Being with friends

Comparing the act of giving with the act of taking is a bit tricky. You of course gain by taking, but you might gain by giving as well. And if you believe that you gain immensely by the act of giving, welcome to the world of friends. Giving out a smile, giving out some beautiful words, giving out a kind gesture, giving a little help is all it takes …

Friends make us grow. The act of giving entails the act of taking. For somebody to take, somebody has to give. The mutuality of belief in giving is what can forge the bonds of friendship and the act of giving and receiving is what can set the ball in motion. Careful analysis, planning, execution is more of a professional concept, while friend zone is more about being impetuous, being instinctive and at the same time, knowing what is good and what will be beneficial. The best part of friends is they will make you grow, just through some random act of bonhomie.

The necessity of friends is primordial but just gets lost sometimes in the world of pressures and stresses, where we are all out to make a living for ourselves and just end up drowning ourselves in the waves of competition. If we have more competitors than friends, we are assured of growth, but if we manage to have more friends in our lives, we are assured a piece of peace and harmony. As we move higher and higher in the hierarchy, lesser and lesser becomes the friends circle. Friends simply seem to phase out of our daily lives and we have the world of peers, juniors, seniors and bosses all around us. All we need, in reality, is just friends.

 
            The joy of an unselfish act of goodness cannot be measured. The more the friends around, the more the positivity and the more shining the light around appears. Strive to be a friend and the world smiles back !!

Three Innings : Do you look forward to the sunrise?

I think I can roughly divide a day in three innings – the start of the day, the day, the end of the day. And the cycle repeats all over again. The question is ‘Do you look forward to the sunrise?’. Honestly, I don’t. I get up, get ready for the work, work throughout the day and spend the rest of the evening at home doing yoga and some family time. But, do I look forward to any part of the day – Well, I guess ‘It’s a No’. Making it very clear - I enjoy it, definitely do; but I don’t look forward to it, I never have. I have never and I don’t yearn yet to look at the sunrise.

Taking the analogy a step forward – our life can be divided in three innings : readying yourself for the job, the mid-life of doing the job and the final post-job innings. And the same question - do I look forward to any particular inning? Well, I guess ‘It’s a No’. Making it very clear – I enjoy it, I definitely do; but I don’t look forward to it, I never have. It’s time to look forward to the sunrise, the day, the sunset and the night.

I am probably at noon of my life and what will it mean to look forward to the next inning? I am deeply thinking about retirement planning – makes me feel as if my third inning is more of an unwinding part of the day and this doesn’t make me look forward to it. What would make me look forward to the post noon, the sunset, the evening, the night and to the very enthralling and ensuing, next sunrise. A sunrise should not start in the bedroom, the noon in the stress, the sunset in your car and there shouldn’t be a tired evening and definitely not, should be a disturbed night. The irony is ‘how do we look forward to sunrise?’ is not a difficult one to answer but it just doesn’t get asked and subsequently, is probably not going to be answered.

         The energy in your life is what will make you tick. It takes a lot to live life positively, to create positive experiences and simply, being positive is a whole different ball game. Welcoming sunrise is the next step, but if so less people are able to do it, then hopefully it doesn’t turn out to be difficult than anticipated !

Was it worth?

As I take a pause and go about writing another blog, I have a question. Was it worth writing all the blogs I have been writing and bombarding the mail boxes?

The topics ranged from the north pole to the south pole. It started from writing articles and emailing. Now, I have converted all my writings to blogs. I got feedback, comments, appreciations, a little bit of peace of mind plus I can call myself a blogger now. Having said all of this, I still wonder was it worth it?

Thinking more on these lines, although I am thinking ‘Has the past 6 months of blogging been worth it?’, I am realizing I don’t question/analyze the worth of my time, my life. Starting the blog has really been a chance event and it has made me ask myself ‘Has my life been worth it?’ – It’s turning out to be an interesting blog. May be it’s worth it.

It makes me question – have I made some difference or have I just lived my life, centered around me, my needs, my problems, my wishes and my desires. It makes me think will I make some difference moving ahead or will it be centered around me, my needs, my problems, my wishes and my desires.

                My blogging has been worth it, if it made you think positively a bit, if it made a tiny difference in your mindset, if it made you live differently, may be even just for few moments. It would have done it’s purpose. Questioning the worth of life is entirely different ball game. Some say to evaluate your ‘circle of influence’. It looks like it is much tougher to have a life which is worth it.

                I honestly don’t know what I have been doing and what purpose I intend to fulfil. What will be the appraisal of my life, right now and at the end of my life. Am I just doing my profession and trying to find ways to live a comfortable and happy personal life? It doesn’t feel to be worth it.. probably leaving aside just my family. I am not sure how many people desire my company and how many will miss my company if they are not going to have it any further. I am not sure if I am making much of a difference to quite a few. It’s an open question and sadly, the answer that I am hearing back inside me is not a soothing one. But, yes.. I know people have helped me and are helping me grow into something of a better being and I hope I can make some difference out there and be missed, whenever I will be no longer accessible.

                May be, it will be worth it !!

People, Finances and Growing

Diwali is just going by and being fresh from worshipping Goddess Laksmi (the goddess of wealth), I think it will be interesting to pen a few thoughts and words about money. An acquaintance used to say “Money is not god, but money is no lesser than a god as well !!” I think – How True !!

My wife and me often discuss – “what is more crucial in life : People or Money”? A probably cheeky but reasonable answer might be – “People who can generate money”. Money is one aspect of life and there are times when it has no substitute. At the same time, people are another aspect of life and there are times when there is no substitute. Are we not thinking just about life of people? Life exists without money and life also exists without people.

The answer to the question “what is more crucial in life?” has different answers – different persons might have different answer at the same time and same person might have different answers at different times. In a nutshell, both are important, definitely important. Although it seems to be an unfair and unreasonable question, the question keeps cropping up and we have to take decisions – people around versus the money. Don’t we spend more time getting educated for jobs and don’t we spend more time at jobs earning money than with the people closer to us? Doesn’t the house, the car we own and the job we do define us?

Probably, a more comprehensive answer to this question of life is – “There is much more to life than people and money”. The people around us are defining factors of our life and money engulfs us as well as enables us in our lives. We have to take good care of people, we have to ensure good flow of money PLUS there has to be much more to life. There is a house to be purchased, a car to be owned, retirement planning to be done, child education to be taken care of, life insurance to be addressed, health insurance to be bought, there is so much. There is a family, there are friends, there are relatives, there are peers, there are bosses, there is a society, there is quite a lot.

          The fun of life and the growing begins only once we can take care of ourselves, people and the money. It is important to have just the right combination of everything to ensure a smooth journey through our lives. If you don’t put the people and money first, rest assured you will have a bumpy ride – which again is not really bad, if you can achieve something which is worth it !!

Cocoon, Caterpillar and Butterfly

The ‘Random forest’ algorithm is an ensemble learning method for classification, regression and other tasks, that operate by constructing a multitude of decision trees at training time and outputting the class that is the mode of the classes(classification) or mean prediction(regression) of the individual trees.

The above is understandable only if you have some background of machine learning. We have an entire generation of engineers who have just not worked on machine learning, but are experts in artificial intelligence. There are experts in digital image analysis, natural language processing, bot building, Alpha beta pruning, etc. just to name a few areas of artificial intelligence.

            

                Having started on a relatively technical context, let’s get in the context of the blog – ‘Cocoon, Caterpillar and Butterfly’. We have a world of ‘developed nations’ who are busy dealing with the problems of scientific and technical prowess, while we also have a world, the world of ‘developing nations’ who are bound by the problems of life – the human life. The problems of hunger, the problems of poverty, the problems of casteism, the problems of reservations, the problems of making the ends meet in the day-to-day life.

                

                Coming closer to the world around – the software world, we have a world comprising of ‘developed professionals’ who are busy dealing with growing as professionals – doing the cutting edge work, honing the ‘niche skills’ while we also have another world, the world of ‘developing professionals’ who are bound by the problems of the life – the processional life. The problems of peer pressure, the problems of appraisals, the problems of job hopping, the problems of making the salaries making the ends meet in the day-to-day life.

                There is a saying ‘An average performer performs great in a great environment while a great performer performs average in an average environment'. The interesting part of the article is that the key of transforming from a ‘developing professional’ to ‘developed professional’ is hidden somewhere in the transformation from belonging in the ‘developing nation’ world to the ‘developed nation’ world.

                There is no free lunch anywhere in the world and only the journey can lead to a destination. The caterpillar has to struggle and survive the life in a cocoon to become the butterfly. A butterfly is a lovely, colorful, beautiful creature. The colors, the beauty, the loveliness are not only the resultant of caterpillar life but also the beginning of the life of a butterfly; till then it was just a caterpillar.

Some Management Thoughts

Time just flows. The world is revolving around businesses and life is evolving. While we continue to think about our future, the science and technology is already into the unknown. 

The management is a serious concern for most of the leaders. There are several management principles and lessons, none of which prove to be critical. The problems just need to be addressed and world moves forward.

None the less, here are few more thoughts on management.

Management is not about managing

Being a manager is difficult

Responsibility is the keyword for management

Management is ‘How to grow?’

Creativity sails the management through

Success is the nutrition for management

Healthy management is leadership

Freedom is soul of management

Energy is management strength

Management is knowledge of action

An injury needs time and therapy

A cold needs steam, cough needs syrup and an injury needs anti-septic. Apart from the required therapy, the associated time is also required.

Diseases are a common problem these days. As we age, the onslaught of different diseases is a great cause of concern. Diabetes, blood pressure, back pain, heart problems, cancer are few physical illnesses and bipolar mood disorder, ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity disorder), OCD (Obsessive compulsive disorder) are a few mental illnesses.

While ‘prevention is better than cure’ is a known idiom, seldom people are thoughtful enough to avoid these problems. Once the disease sets in, people realize it is too late and also, way too costly to manage the problem – both in terms of money and in terms of lifestyle. None the less, once an injury has happened, it has to be treated; similarly, once a disease has set in, it needs to be addressed.

A disease/disorder management is a complex matter; on a broad level, it requires five things -  a strong personal resolve, good will/support of surrounding people, very importantly, an expert advice/guidance, conducive circumstances and of course, the finances.

A disease/disorder can break a person’s will and this is exactly where the personal resolve comes in handy. Personal resolve is the single most factor which can help a person sail through any problem, much importantly through a disease/disorder. The good will/support of surrounding people can be the game changer and without the correct advice/guidance, it is virtually impossible to manage/overcome a disease/disorder.

Life is not always fair. There are many diseases which cannot be managed and at best, people just manage to become mute victims to such diseases/disorders. We have not advanced enough yet, but if last century is to anything to go by, we will find more answers and many more ways to combat these killer diseases.

Everybody is not healthy; the healthcare is critical; and so is the requirement of focused effort on it.

Probably, there are more car and bike enthusiasts !!

I have met a lot of people talking about cars and bikes – tyres, chassis, engines, wipers, fuel economy and much more. However, I have not met enough people talking about our own bodies.

Few of us might know that there is around 5 liters of blood and 206 bones in an adult human. However, how many of us know the capacity of human lungs, the length and diameter of small and large intestine, how many vertebrae are there in the spinal column, how many ribs exist or how many lobes exist in the thyroid? Probably, not many if you are not from the medicine background.

The answers to the above questions – the average capacity of adult human lungs is about 6 liters (vital capacity is 3-5 liters), the small intestine is about 20 feet long and an inch in diameter, the large intestine is about 5 feet long and 3 inches in diameter, there are 33 vertebrae in human spinal column, there are 12 pair of ribs and 2 lobes in our thyroid which is a 25 grams butterfly-shaped organ.

So far, so good. Let’s look more holistically at the human body. There are 11 systems and around 80 organs(arguably) in the human body. A system is a collection of organs.

The human systems are – circulatory system, digestive system, endocrine system(secretion into bloodstream), integumentary/exocrine system(secretion into a duct), lymphatic/immune system, muscular system, nervous system, renal/urinary/excretory system, reproductive system, respiratory system and skeletal system.

Some of the organs/body parts are:

Heart, arteries, veins, capillaries in Circulatory system.

Stomach, liver, small intestine, large intestine, gall bladder, pancreas in Digestive system.

Pituitary gland, pineal gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, adrenal gland in Endocrine system.

Skin, hair, nails, sweat in Integumentary/exocrine system.

Lymphatic vessels, spleen, thymus, bone marrow in lymphatic/immune system.

3 types of muscles (skeletal, cardiac and smooth), tendons and diaphragm in the muscular system.

Brain, spinal cord, nerves and sensory organs in the nervous system.

Kidneys, ureters, bladder, urethra in the renal system.

Ovaries, uterus, testes, prostrate in the reproductive system.

Lungs, Diaphragm, Pharynx, Larynx, Bronchi in the respiratoy system.

Bones, and joints in the skeletal system.

Probably, it’s worth becoming a human body enthusiast, especially if it is our own!!

Time just ticks!

When I was a kid, an year consisted of 365 days. Now, my son is a kid and an year still consists of 365 days. When my kid has a kid, an year will still probably have 365 days. A beggar’s year has 365 days, a magnate’s year has 365 days; a man’s year has 365 days and a woman’s year also has 365 days. It’s just that the time ticks.

Imagine 30 years down the line.. say it’s 07-August-2048. What would I be like? A little old, a little stooped, a little tired, a little jaded !! Well, Hell No !! It has to be rocking. Rewind 30 years back .. say it’s 07-August-1988. Would I have taken the life I am living today on that day? Well, hell, I was just a kid. I wouldn’t be thinking 30 years later on that day.

Today, I think of 30 years down the line. Do I have a retirement plan, do I have a term insurance, do I have a medical insurance, do I have a child education plan, playing with my grand children? Pretty much sums up what I will be 30 years later. Not that interesting, is it?

30 years down the line, when I get up in the morning, I look forward to a cold morning, sipping a hot cup of tea and thinking to myself, what should I do today – design an operating system? Hmm.. may be.. definitely, better than feeling jaded!

There is just one catch … I have to wait for 30 years for that day to arrive. It’s probably wiser to do that today.

Time just ticks!! I live every day, probably not doing enough of what I would love to do. Do what you love to do - right here, right now. You might never see the sun shine in the morning 30 years later !!

Politics is an adventure

“It’s all fair in love and war” - It’s a dirty world and you can’t do much about it. History has time and again proved the relevancy of the tussle for supremacy and if you want to mention Charles Darwin, you can mention “Survival of the fittest” in this context.

                I attended a Toastmasters meeting yesterday with the theme of “Life is an adventure”. When asked about the adventures people wanted to take up in there lives, there were the usual candidates – Kayaking, Sky-diving, Mountaineering, Rafting, etc. It’s the one-time thrilling experience that kicks up the adrenaline for a lot of us, that we look forward to as an adventure.

                Being a little contemplative, I thought to myself – “Life should be an adventure” and not just a select few minutes of the entire life span. One sentence that I have heard too often is “I hate politics”, of-course not to mention “Politics is a dirty game”. Yet, we cannot live without politics, in one form or another. If we have to single out a single reason for India’s woes, many people might attribute it to the ‘Indian political system’. Yet, not many are keen on taking a plunge and tidying up the system. In my honest opinion, politics is too dirty, too dangerous, too complex a field, yet it is one of the most important, if not ‘the most important’ aspect of our lives.

                An adventure should make you skip a heartbeat, should be challenging enough to scare hell out of you, should be enticing enough to make you want to do it. If you go by the definition, I think politics might be an ultimate adventure for many. It’s difficult, to say the least; It’s a make or break proposition, at the bare minimum, and It must be perfect, even if it’s dirty. Political decisions are supposed to correct your yesterday, brighten your today and shape up your tomorrow. Politics based on knowledge, intelligence, communication, good will and vision is probably what we can term as strategic leadership.

Life, in itself, is an adventure and politics is an adventure worth taking up, much at stake and lot to gain; and definitely not for the faint-hearted. Don’t be political, be politically perfect!

Just a glimpse of sadness

When I came in this world, I was received with love. I grew up, continuously showered with love, care and companionship. Being thankful, grateful and conscientious towards what I have received has been important, if not critical, for me. Giving and receiving is part of our life. The obligation towards fellow beings is a natural phenomenon and marks the basis of the relationships we live with.

We probably have been extremely responsible people in our lives – towards our parents, our siblings, our relatives, our acquaintances, our friends and probably, even strangers. We are probably the moral guardians of all the good human values – being courteous, being helpful, being kind, being patriotic, being intelligent and so on, so forth.

We are educated, we have been taught to be mindful and we have been trained to take care of things very well. As daily activities, we get up in the morning, we probably do some exercises, we have food, we travel to our workplaces, regularly fill up our body with water, spend time with family and friends and so on, so forth.

After living our lives for considerable duration, after enjoying all the lovely moments, after always being gifted with so many beauty, have we spent even 1 % of time in our life towards what should have been the most treasured, the most cherished part of our lives – our planet, The Earth.

We have never been taught, we have never been educated and we have never ever been trained to worry or take care of our ‘neglected’ home. The biggest problem of ours is the lack of awareness about the harm we are causing to our dear planet. The saddest part of the situation is that we are not even sad about what is happening to the very source of our life.

Rains are coming

The water cycle is an interesting phenomenon. The water is evaporated from the sea, becomes cloud, is mobilized by the wind and then, the rains come somewhere to oblige the lands. Each of the soft, tiny, wet, round droplet comes down by the force of gravity and the smell of it falling on the soil leaves the message loud and clear – “Aah, it’s started raining!!”.

                Cometh the rain, cometh the beauty. Rains bring with it a lovely romantic weather, the temptation of the onion pakoras, the smell of the aromatic tea and of-course, the excitement of packing your travel bags. So far, so good.

                The beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. For a lot of people, the above description of the rain makes all the sense. Let’s think about a few more contexts and how we can describe the rains. For a flood-hit area, the rains can only mean adding salt to the injury; for a farmer, rains mean livelihood; for all of us, rains should mean drinking water and probably, for a drought hit, rains can mean nothing less than magic.

                As a person, it is important to understand that each person has a different background, a different thought process, different mindset, different perspective, different compulsions, different abilities, different aspirations, just like the meaning of the rains to different people is different. It might appear odd to see a person dance with joy when it rains; probably it isn’t, the person might be just longing for the water post a drought. We should strive to understand the different perspectives and see if it makes sense. We might appreciate what we see if we understand it; it is a difficult proposition when it comes to real life, but it is definitely possible.

                As a leader, it is quite complex and even more difficult. Not only a leader is required to understand and appreciate the perspectives, but also address and cultivate the view-points. The real skill of a leader is to fructify the different perspectives in their entirety, to something worthy, something useful, something sensible and if possible, something spectacular. India is an embodiment of “Unity in diversity” with an equal share of accompanied challenges but at the same time beautiful. When it starts raining, a leader should not only think about the floods, drought, weather and of course onion pakoras but should also expect the mesmerizing rainbow across the horizon.

Fall in Love - This time with technology

Love begets happiness; happiness begets love. Love can lead you to do absurd, weird things. Once in love, you tend not to question, you tend not to hesitate, you just do it. You might devote your life for your children, you might sacrifice yourself for your parents, you might want to cross all limits for your spouse. Why? Well, there’s no concrete reason, you just do it - that’s what “Love” is, in a nutshell.

"[Science] is more than a school subject, or the periodic table, or the properties of waves. It is an approach to the world, a critical way to understand and explore and engage with the world, and then have the capacity to change that world..."

— President Barack Obama, March 23, 2015

I believe, we belonging to the ‘T’ and ‘E’ of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), are uniquely positioned to leverage our abilities, offer the best and do something that makes a difference. But, walking the path is different from knowing the path – pretty much summed up in the two axes of the Gartner’s magic quadrant, Vision and Execution.

“What makes you happy is what defines you” – I pretty much believe in this. Not going just by the belief, the yogic texts mention humans have three sheath of bodies, from outer to inner, in that order -  The Gross body (Sthula sharira – Annamaya Kosha), The Subtle body (Sukshma sharira) a.k.a. – Pranic body (Pranamaya kosha), Mental body(Manomaya Kosha) and Intellectual body (Vidnyanamaya Kosha) and The Causal Body (Karana sharira) a.k.a Bliss Body (Anandamaya Kosha). At the very center, lies the “Causal body” or the “Karana sharira” or the Bliss Body. It is important to understand ourselves and train our energies correctly.

I believe our actions differ if we do something for the love of it as opposed to doing something for making a living. A love for salaries might drive you to get the best jobs; while a love for technology might drive you to create the best ones. The technology spectrum is vast and it sounds difficult to master just a single technology or a skill. But love can make you do absurd, weird, illogical things. Just going by the achievements, Elon Musk sounds like a super human – I am ready to believe he is deeply in love.

Love is knowing, understanding, caring, being selfless, being illogical, being creative, and so much more. Let’s fall in love – this time with technology.

Reaching Mars

“Curiosity killed the cat” and “Opportunity doesn't knock twice”. Sound like two great English proverbs intending to tell you something really important. But, the catch words here are “Curiosity” and “Opportunity”. These could mean simple English words to vast majority of people. But, to some special, privileged people, it’s altogether different world. “Curiosity” and “Opportunity” are names of two rovers sent by NASA to Mars.

                Get born, start schooling at the age of 6, start college at the age of 18, start job at the age of 22, get married at the age of 26, become parent at the age of 30, become grandparent at the age of 55 and die at the age of 70. This is what life has to offer you. In between these milestones, you have some options, some serious options. You have the option to choose, you have the option to decide, you have the option to work, you have the option to make a difference, you have the option to live.

                Imagine you own a car, you want to drive it from Bangalore to Chennai and you have never traveled from Bangalore to Chennai earlier. How will you go about it? You will plan the journey – you will check the tyres, you will check the fuel, you will check the water in radiator, you will get along the road using the sign-boards and of course, use the GPS. There is a slight catch here now. Imagine you own a car and you don’t know where you want to travel to. This is exactly what life is. We do not know the destination, we do not know where we will travel to. So, how do you go about it?

                I believe, there are many ways to live – One, start the car and take the car wherever the road takes you. Second, start the car, find the next best destination, reach it; then, find the next best destination, reach it and keep travelling along the best destinations available. Third – start the car, decide your next destination, reach it; then, decide your next destination, reach it and keep deciding your destinations, keep reaching them. Fourth – decide your final destination and come what may, rest only when you reach it. I believe, most of us belong to the first mode, a few belong to the second mode and even fewer to the third mode and rarely, people know the purpose of their living – the fourth mode.

                The essence of life is knowing the purpose of it, and at a bare minimum, at least deciding the purpose, if not knowing it. At the end of life, “curiosity” and “opportunity” could still mean English to you or you might comprehend it as something which is stationed at Mars. It’s only and only up to you to decide what magic you want and you can perform.

Value yourself

                Imagine you are thirsty and there is no water around. You become thirstier and search for water. There is no water around. You keep searching, you search everywhere, and all of a sudden, you find a hand pump and to your surprise, it pumps up the water. You pump the water, drink it to your satisfaction and without mistake, you will thank god for providing you with the water.

                It was not just the water, but it was your thirst and the subsequent water, that would have made you thank the god. Water was always existing in the hand pump. It’s your thirst, your search for water, you drinking the water and the final outcome of satisfaction that made you thank the god.

                Now, imagine you need money - lots and lots of money. You don’t have a way of getting your hands on it. There is no money around. So, you search for it. And you don’t find more money. You keep searching, you search everywhere, and all of a sudden, you find a new job and to your surprise, it pumps more money for you. You do the job, get more money and keep living your life. Did you ever thank anybody for this ‘more’ money?

                You are happy to get a job, you are happier to get more money, but did you thank the god? After a few days, you will need more money. You will go through the same process, get a new job, and get more money. But, are you not missing being thankful, being grateful to god?

                In all this process, day after day; day in-day out, you are going through life. You are earning money, you are doing your job well, you are taking care of your family – your spouse, your kids, your parents, you are a good friend to someone, you are going out of your way and doing a random act of goodness. Have you taken a moment, sat down for a second and thought how this has happened?

                You might find it odd, but you will find that you have never thanked yourself. You have not thanked yourself, for a long long time - your efforts, your achievements, your failures, your deeds, your mistakes. Even if you wouldn’t live another day, you would find that you have lived a life that you ought to be proud of.

Start today - thank yourself, value yourself, continue doing your best and better yourself.

Good is not good enough

Every four years, there is a festival happening for sports lovers across the globe – The Olympics. And every four years, I see the Indian contingent winning the minimal tally of medals in the Olympics. I wonder what is it that is so wrong with Indians? We are a country of a billion and we are not able to win even handful of medals. I realize that we have good sports persons but here, good is not good enough.

                A recipe needs perfect ingredients and I believe it is the same for all things. A sports person needs talent, motivation, infrastructure, guidance, will and above all the perfect attitude. When all of this becomes available, then it will be the perfect time to ask “Why India is not winning medals in Olympics”. Till then, we have a good system and good athletes and we will continue not to win the Olympic medals. In this context, good is not good enough, what we need is only the best.

                Coming closer, the best Indian software brands we hear are Infosys, Wipro, TCS, etc. Sharing the same fate with the Indian Olympians, these brands pretty much live in the shadows of the Microsoft, Google, Apple, Oracle, etc. Drawing the analogy with Olympians, do we have what we need to succeed in software space? We have examples of Indians like Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai reaching US and now heading these very best companies. Being in software industry, I can advocate we have outstanding talent. It’s definitely not a talent issue. We are good, probably better. But, good is not good enough.

                I had read a beautiful definition of Leadership a few months back – “Leadership is driving people towards a goal while minimizing friction and maximizing fun” and another beautiful quote I have heard is “Attitude determines the altitude”. India is a relatively young country in current context, being independent since 1947, but it’s a grand, old phenomenon, which has seen the best of times. It has seen some exceptional times and witnessed some brilliant leaderships. We, as a country, are probably just going through the ageing process, accumulating the necessary ingredients for that perfect recipe, that perfect process, which will take us from ‘being good’ to ‘being best’ because good is just not good enough.

Being a NICEr

“It’s different” – The tag line of “Maggi sauce” advertisement series which 

ran for years and it also pretty much summates the feeling of being in NICE,

being a NICEr.

Our life is sum equivalent of the experiences and memories we create over our life-time – the good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly and ‘the different’. Just like we are living on same planet and having different life experiences, I believe each NICEr will have their individual story line. In this article, I am representing my perspective of being a NICEr.

“Time is as priceless as good friends” and you get quite rich in terms of it in Nice. You have the liberty to feel happy to spend it with yourself, your family, your friends and work towards cultivating a high quality of life. We do not have a time machine and hence do not have the capability to go back in time. Knowing this, I think time is the best gift I have from NICE, which I spend seeing my baby growing up every evening.

“Opportunities are rare and growth is fun” and that makes me privileged to have had “rare fun” at NICE. I was once listening to a leader and he mentioned - “Leadership is not given, it has to be taken”. I believe the same goes with “opportunities”. It is nice to be in NICE, which is creating opportunities for itself and in the same breath, growing itself, multiple steps at a time.

“Friends help” and it has been quite special to have forged so many bonds of “friendships” with people around. I have learnt many many things here, from people – talking to them, fighting with them, challenging them, getting challenged by them, even just by observing them. It’s “more the merrier” when it comes to friends and it has been quite exciting to make so many friends at NICE.

“One day to remember all life” – It is this one day that NICE gave me which is unforgettable and un”thank”able. As a gift to employees for a good company performance, NICE had sponsored each employee a day with family or friends. We decided to spend an independence day with my father, being a military man, hoisting the flag. It was my first instance witnessing him hoisting the flag and it also proved to be his last time doing the flag hoisting. NICE gifted me my father’s last Independence Day on earth.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably farce” – Of-course, it has not been 

picture perfect and there have been equal share of challenges. It’s probably in our 

hands whether we enjoy looking at a rose or count its thorns.

NICE has been nice and it’s a different, special experience turning up every day, 

working it out, signing off at the end of day and in the process, experiencing the 

magic of life.

Parent your weakness

When I was a little young, like a lot of young people, I was confused (Disclaimer: I am still young and still confused, but a little less now). I was working in a services industry and had experience of manual testing, performance testing, business flow designing, some bit of development and I wanted to become a full-time developer. I went to an interview for a developer and after the interview, the interviewer was ready to offer me a position of ‘Automation Java Tester’, but not a developer. I was disappointed. The interviewer sensed my disappointment and asked what is wrong. He discussed what is going on in my life and gave me an invaluable lesson, which has probably been the most important, the most crucial lesson I have learnt in my life; I still live by this lesson.

                The lesson is a single sentence, just a harmless single sentence, but so powerful if you can understand what it means - “You are CEO of your own life”. Some of the principles I used to live by are - “Either you are a Newton or you are nobody”, “Aim to fly or fall flat”, “Think and do big”, etc. and I realized just being a young, confused person is not going to take me anywhere. Believe me, running your life is quite similar to running a company. Becoming the “CEO” of your life will help you live your life better. It is a full-time, full-life job that nobody can stop you from doing.

                Running your life has a lot of standard components – difficulties, challenges, opportunities, success, failure, strengths, weaknesses, friends, opponents, disappointments, happiness, etc. One of the technique in personal/organizational planning is SWOT analysis. I want to touch the ‘weakness’ aspect of this SWOT technique that is integral part of all life cycles. I believe personal and professional life should be lived in different manner and on the same lines, I believe running a life has to be different from running a business.

                A ‘weakness’ is a characteristic which pulls you down. Going by pure instinct, it is a problem area, which needs to be addressed. If you are highly positive, you might look at the ‘weakness – the problem area’ as an opportunity. How you name it – a problem, an opportunity, a weakness – probably does not matter as much as overcoming the obstacle. I am proposing another technique, in addressing a ‘weakness’ in our lives.

                A problem area usually frustrates you, irritates you, drains up your energy, pulls you down – same is the case with ‘weakness’. And in any case you are not able to ignore it, you are not able to disown it. It’s glaring you in your face. I find renaming a ‘weakness’ as an ‘opportunity’ quite difficult because it continues to frustrate and irritate me. Can I just turn around these feelings of irritation and frustration in dealing with the weakness?

If I can treat weakness as a baby, which is just born, doesn’t know how to talk, how to walk, how to do things, it might change the perspective. I need to be patient with my baby, I need to devote time, I need to give him attention, I need to play with him, I need to give encouragement to him – and above all, above everything, I enjoy spending time with him – he gives me joy, he give me smiles, he gives me happiness. Same is the case with a weakness. If I devote time to it, I play with it, I work on it, it will give me benefits in long term. I need to be patient with it and above all, above everything, I should enjoy it, I should love seeing it grow.

Treat weakness as your child - give it time, give it attention, give it nourishment, and you will enjoy and love to see it grow as your strength.

कांदे पोहे

चेहऱ्या वर मिशी येत आहे तोपर्येंत आजू  बाजूच्यांचं विचारणं सुरु होत  – काय विचार केला आहे आयुष्या  बद्दल, काय व्हायच आहे, लग्ना चा काय – love कि arranged, काय मुलगी वगैरे बघून ठेवली आहे का?  engineer किंवा doctor म्हणजे काय, हे कदाचित माहीत नसलेल्या मुला-मुलींच्या मनात लग्नाची संकल्पना  मात्र  एकदम घर करून बसलेली असते. काही जण आपला जोडीदार निवडून, किंवा बोली भाषेत, पटवून बसलेले असतात, पण काही भोळे भाबडे ‘सभ्य’ जण, ज्यांना निवडणं, किंवा बोली भाषेत पटवणं जमत नाही ते बहुतेक वेळा  ‘कांदे पोहे’, ह्या कार्यक्रमाचा आस्वाद घेतातच. तर, हा लेख अश्या ‘कांदा पोहे’ कार्यक्रमा वर  आहे…

      हिंदुस्तान पाकिस्तान च्या  cricket series ला जसा सरकार चा विरोध असतो, तसाच  हा कार्यक्रम  सुरु  करायला एखाद्या मुला मुली च्या मनात विरोध असतो... लग्नाच वय झाल आहे का, वेळ आली आहे का, मी लग्न ला  तयार आहे का, वगैरे वगैरे.. काही ना काही कारणास्तव, जसा सरकार cricket series ला तयार होते, तसाच  कांदा पोहे च्या कार्यक्रमा ला होकार येतो.. मग काय, जय्यत तयारीची सुरुवात ...

      "मौका मौका" ह्या जाहिरात मालिकेची रंगात जीवनात येते. Bio-data तयार करण्यात येतो, चष्मा चालेल कि नाही, नौकरी पाहिजे कि नाही, गोरी-काळी-सावळी कशी पाहिजे, जाड-हडकुळा नको.. अशे अनेक पैलूंवर विचार  विमर्श होतो.. ही match च्या आधी ची net practice .. त्याच काळात स्टेडियम, म्हणजे कांदा पोहे चा ठिकाण ठरवण्यात येत. Home advantage कुणाचं, कि neutral location (म्हणजे एखाद्या हॉटेल) वर कार्यक्रम करायचा ... धाव पट्टी चा तास अंदाज बांधणं अवगढच.. spin-friendly कि swing-friendly कि unplayable conditions असतील काही सांगता येणं कठीण ...

अश्या वातावरण निर्मिती च्या पार्श्वभूमीतून 'कांदा पोहे' चा दिवस उजाडतो ... 'गढ आला पण सिंह गेला' ह्या ध्येया ने match अर्थातच 'कांदा पोहे' च्या कार्यक्रमाची सुरुवात होते. 'तुमच्या आवडी काय आहेत' ह्या काहीश्या ठरलेल्या पहिल्या चेंडू वर तुम्ही जर षटकार ठोकू शकलात तरच सामान्या ला रंगत येऊ शकते ... आणि 'तुमचा अफफैर होत का' ह्या यॉर्कर वर clean bowled  न होण्यात जे कसब तुम्हास पणाला लावावे लागेल ते वाखडण्या जोगच बरं का.. 'दारू सिगारेट' ची काही सवय असल्यास तुमचा ह्या बाउन्सर ने दात पडणे हे निश्चित .. त्यात गुगली, म्हणजे 'तुम्ही मला कस खुश ठेवाल', पडला कि समजा तुम्ही catch out हे नक्की ...

     

'कांदे पोहे' च्या जगदोजहद नंतर गढ सर केल्याचा भावनांना फारस महत्व न देणं हेच खर शहाणपण ... कारण 'Picture अभी बाकी है मेरे दोस्त'. Series ची पुढची match scheduled असते आणि त्याची तयारी अजून भक्कम रित्या कशी करायची हे जीवनाचं एकमेव धोरण होऊन बसत ... Post Match analysis मध्ये वेगवेगळे पैलू आणि तर्क पुढे येतात ... काही ball tampering तर नाही झाली न Match मध्ये ... काही Match-fixing चा वंगाळ तर नाही होत न .. ह्या प्रश्नाच्या उत्तर मध्ये आपण असं cover drive मारायला पाहिजे होत का .. हे सगळं होस तोपर्यंत पुढच्या Match ची वेळ आलेली असते .. आणि आपण पुन्हा man of the match होयच्या तयारी ने कंबर कसून पुढच्या Match साठी घोड्या वर स्वार होतो ...

     

बर्याच 'कांदे पोहे' च्या कार्यक्रमा नंतर, पसंता पसंती झाल्या वर, लग्नाचं बस्तर बसल्या वर, मुलं बाळ झाल्या वर राहतात त्या फक्त आठवणी, गोड़ आठवणी .. त्या पहिल्या कांदा पोहेच्या आणि नक्कीच शेवटच्या कांदा पोहेच्या .. हलकं स, सुस्मित हसू देऊन जाणाऱ्या.. आपल्या यौवनाच्या पदार्पण समारंभाच्या ....

Dream... Why not, but how?

“The more I experience the world, the more I understand and know it, the lesser I tend to dream”. As a child, I dreamt of buying a TVS bike… it got fulfilled. As a school boy, I dreamt of becoming an engineer or a doctor or an army man… it got fulfilled. As a college student, I dreamt of a good job, owning a house, travelling across the globe… it got fulfilled. As a young professional, I dreamt of creating something unique, being the best, making an impact on the world… it has not been fulfilled, not yet.

Now, all of a sudden, I find myself little more mature, understanding the world better and knowing how it operates. And, yes, I find myself not dreaming, not any more. I find myself focusing more on the necessities of life – making the life easier, secure and better. The dreams have dried up, they have evaporated. Yes, they have vanished.

I had read a quote in a book – “Start with doing what is necessary, then what is possible and then, you might find yourself suddenly doing the impossible”. A lifecycle of a plant starts with sowing a seed, watering it, manuring it, ensuring sufficient sunlight, protecting it and then comes the time, to reap the fruits. The seeds are sown, every one of us have had dreams – however, have we been able to do the rest, give it water, give it manure, give it sunlight – the answer is probably ‘No, I couldn’t’.

The seed is lost, somewhere in the smallest corner, somewhere in the darkest corner, in the closet of the mind. It is lost somewhere, probably died its natural death. However, there is some possibility that is not dead yet. It might have some life, it might be weak but not dead, not yet. Dreams are those tiny thoughts, those tiny wishes, those tiny desires, which are capable of driving you to the most amazing, the most beautiful and the most wonderful of destinations. They have the potential to create magic in the world around you. We just need to have faith in ourselves and believe in our dreams.

Humans have traversed the path from being cave-men to reaching the various, very distant planets. Being a human is a special privilege; it qualifies me as a member of a specie, which has surpassed all the hurdles and achieved all the impossible.

I have heard “Dreams do come true”. I am ready to believe “They really do”. I just need to go a step forward - “Start believing in dreams and start dreaming again”.

Vitamin Breath – Breathe On!! Live On!!

                My grandmother laid still and the doctor checked – Is she breathing.  No. She announced her dead. Take note and understand, “Breath” defines if you are alive or dead. Stop for a moment and understand, “Breath” is the most vital process of our lives. Just to give some numbers – we breathe 15 times in a minute, which makes it 21600 times in a day. Each and every cell of our body needs oxygen. Brain functioning is heavily dependent upon the oxygen supply it receives via blood. We inhale the air, the lungs extract the oxygen from the air and the blood carries the oxygen to different parts of our body.

According to Yogic texts, “Breath” is the process at the boundary of the conscious and sub-conscious mind. It is largely a sub-conscious process, but can be done consciously. We are not extracting just the “Oxygen” from the air. With each breath, we are extracting “Prana” (the life force) from the air and the corresponding energy. The “Pranayam” of the Ashtanga Yoga focuses exclusively on breathing. Different “pranayama” techniques advocate different breathing techniques to purify, control and expand your “Pranamaya” kosha of the body.

Before we switch on to “pranayama”, we should understand the breathing as a process – to know if we are breathing correctly. There are three types of breathings – abdominal, thoracic and clavicular. Abdominal breathing is primarily using diaphragm, thoracic is using your chest and clavicular uses your shoulders and collar bones. Best breathing technique is amalgamation of all these three breathing techniques.

As a guideline, the inhalation, retention and exhalation of the breath should be in the ratio of 1:4:2. The reasoning behind the additional time of retention and exhalation is the maximum absorption of oxygen and ‘prana’ by the body and correct disposal of the waste from the body. It is recommended to do “deep breathing” for qualitative benefits. Just by correct breathing techniques, we can improve the body functioning, stability of the mind and tap into the sub-conscious part of the mind. Vitamin Breath is often neglected and extremely beneficial of all aspects of life.

Breathe On!! Live On!!

Life of Two Men

There were two young men – one was educated with a good academics record, a white-collared job and a life to look forward to and enjoy. Another had poor academic record, a physically demanding job and a life full of hardships.

You will expect a well-watered, well-manured, well-lighted plant to grow big, strong and bear more and sweeter fruits. Alas, human life is not similar to that of the plants – it unfurls in accordance with your actions and not just on circumstances.

The well-placed man was a principled man. He chose to live a truthful life – not compromising his principles, living by the very righteous decisions, not indulging in corruption. Often, such men are temperamental. He found his job tough and often found himself at loggerheads with the system over variety of issues. He had to change his job(s) and often found himself transferred. One fine day, another transfer came and the man, fed up with the system, decided not to transfer to another city. Instead, he decided to fight a court case against the company. And to the worst of his luck, he could not push the company at the receiving end, he lost the case. With this, he lost his job, ending up with no money and no further own life security.

The hard-working man had grown up in hardships of life - had seen his parents struggle to make ends meet in his childhood. He had the responsibility to take care of his parents and myriad of siblings. The only option in his life was to put his head down and work as hard as he can. He knew how the system works and bent himself to work in accordance with the system. He got married and never shirked away from his responsibilities – worked day and night and took care of his parents, married of his siblings and brought up his children, providing them with good education. He saved every penny he possibly could – he cut the budget on his clothes, his food choices, his lifestyle, his children’s upbringing, often hurting himself and his family with his penchant for saving money. He retired from his job with a moderate pension, well-educated children and a comprehensive healthcare plan to take care of the family.

Being a real-life story, this story presents a curious case of principles versus pragmatism. Not every principled man is wretched and not every pragmatic man is happy. The decision is ours to take and the life is ours to make.

Live your life in the “your” best way. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

How ‘Good’ Life is better than the ‘Not so good’ Life – The art of life

I woke up with a heavy heart – ‘My life is not so good’. I don’t feel particularly happy about my life. And I am just wondering what is so wrong with my life…

I know for sure that my life is not so bad and yet, everyday go through the same feeling – there is something wrong …

Life is a limited time offered to you.. It is just like your limited monthly pay cheque.. and you have to make ends meet..

The more the salary, the better you budget and better you spend.. You use your salary, to spend on buying the needed items, spend a little on enjoyments, invest for future needs and if you are lucky, spend on luxury.

Are you budgeting your life? Do you know yourself enough – do you know what you need, do you know what is your enjoyment, do you know what your investment is and do you know, if you are lucky, what is your luxury?

My Needs:

Over a period of time, I have realized, Satisfaction and Happiness is what makes me peaceful. I feel good about my life if I am happy and satisfied. Otherwise, it just sucks. My definition of needs is ‘Satisfaction and Happiness”. Mind you, it’s a very heavy need. Vast majority of your time will have to be spent for this need.

My Enjoyments:

Learning new things, people’s good faith and intentions, laughing enough and feeling self-worth are some aspects which I define as my enjoyments.

My Investments:

If anything that will serve you long is your “Health”.

“Reading” will take you to places unknown – it will help you explore the world of knowledge.

“Enough people who want you around” is what a good investment is. Help out some, be good, and make time a bit of fun… people might want you around. You should consider yourself lucky to have a handful of good friends.

My Luxury:

Well, it’s luxury. You have to be quite rich to possess and consume it.

A guru (experienced, knowledgeable mentor) is worth a 1000 people. Feel extremely fortunate to find a guru... it’s an absolute luxury. You have to prove your worth to be fit for such a guru... Remember, it’s a luxury.

“Success in realizing your dreams” is luxurious… it makes you not only sweat but also bleed. This is the very best the life can offer you.

Having scripted all the mumbo jumbo, I think I have been gifted the life-time – to make it all count.

I don’t know yet how to feel lucky enough to have a fit body – legs, hands, eyes, ears, brain, voice, etc.. I think I need to utilize them just enough to understand their preciousness.

I have lot of ‘good’ ingredients, it’s about my ability to utilize them.

Life is good, make it count …

उडती Generation

You will always want more !!

You might have guessed it by now. Yes, I am talking about the ‘addictive’ and the ‘seductive’ money.

If money was freely available like oxygen and we needed it just enough to live your life, just like oxygen, how would have been our life? We would have had an organ, just like lungs, which would extracted the money from the universe and we would not need to do anything different to buy the things we always wanted to and will cherish.

Alas, this is not the situation. We have to earn it – to fulfill our need and to satisfy our greed. My needs have changed from a chocolate and couple of toys in childhood to insurance policies and a couple of houses. I have changed from being angry at my father for saving for the future to a father who focuses on saving for the future.

In today’s world, ‘money’ is a drug which gives the kick or the high of ‘growth’. We have become synonymous with what I can term as the ‘उडती generation’! We live and believe in “Break the rules, break the barriers, take the risks, go for the impossible, dream big, chase your passion …..”

All of this for what? Kudos to the ‘growth’ and thanks to the ‘money’…

I am part of this generation and am no different than most of this generation … I am not questioning the logic and the reasoning but I want to know, define and decide - “Just how much is enough??”