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 !!