
that joins the dots, to form the large picture,
two minds resonating, waiting to create...

Monday, September 15, 2008

...Like Hell

I hate him like hell...
I ate like hell...
Like hell I'll do it...
I am busy like hell...
where the hell do you think you're going?
To hell with you... 
what the hell is happening?

No seriously, what the hell is happening?

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? These are some typical 'like hell' statements we use in our daily lives. So now, if I ask you, which is more popular? Hell or heaven? Like hell I like heaven. Like hell I like hell.

We all want go to 'heaven', but still popularize 'hell' more than 'heaven'... what the hell!

If Hell and Heaven were celebrities, Hell would win hands down in popularity!! :)

Okay, again, which is the more popular word of the two? Of course, hell...

So what's the verdict?... To hell with it.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Feeling short of words

Really. I am.

There are moments when you have to say a lot. There are moments when you feel so strongly about a subject, but you curse yourself for feeling so terribly short of words. Have you experienced this before?

There are moments like these that annoy me. Is it why you can think and still not speak everything that you can think? Anyways. I am not making sense, am I? See, thats the point.

There are moments when you are full of excitement, full of enthusiasm, full of grief, full of anger, full of lot of things; but heck, those feelings don't form words. They just stay feelings. And nobody is able to clearly understand these feelings.

Even as I type, I am in desperate want of words to express something important, but I am just short of words.

Good, bad or ugly? I don't know. I am just short of words.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

G-Forces and Potholes

My driver gave me an experience of a lifetime. I have neither sat in a centrifuge, nor have I felt centrifugal forces of high magnitude. But my driver, who possibly isn't even aware of this jargon, was the key facilitator.

And it happened on Mumbai-Agra highway. And it happened in a Scorpio. And it happened for two consecutive days and a night. Phew.

I, with my family, had gone to pick my bro from Mumbai International Airport a week back. We had enagaged a travel agency's Scorpio to drive us and receive him at the Airport. Well, I was prepared to face the highway in the potholes, err, the potholes in the highway, but, to experience G-Forces on the way, was out-of-this-world and totally unexpected. [In retrospect, I should have got a G-Suit for this travel. Anyways.]

So there I was in a fully-geared Scorpio, next to the driver, remotely unaware of the experience ahead. How interesting! Ignorance really can be a bliss sometimes.

Soon after we crossed the city limits, the potholes started actively showing themselves. As though having a strong clairvoyance, the driver began dodging potholes with remarkable accuracy and consistency. OH-MY-GOD! For those of you who thought G-Forces affect only at high Gs, you're sadly mistaken. They can even affect you at 40 kmph, much to the driver's credit and skill in maneuvering the vehicle in acute angles. The sharper the turns, better are the chances of experiencing the G-Forces.

All my bodily fluids begun shaking me from the core, to the core. Literally. [I recalled the concepts in Fluid Mechanics in Engineering, and started thinking of ways to overcome this Fluid Dynamics experience.] But it was nuthhing. I also let my bodily fluids come out in a few spells during this trip.

And then during the treacherous mountaineous terrains between Mumbai and Nasik, I experienced centrifugal forces of severe magnitude. Combine them with bad rains, brutal G-Forces, misplaced potholes and a talkative driver - and what you get is an experience of a lifetime!

Anyways. This journey has been so special to me that I can't share it with my readers any further. Sorry people, I need to keep somethings special and just for myself. Right?

Friday, August 08, 2008

no poems since a long time

I'm just too busy writing prose. Whatever happened to poems?

I believe that poems essentially have to just 'flow' within you. You should not 'consciously' think while writing poems. The last poem I wrote was in mid-Jan. Woah!

I had once read that "at the touch of love, everyone becomes a poet!'. So does that mean that I am not in love anymore? Should I infer that I was in love earlier?

Or simply that I am too busy to think passionately about 'metaphysical' or 'intangible' things while I am passionately thinking about 'material' or 'tangible' things? Simply, complicated.

Or that I have run out of patience for writing poems? Or it is that I want to focus more on prose?

Okay. Forget it. No more attempts to evaluate reasons for not writing poems. I am not writing poems because I am not writing poems. I'll write poems when I'll write poems. End of the matter.

I am rubbishing all such options of not writing poems. I'm still in love, possibly more. I'm still passionate, possibly more. I am still inspired, possibly more. I have not run out of patience. I can profoundly think of metaphysical and material things with equal incompetency. And lastly, I am very busy. Everything is perfect.

Therefore I think that the time is approaching. Watch out for this space.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

And then I cried...

Do any of these strike a chord?

1. Baje sargam har taraf se gunje bankar des raag...
2. Mile sur mera tumhara...
3. Hamara Bajaj (original)...
4. Hamara Bajaj (badal rahe hai hum yahan)...
5. Cadbury India Ad - Kuch Khaas Hai...

The first 2 in the list are gems and were aired on Doordarshan in 1980s, which we have grown up watching. After all these years, today morning after I completed Prayanam, I thought of listening to these. And one click led to another.

I am an ad freak. So while I am keeping a track on the latest ads running in print and tv, those listed in the 3rd, 4th and 5th point still rank amongst the top 3 ads in my list.

Why?

Because of the idea that drives them, profound emotional appeal, the marvelous rendition and background music and most importantly, the flawless execution. W-O-W!

The old Hamara Bajaj ad is an iconic ad. No doubt. I know I don't need to validate my statement. Bass naam hee kaafi hai. It speaks of unity and India's progress and Bajaj's contribution to it. It was an ad whose time had come then, and was required to give a boost to the New Face of India. The newer Hamara Bajaj ad, speaks more of the changing trends in India, the modern lifestyle, but what it quintessentially communicates is that our beliefs and values are still strong.

The 5th ad is another iconic ad in my view. For me it speaks of ecstasy, breaking barriers, breaking conventional viewpoint and most importantly, celebration! The soulful rendition of Shankar Mahadevan's voice creates such a magic, that you just want to see it more.

But all this, courtesy YouTube. Without it, I would not be able to relive those moments, when I could cry only due to sheer joy and excitement.

While I am writing this, I am listening to the rendition of 'Aaj Gaawat Man Mero Jhumke', a masterpiece composed in Des Raag from the film 'Baiju Bawra'. This is giving an additional effect and am totally in the mood. One cuppa coffee and I'm all geared up.

Happy listening folks!

PS: You can also search these keywords in YouTube, and actually see what I am talking about! If you're not convinced, well, then watch again! :)

[I'll be refining the article as I get more time. Be patient.]

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Random Thoughts: Ideas, Awareness and God

6.684 billion minds on earth.

Potential of generating 6.684 billion ideas every second.

India has the potential of generating 1.129 billion ideas every second. WOW!!

How can we harness that? Shouldn't there be an 'idea meter' which just ticks every second, counts the ideas generated and also registers them somewhere so that we can refer to them sometime?

Forgetfulness is a sin. We tend to forget easily than we remember. It just struck me that we have to 'work hard' in remembering something than in forgetting something. That's why we generally 'choose' to forget. Cuz, that's easier. Anyways.

Maharashtra, the state I belong to, has a population of 96 million. Nasik has the population of over 1.4 million. See the potential?

We are in the knowledge economy. Knowledge comes from Awareness. Awareness is the fuel to generate ideas. Or is it? Is is 'chicken first-egg first' thing? Think. What controls what? Do ideas control awareness? or the other way round? or it is a vicious cycle? Ideas generate more awareness which generate more ideas.

Why is memorizing a mental function while forgetting is not?
Deleting / Erasing is a special command in computers. Then why not in us?

We don't have an effective Idea Log mechanism. Why doesn't anything that comes to our mind gets registered somewhere, 'naturally'? May be in an inter-dimensional void? This is considering that the storage space will run out on earth!! Even the most high capacity storage devices would run out of space. [Just a parallel thought: There could be a mutant, Ideator, whose superpower is to store other people's ideas without letting his brain run out of memory. He is able to tap and utilize ideas from any part of the universe or even multiverses. Someone like Forge, a genius who can create anything he can imagine. But much more powerful.]

May be that's why we don't have a 'natural' Idea storage house. We save on space. God must have figured that humans would breed and populate the world."It's best left to their own discretion to decide which 'ideas' have a future and which don't". Naturally, if ideas are stored, they would occupy more space than the total humans on the planets. Ideas can cross-pollinate and breed and grow.

But would there be an uneven spread of ideas across humans? That brings to the next question. Is God partial to humans?
Why should one human generate more ideas than the other? Why did God not give equal brain 'potential' to humans?

Endless questions. Endless debate. Incessant Ideas.

PS:
Since 1850, when the world population has exceeded a billion, we could have potential generated 4.983 x E18 ideas! And this is considering that a single mind generates ideas on its own. We have not even considered cross-pollination. I wonder if the world even had these many problems to solve!

We had to make more problems just to solve them! [Well, that's very humane, so it's possible.]

Thank you for your patient listening to all the gibberish! :)

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Nostalgia Strikes Back

Its that time of the year when the power cuts prevail in the city. The State Electricity boards love to shed power during the raining season.

Historically, they are known to cut the power lines at the drop of a 'bolt'. These are erratic power cuts. These boards conveniently blame 'Mother Nature' for unleashing its fury on the weak distribution houses. This year, nostalgia strikes back...with a vengeance. Why? Read on.

Nasik generally does not have unscheduled power cuts. But they can be 'staged' every 2 hrs! Now you can imagine what would happen when power cuts are UNSCHEDULED. Their effect is catastrophic. Specially if your work COMPLETELY depends on computers! Even if you have invertors to support. [I think during such times most flourishing business would be for those who deal in Power Management systems like Invertors, Generators etc]

Till last year, we had power cuts to the tune of 4-5 hrs in a day. They plan to touch new heights this year. Yes, we are talking about 12 hr power-cuts! You can recover using AutoSave, but what happens to that time lost? Words labor lost. [Why dont they have more power plants to support tier-2 cities like Nasik? No wonder residents in metros like Mumbai and Delhi, with power cuts, are happier.]

It would happen from tomorrow. 'The' power cut. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Maeri

WOW!! Another WOW!! I am thrilled and excited. Amazing!

I am presently in an ecstatic mood. Why? From a long time I was trying to understand what the opening lines of the song 'Maeri' by Euphoria meant, and my mom after just hearing it once explained what it meant. The lines are in Punjabi, and I wasn't able to figure them out. And its meaning has given me more thrill!

Yes, that means, I am going to listen and recite those lines throughout the day till I am thorough with its pronunciation and tune and lyrics!

Till then, happy singing! :)

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The 'Haunt'ing

Move over Hugh. My latest haunt is visiting Hallucinations and reading Shruthi's thoughts on diverse topics ranging from her concerns about certain public issues to Movies to Humor to Health to Parenting. The list is endless.

I like her clarity of expression. Period. That is one thing I want to learn from her writing. Actually, for the very same reason I starting reading gapingvoid.com. I closely followed it for around 4 years and gathered insights about how his strategy for Stormhoek, a small South-African winery, tranformed it completely and still increasing profits multifold.

Infact, gapingvoid gave me insights about blogging, marketing, branding, consumer perception, 'Social Objects', cartoons, ideas, etc etc. Lot of things. Again, the list is endless.

Since many days I've not been able to read and write much about anything. Blogs and Books were a regular feature in my schedule earlier. Now I am just trying to maximize my work in the available time. [I reeeallly wish I were 'Flash'; I would have done everything efficiently and in a 'flash'. But reality can be brutal.]

Anyways. I am trying hard to work out a way of balancing my work and my hobby. Incidentally, my present work was my hobby earlier which I have transformed into work now and got busy in it. Yes, I am very happy with it. No doubt.

But when your hobby becomes your work, you need to start developing some other hobby. It should become a habit slowly. Anyways.

Now that I have revisited my thoughts, I think Hallucinations and Hugh should have a equal share in my schedule. Hallucinations can have the bigger half!

[Just a self-note: I think I need to revisit all my articles and add newly gathered insights to them. Cheers.]

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

A new dawn. A new begnining. Everyday.

Hey people, hope things are fine at your end!

About me? Life has never been more interesting. More opportunities to discover myself. More opportunities to learn. More opportunities to grow. I am about to be myself again.

I must have met more unknown people in past 2 days than I met in the entire previous year. Good thing is that I know most of them now. Meeting them was the easy part. The real fun part is trying to remember their names along with the corresponding faces.

For the time being, I am just happy. I am happy that I am meeting so many people who had assembled for a common purpose and shared the same common source of happiness. I'll get more opportunities to meet them at different occasions now. More opportunities to meet more people. Nuff said.

I discovered that people share radically uncommon idiosyncrasies. And such things are at their glaring best during such events when idiosyncrasies meet idiosyncrasies. And they interfere and interact. Ehem. Forget about it.

>> More about it later

Sunday, March 16, 2008

In search of the Perfect Tea

I am happy today. I woke up at 4.45 am to attend a 'Art of Living' crash-course at 5.30 am. Crash course, because, it was a 3 day program unlike the usual extensive ones. The special feature of this program was the presence of Sri Sri Ravishankar, the founder and the driving force behind 'Art of Living'. The program focused on Meditation and Pranayam techniques primarily, and not Sudarshan Kriya for which 'Art of Living' is recognized.

I think over 10,000 people must have attended the event. Seen below, is Sri Sri Ravishankar connecting with the crowd. (click on it for a larger version)


Soon after it ended at 7.30 am (sharp), I decided to have tea at the most famous tea-stall in Nashik for the first time since my arrival in the city 14 yrs ago! The reason for my having tea some place outside home is, because I am home alone at present and I become 'Sloth Incarnated' during such times. To my dissatisfaction, this most-famous tea stall was closed on a Sunday morning!

I was most dissatisfied because this temporary incarnation of sloth would have to find another tea stall. What a pain.

As I ventured to locate other tea-stalls in the vicinity, I was disappointed at every juncture. (Hmm, so the whole process was created to de-sloth me). Anyways, in my search for the perfect tea, I traveled to places which were filled with emptiness. Hardly anybody on the street. I guess, other people with this temporary-sloth disorder must be enjoying their state, neatly on their warm beds.

So finally, while I was on the verge of giving up the perfect tea, I had an 'aroma' of hope. Unbelievable. Fresh aroma of tea. Just some distance away, I saw a customer-driven and energetic tea-walla distributing tea to his customers. (Thank you, God!)

I cherished every sip of the tea and thanked the tea-walla for being present at the right moment for this sloth. The result of this journey was flavored and aromatic. It was time for me to rush back home and enjoy other sloth-moments.

So may be I didn't get the tea at the perfect tea stall, but this journey did de-sloth me and finally gave me the perfect tea at not-so-perfect tea stall! I realized that sometimes, it is more important to travel than to arrive!

Have a happy Sunday!! :)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Some random thoughts about some random things

Presently, there are a billion thoughts hovering around in my mind. Mostly concerned with Vision, Focus, Productivity, Efficiency, Work Approach, Results, Performance, Improvement, Quality, Targets, 'the big picture', Measurement, 'customer delight', etc.

All of these aspects have added to become a binomial equation of the highest order. Too many variables, too many parameters; yet the outcome, possibly, just one. Growth.

What I'm currently caught up with is: Agreed, that I have a binomial equation of the highest order. That there are umpteen variables. That the the outcome is also defined. But, to crack the equation that would result in 'Growth', I'm trying to find out something that is so 'simple', yet 'pivotal' to the success of this equation. Everything else hangs aroung this pivot. That 'pivot' I'm trying to find.

We're talking about finding one simple 'lever' which just solves the entire equation in a jiffy. I'm thinking hard to find this 'lever' in a set of systems and processes devised by us.

May be the solution is too familiar for us to notice. May be it is so obvious that we can't even see it. Need a fresh perspective towards the entire problem. A new direction. A new angle. A new paradigm.

What is the key to high 'customer satisfaction'? Even if we see 'the big picture', how do we regulate work through a set of procedures and systems designed by us, keeping in mind the customer expectation levels have radically evolved over the period of time? They've radically evolved and not radically changed. Hmm. May this is the 'connection'.

Earlier, if the customer wanted something in 10 days with X level of quality; now, he needs it in 2 days with 10X level of quality. So, what is driving this change?
a. Customer perception about the product? or
b. Fear that the same customer may visit some other competitor? or
c. The fact that the customer has become more aware and resourceful than before? or
(there could be more options, but these immediately strike me)

In this 'customer evolution' phase, what all need to change?
1. Recognition that customers have evolved.
2. Systems and processes
3. Fundamental perception of the company about the customer
4. Competition
5. Speed of work / execution
(these strike me right now)

This is where suddenly, I recollect something, which was possibly said by Steven Covey: "It does not matter how hard you're climbing up the ladder; if the ladder itself is against the wrong wall, your efforts are futile"

Even if we identify the right wall and the right ladder, the pace at which we climb the ladder and how smartly we climb the ladder, governs how fast we reach the customer waiting for us at the end of the ladder. Why? Simple, there are 100 other ladders like you wanting to reach the same customer?

Another question that strikes me is: Does a system have to be person dependent or process dependent? I realize and accept, from the bottom of my heart that, it has to process dependent. But, what happens when the person who's designed those processes is the key? What happens if he's not available for a substantial period of time? (I may be sounding silly, but, these are just some random thoughts expressed without cutting down the matter)

Yes, I know that I need help. I need to laterally think a way to get me out of this. And I need to get out of it very soon. The bloggers, marketing consultants, think tanks, even, passersby are invited to share their opinions / thoughts / feedback with me.

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Excitement Cost

What does it take to get excited to work? What cost would you spend to keep yourself excited? Here's something that's randomly come to my mind:

What excites you to work? I've known this for a while that work excites me to work more. These days I just need excuses to work. Even on a Sunday, I'd just slip out of home and go to office to work. I think I am getting possessive about my work. I can't see myself not working.

I don't know the word which describes the next level of workaholism. But I think I've reached there. Is there something called 'work worms'?

Putting aside the family and social circle of friends, I prefer to work. A case to ponder deeply and act. A-S-A-P.

This got me thinking. Earlier it was the inspiration that drove me towards doing more work. Inspiration drove me and excited me to become more creative. Well, that inspiration and creativity is still there, which channels itself in other mediums, like poetry; but, it has reduced. Why I'm saying this is because, the frequency of writing poems has drastically reduced. Its work and more work.

I'll say it again: Inspiration drove me and excited me to become more creative. 3 words. Inspiration, Excitement and Creativity.

These days as I become more work-centric and target-driven, I've to work harder at getting myself inspired to get necessary 'fuel' to stimulate creativity. Bad sign, isn't it?

I have a passion for writing and learning languages. But sadly, I'm unable to do any of those. Yes, its work and more work. What's happened to you, pal?

The one thing that makes me work hard (er!) is the visible impact of what I work on in the business. My job is stay in control of the day-to-day activities while strategically seeing and acting if the company is heading in the direction it's supposed to head. The mentoring part I find most exciting. Just fyi, The people I mentor have over 10-25 yrs industry experience. Yes, it is a very fulfilling experience.

Oops. I just realized that I've drifted from the topic I initially started with. 'Excitement Cost' is something you need to incur to get yourself excited. Earlier, this EC was relatively lesser, I got inspiration from Nature, Relational Dynamics, Music, Gaping Void, Glasbergen, Driving, Astrophysics, etc.

These days, as I'm unable to find time to be in the vicinity of any of these, the EC is all set to increase. It is Movies, McDs, Play Stations, New Bike, etc that seems to be gaining popularity in my mind.

Gotta get back to those old ways of getting in a new shape. EC's gotta come down now. Set a deadline, Force. Act now.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Fremdsprache - ein entfernter Traum

Ich lernt eine Fremdsprache. Then it stopped. I can't write or read any more German than what's written here. What a pity. The journey that started with a high-powered drive, met with a screeching end.

Agreed, that I am too busy to even think beyond my daily schedule. But therein lies the problem. It is said that busy people have a time for everything (I know I ain't no best 'xample of eet.) I need to define my work well so that I have time for everything. My plan is to learn German, French and Spanish. This is not including the regional languages like Bengali and Gujarati. (Wow! So much to do and I am just excuses)

Will write more later... hang on...

>> Guten Nacht! (good night!)...

Saturday, January 12, 2008

I have a Vision

I have a vision
of a liberal society, where minds are not infected
where beliefs are not dissected

I have a vision
of a trillion dominos arranged by fate
the right domino for me to select and wait
actions that would initiate a chain
driven by vision and would help my life gain

I have a vision
of a butterfly effect my actions would cause,
identifying and carefully removing the flaws;

I have a vision
of an undiscovered God
establishing Himself and preaching by sword
seeing His powers blossom
of an unseen fury in this microcosm

I have a vision
of finding lost humanity in these confines of mind
of reviving beliefs, triggering a soul of new kind

I have a vision
of a better me
a real me
wandering lonely on a crowded street
discovering my self in this divine retreat

Friday, January 04, 2008

Life and Beyond

Dogmas
and relentless passion
sermoning reality
on false beliefs

Ignorant Minds
Divinity and Faith
growing abound
beyond confined paradigms

Thoughts in a fix
startled emotions
Degrees of freedom
outgrowing beliefs

oblivious harmony
overshadowed by pain
remaining incognito
in the confines of reality

tranforming life
to outreach horizons
Reliving and reviving
transcending Life

Fertile imagination
creative ideas boosting Spirit
resurrected harmony
Outgrowing Life