Reflections

more poetry ..

2010-12-05T23:28:00.000-08:00

Another poem on same photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashoksundar/4768286338/in/photostream/

கடல் அலைகள் தாவி வ்ந்து
கரை தழுவும்
நீல வானம் தரையோடு
தொலைவில் சேரும்
மெல்லிய வெளிச்சத்தில் தெரியும்
நான் பயணிக்காத புது உலகம்

more poetry

2010-12-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

Inspired by this photo

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashoksundar/4768286338/in/photostream/

மாலை மயக்கம் சில நேரம்
மனதில் சலனம் தந்தாலும்
பரந்து கிடக்குது எதிர் காலம்
பயணம் இருக்குது வெகு தூரம்

Untitled Tamil poem

2010-12-05T00:24:00.000-08:00

A poem after a long time inspired by this photo in flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashoksundar/4579838183

அஸ்தமிக்கும் சூரியன் வரைந்த
அழகான ஓவியம்
கவிதையாய்ப் படர்ந்து நிற்கும்
வான் எங்கும்

கடல் அலைகள் ஆர்ப்பரித்து
கரையோடு கதை சொல்ல
சாட்சியாய் ஒதுங்கி நிற்கும்
ஒற்றை மரம்

God?

2010-05-29T07:59:00.000-07:00

Another Tamil Poem :-)

நெருப்பில் இருக்கும் வெப்பம் நான்
நீரில் இருக்கும் குளிர்ச்சி நான்
பரந்து கிடக்கும் வானம் நான்
எங்கும் நிறைந்த காற்றும் நான்

மின்னல் கீற்றின் ஒளியும் நான்
இடியாய் முழங்கும் ஒலியும் நான்
மேகம் கொண்ட கருமை நான்
வான வில்லின் வண்ணம் நான்

மலையில் ஒலிக்கும் எதிரொலி நான்
இலையில் தாங்கும் பனித்துளி நான்
நிலவில் இருக்கும் களங்கம் நான்
ஓடை நீரின் தெளிவும் நான்

இயற்கையின் சிரிப்பில் இருப்பது நான்
எங்கும் நிறைந்த பரம்பொருள் நான்
உன்னில் இயங்கும் இயக்கமும் நான்
உண்மை என்பது உண்மையில் நான்

Life goes on

2009-10-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

When the Tides get rough
and life gets tough
Just hang on
for life goes on

Let the spirit
of a mountain
be the spirit
of your life

Let the song
of a river
be the song
on your lips

Clouds may pass,
leaving you lost
Endure my dear
troubles never last!

A Tamil poem on Bhagavad Gita

2009-09-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

This one has been going on in the back of my mind for a few weeks. Finally managed to close this around Saraswathi Pooja. Could not get the right "Sa" in the last para, purists please forgive me. I did start writing something about Saraswathi and Ayudha pooja but have not had the patience to complete it.

வேதம் நான்கின் சாறெடுத்து
உபநிடதங்கள் பொருள் சேர்த்து
எளிமையாக வழி வகுத்து
கண்ணன் தந்த ஆரமுது

ஆடைகள் போல் உடல் மாறும்
அழியாதது ஆன்மா என்று
அழகான விளக்கம் தந்த
அச்சுதனின் அறிவமுது

பக்தியென்றும் ஞானமென்றும்
மார்க்கங்கள் இருந்தாலும்
இவையேதும் அறியாத
பாமரமனும் முக்தி பெற
இனிமையான வழி சொன்ன
பரந்தாமன் பெரும் படைப்பு

பலனைப் பற்றி எண்ணாமல்
கடமை தன்னை செய்து வந்தால்
கண்ணன் அடி ஸேர்ந்திடலாம் என்று
புதுமையான பொருள் சொன்ன
வாசுதேவன் நற்படைப்பு

Life is all about ..

2009-09-20T02:39:00.000-07:00

Life is all about living in the present. The past is always a comfort zone where one can hide. The future is something most of mankind cannot comprehend. Then how does one stay as fresh as a flower or the cool breeze or a spring? How does one carry on with changing generations, changing tastes, changing cultures?

Life is all about unlearning what one has learnt,learning what one has not learnt. Life is all about undoing what one has done, doing what one has not done.

Life is all about accepting change. Life is all about staying abreast with what is current.

Life is all about living in the present ..

A Strange Caricature

2009-09-06T06:53:00.000-07:00

I seemed to have caught Lord Shiva in an uncomfortable caricature like position. I am no cartoonist, so I thought I will describe what I saw. It appeared like he was trying to dance. Parvathy who had occupied half his body seemed to have decided not to cooperate. The third eye was open but it had lost fire. Ganga seemed to have changed course and was focussed on the lord immersing him in a shower. Maybe that had extinguished all the emanating flames from the third eye. The snake appeared to have lost itself enjoying the much awaited shower and was unknowingly strangling the lord slightly in his excitement. In my daze I forgot to take stock of the number of his hands but all of them seemed occupied somehow or the other. Just as I was trying to conclude that Lord Shiva seemed to be trying to balance too many things without making any compromise, I was startled by an irritating loud noise.

Shiva vanished just as he had come and there I was on my bed. I got up thinking of the strange dream and also the day ahead and the multiple things I would have to juggle. The form that I saw was definitely that of Lord Shiva but the face could be interchanged with any of the faces that I see in my day to day life. Aren't we trying to do too many things and struggling to strike a balance? The caricature I saw was that of a common man today. Don't ask me why I pulled Lord Shiva into this. I just narrated what I saw, but then isn't god supposed to be close to common man?

An old note - Make each day count

2009-05-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

Logging back into blogger after ages. I found this note saved in my drafts. I don't know why I started it and I don't know what to do with it. I thought of calling this note incomplete but then stopped short for I realized I didn't know what is complete! I leave it to you to decide.

I entered a maze several years back. I have come a long way and now there is no going back. The burden of my mistakes has grown over the years. Lost opportunities, missed paths which could have taken me there earlier.. there are X marks all over the place! Ah but it is not over yet! I still have time to get there and I want to make each day count.

A Prayer

2009-02-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

Logging into Blogger after ages thanks to Viral fever which has kept me occupied for a couple of weeks now. This one strangely is a kind of prayer coming from me out of the blue, maybe it's the viral fever that's doing this to me.

Give me knowledge to
set me free
Give me the passion to
fulfill my duties

Give me love to
light up other's lives
Give me the power
to wipe out suffering

Give me humour to make
others laugh
Give me the maturity to
laugh at myself

Give me character to
stand through tough times
Give me the courage to
stand by my principles

Give me success that
is not hollow
Give me the heart to
lose with grace

The role of the media

2009-01-27T01:52:00.000-08:00

There are two reports of hooliganism around the 60th Republic day of India

Violence in a Mangalore pub against women by a group called Ram Sena

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090081377&ch=633686650503048750

Violence in Nashik by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) against North Indians in a school celebration

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090081498&ch=633686661721816250

While the big question remains as to whether our politicians will give up their fear for votes and take a stand on such religious outfits, who take law in their hands and do moral policing in the name of religion and tradition, I have another question which was triggered by a response from one of the Mangalore police officers to the media.

How does the media come to know of these things and arrive at the scene prompt with their video cameras and shoot all these incidents unattacked? While the media is focussed on creating scoops out of such incidents and publicisng this, why can't they be more responsible and inform the police or government whenever they get tip offs on such incidents?

Rain Rain don't go away

2009-01-23T02:32:00.000-08:00

It has been raining for the past few days here. Rain always reminds of a few fond memories. Some happy moments that I have got embedded in my mind and associated with rain maybe in the subconcious mind.

My attempts as a child to make a paper boat float on the water collected on the road outside, futile attempts I should say but all the same fulfilling and unforgettable.

A cold rainy day in Bangalore in the 1980's spent visting all the parks that Bangalore is famous for, amazed at the beauty of the vast greenery around.

A joyous ride on a rickshaw along the marina beach on a windy day, protected by a plastic sheet hanging from the top but yet fully drenched, returning to home early because of a cyclone warning. What a wonderful feeling it is, as a child, to return early from school, that too unexpectedly.

Rain also reminds me of one particular place, a city that I have visited quite often, Belfast. Belfast greets me with rain almost everytime.

I have seen several people associate rain with something negative but I simply adore rain.That's why I feel Belfast welcomes me with rain. I know that on the contrary few other people would have dismissed it saying that the city cries whenever they happen to visit.

I have heard some people call the rain as the collective tears of all the gods above. Well it could be true in one way because Gods if they did exist must be definitely be unable to bear what man has done to the earth that they created. However even if rain was a god sent thing, I would call rain as showers of blessings from God to prevent the earth they created from being destroyed by mankind.

Rain is poetic. The sound of water lashing on the floor, the smell of wet sand floating in the air, buildings and trees soaked in water. buses floating on roads like big boats, the happy faces of children relieved at the prospect of not having to go to school, the sight of a rainbow stretched across the sky in all its splendour. These are unquestionably beautiful sights to see.

I hate the nusery rhyme "Rain Rain go away". I am sure it must have been written by someone with a very negative mindset. It is unfortunate that the song is so popular and is taught to all young children. Rain beyond doubt is something that should be enjoyed. Imagine how nice it would be to get drenched completely in rain. Unmindful the of the duties to be carried the next day, the attendance to school or office, the meeting that cannot be missed, unmindful of falling ill. I have always wanted to do it but have never done it so far. Maybe I will do it sometime soon.

Adsense and Pointclick - The difference in deployment

2009-01-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

You must have noticed that I have added AdSense to my blog recently. This is how adsense works. For every click made by a reader on the ads displayed, AdSense pays the person owning the blog a percentage of the amount that it gets from the partner companies.

AdSense reminds me of a website called "pointclick.com". I am not sure if you have heard about it. It was one of those dot-com companies that came up when the internet was booming around year 2000 and crashed immediately in the dot-com crash. The concept was quite simple. You just had to register yourself in the website and after that for every click on the ads displayed in the website users would get 1 cent. The balance would be accumulated and the user had an option of either taking cash or spending the money on partner sites. If spent on purchasing products from partner sites like amazon each click would be worth 2 cents.

The idea is very similar to AdSense. However AdSense is a lot more well thought out. Ads are displayed based on the content and are made relevant to the blog or website hosting AdSense. They also have a lot of parameters to measure the effectiveness of ads performance which include CTR - Click through rate, eCPM - Effective cost per mille. Apart from this adsense also keeps track of the IP address from which the click is made and detects possible fraud as in repeated clicks, patterns etc.

Pointclick was very naive and had none of these. While the starting was good and they had 200 business partners and a lot of users and clicks they were not able to sustain it because they did not have a proper execution plan to back themselves. They did not take into account the fact that people can only click on the links endlessly by opening multiple browser windows and just make money without spending anything on the partner sites. In the end the partners were not getting enough business out of it , users were making endless clicks and had increasing dues which pointclick could not pay and finally the company had to close down.

Here is a news article from September 1999, the time when pointclick.com was started

http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/203031

This articles quotes the president of the company as saying "Our goal is simple -- we want to help companies increase online sales. That is why we offer cash incentives to those who purchase products in the PointClick Network"

It is a similar idea which AdSense has used now and deployed successfully. It is not enough if you have a good idea. You need to back it up with a proper execution plan when you deploy it.

Martin Luther King - I have a dream

2009-01-19T14:37:00.000-08:00

Today is Martin Luther King day.

I had the fortune of listening to Dr.King's famous speech "I have a dream today", courtesy youtube. This is definitely one of the landmark speeches in the history of mankind. This speech is credited to have prompted the 1964 civil rights act. You must listen to the way it is delivered and the choice of words. It is simply amazing. Dr.King for sure had a sense of his place in history.

You can watch the video, which contains the full speech, here:

I have a Dream speech

America has come a long way from the time a black woman, Rosa Parks, was arrested for refusing to move out of a seat in the section reserved for whites, in a Montgomery bus. That was the event in 1955 which triggered Dr.King's civil rights crusade.

Nearly 54 years later an African American is less than 24 hours away from taking oath as President of America. King's dream has atleast been realised partially. America has come to a stage where people are not judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character and is about to take a great step towards the promised land, which King claimed to have seen in his last speech before assassination.

Indian IT's moment of truth

2009-01-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

News about the Satyam fiasco is all over the place. Ramalinga Raju has given the media the much needed scoop after 26/11. Almost every news item and debate is around Satyam. At the same time Ramalinga Raju is cooling his heels in a jail, supposedly after refusing VIP treatment but using his political clout to keep away from the law.

While the Satyam fiasco has come as a rude schock and raised questions on corporate governance in India and the credibility of Indian IT companies, I think it is good one way. It has given a chance to revisit the laws and put in measures to enforce regulation and compliance. After all while it is great to remind oneself of all the feathers in his cap and keep flying high, one also does need some thorns once in a while to prick and bring back to reality.

Life - A Poem

2009-01-11T02:19:00.001-08:00

I woke up with this poem half formed in my mind today.

In my dreams ..

I am free like a bird
and soar higher and higher
I walk up great stages
and receive awards
I deliver big speeches
and get applauded

When I wake up ..

I am full of hope
and waiting for the new day
I am raring to go
and realise my dreams
I take up my tasks with
passion and perfection

I go to Sleep ..

Thinking of the day by gone
and the dreams far away
Brought to earth sometimes
by the absurd world
Dented or Polished but
my hopes still alive

This is my Life ..

I am like the waves that
keep coming to the beach
In pursuit of dreams that
one day I will reach
Sometimes high and sometimes low
relentless at heart all the same though

JK's poem and The Bhagavad Gita

2009-01-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

I was talking about J.Krishnamurthi's views on names and his poem in my earlier post. Here is the full poem:

I have no name,
I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains.
I have no shelter;
I am as the wandering waters.
I have no sanctuary, like the dark gods;
Nor am I in the shadow of deep temples.
I have no sacred books;
Nor am I well-seasoned in tradition.
I am not in the incense
Mounting on the high altars,
Nor in the pomp of ceremonies.
I am neither in the graven image,
Nor in the rich chant of a melodious voice.
I am not bound by theories,
Nor corrupted by beliefs.
I am not held in the bondage of religions,
Nor in the pious agony of their priests.
I am not entrapped by philosophies,
Nor held in the power of their sects.
I am neither low nor high,
I am the worshipper and the worshipped.
I am free.
My song is the song of the river
Calling for the open seas,
Wandering, wandering,
I am Life.
I have no name,
I am as the fresh breeze of the mountains.

A beautiful poem in simple words. This poem I believe is about God or maybe the "real God". It can also be thought to be about truth or life. In one way we can also think of this as the song of the free soul which has attained salvation. Not sure what your interpretation is.

"I am the worshipper and the worshipped" seems to convey that god resides in everyone and one has to look inwards for answers.

I find a lot of similarities between this poem and what Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, particularly in chapter 7, Gnana Vigyana Yoga. This is the chapter I have blogged about earlier and the one I learnt, courtesy my daughter's Gita competition.

Here is an extract from Chapter 7, verses 7-11:

O Arjuna, there is nothing higher than me
Everything in the universe is strung on me
Like pearls on the thread of a necklace.

O Arjuna, I am the pleasant flavour in the water,
I am the radiance in the sun and the moon,
The sacred syllable OM in all the Vedas,
The sound in the ether,
And the manhood in men.

I am the sweet fragrance in the earth.
I am the heat in the fire,
The life in all living beings,
And the austerity in the ascetics.

O Arjuna, know Me to be the eternal seed of all creatures.
I am the intelligence of the intelligent,
And the brilliance of the brilliant.

I am the strength, that is
Devoid of lust and attachment, of the strong.
I am the desire (Kaama) in human beings
That is in accord with Dharma, O Arjuna.

Elsewhere in the Gita it is also said that:
The Atma is neither born
Nor does it die at any time,
nor having been it will cease to exist again.
It is unborn, eternal, permanent, and primeval.
The Atma is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.

The only difference is that superstitions have sprung in between and distorted the message of the Vedas and Upanishads (of which the Gita is an essence).

I think that though JK in one way has only reinforced the message of the past, his poem is also about condemning the superstitions that have crept in during the centuries in between and have become the order of the day.

An Ode to the regular readers of my blog

2009-01-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

Day after day you
keep coming to me
With confidence and hope
you simply flatter me!

A semblance of sense that's
what you want to see
An year has gone by but I know
it is still not to be!

Blogger and Tiwtter are
tools that unleash me
Your fortune or misfortune
you certainly cannot flee!

I hail you oh reader my
heart goes out to thee
Do not stop coming you
are like the moon to me!

Remembering Shelley - To a Skylark

2009-01-10T04:24:00.000-08:00

I was reminded of Shelley today, though I have never read Shelley to a great extent. Don’t ask why.. I have told several times before that weekends do something strange to me.

I read the poem “To a Skylark” again and again. This was perhaps the inspiration for Subramanya Bharathy’s kuyil paattu. I don’t want to take away the beauty of Shelley’s words by giving my description but would just like to say that I am left with much the same feeling as Shelley himself in this poem where he says:

Teach us, sprite or bird,
What sweet thoughts are thine:
I have never heard
Praise of love or wine
That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.

I will leave you with closing lines of this poem:

We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.

Yet if we could scorn
Hate, and pride, and fear;
If we were things born
Not to shed a tear,
I know not how thy joy we ever should come near.

Better than all measures
Of delightful sound,
Better than all treasures
That in books are found,
Thy skill to poet were, thou scorner of the ground!

Teach me half the gladness
That thy brain must know,
Such harmonious madness
From my lips would flow
The world should listen then, as I am listening now!

Hope you listen now as I listened then!
If you are interested you can read the full poem here:
http://www.internal.org/view_poem.phtml?poemID=317

A sudden interest in History

2009-01-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

I used to hate History in school. It was mainly because of the dull way in which it was taught to me, as merely a collection of events with more stress on memorising dates. Sometimes when you have bad teachers you end up hating the subject as well.

My interest has suddenly turned to history now.

Why should one study history, I wonder. Isn't history all about cold blooded murders in the name of war? Isn't history more about singing the glories of so called "heroes" who killed hundreds and thousands of innocents in the name of war? Well it is and it is no longer worth reading history just to show off ones ability to remember dates and events.

I feel that history should be studied so that we are reminded of the barbarism that is still left in mankind inspite of the centuries gone by, to understand how one person's eccentricity or someone's selfish interests can send a nation to war . History should be studied so that we are reminded of the indifference that is so much a part of people how much ever educated they might be. Starting from indifference to what is happening to one's neighbour, indifference to the suffering of others, to indifference to who is ruling ones country.

History helps in knowing about cultures and the events that have shaped different races of people and made them what they are. History is more like what one learns from his bosses. In my opinion one learns more on how things should not be done than on how things should be done from his bosses.

I don't know if this is right but I find history interesting when I approach it by first understanding the main characters involved.

World War II is a lot more interesting when you understand Hitler's eccentricity and his fascist intentions to create extra space for Germans in Europe, Hitler's political genius in constantly projecting the versailles grievances to justify his every move, Stalin's selfishness in expecting the war between Hitler and France / England to prolong so that soviet can benefit, churchill's remarkable oratory powers which rallied and uplifted the whole British nation in an hour of crisis.

I don't know if this is the right way to learn history but I like it. My mind is full of questions and I have a lot of secrets to uncover thanks to a wasted student life spent hating history!

Another year gone

2009-01-01T03:26:00.000-08:00

Ah .. another new year. I just finished musing about life and the need for decisions every moment. Years pass and leave me enriched mostly, they leave me depleted sometimes but always a year older and with an increase in the amount of white hair on my head. Another year gone!

Going back to my favourite poem Ulysses about which I blogged earlier

http://parthakannan.blogspot.com/2008/12/to-strive-to-seek-to-find-and-not-to.html

Maybe Ulysses (or Tennyson rather) sang thus on new year eve when he was musing about life and wondering about getting older with the passing year like me.

I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.

and then took a new year resolution

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Another interpretation.. Good poetry is that which reflects your mind.

Life is a matter of choice

2009-01-01T03:17:00.000-08:00

Life is always a matter of choice.

Take something as simple as buying a donut for a pound. Do you want Sugar or Cinnamon? Do you need a topping? Chocolate or Strawberry? Phew.. Imagine a trip to Starbucks. Mocha .. Regular, Tall or Grande? With Cream? Decaf?

Life is all about choice.

Should you sit and stare at the monitor or Should you go home and spend time with your little one?

Should you align to your boss and take nonsense or Should you stand firm and confront him when he is wrong?

Should you sit back and watch the present become past or Should you step ahead and create the future?

Should you stay in touch and keep abreast or Should you shut yourself up and live in the past?

Should you note down an idea and share it with others or should you just let it go?

Should you post a comment for this post or should you choose to remain silent?

Life is all about choice.. Life is all about decisions.. starting from small things to big things. We take decisions every moment, we falter every moment but then we learn and continue.

As we ring in another new year ..

2008-12-31T08:34:00.000-08:00

2008 has come and gone like a bullet train with only a few hours left which I intend to spend in anticipation of the new year. My alluding to a train is in one way fitting because this is the only year in recent times where I have travelled a lot by train thanks to my location and profession.

My professional life in 2008 has been a reflection of the global financial market. Nothing much to say and on top of that I have been dealing with some really difficult people. I have been through some tough times but then I have also learnt some good lessons which will definitely help me going forward.

I have spent the major half of 2008 outside my country. This has given me a lot of time with my family. I have been able to give a lot of attention to my daughter and play new games with her like the "Magical tooth fairy" game and watch some movies with her. I have also been able to devote lot of time to blogging, poetry and reading books. I intend to continue this in the new year.

I have witnessed some of my colleagues being handled in a shocking manner by some mediocre managers. This has reinforced my belief in
the value for people and relationships. I have been in regular touch with most of my colleagues who worked with me earlier thanks to the social networking forums. I have also been able to establish contact with some of my school and college mates.

2008 has been mostly about connecting with people and building relationships for me. I look forward to continuing this in 2009 and do a lot more.

Quoting from the poem Ulysses once again

I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.

Wish you a very happy and prosperous new year.

Father Christmas .. Where are you?

2008-12-25T10:44:00.001-08:00

It is Christmas time. The holiday season is here and there is sale going on all around. After all Christmas is also a big event for retailers and a big economic stimulus for most parts of the world.

Last year I learnt about "The Bhagavad Gita" thanks to my daughter. This year, I learnt something about Jesus, thanks to the Christmas celebration at her school. My earlier knowledge of Jesus, I must admit, was very limited. At her school, the story of Jesus was presented in a nice way, in the form of a TV news, with a TV crew interviewing characters (thereby presenting the story) and with nine songs interspersed in between, each song starting with one letter in the word "Christmas" and describing one event in the birth of Jesus. It also felt good because my daughter participated in this play. Wikipedia tells me that this is one of the traditional ways of celebrating christmas.

Today I happened to read about Jesus's famous "sermon on the mount" in a book. I will write about that book in detail in a separate post.

I was also introduced to Father Christmas today, courtesy one of the TV episodes my daughter watches. Father Christmas apparently is different from Santa Claus, though the concept is similar. My daughter didn't believe in it fully but she did write a wish list, just in case:-)

Maybe Father Christmas didn't visit our house because we don't have a chimney. I wonder what is his way of getting into houses that don't have a Chimney!Do you know?

Wish you a merry Christmas.

Your future is always in your hands

2008-12-21T12:27:00.001-08:00

To lead a life seems to me to be like building sand castles on a beach. The rising waves are the environment around us. Some people also call it fate. The past is full of the sand castles you have built, the present is waves eroding the sand castle you just built. The future is all about what you want to do.

Do you want to make an attempt to build a better sand castle based on your past experiences?

Do you want to sit back thinking about the glorious sand castles you built in the past and do nothing?

Do you want to rue your bad luck and curse the water? or

do you want to try something totally different?

Your future is always in your hands.

ஞானமுண்டு நம்மைச் சுற்றி - A poem

2008-12-19T05:13:00.000-08:00

scribbled on the back of the sickness bag on the flight to belfast .. posted on the blog from the bus to belfast city. Don't what's happening to me.

புத்தனுக்கு போதி மரம்
அசோகனுக்கு கலிங்கப் போர்
காந்திக்கு அரிச்சந்திர நாடகம்
நிகழ்வுகள் எல்லாம் செய்திகள்
ஞானமுண்டு நம்மைச் சுற்றி
தேடல் தேவை இல்லை
பார்க்கும் பார்வை வேண்டும்

Roots are what we are

2008-12-19T02:55:00.000-08:00

On the bus to stansted airport, inspired by the sunshine and the barren trees all around me. One of those moments when I had a pen and paper near by.

Autumn comes takes the leaves
makes us look so rusty
Winter comes shakes us up
leaves us looking barren
Cometh spring with flowers and leaves
Oh we look so colourful!
Summer comes we bathe in sunshine
end up looking bright
Looks may change with passing seasons
at heart we remain the same
Caring for you smiling at you
we even bring you rain
Leaves and Flowers may come and go
it's roots that hold us through ..

It's roots that hold us through and
roots are what we are!

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield

2008-12-13T11:04:00.000-08:00

I was reminded of the poem on Ulysses today. I had read it almost 20 years back, courtesy the CBSE English book for eleventh or twelvth standard. I remebered Ulysses as an old man, keen to continue his quest for knowledge, leaving behind his kingdom to his son and marching on with his sailors to explore the world. That was the impression left in me when I read the poem 20 years ago.

It was thrilling to read the poem again twenty years later. There were some different interpretations that occurred to me, one of them being Ulysses was singing this from his death bed and about the world that he would explore after death. I am sure you will agree that once in a while it is heartening to reassure oneself that the years gone have not been wasted and have enriched one to some extent!

Ulysses is a long poem but has some lines that stand out and you might heard them being quoted often, including these two snippets which i like in particular:

I am a part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.

We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

You can read the full poem here

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ulysses_(Tennyson)

Indeed there is no end to the quest for knowledge. I have a feeling however that the quest for knowledge has become simpler in the digital era with loads of information available in the internet. We don't need to travel far and wide on rough seas now.

Imagine finding a poem, lost with passage of time and lying somewhere at the back of your mind, at the click of a button and reliving that moment, all over again that too with different interpretations!

What are you doing right now?

2008-12-13T05:32:00.001-08:00

I signed up recently to twitter. I have not started using it to a great extent yet but some of the features look very appealing to me. Twitter seems to be a great example of Publish-Subscribe put to good use in social networking

Some points which appealed to me about Twitter:

1. As a sender you can choose the people to whom you send messages
2. As a receiver you can choose whom you follow and get updates from them
3. And you can stay connected wherever you are. Twitter supports multiple devices - SMS, IM, through the internet

I think Twitter was originally started to help people share short updates on what they were doing to people who mattered to them.

However read these 2 interesting posts from the twitter blog and they will give you an idea of the power of twitter and how people have embraced it.

Twitter helped transform Thanksgiving to Tweetsgiving and raise 10000 dollars in just 48 hours for a good cause

Twitter was used by people to provide Live updates during the Mumbai blasts

You can read it here:

http://blog.twitter.com/2008_11_01_archive.html

What has been your experience with Twitter or should I say tweeting? You can send me tweets at this userid @parthakannan.
Another nice way to stay connected. Let me know what you are doing!

A creature of the beach

2008-12-13T04:07:00.000-08:00

I came across this interesting piece of innovation thanks to JPs blog. If you are walking around on a beach and find strange skeletons made of plastic tubes moving around, don't be scared or surprised.

Theo Jansen has been creating animari's (beach animals) from 1990. Animaris are Skeletons made of Yellow Plastic tube which move around on wind power. It looks like Theo Jansen eventually he wants to put these animaris out in herds on the beaches and leave them to lead their own lives.

You can read about how he has made these animals move around using wind by clicking on the link below. Amazing how he has thought of legs, muscles and stomachs for these animals using only plastic bottles and tubes and wind power.

http://www.strandbeest.com/idea.html

I have heard of UFO. IS this a new category - UWO?

My Grandfather - A rare friend from a different generation

2008-12-07T14:28:00.000-08:00

When I started my blog the first post I wrote was about my mother. Today I feel like writing a post about another relative who impressed me and has left an indelible mark in my life, my maternal Grandfather.

My grandfather was a rare friend from a different generation, a well wisher beyond imagination and the person solely responsible for whatever little decency that prevails in my current English vocabulary.

He was a rare and complete person. Unbelievably well read and well informed, that he was, I found him always fresh in his thoughts, reserved in speech, excellent in humour and unparalleled in love for his family. For his dedication, amazing attitude and abundant capabilities, I would say life had been a bit unfair to him but then he never seemed to show that he thought so and what was special about him was his detached attachment to life.

One of the amazing things about my Grandfather was his mastery over the English language. He simply seemed to know the meaning of every word that I quizzed him with, using my big Oxford dictionary. I have tried several times to outsmart him and failed. I remember him telling me that he was nicknamed as "Mobile dictionary" in his days as a teacher. He was never boisterous about this amazing skill of his. He told me that he had only managed to read a new word every day and that was it. I remember trying this myself for a couple of weeks and giving up. That in itself has helped me come a long way. I can't imagine how good my vocabulary would have been if I had imbibed his commitment to go on for years together!

Reflecting on my earlier post, I can't imagine me reading and enjoying books like those of Wodehouse and commenting thus but for him. He was the one who introduced me to people like Somerset Maugham and taught me how to spell his last name. He thought me some rare words early in life, which I might have never come across otherwise. I am what I am today to a large extent because of his well wishes and blessings which he seemed to have in an unbelievable abundance.

I didn't have a look at the moon today because I had a strange feeling that it would be one of those rare days when it would be incomplete and appear more like a monstrous tear drop. If I had looked at the moon today, it would have shown the face of my maternal Grandfather. He would have been 84 years today.

Lost in Books - Just back from Blandings!

2008-12-07T13:26:00.000-08:00

I am back to the habit of reading books. Not just one or two, I have been doing that regularly for years. I am now reading book after book, sometimes several books in parallel! I owe this to eclectic collection of books in English county libraries apart from the fact that I have managed to find a lot of time at my disposal for this reinvented pastime.

I am just back from a visit to the Blandings castle. If you have read P.G.Wodehouse you might not find this odd but otherwise you will be a bit surprised to know that I have been rolling with laughter while reading the book, bursting suddenly into loud laughter, that too quite frequently only to find surprised faces staring at me doubting my sanity.

One of the interesting aspects of the Wodehouse way of narrating stories is the detail that goes into describing the different characters and their actions. The author simply paints carciatures in the mind of the reader with his words. "Full moon" is a typical P.G.Wodehouse book and it has its full share of love affairs, helpful uncles and cousins, unapproving aunts, absent minded earls, pigs and imposters, all linked by a simple but interesting plot that unfolds slowly and steadily and keeps the reader engaged, not to mention the inimitable style and the never ending humour. I am not sure if I am quipped with enough armoury of words to fully describe someone like wodehouse. So I will stop by saying that if you have not read P.G.Wodehouse yet, it is high time you grab a book. I would recommend a Blandings one or a book in the Jeeves series to start with. Once you start, I am sure you will never stop till you have finished the entire series.

I am tempted to give some sample snippets but am resisting it because they might not be as appealing given seperately, as read in proper context. So, go on, grab a book and dive in and let me know how interesting your visit to Blandings was.

Doors - Closed and open

2008-12-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

For quite sometime now I have woken up with this strange feeling of having walked out of a door which on hindsight had the name of my current workplace written in bold on it! I also feel that I have continued walking and walking since then but haven't come across a new door yet.

Is it that I have continued to look at the closed door till now which has prevented me from seeing a new door open? I am not sure but I have definitely not looked out keenly for new doors. Maybe it is high time I did!

On Leadership or the lack of it rather

2008-12-07T07:07:00.000-08:00

Leadership has always been one of my favourite topics. I have read lots of books on leadership and even written some posts earlier on what Dr.Kalam had to say on leadership, about the way Obama emerged from nowhere and inspired a nation with his speeches on change.

I was prompted to write a post on leadership today because I realised that there is a total lack of leadership around me. Today I noticed a strange coincidence between the current state of India, after the recent terror attacks and that of the organisation I work for.

There is a dearth of good leaders and in particular, there is a total lack of ownership, when there is a crisis, in both these cases. In my organisation there are several managers at various levels who are self centred and primarily focussed on pleasing their bosses. These managers seem to me to be like the terrorists who tried to blow up the Taj and are rocking the foundations of the organisation.

In both these cases, I feel it is high time a leader emerged to bring about a radical change. They say leaders are made not born and there can be no better situation than the current for someone to emerge. India had an array of great leaders emerging throughout the freedom struggle. After 61 years of Independence we are back to square one and I am confident that there will be a change. A change which will definitely be for the better.

Dealing with difficult People

2008-12-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

I came across a book called " Dealing with difficult People" by Roy Lilley in the county library. I have been dealing with a handful of difficult people in my work life in recent times, so no wonder I picked it up.

I finished reading the book yesterday. It didn't tell me something totally different from what I knew in terms of approaching such people but I liked one thing in particular about the book.

This book gives a positive outlook to dealing with difficult people by saying that they are predictable. Don't know about you but this is something which had not struck me earlier.

Quoting from the book itself

" Remember this: Difficult people are preditable people.

That simple fact makes your life much easier.They are difficult not only to you. They are into themselves and are difficult to everyone. Predictable is easy. You can prepare for difficult people, you can plan for them, you can plot, scheme and collude against them. They are stuck in their ways. All you have to do is manoeuvre."

Apart from this the only aspect I found interesting is that it attempted to classify difficult people into seven types:

1.Hostile, aggressive
2.Complainer
3.Silent, Unresponsive
4.Super agreeable
5.Negativist
6.Know all
7.Indecisive

A comprehensive list which tempts me to call a few more people than I originally thought of as difficult!

Reminded of some familiar faces after reading this? You can atleast now be reassured that they are predictable and can be dealt with if you identify their behaviour and plan accordingly.

Remember they are stuck, you only have to manoeuvre!

What is the value of 500 rupees for you?

2008-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

I came across this video. Thanks to Suraj.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=M0XTPSYdP08

500 rupees cannot help do anything worthwhile for some, can be spent on Party and drinks for most, reminds few people of unseen movies, is the cost of a haircut for one person ...

whereas for some others it means so much! A poor boy says it will help him pay school fees and buy books and another one says he will have the meal of his life time in a big hotel.

What would you do, if someone gave you 500 rupees free? Think about it!

Isn't it surpirising that not even one person in this video said he would donate it to charity?

A movie review - Vaaranam Aayiram

2008-11-23T11:58:00.001-08:00

I happened to see the much hyped Tamil movie “Vaaranam Aayiram” yesterday. Don’t know what public opinion is and how the movie is faring in theatres but I was totally disappointed with the movie.

The first mistake Gautam Menon did was the title. “Vaaranam Aayiram” is the beginning line, of a famous Tamil poem by the renowned Tamil poet Andaal which beautifully illustrates the arrangements for her marriage with Lord Vishnu. "Vaaranam Aayiram" means a thousand elephants. Imagine Lord Vishnu walking in a marriage procession with thousand elephants! And you don’t even get to see Surya walking as his normal self in this movie. The title sets a huge expectation but is not backed up by a good story.

“Vaaranam Aayiram” is a haphazard collection of events. A more suitable name would have been “Nigazhvugal Aaayiram” (1000 incidents) because there are too many incidents to digest. Don’t know if I sound extremely critical, but the title that comes to my mind is “ Oru Udhavakkarai Payyanum Urupidaatha Appanum” (The story of a wastrel son and his useless father).

There is no depth in the father son relationship. The son seems to do whatever he wants and attribute it finally to his father. There is not even one scene that appealed to me though there were so many incidents. A 60’s romance, Drug addiction episode, Kidnap rescue, A 21st century romance (totally illogical) but none of them stand out. The movie looks very amateurish for an established director like Gautam Menon.

In short this is the worst movie that I have seen in recent times and one of the very few movies which I have stopped viewing in between.

A Nostalgic Weekend

2008-11-23T10:35:00.001-08:00

I went through a nice romantic and nostalgic weekend. We just completed ten years of married life. That is what started all this. I went back 10 years down memory lane and recapped all the lovely moments over 10 years. I also reminded myself of all those nice Songs which appealed to me in those moments. I have added at least 15 videos to my Orkut profile and there are a lot of songs still left.

I have read in one of Stephen Covey’s books that every relationship should be associated with an emotional account something like a savings account. When you do some good things you get a credit and when you do something bad you get a debit. At the end of the day you need to have a positive balance to keep your relationship going.

My exercise with recapping songs has made me feel 10 years younger. I somehow feel like Marlon Brando feels in the movie “Don Juan De Marco” after meeting Johnny Depp, who thinks he is Don Juan de marco, the greatest lover in the world. The only difference is I have just met myself as I was ten years ago! Just in case you have not seen the movie Brando plays the role of a Psychiatrist who has the task of curing Johnny depp by the psychiatric sessions have an impact on Brando and rekindle romance in his otherwise mundane life.

While Ten years is a landmark to celebrate and be happy about, I feel it is time to unwind and start from scratch. It is time to start working on adding credits to the emotional account.

Second Life

2008-11-22T08:10:00.001-08:00

I was introduced to a Second life by my good friend A.G.B. Now don’t let your imagination run wild. It is not a new habit or a real new world that A.G.B has introduced me to.

Second life is a website. http://www.secondlife.com

You need to register yourself and download an application and Voila, you are all set to explore a new world.

This new world is a 3D virtual world where you can just let your imagination run wild and create things, things that you wanted to but could not do easily in real life! You can choose your own avatar, build houses, conduct events, meet people, build relationships and so on and on an on. The possibilities seem to be endless. In fact you can even convert your real money into virtual money for this world through some websites and conduct business here. You can fix a price for your creations and make other people pay when they use it. Well there is no escaping from money even in a virtual world!

If you have watched the Tamil movie Anniyan, it might sound to you like th website Anniyan.Com shown in the movie. Well there are similarities, the purpose of this virtual world is to satisfy people’s alter ego in one way. Ambis can definitely become Remos in this virtual world and roam around as Romeos. However I don’t know what kind of an experience it will be to fall and love in a virtual world! Also don’t know if Ambis can become Anniyans and go around killing people. (For the benfit of those who don't know Anniyan or find the names Ambi, Remo and Anniyan strange, Anniyan is a Tamil movie on split personality. Ambi is the soft hero who sometimes becomes Remo a modern romantic guy to impress his lover and becomes Anniyan at times and goes around killing all the bad people he meets as Ambi)

One of the good things about second life that I liked is that you can fly. Yes “You can fly, You can fly, You can fly” as in Peter Pan’s Neverland but without pixie dust. Even before going into the experiences, it really feels different when you have to choose a name for your avatar. Yes, you cannot retain your real life name in second life.

The concept behind Second life is interesting. Imagine you had the opportunity to have a real second life. Where would you start? What all would you do? Would you approach life the same way or would you try and correct your mistakes? Second life helps you have a preview of this.

I didn’t have enough patience to explore this world. May be one of you has and will come back with some more stories and things that can be done which I have missed out.

If this post prompted you to try out Second life, do let me know your experiences with Second life and more importantly don’t forget to thank my good friend AGB.

Dr.Kalam's favourite poem

2008-11-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

Following up on my ealrier post, I also came across this poem by Dr.Kalam. Titled "Vision", this is supposedly Dr.Kalam's favourite poem out of the ones written by Dr.Kalam himself. I remember hearing him recite this in the wharton interview which I shared in an earlier post but got hold of the lyrics only today. Dr.Kalam apparently narrated this poem in Parliament.

I climbed and climbed
where is the peak, my Lord?
I ploughed and ploughed,
Where is the knowledge treasure, my Lord?
I sailed and sailed,
Where is the island of peace my Lord?
Almighty, bless my nation
With vision and sweat resulting into happiness

A dose of good Music and Poetry

2008-11-18T14:00:00.001-08:00

I was feeling very low today. Not really sure why as it had nothing to do with what happened today. I didn't have such a bad day after all.

I had no option but to go back to the magical voice of M.S.Subbulakshmi, particularly the song "Kurai ondrum illai". Thanks to M.S's divine voice and the involvement with which she sings this particular song written by Rajaji, I was brought back to normalcy.

You can listen to the song here. It is actually a video which gives you the additional opportunity to glimpse the heavenly face as well.

Kurai Ondrum Illai

Inspired by the song and its wonderful lyrics, I suddenly felt like reading Bharathiyar's poems but was not sure if I could get hold of one sitting in a foreign land. I started a search on google and was happy to find this site which has all of bharathiyar's works in Tamil.

http://www.tamilnation.org/literature/bharathy/kavithaikal/index.htm

Particularly liked this one which I had read before but had lost track of over the years. Maybe I will translate it someday in english for people who can't read this and understand. To me it seems like Bharathiyar was in a similar state of mine when he wrote this, though his outlook was more global. He must have been frustrated with the state of his nation and her people.

In essence in this poem Bharathiyar shares his frustration that inspite of knowing very well that conquering oneself is the key for success and knowing that this has been endorsed by all the scriptures, books and the wise men over the years, the people of his nation don't seem to be taking any step towards it and continue to be down trodden.

ஆத்ம ஜெயம்

கண்ணில் தெரியும் பொருளினைக் கைகள்
கவர்ந்திட மாட்டாவோ?-அட
மண்ணில் தெரியுது வானம்,அதுநம்
வசப்பட லாகாதோ?
எண்ணி யெண்ணிப்பல நாளு முயன்றிங்
கிறுதியிற் சோர்வோமோ?-அட,
விண்ணிலும் மண்ணிலும் கண்ணிலும் எண்ணிலும்
மேவு ப்ராசக்தியே!

என்ன வரங்கள்,பெருமைகள்,வெற்றிகள்,
எத்தனை மேன்மைகளோ!
தன்னை வென்றாலவை யாவும் பெறுவது
சத்திய மாகுமென்றே
முன்னை முனிவர் உரைத்த மறைப் பொருள்
முற்றுமுணர்ந்த பின்னும்
தன்னை வென்றாளும் திறமை பெறாதிங்கு
தாழ்வுற்று நிற்போமோ?

Thanks to the internet, I got a dose of music and poetry to pep me up. Just what the Doctor ordered!

Advertising through a Dabbawala

2008-11-16T14:25:00.001-08:00

I came across this interesting piece of news on dabbawalas in mumbai. The news item claimed that Dabbawalas in Mumbai have started including pamphlets containing ads along with the lunch boxes they deliver.

I did a subsequent search on dabbawalas in wikipedia and google. I was reassured of the power of google and wikipedia. I wonder what will happen to me if I don't have wikipedia and google and at my service.

Google returned the information that dabbawalas have a website of their own. Here is the link http://www.mydabbawala.com/index.htm

The site has this introduction which summarises it all

5000 Dabbawalas 200,000 Dabbas Six Sigma certified ISO 2000 certified

From the site it looks like advertising and dabbawalas have been going hand in hand for atleast a year. I came to know of this through NDTV only today.

It is not at all surprising that someone thought of using these dabbawalas for advertising. They have such a big network! Afterall even in this digital page connecting to people personally does matter.

A Tamil Poem - மறக்க முடியாத அந்த கடைசிப் பயணம்

2008-11-16T14:11:00.001-08:00

A poem I wrote today.

புத்துணர்ச்சியுடன் புறப்பட்டேன்
உன்னுடன் பயணிக்க ..
நீண்டதொரு இடைவெளிக்குப் பின்
பூங்காற்று திரும்பியது
ஆனால் நான் எப்படி உன்னுடன்?
அந்தக் கடைசிப் பயணம்?

மறக்க முடியாத அந்த கடைசிப் பயணம்
பரபரப்பான மாலை நேரம்
சிக்கி நின்ற போக்குவரத்து
அமரர் ஊர்தியின் நிற்காத
ஹாரன் சத்தம்
மூடாத பின் புறம் வழி
முளைத்த பல முகங்கள்
மூங்கில் படுக்கையில் நீ
அருகில் நானும் தீச்சட்டியும்
உன் முகத்தில் தான் எத்தனை அமைதி?

மறக்க முடியாத அந்த கடைசி பயணம் ..

எத்தனை பிறவிகள் எடுத்தாலும்
திரும்பாது உன் தெய்வீக முகம்
கடைசி முறை பார்த்து
தீயிலிட்டு அன்று திரும்பினேன்

நான் எப்படி இன்று உன்னுடன்
மறுபடி புறப்பட்டேன்?

The Tricolour on the moon

2008-11-14T13:19:00.000-08:00

Following up on my earlier post on the moon, today is another landmark day in Indian history. The Chandrayaan launched a lunar probe that planted the Tricolour on the moon today.

This I believe was Dr.Kalam's idea. A great idea! India is only the fourth nation to do this. I also liked Dr.Kalam's message congratulating the ISRO team. This is the message I heard him say on NDTV "On children's day you have made the children of India dream of walking on the moon, walking on mars. I am sure in 15 years Indian scientists will make that possible"

I told in my earlier post that I see patterns and faces on the moon and today we officially have the tricolour on the moon!

Talking about Dr.Kalam , I am reminded of another great Indian who was also supposed to be close to children. Today is Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's Birthday. I was not able to see the moon today but if I had seen it, maybe it would have shown the face of one of the greatest Indians, sitting in peace and at his creative best as he was in Ahmednagar fort prison in 1942.

A different Birthday wish

2008-11-14T13:12:00.000-08:00

I saw this slightly different B'day wish in the daily mirror for Prince Charles on his turning 60 today

"Happy 60th birthday Prince Charles but long live the Queen"

You can read the article here

http://www.mirror.co.uk/opinion/voiceofthemirror/2008/11/13/happy-60th-birthday-prince-charles-but-long-live-the-queen-115875-20891615/

Apparently "The mirror" conducted an opinion poll on the future of the English Monarchy with 4200 people and 89% of them wanted the Queen to continue and felt that Charles should wait to become King.

An interesting Birthday wish well summed up in one line by the mirror!

India's date with the moon

2008-11-08T11:15:00.000-08:00

Chandrayaan has gone into lunar orbit today. A landmark in Indian history as India joins the exclusive club of only six moon farers in the world.

The moon plays a great part in everyone’s life. The attempts made to land on the moon and the different lunar missions over the years prove the fascination man has had for the moon. I am no different and I simply love the moon.

Enough has been said about the moon by poets and authors all over the world. I don’t know if I have anything different to say but I just wanted to write this post on the moon, thanks to the Chandrayaan and the team of ISRO scientists who launched it.

The moon has been a great source of inspiration for me and the relationship is longstanding right from the days my mom used to show me the moon to the recent days when I have shown it to my daughter. I always think of the moon when I am low on confidence thanks to some internal politics which has become a permanent factor in organisations these days. I like the moon’s attitude; it carries on just the same though it is masked by the sun for half the day. It vanishes completely and then rises from scratch to a full moon. The moon carries on pretty much the same, though how people see it differs thanks to some external factors like the sun. The moon goes to prove that everyone can get their turn and share of limelight just by being themselves. External things like internal politics are only short term and can’t mask someone for ever.

Sometimes I think of the sun as the hare and moon as the tortoise. Don’t you agree that the sun wastes all its energy trying to defeat the moon but ends up losing and moon surfaces finally as the winner! Have you ever heard of the sun inspiring poetry?
The sun reminds you of work, your duties. The moon lets you relax and unwind!

There is one other thing about the moon which makes it very close to me. I sometimes see some patterns that resemble some familiar faces. Thos familiar faces of so many people I have been associated with in life, through books, through their music, through poetry. Sometimes it is my mom, sometimes it is the Tamil poet Subramanya Bharathi and at times I see Jawaharlal Nehru smiling at me. Whatever be the face it has always been interesting to decipher. The moon not only reflects the sun's light, it seems to reflect my feelings as well.

The moon will always be a special part of my life. What is your experience with the moon?

On Quotations and Contexts

2008-11-05T08:08:00.000-08:00

Oscar Wilde had to say this about the passion for quotations

“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

Well this is one of my favourite quotations!

I send out a quote every morning to a considerably big list of people in my address book. It is not that I borrow these words and try to mimic people it is just that I feel it is a good way to start a day. I think I just imbibed this habit from my earlier bosses. Sometimes I wonder if I am shooting these quotes just like the sun not knowing if people really find it relevant but once in a while I stop sending these quotes and someone comes back to me asking to start again. That keeps me going.

I came across a few interesting quotations from Sports people, thanks to the Blogosphere.

“Everyone has a plan until they're punched in the mouth” from Mike Tyson

Some really good ones then by Yogi Berra thanks to JPs blog

Wikipedia claims that Yogi Berra has a tendency towards malapropism (a new word for me) and fracturing the English language in highly provocative, interesting ways.

Am giving some of the good ones below. You can get the complete list from Wikipedia or Wikiquote

"Nobody goes there no more, it's too crowded!" - This was his response when asked why he no longer went to a popular St. Louis restaurant.

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it."
This was said when giving directions to his New Jersey home, which was equally accessible via two different routes.

"It ain't over till it's over."
This was when his team 1973 Mets trailed the Chicago Cubs by 9½ games in the National League East; the Mets eventually rallied to win the division title on the next-to-last day of the season.

Leave alone the context where these were said and just look at the quotes. Isn’t it amazing how people pass a remark which is business as usual for them but the remark has relevance in a wider context and can be interpreted in different ways?

No trick Only treat for Obama

2008-11-05T06:36:00.000-08:00

It is all treat for Obama a week after Hallowen. I hail America and all Americans for the recent presidential election results.

What impressed me was that people have given priority to current issues and have also gone for a younger person over someone with huge experience.

The media says Barrack Obama has made history. I think it is the American citizens as a whole who have made history by giving preference for the above two points over something trivial as the Colour of the skin.

I have listened to Martin Luther King Jr's powerful "I have a dream speech" fully and he makes the following remark in that speech.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

It is arguable whether King's dream has fully come true given that Obama is African American but I think it is great to see it atleast partially come true. This must have definitely made Martin Luther King stir in his grave. This is a defining moment and borrowing words from King himself, this is not an end but a beginning.

At this moment when the world is showering praise on America for a bold decision, I wonder how good it will be if we get some fresh faces in the Indian political scene as well. Does destiny have this in store for mother India in the near future? Isn't it upto the people to shape a country's destiny?

An Incomplete Poem

2008-11-05T06:20:00.000-08:00

An incomplete poem written in July 2005. Have never been able to complete this ever since.

இதற்குத்தான் பெற்றாயோ என் அன்னையே ..

உயிரெல்லாம் உறைந்து போகும் ஓர் நொடியில்

மலர் போன்ற உன் முகமும் மறைந்து போக

விட்டன என் கைகள் எரியும் நெருப்பை

இதற்குத்தான் பெற்றாயோ என் அன்னையே ..

The end of Windows 3.X

2008-11-05T03:56:00.000-08:00

I read this news on bbc website today

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7707016.stm

I don't know if you have used windows 3.x. I have used it for a year in 1999 when I was in the US. I used to do production support from home for a legacy system.

I remember waiting patiently for 10-15 minutes several minutes to even get connected to the client network when I had a priority issue that had to be solved in 1 hour. Those were the days when netscape was popular as a browser and we were still using MS DOS. Windows 3.X was very primitive though it did throw out some better OS in those days like IBMs OS/2 , APPLE MAC just because of the GUI. It is supposedly microsoft's first GUI based OS that was a great success but believe me we have come a long way .. It was however good to read this article and to come to know that windows 3.X was used as an embedded system for powering in-flight entertainment on aircrafts. Didn't know that earlier.

Though this article made me conscious of the increasing grey hair on my head, it did remind me of some good old days. Long long ago .. So long ago .. when I was a developer.

Bradley effect

2008-11-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

I Came across something called the Bradley effect on the news channel thanks to the world attention on American presidential election.

This is what Wikipedia has to say on Bradley effect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_effect

I think it is not only about black candidates. This theory has a wider context which is that in general people prefer to say what is more acceptable and fashionable rather than what they actually feel when it comes to opinion polls.

I have always felt that opinion polls are more a creation of the media to build a hype rather than something useful. I think this theory makes sense and there are enough examples that stand testament to that.

Will the Bradley effect influence the current polls and prove the opinion polls wrong? We will have to wait for a few hours to see ..

Unlike Poles?

2008-11-04T10:52:00.000-08:00

This is more of a followup to my previous post. I was just looking up James Carville on Wikipedia. There was this small section at the end on his personal life.

James Carville who is a Political consultant for the Democratic party and was managing Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign against George Bush is now married to Mary Matalin who is known for her association with Republican Party and worked for George Bush on the 1992 campaign. They got married in 1993.

Sounds like a real life version of "You've Got mail". It is known that "Unlike Poles attract each other" but in this case I am not sure whether to call these two like poles or unlike poles or "like unlike" poles.

Obama vs Mccain!

2008-11-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

The whole world is waiting for the results of the American presidential elections. The Press has gone all out to create a big hype that this is a historic election. This election is supposed to be historic no matter who wins and the media has collected lot of firsts .. The first African American president or the oldest president in first term or the first women Vice president and the list continues.. Obama or Mccain?

I am glad to say that I don't have any political leaning be it the US or India. This post has nothing to do with the elections, it is only about election sentiments!

You might have heard about the sentiment that Barrack Obama has. It seems he plays basket ball on the day of election. Apparently he has done so in the past and won and he didn't do a few times and lost. I heard on the news that he is going to find time to play basket ball today amidst his busy schedule.

Here is an article on the superstitions associated with some of the people who are part of the campaign.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081103/pl_politico/15194

The one that stands out is this:

"Barack Obama’s Ohio campaign manager Aaron Pickrell has neither shaved his face in a month nor has he shown up to the office without his Columbus Clippers baseball hat. Apparently he associated Obama’s uptick in the Ohio polls in late September with his personal hygiene and wardrobe choices at that time, so he kept the look."

As if that is not enough this article quotes another extreme case of compromise of personal hygiene for electoral sentiments which Aaron Pickrell has not been able to match.

Apparently James Carville, campaign manager for Bill Clinton in 1992 took a decision not to change his underwear for an extended period of time when things were going well for Bill Clinton.

Superstitions and Sentiments! Are we in the 21st Century?

Nasa's Zero gravity pen

2008-11-03T06:27:00.000-08:00

Came across this interesting piece of information today.

"When NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered the ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade and Million dollars to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface including glass and at temperatures ranging from below freezing to 300C.

Russians were faced with the same problem and they used a pencil."

Did a subsequent search and found the following article which claims
that the pen was developed by Paul Fisher and not by NASA.

http://space.about.com/od/spaceexplorationhistory/a/spacepen.htm

Irresepective of who spent the money I think this is a good example to illustrate that the Costliest solution is not necessarily the best!

An attempt at Haiku

2008-11-01T11:48:00.000-07:00

Haiku is a Japanese form of Poetry mainly used to describe nature, the uniqueness being its limited syllables.

I remember having a discussion on Haiku with the threesome of my sister, my mom and my wife on a lovely night on the terrace, several years back. We even tried some sample ones, the theme being clouds. I don't remeber the ones I said that day but for some reason I was reminded of Haiku again yesterday and I tried some out again on the same theme.

#1
காலையில் நிலவோடு ஊடல்
மாலையில் வானத்தின் வெள்ளைக் கொடி
மேகம்!

#2
வானத்தின் அடங்காத காதல் பித்து
கிழிக்கப்பட்ட தலையனைகள்
மேகம்!

The Mahatma's lighter side

2008-10-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

I watched an interesting documentary on the Mahatma in Youtube. It was in 5 parts. Here is the link for one of them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj1QTs5Lm0Q

Some interesting things I learnt about Gandhi mostly his lighter side thanks to this documentary.

It seems Gandhi’s highest ambition when he first came to London to study law was to become an English gentleman. It seems he sported a top hat and silver tipped cane and even took lessons in dancing, violin and French in an attempt to become one.

In 1930 Gandhi was arrested for the famous Salt march and then released subsequently by the Viceroy Lord Erwin due to international pressure. The Viceroy offered Gandhi a chance to negotiate and Gandhi went from prison straight to the viceroy’s house. He was offered warm water as per his request. It seems Gandhi took out a packet from his loin cloth. The viceroy was curious and asked him what it was and Gandhi said in a hushed voice, “Your majesty, don’t tell anybody. This is the salt I made illegally” and added that to the water and drank it in front of the Viceroy.

Gandhi travelled to London in 1931. Apparently he travelled 3rd class and in London stayed with the poor in East London.

Gandhi was invited to the palace for Royal tea and was criticised for appearing before the king in a loin cloth. Gandhi’s response to the criticism was “The King was wearing enough for both of us”

Trick or treat?

2008-10-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

Halloween is just around the corner and my daughter is suddenly showing a lot of interest in Halloween. She is looking forward to going for “Trick or treat” with her friends tomorrow. I took her yesterday to the town centre and got her a beautiful (!) witch costume.

I did some research on Halloween to see why it is being celebrated and to tell my daughter some stories about Halloween. Here is what I found out.

Halloween is celebrated on October 31st which is the eve of All Saints day celebrated on Nov 1st. For some reason Halloween was thought to be the night when ghosts, spirits and witches are very active. It seems in those days people used to disguise themselves by wearing masks so that ghosts would not recognise them. This is also in one way supposed to be a celebration marking the end of the harvest season.

Halloween seems to have originated from Scottish and Irish people and then spread to parts of Europe and US. While Halloween seems to have originally been a function related to superstitions and religious beliefs, over the years I think the stress has shifted more on having fun. From what I could gather, today Halloween is a modern day holiday and seems to be more about costume parties, “trick or treat” for children and an event for the elders to get together.

By the way "Trick-or-treat", is an event for children during Halloween in which they proceed from house to house in costumes, asking for treats such as confectionery with the question, "Trick or treat?" The "trick" part of "trick or treat" is a threat to play a trick on the home owners or their property if no treat is given.

One interesting thing I read is that during Halloween people carve pumpkins and paint scary faces on them to keep the evil spirits away. This is a practice which is followed in India as well though we do it throughout the year and not only on Oct 31st. Isn't is a small world?!

A typical Software Project manager

2008-10-29T09:11:00.000-07:00

An imagination .. A typical Software Project manager singing about himself in Aalavandhaan style like Kadavul paathi mirugam paathi as imagined by a team member ..

Politics பாதி .. படுத்தல் மீதி
கலந்து செய்த கலவை நான்
இம்சை கொஞ்சம் .. Insecure கொஞ்சம்
புரிந்து கொள்வது கடினம் தான்

கையில் விழுந்து காலில் விழுந்து client ஐ கவர பார்க்கின்றேன்
ஆனால் issue மீது issue வந்து கலங்கி கதற வைக்கிறதே!
Rating குறைத்து வயிற்றில் அடித்து மிரட்டி பார்த்தும் பயனில்லை
கூஜா தூக்கி ஜால்ரா அடித்து காலில் விழுந்தும் பயனில்லை
அருமை client e அருமை client e நாளை project தருவாயா?
Budget குறைத்து வயிற்றில் அடித்து இருக்கும் revenue பரிப்பாயா?

Dr.Kalam on Leadership

2008-10-29T08:37:00.001-07:00

I am a great fan of Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam. A man who rose from a humble background to become the missile man of India and then subsequently the President of India. In his tenure as president he opened the gates of Rashtrapathi Bhavan to the public and made it “People’s bhavan”. The only president who tried to connect with people especially the younger generation. In my opinion his strong character came out when he sent back the Office of Profit Bill to the Parliament for reconsideration. He was a different president and was not willing to be just a puppet in the hands of the government.

I came across this video in you tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laGZaS4sdeU

This is an interesting interview with Dr.Kalam. In this video he talks about several things but what stands out are his thoughts on leadership and the narration of his experience with Satish Dhawan in the context of a leader taking responsibility for failure.

Dr.Kalam talks about six traits a leader should possess. They are:

Have a vision
Have the ability to take the unexplored Path
Know how to manage success and more importantly failures
Have Courage to take decisions
Have nobility in management – Transparency in every action
Be in continuous touch with people

For those of you who don’t have the patience to watch a 22 minute video, here is the personal experience that Dr.Kalam narrates in the interview.

This happened when Dr.Kalam was the Mission director for Rohini satellite launch and Dr.Dhawan was the Chairman of ISRO. Rohini Phase 1a was launched in August 1979 and was a big failure. It seems Dr.Dhawan took the press conference in Sriharikota after the launch and took complete responsibility for the failure and said that Kalam’s team was short of technological support which he would provide and that he was confident that his team would come out good in the next attempt.

Rohini 1B was launched subsequently next year in July and was a success. Dr.Dhawan apparently asked Dr.Kalam himself to take the press conference. What an example of leadership? It is very hard to find such great leaders who take the blame when there is a failure and give the credit to their team members when there is success.

Cinderella

2008-10-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in one of earlier blogs that my daughter is showing some interest in poetry. She gave me a challenge recently to write a song about cinderella in one of her favourite tunes. I chose the song "Sahana Saral thoovutho" from the tamil movie Sivaji .. Here is how my song goes. My daughter liked it very much and was extremely happy. So this definitely helped me score some points. :-)

Cinderella dreams வந்ததோ
இன்றெல்லாம் நிஜம் ஆனதோ
ஒரு Pumpkin coach ஆனதோ அடடா ..
நாலு எலிகள் குதிரைகள் ஆனதோ
உன்னை palace கொண்டு போனதோ
கனவோ.. நிஜமோ .. Fairy godmother மந்திரமோ..
ஓராயிரம் ஆண்டுகள் சேமித்த காதல் இது ..
உன் Step mother தாண்டியும் சேர்ந்தே வாழும் இது ..

A Strange coincidence

2008-10-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

There is a famous Shakespeare quote on greatness which goes like "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." There are many things in life which end up in some places where they were not originally intended to be just by chance ..

I read this interesting article in Wikisource about our national anthem in light of the above. This is apparently a response from Jawaharlal Nehru for a question on the national anthem in Parliament.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_National_Anthem

I have seen articles else where that our national anthem was actually sung by Tagore in praise of King George V. The counter argument goes that Tagore referred to God, though it seems more appropriate for a King. The above reply from Nehru tells us why Jana gana mana ended up as our national anthem.

Following is the translation of our national anthem in english.

O! Dispenser of India's destiny, thou art the ruler of the minds of all people Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, the Maratha country,in the Dravida country, Utkala and Bengal; It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and Himalayas,it mingles in the rhapsodies of the pure waters of Yamuna and the Ganges. They chant only thy name.They seek only thy auspicious blessings. They sing only the glory of thy victory. The salvation of all people waits in thy hands, O! Dispenser of India's destiny, thou art the ruler of the minds of all peopleVictory to thee, Victory to thee, Victory to thee,Victory, Victory, Victory, Victory to thee!

Isn't it a bit strange that the song which has become a part and parcel of our lives and one that has been asociated with India by people all over the world ended up there only by some coincidence!

Some musings on Life

2008-10-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

I was chatting with one of my friends who for some strange reason has "Strange are the ways of life" appended to his id. In a rare moment of inspiration based on this I shared some thoughts on life. This is what I said to him.

"Life is a sly criminal that can make you cry and at the same time have the audacity to laugh at you. It stops laughing only when you learn to laugh back at it."

This came in a flow, don't really know why! Not that I am in a bad situation crying

I was in a circus last week with my daughter. There was an event with horses running around performing tricks. I didn't see the horses but only saw some familiar faces from my workplace running around and a few familiar faces again from my workplace as the ring master. I am sure you will agree that most of the typical managers are ring masters who tame their people and make them run around according to their whims and fancies. When someone is different and he doesn't fall in line he is whipped.

In one way even life is a ring master. It conditions you and makes you run around ..

What is your opinion about life?

The Aftermath of Sudoku - Better be odd

2008-10-25T05:05:00.001-07:00

As I said in my earlier post, I have numbers dazzling around in my head courtesy my new addiction to Sudoku. I just found something odd about numbers in nature or maybe I should say something about odd numbers and nature!

When you talk about a group of things that have come naturally they are always odd numbers. Be it the Seven hills of Tirupathi or the Triveni Sangamam at Allahabad or the confluence of three oceans at Kanyakumari. I have a limited knowledge of geography but I am sure there must be more such instances but I have never heard of even numbers in such cases.

The fantasy for odd numbers is not restricted to nature and is evident when it comes to man made things as well. Be it the Seven wonders or Seven sisters, or in stories “Seven dwarfs” in the Snow white story or the Three muskiteers. If you have read Enid Blyton you must be familiar with The famous Five and Secret seven.

I wanted to mention of the Trinity of Hinduism as well here but I was not sure if I should call it natural or man made.

What is the reason for this fantasy for odd numbers? If they are so popular and commonly used then why are they called odd? Are they popular because once they were branded odd? Is there a hidden message here that you have to be odd to become popular?

What do you think?

The magic of Sudoku

2008-10-25T04:43:00.000-07:00

I have been resisting the temptation of Sudoku for a couple of years now. I finally gave in last week. I saw a book on sale for a few pence and it remained so for a few weeks. So I finally decided to see what Sudoku has to offer.

Believe me I have numbers dazzling around in my head as my write. I have solved several Sudoku puzzles over the week and I am qualified to call myself a Sudoku addict now. What appeals to me is the simplicity of the game and its straightforward rules. It is all about permutations and combinations and doesn’t need any mathematical genius. Above all I get it free on the London paper and it is a great companion for the one hour train journey which I do very often!

Contrary to what I thought, the book I bought claims that Sudoku originated in the US and it became a big hit in Japan subsequently. I have read else where that Sudoku originated in Japan because of the limitations of the Japanese language when it comes to crossword puzzles.

What is your experience with Sudoku?

The Festival of lights is here again

2008-10-24T04:17:00.000-07:00

The festival of lights is here again. Diwali ..

Is it the celebration of the victory of good over evil, Krishna killing Narakasura, as the story goes in the south? Or is it the celebration of return of the good, Rama coming back to his Kingdom after exile, as the story goes in the North?

Whatever it is, Diwali to me brings back fond memories of my mom. I must admit that the festival of colours has lost some colour as far as I am concerned for the last 4 years without her.

The love and affection in my mom’s eyes as she applied oil on my head in preparation for an oil bath .. The happiness with which she prepared all the sweets and delicacies I liked .. Those lovely moments when she handed me a sweet or asked me to burst crackers.. The glow and appreciation in her face when she saw me in a new dress .. That was Diwali for me for many years and is still fresh in my memory.

Today Diwali makes me look forward to only the trip with my daughter to the cracker shop and bursting the crackers thereafter. It is a pleasure to watch her eyes gleam when I buy her all the crackers that she wants. I think I will miss it this time being away from India.

What does Diwali mean to you?

Wish you a very happy and prosperous Diwali.

Al Pacino - Scent of a woman

2008-09-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have been watching a lot of Al Pacino movies of late. Have downloaded a few more which I need to watch. Have also seen a lot of ads on " Righteous Kill" starring Al Pacino and De Niro which has hit cinemas recently. Of the ones I have seen so far, I was particularly impressed with "Scent of a Woman". It is a total contrast from the usual Al Pacino movies and Al Pacino has done an excellent portrayal of a blind colonel. Fittingly he has received the Oscar Best actor award for this.

I have been fortunate to see two other good portrayals of a blind man on screen. Naseeruddin Shah in Sparsh (Hindi) and Kamal Hassan in Raaja Paarvai (Tamil). Somehow I see a lot of similarities in mannerism between the 3 of them. Sparsh was released in 1980, Rajapaarvai in 1981 and Scent of a woman in 1992. Kamal must have definitely seen Sparsh and Shah must have influenced him but what about Pacino?

Whatever it is , all three are great movies and a must watch. If you have not seen Scent of a woman do it right away.

My daughter's first Poem

2008-09-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

Logging into Blogger after a long time. My daughter has started playing around with words. I was impressed with this particular one which is her first poem :-)

Hi.. Bye..
Where can I fly?
Can I fly in the water?
Where Should I fly? Or
Why should I fly?
So many questions to answer!
When I fly What if I cry?
Maybe I should be a dancer..

Thanimayil Amarnthen - A Poem

2008-04-21T23:51:00.001-07:00

I think this is the most recent one I wrote. Written in Oct 2006 :-)

தனிமையில் அமர்ந்தேன்
வாழ்க்கையை மதிப்பிட்டேன்
நினைவுகள்.. நிகழ்வுகள்..
அனுபவங்கள்.. கனவுகள்.. (என் முன்)
தோன்றின . . மறைந்தன . .

கடந்த காலம் வீணான
உயிர் மூச்சாய்த் தோன்றிட
தோன்றியது வருங்காலம்
வீணாகும் உயிர் மூச்சாய்

அழகான ஓர் அமைதி
மனம் எங்கும் பரவ
கடந்ததும் இனி வருவதும்
வாழ்வும் அதன் முடிவும் (நின்றன)
சமமாய் என் முன்னே

Innamum Irukkiren - Poem 2

2008-04-19T23:09:00.000-07:00

Number two .. Again concept taken from my uncle's poem and modified in Mar 1997 to see if I could write :-)

இன்னமும் இருக்கிறேன்
நண்பர்க்குப் பகை ஆனாலும்
நம்பிக்கை தீர்ந்து போனாலும்
முடிவகளுக்கு அன்னியமானாலும்
கனவுகளில் தோற்றம் இழந்தாலும்
முகத்தில் கருமை படர்ந்தாலும்
கண்களில் ஒளி குறைந்தாலும்
இன்னமும் இருக்கிறேன்
சில முகங்களின் சிரிப்பில்
இனிமையான உன் நினைப்பில்
நீல வானின் நட்சத்திரம்
என்றாவது என் கையில்
மோதிரமாய் ஒளிரும் என்கிற
குருட்டு நினைப்பில்
இன்னமும் இருக்கிறேன்

நான் இருக்கிறேன்
அதுவல்லவோ முக்கியம்?

My first Poem

2008-04-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

My daughter got hold of one of my old note books while we were cleaning my book shelf. It was full of poems that I had written over a few years.

I am giving the first one below. This was the first time I tried writing a poem way back in Mar 1997. I took one of the poems written by my uncle and tried to see if I could write something on similar lines. All lines to be interpreted as a young boy talking about his mother :-)

நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன்
மார்கழி மாதப் பனிக் காற்றாய்
மாலை நேரத்து இளம் தென்றலாய்
நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன்
ஒரு மழலையின் ஆர்வத்தோடு
கண்கள் விரிய நீ கதை சொல்வது
எத்தனை அழகு என்று சொல்லிப் போவதற்கு . .

நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன்
மழையைக் கொணரும் கரு முகிலாய்
இன்பம் பொங்கும் கடல் அலையாய்
நான் இன்று உன்னிடம் வருவேன்
என் நெற்றியில் விழும் முடி விலக்கி
நீ கனிவாய் பதிக்கும் முத்தம்
எத்தனை அழகு என்று சொல்லிப் போவதற்கு . .

The Argumentative Indian

2008-03-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

I have been reading Amartya Sen’s “The Argumentative Indian” for quite sometime now. While Amartya Sen is a renowned Economist and a Noble Laureate, he is not much of a historian and this book stands testimony to that.

The comments on the back of the book claim a lot about this being the best account of Indian history that must be read by every Indian. I beg to disagree. I strongly feel that Dr.Sen should focus on Economics and leave history to historians.

The book is supposed to be a collection of essays on Indian culture, History and Identity. However there is a lot of repetition in all the essays and what stands stark clear is Dr.Sen’s limited knowledge of Indian History. All the essays revolve around one or all of the below points though the titles are different:
The Bhagavad Gita as an argument between Krishna and Arjuna in the Mahabharatha
Javali’s argument with Rama quoted in Ramayana
Akbar’s forming Din Illahi as a combination of religions
Dr.Sen’s strong views against the BJP

There is a lot more to Indian History than just this. It so happens that I have read Jawaharlal Nehru’s “The Discovery of India” which is also a book on Indian culture, History and Identity. My view is that Nehru’s knowledge of Indian history was much more broader and his thoughts and views on India and the passion he had for his motherland are brought out much better in his book.

I am not sure if you have read it but “The Discovery of India” is definitely the best account of Indian History from one of her greatest citizens. As one reads the book , one can picturise Nehru sitting in Ahmednagar fort thinking about India, with pride while narrating her glorious past, with pity while narrating her then state (prior to Independence) and with determination and hope about her future. One can empathise with a great leader who was far ahead of his generation, whose thoughts are pertinent today. Nehru takes you through Indian history like a friend. If you have not read Nehru’s book it is high time you read it.

Coming back to “The Argumentative Indian”, the book gives you limited views of Indian History and its argumentative tradition from an Economist who studied in Oxford. Let me leave you by telling two good things about the book. The first thing is the book gives you some insight into Rabindranath Tagore’s life and how his thoughts differed from those of Mahatma Gandhi, thanks to Dr.Sen’s days in “The Shatiniketan” early on in his life. I haven’t read much about Tagore so far and I found the essay on Tagore to be good.

The other thing I liked in Sen’s book was a reference to this interesting quote from Ram Mohun Roy which I had never come across before.
“Just consider how terrible the day of your death will be.
Others will go on speaking, and you will not be able to argue back.”

Anyone out there, who has read one or both of these books, what do you think? I will be more than happy to take the argument further :-)

The conqueror of Mt.Everest

2008-01-13T05:33:00.001-08:00

12th Jan

The conqueror of Mt.Everest is no more. I remember reading in General Knowledge while in school about Edmund Hillary’s feat. Over the years I had not bothered much about Ed but today he had made the headlines and I read about him in the morning Newspaper. Beyond his achievements and the work done by him in Nepal to set up clinics and schools, which the article mentioned, there were 2 points that brought out Ed's humility which really impressed me.

Though he was the one who started the expedition and Tenzing Norgay was only his guide, it seems he refused to accept till Tenzing passed away that he was the first man atop Mt.Everest. In spite of being one of the greatest adventurers of the century, he preferred calling himself an “ordinary person with ordinary qualities”.

Ed did not have a picture of himself taken on top of the Mt.Everest. The only photo taken was that of Tenzing at the summit, which was taken by Ed himself. It seems Ed remarked later that “As far as I knew, he [Tenzing] had never taken a photograph before, and the summit of Everest was hardly the place to show him how.”

Sometimes winning is not enough

2008-01-13T04:58:00.000-08:00

After the second test which was marred with bad Umpiring decisions and the nasty Symonds - Harbhajan incident, the Australlian team is facing a lot of criticism from their home crowd. The Australlian media has been conducting a lot of opinion polls related to this and the captain Ricky Ponting in particular is getting some nasty comments and rave reviews about the way he has led the team. Majority of the people want Ponting to go!

All this criticism is inspite of their record 16 wins in tests and an equivalent winning streak in one dayers! Well sometimes being on the winning side alone does not matter, how you win also matters!

Ponting claims that he plays cricket hard but fair but in my opinion accusing an Indian of making racist remarks is slightly overboard and this seems to have been made an issue specifically to divert attention from the bad umpiring that changed the result. This is definitely not in the spirit of the game.

The Australlian team is solely responsible for having changed the way the game is played today. Their focus in the recent past has only been on winning whatever happens. Infact they have even majorly influenced the way some of the other teams play including India. Australlia is a very good cricketing side and there are lot of good things to be taken from them but I think it is high time they changed their approach and started playing in the true spirit of the game. Sledging and indulging in nasty politics outside the field has alienated them from their home crowd. After all Teams play for recognition and this kind of public outrage takes away the joy of winning :-)

The Sound of Music

2008-01-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

I have been listening to a lot of music over the last few weekends. There is a saying in Tamil which goes something like “When there is not enough food for the ears, you think of giving some food for the stomach”. A very true statement indeed! This very well summarises my experience over the last few weekends.

I have been listening to the doyens of the Carnatic world. Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M.S.Subbulakshmi and M.L.Vasanthakumari. Thanks to the internet and the world of mp3s. I am too small and I know very little of carnatic music to comment on these great people but I must say I am in a totally different world free of tension and I feel so calm and energetic over the last few weekends.

I think all this started because of the Margazhi music season and the talks happening around me related to that. I had been to only one concert myself but then I think it drew me towards music after a gap.

I don’t need to write much about music. So much has been written over ages. Music is acknowledged to be something which cuts across all barriers and pleases anyone and everyone right from a child to an animal.

I don’t know why but I feel so close to these doyens now. Maybe it is because I have listened to their voices for hours together. Perhaps it is this music which has made write 4 posts in the last 30 minutes! After all music is not only supposed to have healing powers, it also is supposed to bring out one’s creativity. This is definitely for my good but I don’t really know how good it is for you as a reader :-)

Dada you are simply terrific!

2008-01-12T05:25:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking of writing about Dada (Sourav Ganguly) for quite sometime. One can only marvel at this man’s grit and determination. What an amazing comeback Dada has made after being dropped from the Indian cricket team and left totally in isolation!

If you ask me who my favourite cricketer is, I would say Sachin any day but then I have always admired Dada. Sachin is a genius and there is no cricketer as talented as him but Dada is still special and loveable. How can one forget Dada’s reply to Flintoff when India won the One day at Lords? A cricketer with limitations but with great determination. That is what took Dada through a successful stint as the captain of the Indian team and that is what has made him stage such an excellent comeback after the Chappell issue.

The way Saurav is playing he simply seems unstoppable even for Australlia in Australlia. Hope Dada’s excellent form continues and India does well in the remaining matches. After all this umpiring and racism controversies, it is time for some good cricket.

A Promise is a Promise

2008-01-12T05:24:00.000-08:00

“A Promise is a Promise”, said Ratan Tata with pride after he unveiled the Nano or “The People’s car” as it is fondly called. I was really impressed by the man and his words. I don’t know why but I felt proud that I was working for the Tata group. The group which has given a lot to Indian society, with a wide range of products and services touching almost all walks of life and by way of which has become an integral part of this country.

Read Tata’s interview and more about the car here.

http://www.tatapeoplescar.com/tatamotors

I have read a lot of articles on the Nano over the past few days in various places. It is definitely a great piece of innovation. I was surprised to read that Engineers who designed this have spent so much time on coming up with innovative designs to reduce cost , even for reducing $10. After all it is no mean feat, coming up with a car for $2500.

An interesting article from NY times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/business/worldbusiness/08indiacar.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Nano is the talk of my workplace now whether it is within the office or the coffee shops or in the cafeteria. Everyone met I over the last few days seems to be toying the idea of buying the Nano even if it is a second car and after all the Nano is just a little more costlier than a bike and emission wise a lot better. This car is definitely going to create a new market and in the long run might force other car manufacturers to innovate and even bring down their prices, not only in India but across the world.

On a lighter note, Nano is definitely going to make driving within the city tough some time down the line simply because of its reach. I had a dream few days back where I saw Nanos all over the place, on platforms in parking lots and on the roads.

Well the Nano was Tata’s dream for the past 4 years and today it is a reality. Tata has kept his promise. This innovation he is definitely going to impact our lives majorly and definitely result in betterment of the society.

The Kingfisher experience

2008-01-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

03rd January 2008

I had mentioned in my earlier post that I am a Frequent flyer with Jet and I travel very often by Jet. I recently travelled by Kingfisher to Bangalore only because the morning Jet flight was fully booked and I had an amazing experience. Kingfisher made a real impact on me, someone so used to Jet, with their excellent service. What a competitive world we live in!

While checking in I was told that only middle seats were left. I said I preferred an Aisle seat. After some double checking the attendant got back with a smile saying that there was only one Aisle seat which he would give me. At this point I was not very surprised because almost all Airlines do this. Only thing a bit different was that the seat number was in single digits and I had an economy class ticket. I told myself that it might be an ATR flight. However when I entered the flight I was really surprised. I had been given a business class seat. This was too good to be true and that too early in the New Year. Jet had never done this even once inspite of my frequent flying.

As a customer it feels great when you are treated best and the Chairman tells you that he has personally chosen the flight attendants and that you can write to him directly. However as a vendor you expect the customer to follow protocols and come to you instead of going to someone senior directly! But then life is full of paradoxes.

I just sat back and enjoyed my flight without worrying about my customer whom I was going to meet.

Another year gone by

2008-01-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

Another year has gone by. Year 2007 had my hair starting to change from black to grey and has brought me almost into middle age. However it has left me pretty much the same person
at the core, maybe a bit polished and better but definitely not dented. I still have the same beliefs and walk in with the same energy into work everyday.

2007 was a mixed year for me on the professional front. Things did not go as well as I wanted them to. However looking back I learnt a lot of hard lessons in 2007. Though I managed to put up a decent show finally, there were some flaws in my approach to Professional life that were exposed to myself (not to the whole world hopefully!). I would say I got the maturity to reflect upon my behaviour and criticize myself in 2007.

I started blogging in 2007. Though I have not been able to do it actively in the recent past, it was a great stress reliever for me. I don’t know how it feels to read my blogs but it feels great to write whatever I feel like.

I became a frequent flier in 2007. Jet Airways acknowledged this recently and upgraded me to Gold tier. This frequent flying has given me scope to read more, listen to good music and watch some good movies. Above all I have started appreciating various international cuisines and I have a wide range of choice now when I go abroad. Sometime back my stand on food was “I like only South Indian food because I get fed up with other cuisines soon!”

Thanks to my daughter, I was introduced to the Bhagavad Gita this year. I was lucky to come across a good translation in Tamil by Subramanya Bharathy. I was really impressed by the Gita’s call for action. Karma Yoga is a beautiful concept and it gels to some extent with my approach to life. I would say reading the Gita has definitely left me a better person, though I am still a queer mixture of the east and the west.

Wonder what 2008 has in store for me.

Wish you a very Happy new year!

From Dadagiri to Gandhigiri

2007-11-25T02:12:00.000-08:00

I finally managed to see the movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai. A great movie with an excellent mix of humour and sentiment. On top of all this the film has a message! In fact it has been a long time since I last watched a Hindi movie till the climax.

Munna’s transition from Dadagiri in the first movie to Gandhigiri in the sequel has been handled very well by the director. Some Innovative ideas like Munna sending flowers to Lucky have been combined with some interesting sequences where Munna advices the common people on Gandhigiri through FM radio.

The movie has a message that Gandhism still is relevant and works magic. The movie has infact caught the attention of so many people all over the world. There have been several Munna style protests all over the world and so much talks on Gandhigiri.

The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has said, "I was heartened to see recently that back home in India the most popular movie this festival season is a film about a young man's discovery of the universal and timeless relevance of the Mahatma's message.

To me it was a good movie with a message that made me think about Gandhi’s ideals. It was really surprised to see so much material on Munnabhai and Gandhigiri when I searched wikipedia. Does this reflect the power of Wikipedia or Gandhigiri? I would say both.

Coming back to whether Gandhigiri works or not, I would say it is up to you to try out. My only advice is to make sure your enemies, competitors or customers don’t know about your experiment :-)

The Ten Avatars

2007-11-24T23:33:00.001-08:00

Logging into Blogger after quite some time though I did reflect on a lot of things during the time in between :-)

I was over to one of my relatives house accompanying my wife (as a chaffeur) for Navarathiri. I happened to see the Dasvatharam Bommais (Mini Idols of the ten incarnations of Vishnu). I was gazing at them for quite some time and to me the ten incarnations seemed to have a deeper meaning.

Though the Gita says that Vishnu takes an avatar whenever there is a threat to dharma, to me they seem to have a close link with several stages in the evolution of the universe, the evolution of mankind. What a nice way of building stories around each stage and carrying it forward over generations? Our ancestors seem to have been way ahead scientifically when other races were roaming around as savages. We seem to have lost our way somewhere and wasted time and money in pompousness, thanks to some foolish kings in between.

Here are the Ten avatars

Matsya - Lord Vishnu as a fish
Koorma- Lord Vishnu as a tortoise
Varaha- Lord Vishnu as a Boar
Narasimha-Lord Vishnu with the face of a lion and body of a man
Vamana- Lord Vishnu as Vamana. Primitive Man, very short
Parasurama - Lord Vishnu in human form with an axe as his weapon. Stone age?
Rama - Lord Vishnu in human form with bow and arrow as his weapon.Balarama - Lord Vishnu in human form with plough as weapon. Advent of agriculture.
Krishna – Lord Vishnu with Chakra a fully metal weapon. Early Bronze age
Kalki – Lord Vishnu with the face of a horse. This is yet to happen as per Hindu mythology but what scares me is that it indicates that we are going back from human form to an animal form.

As is evident, after Krishna comes a big gap given that Kalki is yet to happen. That is when the Industrial revolution happened in other parts and India was blissfully ignorant of what was happening elsewhere.

I am not that good at history, so some of my interpretations might be wrong but I still feel the avatars are a way of depicting the evolution of mankind. What do you think?

We have no fear ..

2007-10-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

Another translation. This one is the song "Achamillai Achamillai" by Subramanya Bharathy

We have no fear, We have no fear
We know not of that thing called fear

We might be against the whole world
We might be cast like dust and dismissed
We might be made to beg for food
We might be losing everything we cherish but

We have no fear, We have no fear
We know not of that thing called fear

The heavens above might crash
The heavens above might crash and
Crush us in all their fury but
We would still have no fear

We have no fear, We have no fear
We know not of that thing called fear!

The Band in the Titanic

2007-10-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

I am sure you must have seen the movie or read about “The Titanic”. Did you notice the role of the music band in the titanic towards the end of the movie?

I lead a big Programme as part of my work. A programme consisting of multiple components but all working towards a common goal (atleast they are supposed to). Quite often I find my teams totally lost in day to day delivery pressures and myself struggling to bring them out of that. There is absolute chaos all over the place.

The major problem I face is that there is not enough collaboration between teams as required, people left to themselves are happy operating in individual silos and view the other teams as competitors. My major worry is that people are not ready to look at the bigger picture, pressurised by and used to traditional working models and are finally not focused on the value delivered collectively.

I am not blaming my team. I understand what they are going through and I myself am struggling to find out of ways of getting them to come out and focus on better things. I am trying to cut across barriers and send these messages day in and day out to the team with the hope that some of them will get inspired and step out of the well. It is not that I am fully satisfied with my approach. I am still refining it and learning every day. I myself am pressurised by mundane things so many time. It is my reflection on this and the strange thought of the band in the Titanic that I wanted to share.

I would fancy calling myself the captain of the ship but quite often I find myself in a strange situation. I liken myself to the band in the titanic, playing non stop when people are running all over the place, unmindful of whether anyone is hearing or not but with the hope that the music is helping someone somewhere in the crowd.

Whether I am the captain or the band it doesn’t matter as long as my ship doesn’t sink and it reaches the destination. I am sure it will.

New working model for the new age

2007-10-13T22:44:00.000-07:00

I have found that I am at my creative best on Saturdays and Sundays. Now don’t ask me how creative I am. That is definitely a debatable topic and we can take that up sometime later. That is why I chose my words carefully.

I have observed over the past year or so that I get most of my new ideas during the weekends. I am talking about ideas related to my work. I take necessary action through emails immediately but I get lost in mundane affairs (thanks to official pressures) during the week and by the time I am reminded of my ideas I find myself in the next weekend again. Maybe it’s the relaxed and informal environment at home which helps unleash my creativity. I really feel that I do a lot more productive work from home over the weekends even if I spend a few hours compared to what I do in office in a whole week.

All enterprises today talk a lot about innovation and drive their employees to innovate but based on my experience I have never seen anything materialize. Is talking about innovation or setting targets related to innovation alone enough? I think we have had enough of this. Enterprises should focus on creating a conducive environment to foster innovation. Maybe the formal environments in today’s offices need a change.

Atleast on Monday mornings I find myself in the same situation as Swami in R.K. Narayan’s famous “Swami and Friends”. I find myself always reluctant to open my eyes and I shudder at the very thought of that dismal grey building in glass and steel called office. I am sure many of you find yourself in the same situation.

Working from home as a concept has never taken off atleast in India. I think that should be encouraged. Based on my experience that I have cited above I am sure it will be beneficial to both Organisations and the individuals. The new age is all about trust and collaboration. We don’t need the age old methods of running organizations anymore. We don’t need physical presence of people to catch them and beat them up when there is an issue.

I also feel that the collaboration mechanisms we have in place today are grossly inadequate. The major collaboration mechanism that we have at present is meetings (F2F or telecons), email and IM (to some extent). While IM is informal to extent, I have never seen people expressing themselves freely in these forums. Where there is fear, there can never be innovation. I think Enterprise should adopt the new wave of communication largely based on Open source like Blogging, Wikis and Social networking. I have a feeling that these bring the best out of people. These mechanisms might help people over come their reservations and cut across organisational barriers and unleash their creative energies!

Change is Good!

2007-10-13T09:19:00.000-07:00

Hutch is now Vodafone! I am not sure if you have seen the ad. What a wonderful depiction of change! This is an ad that has been picturised beautifully.

The first ad that I remember announcing a change in name is that of Binaca becoming Cibaca. Most of you might not even know about Cibaca. I am not sure if the company or the toothpaste it used to sell exists today. It was a simple ad announcing a change in name but I still remember listening to it over a small Philips radio and seeing it in a black and white TV nearly two decades ago (as a small boy!). The ad did make an impact those days and there were many jokes and discussions around that.

We live in a technologically advanced age now and the Vodafone ad is definitely on a different plane. In short the new Vodafone ad is about a dog leaving its kennel briefly and coming back to see a new Kennel totally different in design and color, struggling to get in terms with the reality in front of it. I don’t know how they made the dog act so well.

Click the link to see the Video Hutch is now Vodafone

Change is something that happens very often in life. It is either your customer or a regulatory authority or your employer (or fate as some people call it) ,who is the reason. I don’t know about you, but I find myself quite often nowadays in a situation where my landscape has totally been changed by one of the above. A few years back, I used to struggle for months together to cope up with the change and then finally accept it. Nowadays I find that my turnaround time is quite less, mostly a week. Maybe I am getting old and becoming more mature or maybe I am staying young and keeping in touch with what is happening. What do you think?

I was talking about coping up with changes in professional life. I won’t blame the dog in the ad though. Imagine going for a walk and returning to find yourself in a new house painted red all over and more importantly having to live in it!

Anyway Change is definitely good. Interestingly that is what the Bhagavad Gita also says. "Whatever happens is always for the best!"

A queer mixture of the East and West

2007-10-07T10:24:00.000-07:00

“I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere” said Jawaharlal Nehru.

I find myself in a similar situation, atleast partly. Thanks to the Western culture that has crept in majorly into our country, a lot of questions arise in the name of scientific thinking! Nehru felt out of place 60 years back because he was ahead of time but today I think this is common and atleast I don’t feel out of place now.

My daughter participated in a Bhagavad Gita recital competition recently and this turned my attention towards the Bhagavad Gita. The most important thing is that she won a prize and it was a pleasure watching the gleam in her eyes when she shared this news with me. Coming back to the Bhagavad gita, after some struggle going through some translations on the net, I finally managed to come across a simple translation in Tamil by Subramanya Bharathi. I really wonder why translations of great works are so complicated, whether it is the Gita or a Psychiatrist’s essay on dreams? Or is it my bad luck that I come across complicated translations always?

I was particularly impressed by the chapter on Karma Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita. The key message that impressed me was the stress on the need for action, the need for action to fulfill ones duties. Though the Gita stresses the need for a spiritual background to this in the chapters other than the one on Karma Yoga, as I read through the other chapters there were several questions that came up within me for which I did not have an answer.

I feel that the chapter on Karma yoga is still pertinent though the country has gone through several transformations over centuries. The thought that one can achieve salvation by just doing his duties is a total paradigm shift given that we always picturise yogis or sanyasis as people who have given up everything in life and roam around mostly in forests or mountains. More later on specific verses of the Gita in this chapter that impressed me.

An interesting question which came to mind as I read chapter 1 was , how could someone narrate this work running up to 18 chapters in a battle field when both sides were lined up and war was about to begin? To me chapters beyond the Karma yoga don’t seem to have relevance in the battle field and Chapter 3 should have been enough to convince Arjuna and get the war started. I have a feeling that Arjuna’s question in the battlefield triggered chapters upto Karma yoga and the other chapters were finished sometime later for a completeness sake. I don’t know if I sound like a non believer to you but this is the point I was alluding to at the beginning.

I am a queer mixture of the East and West but I still feel at home back home :-)

Dream... Dream... Dream...

2007-09-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

Dream … Dream … Dream
Dreams transform into thoughts
And thoughts result in actions …

Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam travels all over India repeating this to the children he meets.

I was thinking till now that he was referring to dreaming with eyes open, about having a vision. I thought that this is different from the dreams one gets during sleep. The dreams that one has during sleep, I felt, were more related to the fears and disturbances that one has in day to day life. I now feel that I have found a different meaning and that both are related.

Read on. . Because dreams are very important and they give a lot of insight into the person that we are.

I recently came across the book “The Interpretation of dreams” which is a translation of Sigmund Freud’s acclaimed work on analysis of dreams. Interestingly I came across this book because over the past two months I got some slightly strange dreams which left me wondering whether I was undergoing a total change in character and I was wishing if I could find a way to interpret dreams!

After cutting through some psycho analytic jargons and some complicated sentence constructions I figured out what Freud was trying to say. The underlying thread behind Freud’s theory is that dreams are indeed a fulfillment of wishes. If these wishes are straight forward and backed by good intentions you will have a good dream. If the wishes are selfish and against someone (even indirectly) you end up having a bad dream or contorted dream. This is contrary to common belief (like what I had earlier) that dreams are due to external and internal stimuli or a manifestation of images that get embedded in one’s mind before he goes to sleep.

I was really intrigued by this approach and I personally feel that this idea is really ground breaking. When I analysed my recent dreams I could link them to Freud’s theory and interpret them as a wish that I had around the time I had those dreams. Dreams are very personal and can leave the person exposed but I will share with you two dreams I had recently.

The first one is straightforward. I dreamt that I was talking to a relative sitting in our old house and I suddenly noticed my mom sitting next to me. I was left speechless and I cried and cried holding her hand while she was comforting me with an assuring smile as if nothing had happened. This dream doesn’t need any explanation that it was a wish fulfilled. It has been two years since my mom passed away and I have missed her every moment.

Coming to the second one, this was strange. In this one I chased a fly which was bothering me all over my house and crushed it to death. This was the strange dream which really got me thinking whether I was undergoing a total character change and becoming ruthless. On some analysis I found that around that time I had this dream I was being tortured by someone who had come newly into my professional life. I had made some extreme remarks about him to my colleagues and team members. I had even said to others that this guy was biting me like a bug and should be killed. It was that wish that had got transformed into this dream. I eventually started focusing on other things and this person no longer means anything to me but I think he has really helped me learn a lot, this dreams theory being one.

I know that Psycho analytical theories might not really interest everyone but I really feel that dreams are important. Have a closer look at your dreams and that will help you learn more about yourself. However you don’t need to share your dreams with me :-)

If you have read this far, you might come back saying that you had a dream which was totally not related to any wish and you might be right. The answer to that from me would be that it was still triggered by a wish and the wish was to prove me wrong!

Heaven Vs Hell

2007-09-26T09:20:00.000-07:00

I cooked up this joke for my team. Inspiration was a Khushwant Singh joke on lawyers that I had read sometime back but I customized it for the scenario my team is used to.

God wanted to build a completely new IT stack to replace all his legacy systems and he wanted it to be a SOA based architecture. He floated a tender and there was heavy competition between heaven and hell. Finally God decided to give it to both because being god he was anyway never going to pay anyone and this option gave him a choice. Though he gave the project to both he was expecting heaven to do a better job than hell.

So heaven and hell were given the task of delivering the architecture in seven 90 day cycles. Unfortunately God was too much in touch with the latest and he wanted the development to be done in a completely Agile manner. He wanted to be involved throughout the development and wanted a working demonstration of software at the
end of each cycle.

God scheduled regular standup calls with both heaven and hell. Contrary to his perception he found that during the standups hell was presenting a very good status and painting a rosy picture while the status given by heaven was not at all up to expectations. Standup after Standup passed and God’s concern on Heaven increased and confidence on Hell also rose immensely.

Then came the day! The first cycle was over and it was time for the demo. God wanted Hell to go first. He found to his total disbelief that the application developed by Hell was pathetic and no where near the requirements. God moved on to heaven and was really surprised to find that heaven had developed a wonderful application meeting all his expectations.

God did a deep dive and found out why his perceptions during the life cycle were different from reality and he found out that ……

Heaven was full of developers and Hell was full of Project Managers!

I was just trying to be funny and wanted the majority to laugh. I had no hidden messages, though some people came up with a few! Reflections or Observations? I leave it to you to decide. Don’t hesitate to share your reflections (or observations) :-)

What's in a name?

2007-09-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

I was trying to arrive at a suitable name for my blog and I suddenly hit upon the name reflections. My intention was just to share my random musings on whatever I felt like. To present my thoughts as they occurred to me. I somehow liked this idea that I read somewhere some time which said “If you have a problem with someone or something repeatedly, take a peek at the mirror”. Reflections seemed a very apt name to me.

Little did I realize then that words could be interpreted in several ways!

I was just reading Sigmund Freud today and to my surprise he had a lot to say on reflections. Here goes Freud in his own simple language of a Psychiatrist!

The whole frame of mind of a man who is reflecting is totally different from that of a man who is observing his own psychical processes. In reflection there is one more psychical activity at work than the most attentive self observation. This is shown amongst other things by the tense looks and wrinkle forehead of a person pursuing his reflections as compared with the restful expression of a self observer. In both case attention must be concentrated but the man who is reflecting is also exercising his critical faculty; this leads him to reject some of the ideas that occur to him after perceiving them, to cut short other without opening the trains of thought that they would open up to him and …
Freud goes on for a few more sentences on this.

Well that was really a simple way of interpreting reflection. Thanks to Mr.Freud.

Now don’t start imagining me sitting in front of my computer with tense looks and wrinkled forehead. There are so many ways of interpreting things (even a word like reflections) and some of them can be so complex and lead you to something you never thought of or meant.

I shared my intentions at the beginning and believe me I am as cool as a cucumber as I write this, really relaxed.

Back to the question that triggered this. So what should I call my blog? Reflections or Observations? Well, I don’t believe in complicating things. I still like reflections even if that leads people to believe that I am being critical as I reflect and I don’t expect a big psychiatrist reader community for my blog anyway.

Quoting from someone who I know for sure is not a Physciatrist

After all What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Krishna nee begane baaro …

2007-09-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading this article on Krishna

http://veda.harekrsna.cz/encyclopedia/historical-krsna.htm

On a Sunday night almost half asleep I let my thoughts wander. What does Krishna really mean to me? I have been hearing about Krishna for more than 30 years now.

Did Krishna really exist? Was he really an incarnation of the Lord Vishnu? The Lord who came down to earth in human form to destroy the evil? I don’t know if I can justify any of the above but I don’t doubt the existence of Krishna. I am sure he was a historic figure who lived several years before the birth of Christ. I do believe there are several parts of the story about Krishna which could be true.

Krishna must have been a great ruler. A prince who led a simple life and was close to the masses. A very knowledgeable person who was able to understand the essence of the Yogas and Upanishads and present them in a simpler form, the Bhagavad Gita. I don’t want to get into an analysis on Krishna’s wives but then all rulers of India in those days had many wives and I believe numbers might have been blown out of proportions over years. Krishna must have been a man who personified goodness and a great warrior who stood against evil forces. After all as Kannadasan wrote in Tamil “Manidhan enbavan deivam aagalam” (A man can achieve divine status by his actions and become worthy of worship). So Why doubt Lord Krishna?

Keeping questions on his existence aside, One cannot but marvel at the magic of Krishna. His stories have fascinated people over centuries and inspired so many musicians and poets. Hinduism is a way of life and Krishna and the Bhagavad Gita cannot be separated from Hinduism. I am sure the Story of Krishna will continue to fascinate people and his name will exist as long as this world exists.

As a child the stories of Krishna were really close to my heart. According to me the most impressive thing about the story of Krishna is simplicity. Any common man can easily identify himself with the story of Krishna especially the early years where Krishna is depicted as a careless mischievous child who liked butter and playing pranks on people. I used to get a bit scared imagining Krishna killing Kalinga a five headed snake. Scared as I was of snakes, this meant some sleepless nights as a child but then a more mature reflection of this makes me look at Krishna as someone who had mastered his five senses and kept them under control. A part of the story which might have got distorted over years as the story of Krishna was passed on from generation to generation. How could one dance on a five headed snake?

At home, we do celebrate Krishna’s birthday every year and I lose myself in the special delicacies that are prepared in Krishna’s name. If Krishna had not killed Narakasura we wouldn’t have had Deepavali, the festival of lights, a festival of happiness that is close to my heart and brings to me fond memories of the happy days that I spent with my mom.

On a lighter note, I am not sure if Krishna built any dams but it might not be long before some politician starts questioning about Krishna’s existence and his educational background in the name of rational thinking (Pagutharivu). Read this, the earlier Avatar Rama has just been questioned http://www.indianexpress.com/story/217566.html

Krishna nee begane baaro … (Come soon Krishna) If possible with your certificates and other evidences to satisfy Indian politicians.

Oh fool brooding over thy past!

2007-09-23T07:40:00.000-07:00

In a rare moment of inspiration, I translated a Tamil song by Subramanya Bharathi which starts with the words "Sendradhini meeladhu moodare", not word by word though! Don't get me wrong with the opening line if you just happened to be reflecting on your past.

Oh fool brooding over thy past!
Think not about the past for
What has gone is gone and
never will it return

Think you were born today
Live and enjoy every moment
Your sorrow will vanish and
never will it return

Pursuit of Something Deeper

2007-09-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

I read the following (given in Italics) in one of the blogs that I visit frequently. It is supposed to be an excerpt from the Preface of the book How? by Dov Sideman. I still haven't bought that book but this touches upon something I have been thinking about for the past few days."What is the motivation for me to go to work every morning?" I don't want you to assume that I am indicating that it is some kind of Celestine Prophecy that made me come across this post. It is not that I am not a believer, it is just that I am not a great believer of prophecy!

Coming to what I wanted to say, How many of us will be able to give a clear answer to such a question? "What is the motivation for you to go to work every morning?" An answer with a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction.

At this point you are mostly thinking that I am either getting old or I have a lot of time at my disposal. I am not denying that, I am getting a lot more mature and most people link maturity to getting old. I don't blame you. I have a lot of time at my disposal now because I have managed to find time for what I want to do instead of doing what others want me to do.

On a serious note, I think this is something everyone should ponder about and try to relate success to something larger and deeper, something that gives a sense of fulfillment. If you are younger then that is all the more reason you do this now, because you have a longer time to define and achieve success!

A new vision of HOW requires a new way of embracing why we get up every morning and go to work. I believe the inspiration to do so lives in the thought that there is a difference between doing something so as to succeed and doing something and achieving success. I am in the business of helping companies and their people do the right things in the right way. The mission of my company is to help others and we make a living so doing. We do not help others so as to make a living. The latter speaks to a journey of intermediate gain and the former to a journey of significance, something of long-term value that makes not just money, but a difference. Significance lies in the ability to see one’s endeavours in terms of service to others, to be guided by a desire and ability to connect. In the vastly different conditions of our hypertransparent and hyperconnected world, I believe success can no longer be pursued directly, that it can best be achieved — and only achieved — through the pursuit of something larger and deeper.

A truly amazing person

2007-09-23T04:07:00.000-07:00

When I wanted to start a blog, the first thing I wanted to write was something on my mom. She was the main source of inspiration in my life, she still is...

My mom was a truly amazing person. She had an unbelievable mix of good qualities, some of which I have seen in shades in some really good people I have known over years. In fact I should say everything about her was good. The best thing she did to me was the confidence that she instilled in me. I would have been nothing without her. Right from my childhood, she gave me the feeling that I was the most knowledgeable person, the best in everything, when she had so much within her.

The greatest thing about her was that she was there for me always, a shoulder to lean, eyes to cry for me (though not in front of me), heart to pray and a patient ear to listen. She was like the Sun, my source of energy and inspiration. She still is, it is just that she is not there with me physically at the moment, like the Sun is not visible to us at times!

It took me a few years to realize that my mom’s circle of influence was too big and it was not just me who was having such a great experience with a wonderful friend. She was encompassing the lives of everyone around her, in her own humble way. She was handling so many roles with ease and always had time for every relative and friend, anyone who needed her. I have seen her as a great mom, a caring wife, a loving daughter, a wonderful sister and an amazing friend. How could someone do all this?

She was a balanced person and seemed to have unending energy to carry on people around her. Sometimes I wonder what she did about her problems! I am sure she had her own worries on top of what others like me dumped on her but she never seemed to show them to anyone. Where did she draw her inspiration and energy from? Was she an angel or some kind of a fairy godmother, a blessing for her family and friends, someone sent to earth to just make people’s lives?

One thing I realized about her was that she never seemed to expect anything from anyone. In many ways she was like a child. She lived and enjoyed every moment. She would do everything to make someone feel good, not artificially though. She was genuine. I remember her holding my hand on Westminster Bridge and thanking me with tears for bringing her upto London, such a historic place where so many great people would have trodden in the past. Most people would have assumed it was the duty of their son to do that but not my mom. We both didn’t know then that it was the last trip we would go on, before cancer would taker her away from me.

I didn’t know much about cancer till my mom passed away. Not even when she was diagnosed of cancer or when she was fighting cancer did I know the seriousness of this disease. I never realised the struggle or the pain she was going through. That was my mom. She was dying and she knew it but she hid it behind her divine smile and kept assuring us that she was fine. Whatever I know about cancer today is only based on reflection, thinking back and running through what happened. To me, this phase clearly brought to fore her courage and determination. She fought cancer, went through several rounds of radiation and two rounds of chemotherapy and even when she had a recurrence she was still the same person. Not once did she cry or complain and only finally when she realized that we had come to know of the situation did she give up. She gave up life gracefully. She lived and died the same person. Cancer or death could not change her.

I always used to comment to her that her eyes kept moving too fast. I still clearly remember the last time I saw her eyes moving. I was starting for work on that dreadful Monday and she was lying on the bed. She seemed to be asleep and as I moved away her eyes opened. She realized that I was getting ready and moved her eyes slightly and bid me farewell. Little did I realize that it was farewell really. Maybe she knew it. When I came back an hour later, she was in total peace. She had given up her fight.

A few hours later, as I turned back after seeing her for the last time before fire would consume her remains, I was reminded of Wordsworth’s poem which I had read a few years back

Have I been so beguiled as to be blind
To my most grievous loss? - That thought's return
Was the worst pang that sorrow ever bore
Save one, one only, when I stood forlorn,
Knowing my heart's best treasure was no more;
That neither present time, nor years unborn,
Could to my sight that heavenly face restore

That heavenly smile can never be restored!