Be-Aware!

Ricardo Semler's book "Maverick: The Success Behind the World's Most Unusual Workplace"

2011-09-27T02:46:00.000-07:00

Think of it - the corporate world is bogged by so many diplomatic levels that by the time a vision reaches to the top , an objective becomes a subjective debate whose real benefit gets lost

Semco is one such company which does not have this structure.The company has an open policy and the employees are all a real stakeholder in decision making
Including the decision to have how much of salary they deserve !!!! The transparency and the good intention is what makes the company a flagship corporation which has withstood the economic crisis of Brazil

Its only when people feel connected with the company and its only when they feel part of the business decision would be able to value add to work .
without this , its just a diplomatic way of handling things and getting the work done....Sort this - At any time the productivity of any company is just 20% ...that means , only 20% of them are effective and rest 80% are dilly dallying and sticking around the company for a different reason and if you can do something to make the other "80%" of them to be effective , you are not just building a company , you are building a brand and semco had all the ingredients to make such a "brand" in a country where lot of economic turmoil happened !!!

Semco has unions and they can fight for their rights including filing cases and dragging the corporation to the court. But none of those would be sacked for (mis) deeds !!!!
Rather the matter would be settled legally and fairly.But guess what , here is the twist - these guys continue to work for the same company irrespective of what ever happened between the corporation and the workers !

Semco doesn't have receptionists, secretaries or personal assistants, regarding them as unnecessary. The top boss has to walk into the printer/fax and get the things done !!

Its just not these policies which make semco a great company to work for...The workers can shift their base from engineering to accounting to any other department of their choice.But they have to perform and they have to fight for their place
Not because their performance would be impacted but for the reason that they own the company and have decided what level of salary they deserve to be in that place.
The inherent nature of the system is such that employees always feel connected and responsible for what ever they do inside the company and run it as though it is their own

Semco allowed its workers to set their own production quotas and found that employees would voluntarily work overtime to meet them. Profit sharing is practiced right down to factory floor level, instead of large bonuses only for senior management. Semler eventually retired from all executive positions at age 33.

Its hard to imagine such a company exists - it did , it thrived and it did make lot of money...But it does not mean they made blunders .They did. But the sheer power of people inside the company made it a formidable force to recon with,.....Semco's CEO , ricardo semler was just 24 year old when he took over from his father and he ensured the success belongs really to the people and not to the company... Check this excerpt from the book .... makes me think , A company cannot be a bureaucratic nerve center but the one which binds people to a single goal...

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---> How rules snowball:

In their quest for law, order, stability, and predictability, corporations make rules for every conceivable contingency. Policy manuals are created with the idea that, if a company puts everything in writing, management will be more rational and objective. Standardizing methods and conduct will guide new employees and insure that the entire company has a single, cohesive image. And so it became accepted that large organizations could not function without hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of rules.

Sounds sensible, right? And it works fine for an army or a prison system. But not, I believe, for a business. And certainly not for a business that wants people to think, innovate, and act as human beings whenever possible. All those rules cause employees to forget that a company needs to be creative and adaptive to survive. Rules slow it down.

With few exceptions, rules and regulations only serve to:

1. Divert attention from the company's objective.
2. Provide a false sense of security for the executives.
3. Create work for bean counters.
4. Teach men to stone dinosaurs and start fire with sticks.

The desire for rules and the need for innovation are, I believe, incompatible.Rules freeze companies inside a glacier; innovation lets them ride sleighs over it.A turtle may live for hundreds of years because it is well protected by its shell, but it only moves forward when it sticks out its head.

----> What's wrong with bosses:

That's what's wrong with bosses. So many of them are better prepared to find error and to criticize than to add to the effort. To be the boss is what counts to most bosses. They confuse authority with authoritarianism. They don't trust their subordinates.

----> Why bureaucracies get built:

Bureaucracies are built by and for people who busy themselves proving they are necessary, especially when they suspect they aren't. All these bosses have to keep themselves occupied, and so they constantly complicate everything.I wanted our people to have more contact with one another. I wanted less clutter. I wanted fewer levels. I wanted more flexibility. I wanted a new shape for our organization.

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It is this vision which makes a corporation a great place to work for - its free , fair and Unconventional

Whats your company look like - do you feel , you have a role to play , do you feel connected and most importantly do every one follow one principle which leads to trust each other ?

Mohnish Pabrai: the DHANDHO Investor

2011-07-04T00:17:00.000-07:00

When ever you think of investment , for the west it is equities and for us it is debt,gold etc..
I think the world saw one of the worst financial crisis through 2007 to 2009 and yet India Inc had a stable but yet sustainable growth . All thanks to a proven and sound track record of Indian Investment strategy in general and People in particular

We always believed in organic growth and as per the last SEBI data available , hardly 1% of the Indian investor's are in equity market and this % is now increasing

Well, equity is good if country's economy supports it and its bad when you have a growing desire to make a quick money yet you do not know where you have invested and
worst yet not knowing where your money has been invested

this is true for all the middle class families who would wish to grow their money and to that extent this book gives you a chance to open up to a new world called "Arbitrage"

Warren buffet did it , so did Microsoft and other companies who have given their shareholders a consistent returns....confused ??

Most of the strategy in financial market is purely a copycat of a well proven and well spun plan.

1. Invest in sustainable business
2. Do not invest in industries which you do not understand. Warren Buffet does not understand Information technology. He cannot see a tangible results. So he does not invest.
Did he lose ? yes he did but then cost of loss is much smaller than the profits he made in business he understood. Classic case is Washington News and other business he invested and continue to reap a huge profit.

At this point in time , Berkshire has given an investor more than 25% profit consistently over last several years

3. Look for low risk and High uncertainty market. Now this one is a clincher . Its like saying , Head you win tail you do not lose much !!!!
The case of Patel's from Gujarat ruling the Motel business in US is worth taking a dig and a learning to every one who would want to be entrepreneur
Motel business stands at more than $40 Billion in US alone and this figure could be much higher across the globe. And this is all run by Indians mostly.
When patels migrated to US , they barely had foot-n-Mouth existence and US was going through depression in 1970's..Motel business was losing and they saw an opportunity of arbitrage.
These business were selling at a cheap price....they bought them , turned them around into low cost models and made volume based profits which has sustained all the crisis of the market .

How did they see an opportunity which nobody could. How did buffet made profits when Index was losing and when wall street was downgrading the stocks , he was buying...How is it that one or two men could always be right when the wallstreet was telling it otherwise.....The answer lies in the Ingrained philosophy which these guys follow irrespective of market conditions and those things are told in very simpler terms in the book

Financial independence is one of the best gift we could give it to our kids . So we need to be knowledgeable enough to impart the right strategy and information to them

Let this book be a step towards that directions......

And lastly its interesting to go through Buffet's letter he sends every year to his investors...This letter gives you a different perspective of "Value Investing" and the power of Investments and
what they did differently which beats the market most often than not and more importantly tell's us where the investment guru - Mr warren Buffet sees an opportunity in coming days :)

iCon:Steve Jobs, the greatest second act in the history of business

2011-04-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

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According to F. Scott Fitzgerald, there are no second acts in American life. Apparently he forgot to tell Steve Jobs. Jobs rose from an outcast high school electronics nerd to become the driving force behind Apple and avatar of the computer revolution, only to be driven from the company in failure and disgrace. Then, having endured repeated personal and professional disasters, he went on to make an indelible mark on the entertainment industry, reclaim the throne at Apple, and, with the extraordinary success of the iPod, regain his reputation as arguably the greatest innovator of the digital age.

Remember Incredibles , Monster Inc and all the toy story sequels which amassed a hug money world wide

Not to mention Ipod , Ipad and Mac series of computers

Apple had it all and he had already made the dent in the universe atleast thats what it look for some more years before another stefan Jobs come's in and take over this world

Nothing could deter this school dropout. He was there somewhere positioning his belief , moving with all the convictions he had in his heart and true evangelist.

He was a pirate in its true sense and what world once thought could end Job's era was just a beginning to this great man. His greatness was not in his characters but in his leadership to move a small team to conquer the world and make an History by itself

Thrice he got into a bankruptcy but then he is now the most charismatic figure you would see...that's steve job for you

He joined Apple , messed it up to an extent where he was thrown out of it and then he went on to believe Hardware is where his heart lies and design is what everyone thinks will stand out But then it was too late

IBM pc on one end and Microsoft on the other ripped apple apart and so does his next company which he founded when he was shown the doors from The apple..He called this company 'Next' and dreamt it to be the best seller in the PC market...But he misjudged everything from the starting. He misjudged customers and he even went to an extent where he thought he could sell those dumb computers by a spectacular design

Everything flopped. He had not learnt his lessons at least that's what world thought he could have ...But then , universe was just waiting to explode to his sheer enthusiasm and belief that he held for so long years

20 years of making is not a joke and holding on to his own convictions of proving his point is no way a sane act ..It was insane...Steve Jobs was bleeding with his loss making company , Next and he was looking out for a hope

He was looking out for another venture for a turn around and it was a sheer accident to Buy Pixer for few millions and turned that company to a billion dollar or may be more than that

Disney wanted it .So does every other great companies like Sony and others wanted Pixer. But it was Steve's remarkable power to turn around what seems impossible to possible which made apple ,Pixer and Next such great companies.

He gave un realistic demands , schedule to his world class engineers and everyone were working 18 hours a day and in the process broke all the history and here he was the king of Animation - Toy story which hit the market and he never turned back again..

He sold Next to Apple and went to sell iMac series to different market or rather he created a market for everyone to come and conquer...perhaps...but none could !!!

And not to forget Ipod which went head to head with Pixer sales and Now we are waiting , what next from Steve Jobs

The blue ocean strategy had just bugged him in the late 80's and he could never be failed ..
He had conquered everything from Hardware to Animation to Music to Technology but sadly couldn't be in a good health. the last I heard , he wanted to stay close to his family...Well that's the truth but he had made a dent already in the universe which no one could ever imagine .....

What set him apart could be seen in his sayings...read on and I am sure you will be excited !!!

"Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations."

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me . Going to bed at night saying we've done something wonderful. that's what matters to me."
"We've gone through the operating system and looked at everything and asked how can we simplify this and make it more powerful at the same time."
"Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren't used to an environment where excellence is expected."
"I want to put a ding in the universe."
"I was worth over $1,000,000 when I was 23, and over $10,000,000 when I was 24, and over $100,000,000 when I was 25, and it wasn't that important because I never did it for the money."
"The Japanese have hit the shores like dead fish. They're just like dead fish washing up on the shores."
"Unfortunately, people are not rebelling against Microsoft. They don't know any better."
"Bill Gates'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."
"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don't mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their products."

"My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better."
"We made the buttons on the screen look so good you'll want to lick them."
"Click. Boom. Amazing!"
"You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them. By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
"Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?"
"A lot of companies have chosen to downsize, and maybe that was the right thing for them. We chose a different path. Our belief was that if we kept putting great products in front of customers, they would continue to open their wallets."
"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower."
"Recruiting is hard. It's just finding the needles in the haystack. You can't know enough in a one-hour interview.
So, in the end, it's ultimately based on your gut. How do I feel about this person? What are they like when they're challenged? I ask everybody that: 'Why are you here?' The answers themselves are not what you're looking for. It's the meta-data."
"We've had one of these before, when the dot-com bubble burst. What I told our company was that we were just going to invest our way through the downturn, that we weren't going to lay off people, that we'd taken a tremendous amount of effort to get them into Apple in the first place - the last thing we were going to do is lay them off."
"I mean, some people say, 'Oh, God, if [Jobs] got run over by a bus, Apple would be in trouble.' And, you know, I think it wouldn't be a party, but there are really capable people at Apple.
My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that's what I try to do."
"It's not about pop culture, and it's not about fooling people, and it's not about convincing people that they want something they don't. We figure out what we want. And I think we're pretty good at having the right discipline to think through whether a lot of other people are going to want it, too. That's what we get paid to do.
We just want to make great products. (I think he means "insanely great products!")"
"So when a good idea comes, you know, part of my job is to move it around, just see what different people think, get people talking about it, argue with people about it, get ideas moving among that group of 100 people, get different people together to explore different aspects of it quietly, and, you know - just explore things."
"When I hire somebody really senior, competence is the ante. They have to be really smart. But the real issue for me is, Are they going to fall in love with Apple? Because if they fall in love with Apple, everything else will take care of itself.
They'll want to do what's best for Apple, not what's best for them, what's best for Steve, or anybody else. (this actually reiterates my oft-repeated mantra of "ubiquitous evangelism" in companies)"

What Ever You Think , think the Opposite by Paul Arden

2011-04-26T01:51:00.000-07:00

20 minutes of reading but a game changer in your life - this is how I felt when I read this book

My review might look timid but the book is far more exciting.

I am bugged of pushing my ideas through book review's and thats my way and I believe I did the right thing after reading this book :)

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I am pretty sure and I can guarantee this to all you - You are dead bored.where ever you are , at some point in life , you would have felt that life is Just this or is it something I have been forcedto go through.

Hold your breath and just sit back and deep breath. You are now connected to your soul and you are now in a journey of your own thought. You will have ideas...some are wild , some are foolish and some are just eccentric

Take it , apply it...fail because thats the best way to learn than getting the right answer after a 3 long hours of thinking...This is what we call Intellectual drain. Because the more you reason out and

more you are knowledgeable , you will not enjoy the journey of the goal . So we see great companies are built by young than the old :)..

Pragmatic decisions everyone of us take is just a Blunder we are making in our lives.The idea is to remain foolish and remain childish

Steve jobs would not have made Apple if he was an intellect and taken right decisions...He failed and he failed to an extent where he could have lost is life..

Thats the beauty.He won , he conquered and the rest is history

Dear patrons, its better to fail than winning and the amount of lesson it teaches is just beyond everything...

So take those decisions , right or wrong , you will have tremendous scope ...Think you can , think you can't either way you are right

Don't go with the crowd...pull them to you .Don't do what other people do , Don't listen to every one and get manipulated...ACT on your self and then you will see the richness

its YOU and YOU alone can decide the destiny ..Good or Bad , Just Do it !

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Roots and Wings By Raksha Bharadia

2010-10-11T03:12:00.000-07:00

Ok , with this book I agree to disagree on most of the aspects because we are blessed with "Information" which we know is right and which is endorsed by most of the books written on children. However, I give her (Raksha Bharadia) a thumbs up for doing so much research on this topic and yet cutting down the number of pages to 300+. This is an achievement by itself because there is no 'one' short answer as to "How we need bring up our kids?"

There is always a room for improvement and there is always space for a blunder; we do it occasionally. So read this book with a pinch of salt.

On one hand, Raksha wants to let loose the strings and let kids do what ever they feel like doing and on the other, she explains on how we need to undo the "DO" and that's a little funny aspect of this book. Take for example, she asks parents not to be 'Entertainment Directors' and let them through trial and error figure out the best way of coming out of a problem. No doubt they will figure out some way, but what's the guarantee that its the "Right" way. :)

That's where she falters and according to me, it is "Unacceptable" since she has put so much of effort on the topic. Believe it or not , she has given reference to 100+ books in 300 odd pages and yet the irony is - A contradiction.

One of the most striking errors in the book is "- the Interviews". She has spoken to so many celebrities on how we need to bring up kids and the obvious answer, all of them gave is 'Space' - Give kids the space they want; give them their choice and complement their mistakes by asking them to reason out what went wrong!

This reminds me a quote on the American children -"In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults." ~Thomas Szasz

So all in all, pretty disappointing to me personally. But I thank her for giving some references and books which I always love to have it in my library! Thumbs down but before we wind off , remember this Shloka -

Laalayeth panchavarshani, dashavarshaani taadayeeth |

Praapthethu shodashe varshe, putram mitravad aachareeth ||

Tend to kids with love for first 5 years, mend them for next 10 years and be a friend - A soul for ever from then on!!!

why I want to Join Rotary Club !

2010-10-07T04:33:00.001-07:00

Recently I cam across a foundation called CRY and they wanted some help from the professionals like us. Though I did help my bit but was not satisfied and had lot of open questions like - How do I become a part of the larger cause
How can I make difference to the human kind
How can I impart values to my daughter (Her name is Saanvis and she is 2 years old) - I would want her to be associated with noble causes and I believe Rotary would provide a platform.
How can I help myself to be a better person
How do I know my effort yield the results I would love to see.. ( I donated some money to CRY but I could never see as to how it helped a kid )...

Above all this , I want to be part of a social networking who is reputed , who can bring a massive changes ( And I believe thats very important) , who can be TRUSTED !

I read lot of books and would like to mention one of them . You can read the review here which I had written : http://be-a-ware.blogspot.com/2009/09/leaving-microsoft-to-change-world-by.html

So am pretty much clear that , you need a bigger platform , you need a larger community and you need leaders to move this world out of the crisis and I believe I can bring tremendous changes to the community as well....So rotary I believe can help me set this direction

looking forward to hear from you soon !

thanks
kiran

The Power of Your Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy

2010-08-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

This Book with 300 odd pages has taken me exactly 21 days to complete. Not that it's boring but it's practical!

Unless we have something to gather out of the read, we will never be able to appreciate anything. If you solve the problem of relativity, you thank Albert Einstein for letting us know; and that's exactly the same experience with this life changing book. Life skills and so does the attitude, is hard to come by. Especially in a world of disgrace, hatred, confusions and irritations, it becomes more difficult and catastrophic to be "what you ought to be" - A human with peace and tranquility in your heart.

Spot this - We always complain, we always have qualms and we always have fears of many things and beyond that we do not think. If we did, we still continue to carry those baggage until we are clear - the storm has passed by and again a new beginning of new fears accost us in our lives.

All these are actually stemming from our own thoughts and misdeeds and edging that as an the art of the behavior into the "Sub Conscious" Mind. It is this secondary mind which is controlling everyone and it has been trained to do so by our thoughts, attitude and feelings. "MIND" is like a start button and "Sub Conscious" is like the engine. It can never run until someone triggers it do so. This secondary mind has tremendous and absolute energy to do anything and alas by the time we realize, it will be too late in our life.

So this book is a real game changer (But I agree it becomes boring too); and it indeed takes a lot of your time to go through and implement.

I would not want to comment on what I gained from this book because everyone's mind and hence sub conscious mind is relative and the benefits will be different.

For a change, I found a "Life Skill" book which is more practical and makes logical sense to everything we do in our lives. It takes a lot to be a good human being beyond and within our world and this book can be a starting point. As Joseph Murphy told "The Power is within you" and we all ought to live in a Better world than we are in today!

The Choice by Og Mandino

2010-05-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

There isn't a time when we have to decide which side we need to part with. There are many strings attached to the decision we make in our lives. To that extent, the choice has become a dilution of many buttons we often take into consideration. But then you know for sure that these decisions in our lives are oblivious and have virtually zero impact in our day to day activities. I personally know a world wide support manager who quit his software job and chose to be a pilot. There is, this author who quit a 3 million buck salaried job to write a book!

How can we ever justify their decisions? How can we ever find a rational thought process for this tangential jump? How can we ever imagine we could be one of them?

You can and you alone can be the one who could buy in all these crazy natto stuff. (By the by, natto is a stinky fermented Japanese food :) ) You know why! As most of the successful creatures on this earth are the ones who have taken the die hard turns in their lives. There is no logic but rather a plain truth and that is 'they believe in their true self'. They know they are born to do just that!!!

Otherwise how can we ever justify Steve Job at one point of time leaving Apple to discover Pfizer. Can you believe that? I would never have done that but then he did, for he found is own path to succeed and that's the key.

Nobody but just YOU ALONE can tread the path, you think leads to success.

"The Choice" isn't a good motivational book but rather a good and overly perforated one which will highlight a subtle thing - A successful man isn't good till his family and friends thinks he is!

Good to have one in your cup board!

There is never an End and thats life !!

2010-04-22T02:22:00.000-07:00

Joe E. Lewis
You only live once - but if you work it right, once is enough.

Samuel Butler
All animals except man know that the ultimate point of life is to enjoy it.

Life should always work like a binary. it should and it cannot be a bubble on the water...You never know when it explodes....We are the decision points and more specifically , you ALONE can be the decider of this game of LIFE....every step , every thought will lead to a point where you need to take either right or left but most never decides and walk the life as it comes and thats where we fumble....LIFE unfolds itself for those who want to listen , for those who want to feel and for those who want to move ahead in their own path.Nothing can stop them , not even their own self can make them sit at one side and crunch them...thats the beauty of being a binary in our own lives...when you are in that mode , you are very clear about your thoughts ....the decision you take may be wrong or right but you still hold your pride because you CHOSE THAT PATH...well! every bad decision will invaribaly lead to the BEST DECISION in your life....So be a binary , make the choice of wisdom because you know you will always have a second chance because destiny is always a choice you made the previous night !!!!

What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis

2010-03-29T02:13:00.000-07:00

Do you know Facebook is by and large the single largest Human network dreaded even by Google. Google re-invented itself into many forms and it's all because we helped them to grow. That's the power of Human network. Take any company and you will see traces of this pattern every where. Google did an extra ordinary move to give the control to US and we made a difference to this company.

But Google has many ethical questions it needs to ask itself. The Company still does not share its Ads revenue and we do not know what it does with our personal data. Some say, they make money by bumping the priority of the page rank. But yet in someway we have lot to learn from this company. In fact when Google decided to launch Google news, it did not know whether to sort by date or sort by relevance. It didn't do anything and let customers decide what they wanted. It released a beta (in fact most of the Google products remained in beta for more than 3 years :) ) and there it comes - many customers wanted them to sort by date and they flooded the company white boards with this request. You see! customers will eventually push you to their way and Google respects that feeling. It did sort the Google News by date.

We need to be a platform for our customers to resolve their issues. They will use us as a tool to achieve what they want to achieve in their business model.

Remember Dell with all its awkward customer centric services, lost market in its desktop and notebooks till Michael Dell called it a shot one day and told the employees to listen to the customers. They just did nothing more than listening to blogs, feedback and giving control to the customer to prepare their own desktops. Now Dell forms a major threat to any company who would want to enter into this market.

It's funny but true that we hold something very close to our heart (like our source code :) ) and it does nothing more than bringing our customer more pain.

"What would Google Do By Jeff" has thrown open lot of patterns which every company is going through, be it open source companies like Red Hat, mixed source like Novell and closed door like Microsoft.

The question is can we open up, give control, collaborate, provide a platform for the customer, listen to them through Google, blogs and wikies and give them what they want rather than make them to come to our home page and search for a miniscule out of an horrendous data, flashes and options in our home page.

To that extent, you can differentiate the home page of Google vs Yahoo. Open google.com, you see an editable field. Google says nothing about its company, brags nothing about its search, but it follows the customer where ever he goes. It embeds its videos, blogs, wikis, flashes, ads to to customer's home page. It makes the google map mobile; that's the power it gives to the customer.

And go to Yahoo.com, you will be lost with abundant data thrown open to already confused & frustrated customers.

While reading this book, you will be pleasantly surprised about what your Company could be. You'll be posed with questions like does it have a human side, does its existence make sense and many more intriguing yet interesting dwells.

Happy reading!

What's love got to do here !!!!

2010-03-22T02:12:00.001-07:00

every relationship in this world has its own set of rules....to think of , if you don't love someone and if he still continues to love , then thats called LOVE .if not it becomes pure attraction .....relationships blossom if you don't expect anything out of it and just pour your heart out...Love does not have ends or means. its just as plain as water ...if you see , you will find nothing but when you drink it draws your thirst.....its so very true for every bond we share with others.....

So fall in love , again and again and again..but yes with the same person :)

Siddhartha By Hermann Hesse

2010-02-14T20:05:00.001-08:00

Enlightenment is within , at least that's what people say..but then Hermann has a different opinion...Enlightenment is with"out" you !!! Its as if the body and soul are just made to experience both good and bad...Bad is not bad to be experienced...It just happens and when it does it just means that you are bound to go through it and there is no escapism....looks very very naive but life has its own set of hidden agenda for each of us and hence bad is just not bad either to you or to the people around you

Young Siddharata learn to fast , to think and to wait and this is what he has adopted from Samanas but yet he is not quite sure he is "self" and hence lands up in "Samsara" experience which he devours later..but soon he recalls its not the fate but a necessity to go through all these experience to be self and to be grounded.

For him setting goals is limiting your thoughts and manipulating the nature of your mind...A soul with no goal and no objective and deathly attached is better than a soul with a purpose....

Some of these does not really fit into our world but this is one off the track book which really make your thoughts flow to an era of enlightenment and nirvana

I enjoyed the book but will I adopt it ? ...perhaps not but then I really relished reading through Hermann Hesse's thoughtful writing .....

A different book of its genre(1960's) which is worth a try.

"The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

2009-11-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

Jai Hugs Randy over the podium and tells him "Not to Die"...But can he? He is in his last leg of his life and he has to succumb to pancreatic cancer. He has no choice. Am I telling you a story straight from a Hollywood blockbuster! No I'm not and it is happening in reality (my guess is, it has already happened and Randy would have died!). It's heartfelt to read "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch.

Randy - the flamboyant charismatic professor of Carnegie Mellon University gave the "Last Lecture" as a tribute to his own life. I could not believe this guy can actually search for logic when he is dying. Hats off and my full bow to him. If at all life was too short, I would rather live his life; his thoughts are a life line to so many lifeless soul!

He had so much wisdom all through to tell and it just continued in his death. He showed us "How to dream" more than that "How to fulfill your childhood dreams" even if you are short lived. But your presence is "Long felt" and that's where we want to be "Someday" when we all are in death bed. This book is thought provoking not just to me but to so many people around the globe. He had so much wisdom to share and he did in a way which makes it even more tearful to accept the fact that he Died !

I am a dreamer but not anymore to match Randy's skill of making it happen. We just do not realize the worth of our "childhood" dreams and to the fact I have decided to live up to my dreams. I felt "We die thousand times before we actually Die" but not anymore after you read this book.

He has not gone too far in his death...and these links will justify it !

http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

Peace or pace...choice is yours

2009-10-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

The process of birth is no less than a miracle and death is an ultimate truth!
Off the late one single question that haunts me very often is " Whatz life all about?" .Vital signs of getting old,uh??!! (Yeahhhhhh, I need those epics which talk about the essence of life :-p!).
Life is exciting, all about making money, thrilling, fun, superb, fantastic, boring...blah blah blah and finally "what"??!! I don't believe in reincarnation, to me, Life is something that happens just once. With this one chance that we all have, We are in a rat race to gain something or the other. True to its sense, life is about achieving something that we all dream off. But wait if that achievement is all about power and money, then think again, how long can you hold on to it?? My quest for the answer as to "whatz life all about" hit a dead end again ....
Suddenly, a simple thing that crosses my mind is the phrase "Peace of mind ". To all my questions I finally arrive at one answer.... "Peace of mind".... and yeah it's "Powerful" ( in the literal sense till the last letter D!). Ultimately if our dreams or achievements or whatever that we are struggling and juggling for in life doesn't give us peace of mind, then I don't think anything that we tried doing was worth the shot!!! Its THE thing that matters at the end ,no matter what!!!
And for me now, a silent wish awaits its fulfillment ..a wish for peace of mind !! As always,its easy said than done .Creating the inner peace needs a lot of sustained effort as one needs to get away with any kind of apprehension.
" God, grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change ,courage to change the things I can , and wisdom to know the difference" is all that I pray for now !!!!

Thanks
Radhika

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World By John Wood

2009-09-04T01:23:00.000-07:00

There are words which reflect just what we need to speak to our soul. John has notoriously involved with such a wonderful journey of life...I envy him...certainly there are more than just his experience. He has a point to prove to the human kind which is more human than any other facts that exists to date. I might be exaggerating but that's the way I feel after I read this fabulous experience of love for the job, lust for the wacky dreams he had and the longing to do something simple to the human kind; and that's "Leaving Microsoft to change the world", ladies and gentlemen

If I request you do something little great, I would urge you guys to buy this book. Guess why? Every coin you give to purchase this book will go to fund a girl child somewhere in the northeast region of our country, Nepal or may be it will help to buy a book or 2 for a Cambodian child who craves to learn and live.

Every rupee you donate to buy this will help to chase the dream of a girl to educate herself than being a slave or a prostitute. No that's a fact, let's accept it! As the saying goes "if you educate a boy you educate him alone but if you educate a girl you educate her whole family. Her kids will know to dream, her family will know how to respect and she will know that she has a life and not tears"

It's a fateful moment I felt when I read this book though John has written every positive things in life. It made me think about just one question "What is the purpose of this life?" Is it just buying a yacht and sail far away from the beach or help in some bigger change than that. Certainly there is more to it than what I just told.

Please grab one copy and I assure you, you will not regret !!!!

The book is all about John, the entrepreneur of a special kind who leaves Microsoft and decides not to sell MS Excel anymore to any other country, rather bring smiles to millions of kids across the globe. He has sent a magnificent message to the mass - "Think Big and that's the only way to save this world. Like it or Not "!!!

http://www.leavingmicrosoftbook.com/

THE SAINT , THE SURFER AND THE CEO by Robin Sharma

2009-07-28T02:11:00.000-07:00

I am not fit to write a review for this book because its not just a book but a bible...Its different for different people when they follow...So I hold no pre-judice but try to carve out what I felt after I read this book.....

Time and again , I am attracted to the literatures that touches human heart...Its not just love between two people which makes our life happy
Its also a bonding that sets the pace of the life to do something good and something more meaningful than getting bogged down by the life's mutinies

My thanks to Robin Sharma who has brought out this book and the moment I read , I had a feeling that I went to my past , to my present and to my future

that's the power of the narration you will come across here...

Its Sensible and Simple and every time you read something about life skills , you will wonder its not that easy to follow

But not after reading "The Saint , Surfer And the CEO"....You will feel happy and you
will definitely be more prepared to embrace life with lot of love
Your perspective towards the people , persons whom you love , pets you like , perceptions you hold for relationship, will eventually change

We have too many emotions floating in this world and all seem to take us no where and that's the biggest tragedy...Be it a corporate office or a common man's house , there is a pattern of emotions followed and not everything makes us feel great

But there is a chance to change this world , there is a chance to keep the vibrance and there is a chance for self- discovery and come back home because we are lost in the materialistic world....We are lost piling up money for our future and spending it back to recover our life ! That's an irony but there is one last chance before we give away and this book is just the right step in that direction

We need Humans not brains to feed this world !!!!!

To be Or NOT to be

2009-07-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

I read an interesting article "The Dilemma facing software professionals in this economic climate : To specialize or genearlize"

The author basically took a middle approach to take advantage of both these skills...but I have a different feel for this altogther

Here is why ....

In this era of globalization , we certainly need to be "Slow" and "Master" the art of one skill.Its a kind of reverse engineering which we have to apply to beat the competition .Say for ex: Many software engineers tend to work on many projects , many skills , many people.....Note the word "Many"

What has happened is ,over a period of time we have developed an army of Software engineers who possess "Many" attributes with less capabilities.But if you really want to stand out of this crowd , you need to have that "Few" attributes which these guys lack . And if you observe closely , what they do lack is " Specialization " and "Slowness" to think through the problem

So who ever gets this gets to the top :)

So in effect " We should always try and go upstream than downstream"

Only challenge would be to identify that path of upstream . but once you know , you rule !!!

make sense ?

let me know

A sense of urgency by John P Kotter

2009-06-22T04:26:00.000-07:00

I being an avid follower of Kotter's principle will appreciate this book even if it leaves the reader High and Dry. Kotter tends to reiterate the point about how the company's operational strategy makes it big or bad.

If you take the example of any company; its strategy to win is Volatile in the fast changing technologies and Competition. But how much volatility a company can sustain, is a question. If you can survive, it's because there is a sense of urgency to achieve big and Achieve faster. Though at times , a sense of urgency can go wrong. It might create a panic situation in the teams. There are confusions and anger and frustrations. And then the whole system collapses. You might not notice, because the fall is very slow. It might be a day like GM or a year or so like Yahoo. But surely, people at the bottom never appreciated as to why company was rushing through and what was that strategy or the reason for blood rush.

In any case it's not only important to have a strategy, but also create good will at the bottom of the ladder. Because, if they are not happy working on it, you will have a free fall. And that fall will be very dangerous in volatile situations like IT businesses. Remember, neither will you notice that nor will anybody else. It's gradual. And you are busy executing a strategy with a false sense of urgency .

And keep an eye on your company! Is it happening? Is there frustration and anger mixed with Urgency? Then I guess it's time we re-look at why the strategy is causing this.

Kotter also mentions, a true sense of urgency is something which is a feel good factor for most of the people inside the company . No doubt we may not understand everything that has been said by the CEO but there is a sense of belonging to that strategy though it makes little sense. He terms such a kind of act as "Heart - Mind" strategy.

Frankly I did not enjoy this book as much as his other book "Our IceBerg Is Melting". But Kotter has a point to prove and it's common sense that we all agree. "Unless our heart does not sense it, we will not "accomplish" the strategy but "Complete" it '...

Overall, a good read if you can relate the points to the cases that have happened in the industry.

Friends !

2009-06-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Friends are important. I personally believe there is one special relationship people have to maintain outside thier marriage. That relation will last long if it is sincere and honest . They will cherish this for ever ! . Not that people tend to lose interest in a marriage but its rather a different dimension we should set in life. That helps us to see the problem ,if any from outside in. In marriage we tend to seee the problem from Inside out and end up doing things which are stupid and crazy. Take for ex : ria and rian are happily married for 8 years and personally I felt they do not have any issues . I feel they are on the top of the world
Both have a flyin carrier and they are contented ...but they tend to fight for many reasons but they do patch up early. But this gets into a bigger problem of fightin for everyhting. It is in this situation that "One special" person in your life can bring in a fresh perspective in life. He / she will see and feel for your problem and understand what best suit for you to move ahead. If you have found that "Special person"...you are lucky and you can rest assured ,there is always an angel watching you and making you happy :).....but pls dnt spoil that relation. Because , in marriage there is always a buyin and bonding and you can always come back. But if you miss that special person , he/ she will never come back. SO next time you think you found him / her , you know you are very lucky.......if you call that love so it be :)

"When a Man Loves a Woman"

2009-01-11T19:02:00.000-08:00

"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a serious Drama and a thought provoking
movie written and released in 1994.

Andy and Meg Ryan are undoubtedly the stars who have put in their heart
to make this movie come out so natural and yet so dramatic.
Andy's way to Propose Ryan and Ryan's way to reciprocate are "the Jewels
in the Crown"!
Andy is a pilot and Ryan is a Budding House Wife (Budding because, its
no easy to be a housewife :) ) . Her alcoholism has ruined her
Childhood, her College days and now it threatens to ruin her Marriage
too...
Andy makes every bit of an effort on the earth to save her, give her the
support and lead her through the toughest times of her life. Yet he will
not come to know what is causing his marriage to sink deeper... Then
there are these 2 lovely and charming kids who do not know the reason as
to why their parents fall apart again and again...
Everything seems to get messy and then Ryan will be sent for a detox
.This is the time she knows will be her last chance to save herself and
her marriage.....
I will stop at this, because if I tell you "The END", you will feel it
as "Yet another Movie" and the subtle message which is brilliantly
narrated will be lost.

And when you come out of the movie, you will know that message -
"Through the good times, through the bad times ... When a Man Loves a
Woman it's for all times."!

What a Movie sirji !!!!

2008-12-17T03:56:00.000-08:00

Two movies I watched recently completely re-assured me about what I think about Love....

50 First dates - Starred by Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore
6 days 7 nights - Harrison Ford, Anne Heche

Its a complete Complete delight to watch this movie.....50 first dates is all about 'Endurance" in love....its about passion that was poured to build a relationship which blossoms every day and every night....its about falling in love again and again first time and every time....The famous dialog I felt really touched is "My first LaST kiss", when they were departing from each other....The movie is a classic to watch....the girl is sensational and so is sensitive to the relationship she holds with her boy friend and on the other hand , Adam makes every attempt to make her fall in love every day and for ever because girl suffers with a short term memory loss...its true...Love is not blind but its a bond between 2 people.

6 days and 7 nights on the other hand is a completely humorous and off the track story where a girl falls in love again !! But with a different guy...well its not so funny as you thought . Because at the end of the movie , you would feel bad if she had not fallen in love again!...So its true , time and again relations are tested and tried and lot of turbulence to wave for...but it will survive and you will find your way if you are honest and truthful not for others but for yourself !

Endurance , sensitive and truthful...thats all wins the battle . Even if you lost , you will still win !

Mavericks at Work by William C.Taylor & Polly LaBarre

2008-11-25T06:23:00.000-08:00

You have to pick this book only after reading 'Blue Ocean Strategy', because only then would you know what strategy really means to a corporation, what it means to the customer and finally to YOU as an employee, who is proud to be associated with the company. Every company has its own way to lure the customers and they do every possible thing to clinch the deal and get the bottom-line shining. Well, you would remember Kelloggs. It made waves when it hit the US market and for a while the company thought they could repeat the same success in India. But it was all together a different ball game with the Indian Consumers. They can buy 'anything', yes anything that's neatly packed in a Re 1 and Rs 2 sachet. :) Kelloggs could not understand this fact. They priced their breakfast cereal pack @ Rs 100 per pack which hardly got sold. As every other company, they imitated the strategy and pulled the priced to Rs 10 per pack of breakfast. Well did it work? May be it did increase the sales and booked the profit but turnaround? Not sure. It never really picked up! So what went wrong? Strategy was good, so did the marketing and other operational processes. It is this gap which you will really understand after reading the 'Mavericks'. It's truly truly magnificent.

It's a story of those very few companies who never ever compete with giants yet create a MARK in the minds of the customers. It's a story of those crazy guys who advocated what they told to the people. They gave customers a sense of pride and a sense of belonging to the company because they did what we call 'Advocacy of Strategy'. Put it simply, you mean what you said when you laid out the vision for Customer...yes you read it right....Mavericks lay“vision for the Customer” and NOT for the company. This makes customers special and they will never leave you, even if it means a higher Cost. So a company can never ever compete on Cost & Price. What they can really compete is on the 'Value'.

Personally I have few favorites in the book. One amongst them is Arkadi Kuhlmann, who's innovation through agitation gave a new dimension on how people see the banking system in US, when giants like Goldman Sachs , Citi Group were harping on loans, derivatives, stock markets to enhance the profit for their organization. This man was advocating his customers to just save. His bank ING Direct never encouraged it's customers to go for the loans but gave lot of stress on Piggy Banking! He even fired customers who don't pay by the Bank rules. It's simply because they don't fit the model what Kuhlmann and his team has advocated. There were many more incidents which is explained and worth your reading.

My other favorite in the book - “It's not TV, it's HBO” - redefined how TV is veiwed in US. Albrecht, the executve of HBO says, “TV is a finite Idea...It's not TV is an infinite idea".

Remember Netscape? It was bought out for 10$ billion by AOL. For a company with a 5 year history it was an amazing price to pay! And then Netscape got a deep cut from Microsoft. Why and what went wrong? Competition killed them and instead of building something great for the customers, they woke up every day thinking how to beat Microsoft in the market. The rest became history for Andreessen and his team. They lost focus from the customer and this incident was wonderfully explained. I sat back and started thinking "Competition is irrelevant in the eyes of the customer".

There are many more stories to get motivated and get charged. Reading this book is worth your time.

The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt

2008-10-20T06:13:00.000-07:00

If words like 'Workbench” , “Workload”, “Process” , “Bottleneck” ,"Lean management" do not interest you, then pick up this book !!! .

Goal is not just a book to be read and followed in Production units; nor it's like the lean management technique mastered by Toyota. Goal is to be read with an objective to understand what makes sense for the people in Operations, people in Project Management or people working with NGOs...there is a great breadth of learning for all of them and not to forget for people like you and me too.

Alex who is a budding production manager is about to report a 3rd quarter loss for his division. His boss is clear. If BU does not make profit, it should be closed for ever. It's as simple as it can be. Alex has 3 months time to save his plant. He knows simply nothing but a typical congruent process followed in production:

1. Remove waste lines across the workbench

2. Increase through put by increasing efficiency

3. Reduce manual work and replace with deadly robots

4. Show bottom line for the company

5. If possible, give orders on time

6. Reduce inventory

Well all of them are good and great to know. But there are Missing links and Goal finds it all! Adding to all these is a troubled marriage! Alex know all's going to end in the 3rd month, including his marriage. Then one man, who he met accidentally in the airport lounge, changes his thought process. Soon Alex is on a nerve raking path to save his plant. There are instances and dramatization of the problem faced in the plant and how Alex goes on to find solutions for all of these problems, and similar to a typical commercial movie, it all ends well!

But the lesson learnt is amazing. Some of the bits and pieces I gathered while reading the book

1.“Speed of the team is the speed of the weakest link”

2. Increased throughput does not mean increased inventory. Otherwise you will have to build more plants to store more inventory.

3. Increased efficiency does not mean increasing production. If that was the case, then all humans would have been replaced by Robots!

4. Feed the Bottlenecks. If they stay hungry, your plant is going to drain!

And many more to add to the list....So all the best and save the Plant!

Word Of Caution: Goal gets boring towards the end where the author is interviewed...So skip it :)

Whale Done

2008-09-30T04:37:00.000-07:00

How to create Leadership and Create High Performance Organizations
How to express and direct your honest feelings ?
How NOT to Manipulate people you care ?

In someway there is a common thread running across these questions and unravels itself as you read the “Story” return by Ken. Yes its a story and its brilliantly narrated with incidence from the world around you......

But don't stop there . There are 3 key observations which when adopted leads to an “Empowerment” of your team , ““Empowerment” of your life n Family and Finally it makes a BIG difference to YOU as a person. Whale Done can be a classic if you read it as a story and a powerful tool if you consciously follow the directions given in the book

Seaworld is a place of whales. All jumping , fun-run and dancing to the perfect tune of the trainer. what makes this monster really obey (or I should say "follow trainers heart") , to perform in front of those 100's of audience? .....Thats the point which leads the book through out. Ken Blanchard fairs really well in narrating the moral and at the same time passing the message loud and clear . “If we can make Whales to follow a direction which entertains audience then we can as well direct our people , Our situation and Ourself to a near perfect world ! “ .

Author continuous to experiment what he learnt in Seaworld ,to be applied in the work place and in the family
Over his journey makes many more observations .One of the touching lines personally to me was an incident of a kid . The incident explains how re-direction helps to by-pass kids behavior and take it to a world of wisdom.

Finally , Ken re-iterates 3 definitive points through out .

1.Build Trust
2.Accentuate Positive
3.When mistakes occur , re-direct

Simple but yet makes lot of sense when adopted . So Whale Done Guys !!!!

Blue Ocean Strategy By Kim Chan (Book review)

2008-09-16T00:18:00.000-07:00

If you think , you got the best strategy for your company to compete , think again.There is somebody who is Making the competition Irrelevant !!

Well this book is one of the best Management Strategy which has come from Harvard's kitty.
Kim has excellent talent of narration on how and what aspect of company is earning billions for the corporations.

He gives number of statistical and analytical tools to aid the company in its directions

There are numerous examples and pattern matching done from a huge inventory of corporations like Dell , IBM , Walmart to name a few

The book gives a startling revelation of what goes terribly wrong for the companies and how the competition has turned the the industry to red ocean where survival is the key

Kim compares competition of the industry to a red ocean where every body fights for a pie and bloody ocean sets in where most company drown.
and Hence he navigates the company to find an ocean where there is no competition and the Big pie is all lying to be explored and ate and he calls it Blue ocean. Blue because , there is nobody to fight and you are your own competitor !!!!

So in Summary

Book mainly talks about Competition and Value Creation.

1. Competition becomes irrelevant for a company when it swims in a blue ocean. Company then does not care for the bottom line but goes on to create "Value Innovation" for the customer
2. There is no "Great company nor Great Industry for ever " and corporation should continuously move to "Strategy Canvas" to create one more blue ocean

Completely off the track book which is an eye opener . So go and grab one !!!!

Freakonomic India !

2008-09-01T22:43:00.000-07:00

I am happy to share that I became the proud father of an angel
She was born on Aug 16 2008 . It was indeed a happy day for me .

She became a meaning to our lives. Kids are always there to fill your heart n it was true in my case also
But its surprising to know not many were happy when they came to know it was a baby gal and that astonished me.

People tend to bias towards baby boy though they change their stand later. why so much buzz around boy's

Any reasons...not that I can think of except for 2 mostly likely reasons

1. Gals need umpteen attention for ever till they get married
2. They are harassed at every stage

and N why baby boy...well again 2 reasons for the same

1. They are little safe in their teens compared to gals
2. will take care of the parents when they are in death bed ( sorry to be harsh here)

Isn't it funny , people percieve the kids in different forms. Isn't it bad to pre-judice them and what is more surprising is , history tells that daughters have sacrificed more and always for their parents .There are movies , stories n incidents all around us which claim the same....Though all these are mostly agreed but there is more than just these ...

So why crave for Boy...Dig into little deeper and we would know why people still vouch for baby boyz...its not b'coz of the 2 reasons I told you earlier ...its only one and that truth is " Bein parents of a boy has less responsibility towards him (after he gets married) and his immediate family tree :) " . They are just too selfish to accept that !!!!

Lets be frank , we all dnt like more responsibility and commitments...Yes generations have changed and people dnt anymore distinguish boy or a gal . Economic gap between them has decreased and gals fair well or better than boyz everywhere and every body are aware of it.....

but then its a irony in our society , people tend to mean differently than what they talk ......

Kids are god and they are only how their parents perceive them... lets stop bein biased ....

India in 21st Century is still the same !!!!!

Picks from Chethan Bhagat's speech

2008-07-25T03:21:00.000-07:00

I find it so interesting and so true that I could not resist getting this to my blog. Sorry Bhagat , I hijacked your speech :)

Inaugural Speech by *Chetan Bhagat *for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA
program 2008

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to
you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the
comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in
your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when
one is truly elated. The first day in college is one of them. When you
were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would
the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new
classmates - there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement,
the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going
to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be
happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old
twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump
on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from
daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party –
several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own
birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older
people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark
fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and
bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half?
That is what happens when the spark is lost. So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp's flame. The first aspect is nurturing - to
give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against
storms.

To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and
achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for
*you*. It isn't any external measure - a certain cost to company pay
package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks
is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints
force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement.

But it isn't the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr Ambani would not
show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore.
Steve Jobs won't be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar
for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to
work everyday?

They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them
feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study
hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with
people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will
get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you
can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.

Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we
were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature's
design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don't just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you
a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful.
Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in
good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There
is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if
your mind is full of tensions.

You must have read some quotes - Life is a tough race, it is a marathon
or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in
nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your
mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life,
where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth
it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but
this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One
of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student
asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice.
The teacher said - *don't be serious, be sincere*. This quote has defined
my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any
of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is
heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how
will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously,
as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited
validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is
just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a
few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not
programmed devices.

I've told you three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it
too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in
life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be
guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and
loneliness of purpose.

Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected
return. If things don't go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is
extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did
this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel
miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers
rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how
silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you.

But it's life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to
be a challenge. And remember - if you are failing at something, that means
you are at your limit or potential. And that's where you want to be.

Disappointment's cousin is frustration, the second storm. Have you ever
been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially
relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve,
sometimes things take so long that you don't know if you chose the right
goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought
they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years
to get close to a release.

Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something
negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic
assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even
though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process
rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts ,
having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as
simple as pleasurable distractions in your life - friends, food, travel can
help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously.
Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness - this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how
our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces,
pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere.
And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in
India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and
hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the
long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But
realize, there will be some people luckier than you.

In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech
in English means you are pretty darn lucky by Indian standards. Let's be
grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don't. I
have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it.
However, I don't get literary praise. It's ok. I don't look like Aishwarya
Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her. It's ok.
Don't let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow
older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want
Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot
like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What
you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from
even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may
not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains
in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their
second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it
for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that
compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I've told you the four thunderstorms - disappointment,
frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the
monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to
keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful years of your life. If someone
gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I
also hope that ten years later as well, you eyes will shine the same way as
they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college,
but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole
country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any
moment in history. And there is something cool about saying - I come from
the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You.

Kids , Enjoy Experience and Excel...

2008-06-26T04:09:00.000-07:00

This is a short story and as always some wisdom out it .read on
I happened to visit a house warming cermony of a friend. The house was pretty grand and my friend's father took care of making sure the house is a "Home" for the family. He had quite a lot of experiences in his life and it was no wonder the Job was well done. I congratulated the family and left. After few days , I happen to meet this friend over a coffee table and he was little worried. he was tense that the Toilet fittins had some leakages in STP(sewage treatment plant) and he was not even aware of what to do about to fix this up. Straight and as expected , he called up his father and I am not sure what happened next.

Over to me , I have been struggling to bring my flat up and operational atleast to livable condition. My father stays in a different place and he cannot help as much like my friend's father does. So its been a long roller coaster ride for me to make things work in my flat starting from deisgning the kitchen , furnishing the rooms , selecting a good color to the walls so on and so forth.... Incidently , There was a seepage that happened in my bathroom and I knew the next best thing to do is use the fillers to resolve the issue. The solution was as simple as it was but the problem comes when you don't know why its happening and how to avoid it. Well i learnt it by experience and I was not even worried about this problem..

I started thinking , it shall be true in our kids life as well....Parents generally put lot of do's and don't to thier kids. This is not bad but they cannot learn if there is a restriction. They will enjoy when they experience. It might be good or bad , but the lesson will be learnt. And am sure , it will stay with them for ever. Its the direction and not the binding which should be given to our kids. This will help to unleash the true potential they have and I bet they will gain from "learn by experience" ....

I am pretty happy about my flat though Its not as beautiful as my friend's but there is a sense of accomplishment and vast learning of "Building my home " . I will cherish this for a long time...

Anti- Quotes !!!!

2008-05-30T03:00:00.000-07:00

Best Quotes proved wrong...

Out of Sight is out of Mind

The Other day I happened to talk to a person very close to me . We hadn't met for a long time but I never felt she was out of my life. She was enthusiastic and still had lot of things to talk. She was just a carefree gal who kept on talking to me like a kid.The same was true with me and we never felt we need to call or mail. It just happened spontaneously and it works !.....Well , I have some one who I see day in day out but never feel like talking. Minds are away so does the feeling for each other. Its a question I asked for myself and the answer seems to suggest that "its actually not Out of sight is Out of Mind" but its "Out of Mind is Out of Sight". We never happened to cross each other though we are together...well well well its never the sight but the Mind !!!

Change is The only constant in life

This is an hot topic everywhere. Especially true with blue chip companies in particular. Top companies teach this fundamental aspect under "Change Management".
I was attending this conference on "Change management" and at the end of the session
a guy (suppose to be an equity research analyst)asked a question - If change is the only "Constant" in life , then why "Change". Read this phrase once again , do you get any clues. No ,neither could I until I spoke to this smart guy.
He said " The best equity analyst in the industry is the one who kept his client's portfolio without any changes. Believe me , it worked and my portfolio got the best returns...." It also went on to prove that , he constructed the best portfoilio which required minor or no changes at all !!!! Same is true with our life . Learn to adopt to changes but never CHANGE.

"Love is Blind"

- Not after you read this story . Love is never blind and you have to talk :)

10th grade

As I sat there in English class, I stared at the girl next to me. She was my so called "best friend". I stared at her long, silky hair, and wished she was mine. But she didn't notice me like that, and I knew it. After class, she walked up to me and asked me for the notes she had missed the day before and handed them to her. She said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I wanted to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

11th grade
The phone rang. On the other end, it was her. She was in tears, mumbling on and on about how her love had broke her heart. She asked me to come over because she didn't want to be alone, so I did. As I sat next to her on the sofa, I stared at her soft eyes, wishing she was mine. After 2 hours, one Drew Barrymore movie, and three bags of chips, she decided to go to sleep. She looked at me, said "thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

Senior year
The day before prom she walked to my locker. My date is sick" she said; he's not going to go well, I didn't have a date, and in 7th grade, we made a promise that if neither of us had dates, we would go together just as "best friends". So we did. Prom night, after everything was over, I was standing at her front door step. I stared at her as she smiled at me and stared at me with her crystal eyes. I want her to be mine, but she isn't think of me like that, and I know it. Then she said "I had the best time, thanks!" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

Graduation Day
A day passed, then a week, then a month. Before I could blink, it was graduation day. I watched as her perfect body floated like an angel up on stage to get her diploma. I wanted her to be mine, but she didn't notice me like that, and I knew it. Before everyone went home, she came to me in her smock and hat, and cried as I hugged her. Then she lifted her head from my shoulder and said, "you're my best friend, thanks" and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

A Few Years Later
Now I sit in the pews of the church. That girl is getting married now. I watched her say "I do" and drive off to her new life, married to another man. I wanted her to be mine, but she didn't see me like that, and I knew it. But before she drove away, she came to me and said "you came!". She said "thanks" and kissed me on the cheek. I want to tell her, I want her to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love her but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why.

Funeral
Years passed, I looked down at the coffin of a girl who used to be my "best friend". At the service, they read a diary entry she had wrote in her high school years. This is what it read: I stare at him wishing he was mine, but he doesn't notice me like that, and I know it. I want to tell him, I want him to know that I don't want to be just friends, I love him but I'm just too shy, and I don't know why. I wish he would tell me he loved me! `I wish I did too...` I thought to my self, and I cried.

You will never get out of it alive

2008-04-02T02:19:00.000-07:00

“Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive” - Elbert Hubbard

There is a world of dissatisfaction in you. You see life as mostly miserable and not Miracle. You see u'r self as a failure. May be a job loss, may be u'r in debts or may be somethin or some one you lost !!!. How do we ever make it to a tipping point where none of these can atleast make u'r life miserable if not happy. Well Its not tough as you think it ought to be. "Think you can , think you can't either way you are right " .

First and foremost , when you hit upon a problem , I want you to do this.
What is the cause of the problem. we often tend to think the effect of the problem. If you are in a bad debt , you always ought to think , bad debt leads to misery in life. Stop ! Dnt think that way. First & foremost, the cause of debt is .......may be ...."You lost the job" !
Thats it , stop at this point .Loss of job is the cause of your debt. Instead of worrying about , the consequences of bad debt , you will invariably think of searching for a job....Believe me , thats what you will do. Try this simple test of " Cause and NOT the Consequence test" on smaller things in life and observe. You need to do this consciously else you will never find your way.

Let me put a real life story in front of you. I just passed out of college and was already in love with a girl whom I decided to marry. 2002 was US slump and neverthless it had , its effect on our Campus placements as well. I dint have a job , when I came out of college. But time was ticking . Not for the job , but for the marriage proposals for my girl. our society is ruthless. everybody see you thru your "Success". So , there was no way I culd have convinced her parents to marry her to me....can I dare to...Yes I did dare to...not because , I was Romio for her and not because I was a batman , who culd just fly her off, but because of a simple rule ...." Cause and not consequence test" effect !!!! There were 100's of reasons as to get depressed @ this situation. Think of all the consequences that culd have happened to me. I culd have gone to slump, I culd not fight back, I culd have lost faith of my parents and many more to add. well , I just realised that , there is no point to think of consequences but try and analyse what can get me married to her. Yes its the "Job" and thats it , stick to that effort and get a damn "Job". It was this effort to date which I remember always. Easy but needs a lille more effort from your end.

Get on with life and dnt think about consequences. Thats why everybody says "Live your life" and now I know what it means -:)

Again think about it and let me know if there is a success story because of this write up

" Life is no doubt a do it yourself project "

When in Slump , Ask the right question

2008-04-01T04:16:00.000-07:00

There are at times you feel the whole world is crashed. There are at times , when your relationship has strained. There are and many more to list. If I ask you one thing " List 10 bad things and 10 good things in
your life " , 99% of the times , the "Bad" list is growing and the "Good" list has just shrunk deep. Its surprising to know that "Money" cannot keep you happy. Any amount of "Success" cannot keep you happy. If you look @ bad things that happened to you in your life, its most likely a "Relationship". You will be surprised to know that , a person is happy , if his "eco-system" is good. When I say "ecosystem" , it means the life around you , people you are connected to , emotions you are bound to . So it is this system, you need to "Churn" daily to keep you healthy(mentally) and kicking. Introspect yourself as to what makes you "Happy" and mostly you will have no clue as to what it takes to be motivated and happy. But when a question is asked "what makes you sad " , there might be endless list. These questions will give a clue to you. If you have 5 things that makes you sad , there will be 5 counter one's you can find to keep your self happy. So there is a word called "MAP".

Do this simple test when you are sad for ,ofocurse 1000 of reasons. Pick one of those reasons. May be , I am feeling low because a person close to me hurt me. you would Relax, take a deep breathe and will most certainly ask a question , what made him or her to hurt you ? .Obvious to say , you love that person and hence you are hurt. But if I slightly twist that question , the most appropriate question to ask yourself would be " what makes him or her happy" ? . and more so , u will find 100's of reasons to make him or her happy !!!!

Needless to say , you will eventually be happy for ever -:) .

To make it a little complicated , decisions are made everyday but most of them go wrong. Its becuase , you forgot to ask the "Right question" and hence "ended up" in a slump due to bad decisions.

To take the same example above , if the person close to you "Chose" to leave you & move ahead , you will know for all the right reasons to leave him or her and be happy. This can only be possible if you ask the right question ," what makes him or her happy" ? and the answer is "Leave and Live" . Simple but yet powerful tool to keep yourself "Happy and Motivated" !!

Think ABout it ...All the best.

Value Life

2008-02-29T02:33:00.000-08:00

I woke up to a terrible head ache. WHole world looked a shallow water where u culd see nothing and no life. A matrix and much more perplexed thoughts went into my mind. I was feelin drunk last night and a kind of amnesia. Blood started woozing out from my lips and ears. Not sure what happened last night. Clueless and confused . All that I remember is a CRY and nothin else. Slept like a dog as if it was a bad dream but when opened my eyes , the same CRY came from my heart. Did something happened in Night ? Not sure ...Walked into the kitchen , drank some water to my fullest and went to rest room and kept my eyes as low as possible. I was dyin...the same CRY crippled me....unable to think , not able to see and not to know how to stop that CRY. Sun started to set and birds chirp around to their NEST and I was shattered . IT haunted me every where and all tht I could remember is just that CRY....help me GOD...I prayed to my heart and just wandered in my dreams. The sounds of a CRYIN GIRL set the FIRE every corner and I just slapped to BED ...no movements , lip locked and tears in eyes.....help me GOD ....I prayed to my heart.........She was badly injured and I was told there is no hope for her as she was brain dead. I was helpless ....I wondered why I owe her so much and she came to my dreams again & again. She is not my friend nor a sweet heart but yet her eyes stuck me and tears in my eyes....I could not stop her ......help me GOD...I prayed to my heart...She stood brain dead and she was lying in a pool of blood......All that I remember , I was drunk last night and not knew what happened.........2 months later , she was dead and I stopped dreaming.......She crashed my life...She is not my friend nor a sweet heart but yet her eyes stuck me and tears in my eyes....I could not stop her and she was gone for ever................VALUE LIFE - THIS IS A WORK OF PURE FICTION and IMAGINATION of a GIRL who was pushed for a flesh trade , when resisted ,beaten badly and hurt and the intensity you felt when you encounter HER horrific state....

A letter from an Husband after 4 successfull years of marriage

2007-11-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

Today is a very special day for me in my life . It was the same 4 years before.
I still remember the bubbly chirpy gal who has a sparklin smile for which the whole college was fida
I Think u still carry that charisma on u'r face .

There were many ups and downs in our life. SOme I fought alone some together and some u alone
what ever happened our relationship blossmed after every hit. Not to mention it all happened for a reason better strange and stupid
yet you been part n parcel of my life and takin care of mine evrything starting from my life towards my pain and towards my happiness
all along ,you were there and cheered me .

What ever lille am today and achieved today is not because I was smart but because of a reason and thats YOU.

Its true , my evry heart beat might not sing a song for you but my life is circled around you and it will always remain the same for ever and ever...

I owe you more than my life and I believe I will try to become a better partner to you than what I am today!!

Think back and I can imagine the jerks u got b'coz of me and hence a salute to you !!!

I am sorry if I have hurt in these 4 years . I wont promise you If I can ever not to hurt you because certain thins are not in my control but I promise " To be part of you in your pain "

We have been friends and foes and husbands and wifes and we played all roles to suit our life . Today people are lukin at us and praisin

felt happy to spend those 4 valuable years with you

I know if it was not you it would not have been anybody else who culd have understood me better.

You are the best and Thai shall always be

ever loving hubby cum cleaner cum friend cum partner cum lover cum kid..........................

Friendship Undefined

2007-11-23T03:01:00.000-08:00

For long time I felt strongly thinkin & experienced about it ........

One thing I feel needs to be said is that there are many other relationships that aren’t friendship that are still positive. There are many people I admire who aren’t friends. I work with lots of people who aren’t friends. In fact, I often think it’s a bad idea to work with your friends (more on that another time).

The world isn’t divided into two parts — friends and enemies. I choose to think of friend as a very strong word, representing a very close relationship. I think this may be in part due to what I do, because I need a good solid line separating my public life from my personal. A friend is a personal relationship. I like and admire many people who I don’t consider friends.

One of the hallmarks of a person who is more likely to be a friend-that-was than a friend-for-life, is that person quotes anonymous people who say they were my friend but I betrayed them. That’s such a huge turnoff, that usually wakes me up in an instant. A friend would never even consider saying something like that, because it’s so objectifying, so impersonal, so unfair, so un-friendly. In a court of law you’re entitled to cross-examine.

I learned that a friend is someone I trust to be with me when I am at my weakest and most vulnerable. And they are people who, no matter how painful it is to see, are willing to be with me when I am so helpless and weak. If I would trust my life with you, and vice versa, we are friends. It’s not about whether you are trustworthy, or whether you are friendly, it’s the actual act of trust that is the basis of friendship. If I trust you to be truthful, then you’re a friend. If I find I must be careful how I say things, then it’s something other than friendship.

Friendship is not a state of mind, it’s an act. It’s something you do, it’s not about whether you’re good or not, it’s not a reflection of you, it’s a balanced relationship between people. That doesn’t mean it’s always balanced at every moment. Sometimes you “need a friend” and other times it’s the other way. It’s a trust that’s returned. When I was younger and thought I was in love, a friend said it’s not love unless it’s returned. Friendship and love are not quite the same thing, although there’s a lot of love around friendship. I learned that love isn’t even something about two people, it’s a state of being for one person. You aren’t in love, you are love. You are, whether you acknowledge it or not. The heart that’s pumping blood through your body is an act of love, 24 hours a day

"At the end of the day I go back conquering nothin but to be with my Family and happy ever after . Thats not an happy endin but a beginning of a new life ....." written by Dave winer

An Old Man's Land !

2007-05-07T05:17:00.000-07:00

This Article is dedicated in loving memory of one of the grand parent who decided to DIE !

you have been juggling in life ...you have run thru the major slumps and happiness in life. you need money to survive more money to compete n more space to live.Everybody are in a hurry to fight , conquer and withdraw..This cycle is funny...you fight for nothing ! yet at the end of the day you know you have many things to juggernaut tomorrow!...Ha....its a mess you created for long time and the same you have been living and preaching your kids...its long forgotten to care for our parents....Its long forgotten to respect them , listen to them and cherish what they do...today you are in a hurry....to catch the bus , to run behind the train and move behind something unseen and something you never wanted to...yet you ran miles apart from your parents and from your grand parents...
Grand father was in hospital trying to fight the battle....tryin to keep up his good faith in life and hopin to see his near and dear kids around...when he opened his eyes , he could see none but his wife...she is too heavy to support herself but yet tried her best to convince him that all's welll....its an irony , they have sacrificed all along their lives to these kids and today they are running to keep their life kicking where in he was trying to stop from running out of breathe! Its shame to us, to this society and to our parents who could not teach us what does it mean to care for our past .
they are engufled in future and never worried to turn behind...what an irony..we forgot the path we came from and lost in the future....you cannot go back nor can live with the future...its all human insane and its all gone....
what have you achieved these days....and the answer is much much smaller than the deep hurts given to your old parents....
they need your help...they need your support ...they need some one to cry for ,some one to shoulder their problems....they have done that to you in past and they want that back !
please give your parents their future because they are your past.
remember , at the end of the day , its you who can know what it takes to care for your parents!
Give your parents a chance to live and die with Great Honor

Today is his b'day and his children are celebrating this occassion !

Human insane !

2007-03-01T04:34:00.000-08:00

The other day I happen to see CNN IBN for a documentary on Human trafficking
Infact countries like holland suffer from this . Children , especially girls for reasons better known to you are abused and misused. Some are done illegaly and some are forced to do, for those girls at a very young age won't even understand the physical nomenclature....well think again and suddenly veda ( a sweet little 3 year old girl comes into my mind) ...I saw her dying .she wanted to live but she dint know she need to breathe .She was raped! This telecast stunned me....My mind started wandering her heart - to tell her to live , to tell her to breathe....My friends if you think I am talking about human trafficking , then you are mistaken for reasons Child abuse is worse that the worst situation in 36 China town ! Yes this is happening and nobody knows what needs to be done....do you know atleast 30 to 40 % of the gals undergo physical abuse at a very young age of 5 to 10 years.!!!! we never know , next might be in your family,.....the monster is there and the bulls are running like maniacs....pls protect your kids...educate them about the touch and smell of the bloody phsycopath.....if you can't stop him he is ready to invade and distroy your world... The world of dreams for your daughter is in your hand. Tell them the good touch and bad touch. Tell them to read the minds....I know its difficult but do try and lit her life ......other wise it might be too late or it can go unnoiticed and can cause havocs in her future life....Think for sometime , not many kids can tell what has happened on them ? Can they or should they ? Its the parents who need to say and I leave it to them as to how they want to tackle this social issue .......

Children are god sent !!!

2006-12-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

Bonded and jalied for ever....? Outrageous? Yet 10,000 children die every single day in India. More than in any tsunami, flood, earthquake, famine or war. Half of India's children are deprived of their fundamental right to education every day. Two million Indian babies die each year before they celebrate their first birthday. Millions of India's children go to bed each night hungry, hopeless and angry. We as a nation, seem quite content to tolerate this violation of their constitutional rights - Cry.org

they are born to die and die every day hoping to live someday.
they need us...they need some moment to tell thier pain and a bed to sleep and some food to eat.They suffer for no mistake of theirs. If we can make a difference to atleast one of this kids by helping them to complete a basic education, believe me we have done what we cannot achieve in 100 years - Yes a success in your life and a success in their lives too.

Its simple to live them to their fate and it takes a courage to help them to set the things right.THink about it.Can you leave your child to die its fate.We must protect these kids.Afterall they are our strength.They are the country's future. If we throw them , there will be no humanity left in us.THink about it because kids are god sent and they need our help.

Get the Value system correct !

2006-08-09T00:27:00.000-07:00

We experience it every day - On the road , in the Job , In railway stations.Its nothing but chaos every where.BOmbay drowned in water suffered with blast and engulfed with pathetic transport facility.Everybody says , its the true spirit of Mumbaikar which made him to go normal life next day after the blast.I pity those who say so.Its not the spirit but the inevitability to earn his bread which makes him to risk his life daily!I cry for him not for his spirit but his inabilty to fight this monster called - Chaos in INDIA. We have loads of talents every where - In IIM's , in IIT'S and every damn shell .IT is booming so is the economy - Who says so?.Its the same people you have crippled the system in INDIA. Problems are every where and solutions are stupid but followed!

Blocked Drainages , Flooded cities , crimes on the run , chaos on the road , choked trains and the list is endless.Does it call for a permanent solution .When I think and discuss , I see a small hope to end this menace.Its the Bloody " Value system" we have with us in our mind! Yes its the values we acquire from the child hood which leads to all this situations.

If my values are great , I won't throw garbage in the drainage .So there may not be blocked water and No floods in the city provided I value my city and my Values say , I should not throw garbage here and there.Its as simple as it can be.So take it.Its all in the mind!

Stop honking.Sound pollution is one of the most dangerous intangibel pollution we have on the road.Can i convince the cab driver not to honk.No not all.Its only he who can change it!How , once again , its the "Values" he has imbided over a period of time.

Most shocking but true, en engineering student supposed to be a girl , threw all the shit on the platform sitting in the train.When my wife objected , she said ,"Relax , not u'r problem". THis was the most disgusting statement I culd ever imagine and was speechless...I thought and culd not rightly figure out , what went wrong with her.Defenitely educated but never had values.The Big "V" was missing with her.Its not so complicated to keep the waste in a cover and throw it to a dustbin.U dnt find one as u r naturally in India, keep it with you and throw it later!.Does this act of u'rs call for Phd ? no never and for god sake , this is the same bloody value system we have learnt and adopted over a period o time.I beg , do not ever teach the same to the kids.Try to imbibe morals and values so that they dnt follow you! No am serious , lets teach our kids these simple things and make them blossom out in a better world.

Raped and murder - Reason given was , she was wearing a lose skirt.Common , what are we trying to do?Are we dogs ? do I have to rape some one because she had a lose skirt! Pretty amazing to know the minds of these people.How did he ever turn like that.Simply answered , he has never been taught what the values and morals in life.Get this taught to him and he will be the most gently person!

Everything calls for an act - an Act of doing what is right and what is wrong.If we can understand this , we can ateast make a better place for our children to live .Next time , you honk , you throw shit ,you drink and abuse somebody , think that your kid is going to follow you and for him , tomorrow will die for ever ..........Because you are the role model

This Blog is dedicated to my beloved friend CSL without whom I would not have written this article

Too good to be true !

2006-07-12T05:42:00.000-07:00

Imagine yourself staying with your best loved gal/guy in no-disturbed 11th floor apt in a high rising building ....NO Intruders and you are for urself! Too good to be true. why raise eyebrows? Its a touchy subject and unfortunately condemened in our society.There is whole lot of meaning of staying together willingly before tied up in a marriage.Ofcourse if agreed and married thats different! But the point is u njoy that relationship and u r totally honest to ur partner in what ever you act and do ! Its a true relationship that blossoms everyday and day after day between you both!But still unacceptable.Though I got the best loved gal in my life , I would just imagine myself and spend those 6/7 months of an honest relationship with my partner without being tied up! Its great and its worth those moments! The point is , you are just been true to urself at that point of life!

The subject is always debatable for pros and cons but the reason why I sketched is to tell you that , very few times in life , you have been true to urself and this is one of those !

Ibm Earned Billions !!!

2006-07-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

Recently , I had to sell my asset .I had taken a composite loan from a leading banker!.I had two option.
1. Take the money from buyer and preclose the loan
2. Transfer the loan to buyer

I did 2nd one. Everything went fine till the last night and boom came shock that I had actually pay 2% penalty for preclosing the loan.Bear in mind that I had actually introduced a new customer to them with a much Higher interest rate of the loan and I was stamped with more penalty.Well , the guy I was actually dealing ,belong to sales department and It took 2 odd days to convince him that whyI dnt need to pay penalty for actually introducing the customer !Alls well and he told me to approach Operations department(Ops)! I introduce myself to this smart lady and I tell her to preclose the loan!Shell shocked she actually tells me to come between 12th and 20th of evry month for preclosure.Unfortunately I had to narrate her the entire flash back as to what happened in the sales department.....the story continues to be in loop...

I noticed 2 things

1. The leading banker was actually working as two disintegrated organisation (one sales organisation and the other Opns organisation though both belong to the same Banking wing!!!)
2. Customer delight went to -10 from +10 - My case was dangling all along and I am fighting till now!

To integrated these department , we need some basic Integration point and this exactly what IBM did in its late 1990. It exploited and built some interfaces across different vendors of software & hardware and today stands accolade for being a billionaire company.....

The great system (In this case : IBM) is not built on complex strategies but on basic needs of life and they did don the industry for many years....Simple but yet astonshing......

Pre-Judiced - Think Again!

2006-07-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

Lot many people have an idea of what you are and what you should be like!
They prejudiced people and categorise accordingly....Now that is what is called a bonded(Contract ) relationship -:) .You will become a bonded friend!!!!
Surprised...yes it is,they want you to behave exactly as they anticipated and if you dnt you are in trouble.Take this example....A girl is driving her car on Hosur road and suddenly a tempo traveller notices her and zoom past her.Worst , he cannot move anywhere but to go alongside and irritate her.He expects the girl to irritate and throw tantrums! Worst yet to come , she might even stop and slap him.It it possible because traffic barely moves in hosur road and you have the time to stop and start the slap!!!
Look at this other scenario - Girl moves unpertrubed!She njoy's The hot radio mirchi and shut her car glasses and she could barely notice this merc Tempo traveller....He tries to grab her attention with his all non-sense road shows but yet she barely has an effect!!!! What happened......ha....The driver seems to be fish out of the water and he is not sure why he is like that!!Dnt you njoy that sight...definetly yes.
This happens , when you are what others dnt anticipate and when you live upto your expectations.It is this gesture of yours which will help you grow and hepled me grow too!!!

Live upto your expectations Leave other's to theirs! preJudiced - Think Again

Ten-Past-Ten

2006-07-05T05:13:00.000-07:00

Confused about the title?read on

Life sucks when you fail doing something.But once you tresspass that , there is an end for it.Today I am barely successfull and blowing my own trumpet for selling my asset for 100% margin but this is the beginning of an era.It has opened a pandora box for so many other opportunities in my life.I will and shall take this at my side and see it grow!!!!!

Ten-past-ten - Ten oppurtunties come and passes by you and if you notice atleast one of them , you are sure to gain ten out of that BIG one!.. Believe me life sucks when you fail But once you tresspass that , there is an end for it.

Fear of failure is worst than the failure itself....so take that first step and you can walk miles........for ever and for ever......