So, continuing with my poems, after letting Shelley romp about in my mind & heart; the first thing that probably came out was this:

XY My Dear

by sandylief

XY my dear,

Do not adhere to the fear,

That I’ll desert you in your time severe,

Like some of your other friends-

With whom I’m familiar.

I’ll be extremely sincere,

You make my life lovlier,

How can I ever leave you?-

My greatest asset, my sympathizer;

I can’t be material- words are all I have to offer;

But I understand that my words make you feel a lot heartier.

So always expect from me a long and emotional letter,

Poem is just fine- my asset is being a good writer,

Hence I can express myself lot better

Which makes my letters even more lengthier!

But I know they’ll be the promoter,

Of my feelings and your heart’s splendorl

On my part I consider it a wonder,

To develop for you a feeling so tender,

In my heart,-

Which is of a cold blooded nature!

Terrible choice of contents & words, but that's probably my first :D. Im sure you'll find subsequent ones improving. However, you can easily see how shelley pushed me, and out came this outrageous declaration of infatuation! This is an actual poem dedicated to somebody :D, which is ofcourse history & hence, now unclassified ;)

Gandhiji's heartache

This arises from a conversation between me & my friend. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation had decided to charge a nominal entry fee for Kankaria Lake (revamped). Some people opposed it & staged protests. A popular RJ (Dhwanit) on local FM station was asking people's opinion on it. A doctor who called in had this to say: " the government creates infrastructure from our money, and how dare it charge us to use it!!! Gandhiji taught us to break laws with the Dandhi Salt march. If we can create salt from the sea without any charge, how can our own government ask us to see the waters of Kankaria!"

Note the statement regarding Gandhiji teaching us to break laws! Taken out of context, this statement would make him turn in his grave!!! I don't think he would have ever thought he would be quoted in a way so as to make law-abiding citizens lawless ones! 

I always find that people miss the larger perspective of any action, and sadly we are never taught (taught, because such habits can only be inculcated with repeated teaching) to find the truth of something. 

Somebody must never have told this gentleman two facts: 

1. Gandhiji broke the salt law because the British govt. was charging outrageous tax on salt, so as to charge the poor too, and because salt was a basic commodity, leading to large revenues.

2. The government today is charging nominal fees in order to have liquid funds for regular upkeep of the property it has created. This helps create income directly from those who use the facility. I would ask the gentleman why should govt spend a part of my income for that facility when i am never going to visit it! As he will rightfully point out, that is utter stupidity, because in our system, income tax is a way of pooling money for greater benefit. However, we cannot discount those who can afford to use the facility with general funds. Otherwise, if his logic is applied, all government services like transport, water, etc should be free. Just imagine the kind of rash & injudicious use of infrastructure that would lead to!

However, the point of this post is the lesson for any person: leader or follower -

all your actions shall be judged by history, in means you have never thought of... Hence, there are only two ways to live: 

1. the cautious (rather, over-cautious) thinking way, where you first think of all possible outcomes & judgements that your action will create, before you act

or 

2. Jun's way: since all our efforts will amount to nothing in the end, lets just enjoy life & leave the thinking to those who can afford to waste life on it! This saves you from having the responsibility of any person following you. Gandhiji would have done fine with following non-violence & making a good example of it, a great actor that he was! But, i guess his mistake lies in becoming a leader & propagating his principles. The various shady ways in which his beliefs are twisted across the society would make him take back his words!

To-

This is my favorite poem since the day i have first read it..

which would be Gulmohar reader in 8th standard if im not wrong.

i was definitely in one of my infatuations then ;), but the poem has lived in the deepest part of my mind through many years & events.. I am still elevated each time i read it..

To,-

P. B. Shelley

One word id too often profaned,

For me to profane it,

One feeling is too falsely disdained

For thee to disdain it;

One hope is too like despair

For prudence to smother,

And pity from thee more dear

Than that from another.

I can give not what men call love,

But wilt thou accept not

The worship the heart lifts above

And the heavens reject not,-

The desire of the moth for the star,

Of the night for the morrow,

The devotion to something afar,

From the sphere of our sorrow?

Why am i putting up poems that are not mine? Well, with earlier pattern you might conclude that i first show you things that have inspired / touched me poetically, and then I wish to present you my poems. I hope this provides you a perspective, and relieves me of answering many genuine concerns of my friends who think i have turned "majnoo"

As i write this, i am listening to "Unchained Melody" by Righetous brothers, another of my favorites since the same length of time (OST movie: Ghost)..

You should definitely listen to it!!

Teach India Campaign - some thoughts

My experience

I recently went to the Teach India induction session. While I was surprised by the unprofessional attitude strewn everywhere in a campaign supported by a newspaper that I hold in such high esteem, a few things made me question the concept for its true value. 

The professionals who came were treated like laypeople, which was completely appalling. Sloganeering and basic instructions are meant for general public, and not professionals. While I agree there were quite a few laypersons, the organizers should have atleast done some homework & segregated volunteers on basis of their skills.

When running a non-profit campaign, one needs to utilize manpower to its maximum efficiency, to the point of exploiting it. Here, everybody was on the same table, with ideas being thrown at random, and motivation being provided by sloganeering. I would hardly be encouraged, if not thoroughly discouraged to participate. That is a fact on which Im still undecided. I would very much like to contribute to the campaign, and I do not think that the organizers can afford to provide the volunteers with any support. The volunteers better own up & support the campaign with their funds / manpower. But it is higly imperative to channel resources (read volunteers) on basis of their skills.

Skilled volunteers may be utilized for planning, phasing, curriculum development, etc. while general volunteers may go on field. It is not to say that everybody shouldnt be allowed on the field. On the contrary, the planners should go to field first in order to understand WHAT to plan for.

I found quite a few highly skilled professionals who could have contributed much more in their time, if they were not simply herded into the field with no idea of what to do.

Teach India: A wiki?

The second point that i am trying to make is that while there will be documentation of the entire campaign, it will be in bits & parts. What the organizers could have pulled off as an achivement would be to pool all the collected knowledge and post it on the internet, just like Wikipedia. The experiences of volunteers, teaching methods, course / curriculum, management and umpteen other things, when collected like a wiki, by original contributors / volunteers in their own words, would create a true revolution.

In addition, the organizers would then have an ever expanding document which they could discuss with the right authorities in order to challenge / improvise / contribute to the current education system at large. This, I believe, must be the true aim of the campaign.

I felt that the ultimate aim of the entire exercise was NIL. It may be a blue-hearted campaign, but to an audience, presented in the way it is right now, it looks just like a publicity stunt, where any layperson can gain some media time by teaching a few hours here & there. The entire direction of the campaign seems lost, and skillsets are being wasted.

The campaign does have a website, which is down most of the times, and when it is working, there is hardly any activity. I would blame the organizers, for they are hardly advertising the fact that the website is not just an information source; it is a place to interct with others during the campaign. The loss of this crucial information in the advertisements renders the website  useless for the said purpose.

Focus

The third point is that every person is skilled to handle some particular exercise / knowledge. While the campaign provides freedom to choose whatever one wishes, it fails completely to provide support in order to channel that knowledge in a way that volunteers may successfully teach it. They said in the induction program: "We are here to make teachers out of you." At the end of the session, i was still struggling to understand why I had spent 2 hours, and what had come out of it. I was only told the basic set of instructions, and told I would be contacted later to be told where I have to go. I was in no way told how my specific skill may be utilized, what could i add to the pool, where would I be better suited, and so many other questions that i had.

The organizers might allege that i could have told all this to them, but i did not find any audience, simply because they were overwhelmed with the number of volunteers; and more importantly, at no point of time did they make an honest effort to let everybody be heard. The entire question answer session lasted the length of filming, and I dont have to tell you what feeling it gave me....

While i completely respect the institution and the effort, i have seen many a campaigns go awry because of incomplete / unprofessional planning. I hope this one does not go in the dumps...

Well, if you have read the poem in the earlier post, here is one that's written by me (during my teens, when I was probably in love ;) ). It's definitely inspired by the earlier one, if not plagarized outrightly! Well, I'm not unhappy about that, it was the start of my writing skills, and I wanted to get the rhymes right ;). How I pity my THEN self now ....

I hope you like it! Please do comment...

The Spirit Of Love

-by Sandyteen

Make me a promise- that you will never desert me:

I’m not asking for your help- always just remember me;

I want your support- for my greater cause inlife:

To protect you, even at the point of a knife.

To encourage you, and help you build your world,

To supervise your path, and see that your flag is unfurled.

To deal with your sorrows- earthly and spiritual:

To slay them all, completing any due ritual.

But, if I ever perish at my duty,

Or, if time ceases our unity:

Do not weep on my grave-

Only my sweet memories forever save;

‘Coz for you I will never die;

And with all my energy I will always try,-

To keep returning to you:

As rain, water and the morning dew;

As the elements of the earth,

Or as diamonds whose availability is dearth.

As the rush of your emotion,

Or as your heart’s ceaseless motion.

As daily life at its best,

Or in vacation, as energizing rest.

As a Samaritan in your need,

Or as success in your deed.

As an angel- guiding your path,

Or as the conscience- removing your wrath.

Although I may fade away as a person,

I’m apt to continue my supererogation;

Because even in God’s court

I intend to express only one desire:

To be appointed as your angel and to inspire,

My only promise in the concluding line:

My acts will speak louder than this,

Under which I sign………

I'm supposed to have signed here, but then it must be my "LOVE" reading it.. now its just you people :P

Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep (a poem)

Its been some time since i have opened my poem collection. I found this poem in a Times of India a few years ago. Its written by an unknown soldier. It touches me to date. Have a read:

Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep.

- by an unknown soldier.

Do not stand at my grave and weep:

I am not there. I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on the snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush…

Of quiet birds in circled flight,

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there. I did not die.

Driven by passion!

morning spent reading,

fiction - dreaming!

clock shows office time,

rushing - 

bathing is almost a crime...

another busy day goes by,

without understanding-

who knows why...

work so fast,

life is aghast!

tensions keep mounting-

& fervour of work

shows no sign of dismounting..

site visits,

drawing revisions-

portfolios sent -

to potential clients!

meetings & conferences..

rule my appointments.

design so endearing

yet time,

not permitting!

i run & try

to almost fly,

cover the chores

to reach the core-

when evening falls,

& light retreats

signalling an end,

of another breathless fight..

back to my novel,

keeps my mind out of daily muddle..

perhaps,

escaping my responsibilities

running from societies..

is this hobby,

an animate lesson:

man may not be an island-

but he is limited 

only by his lack of passion!

for when i read,

i forget the world;

i forget myself,

& live the life

of characters so craftily created

by persons

not unlike my demented

SELF!

PRIZE- the epic saga of oil : An Introduction

I am writing a book introduction & not a review. For the simple reason that PRiZE is not a reader’s book. It is more like an encyclopaedia (not exhaustive though) of the age of oil. It can be found readable or unreadable by different persons. Personally, I read it like a novel, at the edge of my seat (bed, rather), longing to go home after work every night, just so that I can keep reading the saga. Inspite of the humongous size of 800 pages, it is most catching, excepting a few parts, which I deem unnecessary. The history of American oil is provided in too much depth, and at times it becomes a mere log-book, recording events without any emotion. But, except the American history, the book is most interesting, maybe because it holds international politics as its stage-partner, and dances away gracefully throughout the act!

 

The act lasts for most of the book, and Americans lead it, but they are a part of the oil-men, while the politicians form another circle, mainly middle-eastern.

 

I love the descriptive lengthiness of the book, which most may despise. I would keep it as a historical encyclopaedia, and it turns out well as both for me. I cannot even start to describe the story of oil, as it leads through the discovery & inventors, to business men and the great oil men, to politics and finally nations and the world at large.

 

The book could have a new chapter on current events, and I would have devoured it readily again! Its an endless read, until the age of hydrocarbon ends!

The daily drone....

On a hot day,

i'm working away..

my life:

complete disarray,

The disorder

underlying the daily routine

of running,

not knowing where

i go

fuming-

at everyone,

no one...

road rage-

helps

let the steam out..

A country at gunpoint,

Work at deadline-

A friend in need,

Another friend paying no heed.

I try to complete my work

& stitch back-

rest of my life,

& surroundings.

Work always undone,

Life always unkempt.

TV numbs my mind at night,

Internet-

drums rest of my life.

Am i lonely?

Or am i-

too connected?

I know about everybody,

i'm "IN TOUCH"

& yet,

Im lost..

nowhere to go,

nothing to know!

A scene too common,

A life too normal-

i wish i was -

ABNORMAL!

MAHARATHI- world class theatre!

Seldom are movies made from a play... & this one goes the right way!

The last theatre i can remember off hand was AANKHEN... A Bachan & Paresh Rawal..

The movie wasnt quite catchy, but one could imagine the kind of theatrical performances it must have delivered..

Today, i saw an actual performance, only difference being, I saw it on the screen..

The way the movie was done, one felt the characters were alive on a stage in front of me!!!

The plot of the movie is very good. But the performances are mindblowing!

One couldnt have set a better cast, & while the ladies need to do much better, the quartet of Boman, Paresh, Naseer & Om Puri swept me off my feet!

While Paresh Raval dominates the movie completely, it is Boman's sharp performance that draws the curtain! I couldn't have spent my Friday night better.

It is a movie worth treasuring... Please have a look!

lucky's sketch!

i saw the movie OYE LUCKY, LUCKY OYE after reading quite a few reviews, and hearing most. I was awaiting a movie by the director of the famed KHOSLA, but the reviewers were quite put off by the show...

I had, however, made my mind & saw it tonite. In order to clarify my stand, let me start by saying that LUCKY is exactly like KHOSLA. In both cases, the director aims to create a character-sketch of a complete set of society, not just an individual. In both cases, the director succeeds completely! For those who went to see the movie for a story a.k.a. Bunty aur Babli, they were highly disappointed! Most complained that there was no story. While I agree with them, as the movie ended, i realized: a story WAS NOT needed...

The director wants to present a set of characters, and portrays their life. If he were to weave a story, i would have been aghast. The movie ends with a hint of naughtiness, which leaves us with a smile on our face. And the very way that non-relevant parts of introduction & conclusion are handled by photo-presentation, is quite ingenious!

The very simplicity of presentation struck me. There is no set-up, in order to give the movie a MOVIE feel. It is quite like a normal person's biography, just that in this case, he happens to be a thief. 

The movie does leave a lot to be explained, like why he doesn't sell what he steals, or where he gets money to live off from... But the story is so convincing, it sets the right pace, concentrating on the person & not what he does... That i believe, wouldnt have been possible to achieve, had the director tried to show details.... Its like seeing a movie adaptation of a novel before reading the book.. I wish i could get the script & discussions of the story writer & director... 

Well, to conclude, its a carefree movie, like KHOSLA, which succeeds in showing what it aims for, and not wondering why everything else happens.... I think its worth a watch :D

PS: its not a comedy...pls dont have awfully wrong expectations

Hakitvah's Mumbai View

I am still speechless about the Mumbai situation. We have been thrown into the most challenging situations. I could figure out only 2 reasons for the terrorists to single out foreigners as hostages:

1. to show India's inability to protect foreign citizens

2. even if India resorts to no-negotiation policy, it can risk its own citizens, but risking lives of foreigners leads to unending diplomatic troubles

I completely agree with Mufaazaa when he says that we are more worried about our daily bread & butter than our sovereignity & right to life. But I hardly agree when he says that our government is not taking the right steps. I am not saying that it is acting "perfectly", as the Americans COULD do. But, I am reminded of Chechenya where the Russians tried to gas the terrorists & ended up killing hundreds of hostages along with them, many children. We have seen similar situations in many other places.

Anti-terrorist operations are too difficult to even comment upon. We can only trust our army to carry on its job, to the best of its ability. We should be ashamed to say that we cannot equip our army technologically, and yet they are ready to risk their lives for us. That, in itself, is a greater sacrifice than anyone among us can ever muster to lay down.

The politicians, the lesser it is said about them, the better. No single politician can ever have taken the right step. Why should we expect them to perform any differently now? We are seeing the effects of our long term "Chalta He" attitude. That is where Hakitvah hits me.

While I am still speechless, I wonder what it is that I could have done, that would have been able to change the situation by even a fraction positively....

I still look for answers........

Are you preaparing for exams son?

The scale of ignorance in our country cannot be measured sometimes. I have the greatest respect for all the unforunately illiterate folk, who are victims of circumstances. I just wish to highlight one of the greatest misconceptions that they have about reading & studying.

I am a voracious reader. Whenever I am free, travelling or waiting, I will be found reading. On multiple occassions I have been asked by passers-by, fellow passengers and acquanitances "Are you preparing for exams, son?"

It's not kids asking me, these are people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and well beyond. The only meaning of a book in hand, whether its cover reads Economics or Michael Crichton, is studying (as an academic pursuit). 

The very idea of casual reading (other than the newspaper, which even the most ignorant person identifies with) is absent from their understanding. More than anything, I feel helpless, that we are unable to imbibe even basic instincts to the layperson.

Another interesting twist is for those using computers. For those who see children always playing games on a computer, their standard comment will be: "Whiling away your time, eh?"

On the other hand, those who see their college going kids always working on the computer, regardless of whether the person is chatting or working, their standard comment is: "Working away, as usual..."

Mufaazaa made an intersting point about writing articles yesterday. The author should strive to provide solutions. As I write this, I have many solutions in my mind. But, the sheer scale and intensity of ignorance to which i refer above befuddles me. I am unable to come up with any solution that will assure me a widespread awareness of the importance of casual reading, using computers, and the like.

For a greater purpose.....

I recently started reading a Chomsky, borrowed from Mufaazaa. One thing that struck me was his statement: 

"In the 1930s we saw hope in slum-dwellers. They had nothing to eat, but they were hopeful of a better future. Today, we don't see any hope. They are destroyed by drugs, alcohol and the likes. Children are addicted to drugs, and involved in anti-social activities. They don't dream anymore."

This got me thinking about the importance of purpose in life. When i call my friends, who have started working, a large number of them come up with statements like: 

" Life is boring man..."

"Its the same routine everyday..."

"Just living on...."

And these are not people who have adopted these statements as their life goal. During academic life, all of them had a sense of purpose, even if it was limited to just passing through the college / school. THEY WERE DRIVEN!

& today, there is no drive. There is just a mad rush and struggle, to live, survive, settle down, bring up a family & get on with life not knowing where one might land.

Which brings me to our education system. I will not go into whether the education system is right or wrong, because i seldom agree with it, and that would deviate from the topic at hand. I do think that with the system we have in place today, competitive ranking is the best way to get children working. No normal child can sustain curiosity in grammar or integration or history over a long time, unless there is a carrot hung over his or her head: the carrot of competing with colleagues & proving oneself better than them. 

If that were not the case, we would hardly have learnt anything worthwhile, except the bombardment of comics & television on our head. We pursued ourselves to study with the only purpose of either passing or doing better than others. Else, we would have been reduced to couch-potatoes or for Rooney : football addicts.

I think this is where we & our society fails. We are not taught to create our own aims. The spoon-feeding, which is the longest in humans (of all creatures on earth) is increased disproportionately due to schools. We are taught to listen & learn, not ask too many questions and just go on the path shown to us.

Our natural sense of curiosity gradually wanes to a point where we stop caring or reacting to things around us. And the result is obvious when we are released from the school system. We have no-one to depend on. Literally! A couple of decades ago, we had a joint-family, relatives and friends to depend on. But they have been eliminated respectively by smaller family units & dwelling sizes, job-hopping & migration to other cities and global work opportunities resulting into disintegration & stressing of childhood friendships. 

All those we know are bound to leave at one point of time or other, and we are eventually left with no one but ourselves. This situation is so drastic that even the nuclear family is at stake. Touring jobs, longer working hours & pre/ post-school activities ensure that the family members never get to sit together & talk, leading to each person having his or her own personal world, and no-one to share it with.

We are genetically coded to be a social species. To be lonely is a stressful situation on most of us. & we are creating & living in a world which is doing just that to us.... making us loners.

So when we have come to this situation where we are alone, what do we do? To top it all, we don't have a sense of purpose anymore. We do not feel much for our profession or work, and we don't want to prove ourselves anymore. Why should we? The very reason that we are in today's position is because of all our achievements!

But then, there is nothing more to live for, is there? This is where the sense of purpose comes in. It has been documented by Chomsky, Wright, Diamond and the likes that masses turn to religious or political fervour in absence of a purpose in life. Imagine millions of people living without a sense of purpose, and suddenly a tragedy occurs. Any wily politician can make up facts proving that the people's ego is being challenged, and now these people have a sense of purpose!

To riot, kill and turn into religious fanatics, all for the need to have something greater to do in life!! 

I am talking extreme cases here, but they all rise from such a simple fact, lonliness. 

To come to the solutions side, I have met & worked with equally driven individuals & groups. They have a sense of purpose, be it family or be it profession. I know a teacher of mine who holds his profession above everything else in his life. Now you may dismiss that as nerdy or over-zealous, but that makes him supremely happy! He is able to work 16-18 hours a day, keep good relations with his family, earn comfortably and most importantly get a sense of satisfaction! Now i wouldn't miss that for the world, would i?

I have another young friend who would do anything for her family. To her, family is most important. The sacrifices done, the adjustments done, tolerance levels met, all make her happy. This is because, at the end of the day, she belongs somewhere & cares for her family. That is her drive! I wouldn't miss that too!

These are just two random examples. We can keep arguing about the pros and cons of each case, but it boils down to two profound things for me: satisfaction of life & happiness. They are both able to achieve that with whatever they are driven with! & as an individual, i do not believe there can be any greater purpose in life (leaving the mahatmas aside).

So i would urge all of us to have some purpose in life, even if its so small a purpose as to be able to watch a movie every week. I have seen people driven by that the whole week! If we are to just despair that we don't belong anywhere anymore, it is more a faculty of our mind, than anything else. Only we can save ourselves today, as opposed to earlier, when many people played a part in shaping our life.

Once we start believing in something, the smallest of efforts can keep us driven for long spans of time. A friend of mine wants to change professions because he thinks his profession is not giving him the drive. If he would have said that to anybody else, he would be reprimanded for the reason that his age & current life status does not give him enough room to manouvre elsewhere. But i think he is right, because if this profession does not provide him satisfaction, and there is nothing else in life that will. If he thinks the other profession can help him serve his idea of life, he should just go ahead & do it! Even if he fails, which is doubtful if he is driven, he will still have been happy the next couple years of his life trying to achieve his idea of bliss! 

Its quite simple, isn't it?

Employee Mentality!!!! (oh! is that where you work?)

The first irritation regarding MBAs being vented here, now is the time for those with the EMPLOYEE thing in them! Many a people ask me where i work, and then try to figure out if they have heard the name of the company, probing me till they give up, with an air of: Is it big? or just a start up?

GET A LIFE (AGAIN!!!!)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is neighter big, nor a start-up. It is not a company at all! It is a firm, & I happen to be a professional. Architects do not join (usually) companies. They work in studios / firms & some go on to build their own! So don't come here comparing your giant employer to our firm, because a giant employer in our field only means too many overheads & ZERO productivity!

I do not want to rant about creative fields again, so just refer to my post on MBAs for a brief on my profession. What I do want to make crystal clear is that BIG companies do not necessarily mean satisfactory jobs. Why, after asking me so many troublesome questions, do you confide after a few hours: You know my friend had this great package at this MNC, but has decided to hit it off on his / her own?

Do you not hear the sentence you yourself speak? Or are you in some kind of hallucination?

Let me point it out to you: BIG COMPANIES DO NOT MEAN JOB SATISFACTION!

That comes, & surprisingly, from within. It all depends on what kind of person you are. Truly, some companies provide a heavenly space while some are beastmasters, but it all boils down to what you want to live in: perfumed shit or true-to-its-odour shit! This is all that matters!

It is a pathetic culture where we compare pay-packages & employer names, instead of discussing the interesting things we do at work, or the challenges held out to us! The only two things i remember coming up are working hours & perks! If you give a penny to your career, you would hoot at anybody asking you about your pay package. Damn it! Have you ever considered what they wish to pay you for?

I think it is precisely this mentality that brings us down from efficient workers to job-hoppers. Im not saying that job-hopping is good or bad. But, done only for money, it twists the mind into accepting delusions of wealth. We forget our early years when we yearned to do something to change the world!

You think I'm some sanyasi talking gibberish who gives a damn about money? I am as prudent & as greedy as any of you. But, money does not sit on the top of the pyramid. In my short experiences I have learnt, that where there is a raging fire to work, money does not stop flowing. It is our choice, whether we run after money or quality? I, along with many of my colleagues, have experiemented with so many facets of work: pure money, academics, challenges, etc etc. & I have found that even if I'm choosy enough to pick only what interests me & then do with a panache that leaves everybody spellbound, they are driven in hordes for the services we offer.

& this, I have seen, not just in my field, but in most professions on earth. Wherever I have read of business tycoons, they have talked of the need to show their skills, not earn wealth. Wealth has just flown in with all their achievements. We are all aware of this. Yet, sadly we fall for the petty talk on who's getting what & who's working where.

I hope our generation gets its priorities right. If every person were to pursue ONE dream, i count about 1 crore dreams for each generation (at least!) in our country! Even if 10% succeed, that is 1 lac dreams realized, one lac more business opportunies, one lac new ideas & so on!

Ideas have eternal (not just immense) potential to churn money as a bye-product, just earning money is like plucking the bananas for the peels and giving away the sweet fruit to others!

Obesity!

Source: Mark Bittman

OBESITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The image says it all: 

The new evolution of man

NEXSTEP

Apropos my previous blog denouncing the MBA's view of the world. Re-reading it later, I found that there is a danger of being labelled as somebody who doesnt believe in diversification of skills, multi-tasking & most unfortunately, believing every human has but one kind of job.

I am completely against that phenomenon. I think everybody must have multiple skillsets in order to survive the ever-changing world. My earlier article reflects on the difference between one kind of profession & the other. An engineer might become a technical manager, but he may not do an MBA and change his profession.

Each profession provides such an immense variety of fields & specializations today (& that too, formally) that one can never go out of job even if one stream dries out!

I can speak for my profession. An architect, with additional learning & experience can become a graphic designer, product & industrial designer, animator, sculptor, artist, etc. In short one can try any spatial skill. But he or she can hardly try to re-articulate oneself for a future in administration or finance. I also believe in the same thought that an architect can never become a planner (policy based). Here, I am making a very crucial difference between a planner & an urban designer. An urban designer has spatial skills, while a planner has policy skills. Both use each other's skill set frequently, but will never be able to do each other's work, unless supported by experience.

If one takes an analogy of the above example, it will be very clear that both have millions of avenues available to them in their broad profession, but cannot intersect with another, completely different one. As humans, we take up many roles daily, being managers, workers, creative geniuses and even labourers. But that does not mean we can diversify our acquired knowledge & passions (if we are, in fact, passionate about our profession) into another one & claim that it is the next step in our life.

If i were to see an engineer in the next step, one could move from the field to the factory, to managing & installing a factory project, to research in advanced materials & future of engineering & finally to some invention itself. Ofcourse, this is just one of the many ways of advancement available, and all along it one will need to deal with many management, negotiation & financial skills. But if one loses sight of the ultimate goal & diversifies into others, i believe that the person has given up on the basic expertise at some level. 

Again, it all depends on the person. If one stops believeing that his or her current expertise is not intriguing enough, all the crap above does not matter!

My only advice for all those clamouring to get into one of those MBA institutes is to question oneself first. I am dying to be proved wrong, since i cannot understand how so many educated young people can fall for such a fallacy.

And the whole point of this article is:

As technologies increase exponentially, each field churns out many sub-fields & micro-fields. Our basic college education hardly causes ripples on the surface of this ocean. It is for us to delve deeper into it. There come many a trying moments: recession, lack of demand for a specific field, etc. But no basic field can ever be completely redundant. It will always have developed another facet, along with the changing world. We have been lucky enough to have obtained college education in a country where even basic education is not addressed. We should be very thoughtful of not just that boon, but also of the fact that we have already spent 4 years of our life in that field. 

Each field has immense potential which is only lying to be explored. There can be no end to invention, evolution & ingenuity. If we only allow ourselves to be fired by the passion of our professions, I don't think we can be stopped by any hindrance the world may offer us. In doing all this, at no point does money become less important. But that should not dictate our life. We should atleast put ourselves higher than animals who live to eat & eat to live.

In conclusion, the NEXSTEP is about acquiring newer & more complex skillsets within our profession, becoming unique persons without whose expertise our profession cannot advance. It scarcely lies, as Mufaazaa quoted " the blind craze for boardroom suzerainty"

The best lessons are learnt on the field & not in the cosy seat of the office!

US slowdown

The US slowdown & the effect on the world is explained in layman's language at Shyam's column. Thanks to Rishi for sending the link to Shyam's blog.

My postscript:

In fact this points to a larger problem of speculation in general, that is eating its way across the world. Lehmann speculated earnings & sold CDOs based on that. But what we dont understand, just because it comes from the giants, is that speculation is, after all, a form of gambling. You are no better than in Vegas, and outta get your hand burned once in a while. 

When gambling you need to be smart to place your bets, same goes for speculation. Lehmann committed the grave mistake of falling for its own game! 

I can imagine if the bartender drank @ his job everyday, where would he land?

I am yet to form an opinion on whether speculation should be allowed in India or not. We are still debating that as a nation, while each day a new kind of commodity exchange comes up.

I met a few of my school friends a month ago. Quite a few of them were into commodities like gold, spices & what not! What hit me was that they were just trading & speculating for profit. While I don't necessarily agree or disagree with their job profile, I wish to point out that speculation in general doesn't look too much on the right side to me.

I can't imagine bright shrewd people wasting their time ONLY earning money by speculation & not contributing to anything except wealth creation. Wealth is not the end, it is the start to create things, explore & evolve the world. If we are to keep haggling (the old term) on existing resources like oil, gold, spices, every food, I dont think we are doing much for securing them. In fact, we are artificially creating a bubble (as shown in Shyam's example) & forcing others to either join or perish.

The time has come where the financial system is falling into itself, not because the commodities that it relies on are wavering, but because the complex web of fantasies (this word is better than speculation, speculate my foot) the financial world created around itself, coming to a point where you dont even need to actually see or physically move the commodity that you have bought, is so dumbing a form of currency trade, that it defeats the purpose of having a currency. 

Currency was invented to give a solid platform to compare things, avoid barter & have some future security against selling perishables. Imagine that basic concept being applied to the financial world & then multiplied millions of times over! In the end free-riders rule the stock, because to even unearth them, will take so much effort, that it is better to let them off & hope that others wont follow them!

More on free-riders later.

Coming back to US slowdown, I think the world deserves the slap on its face for creating a rotten-since-inception concept & then letting it prevail for such a long time. I look at the share market where all companies are showing profits, yet speculation is taking it to half its potential (as it took it to double its actual value). No one stops their business for hagglers. They can keep shouting themselves hoarse on the floor all they want. The wealth created is ours, by our bare hands. They have no right to squander it away!

MBA (masters in bothering all)

I have never understood this MBA fever. 99% (save my dear Mufaazaa) of people who are either applying, doing or has passed out of an MBA college ask me: "Are you going to do MBA?"

OH DUDE COME ON!!!!!!

Its not the license to live people. Of all things, dont they teach you at MBA college that MBA stands for Masters in Business Adminsitration!! If administration is what i wanted to do, i would not have spent 8 years of my life in a creative field. Agreed MBA is a ladder up in MOST workplaces, though i dont know why. But in the creative field, ingenuity & experience are all that matter. Rest all is silly stuff. 

Lets delve a little deeper into this MBA phenomenon. Every engineer worth his / her penny is dying to do an MBA. Guys, if you were intersted in business mangament, why didnt you just do BBA? (like my dear Rooney, salutes to him). Oh no!! BBA!! thats so uncool! Engineering is cool stuff! 

& then? Are then what, an MBA. So you first learn some techspertise & then go into MBA & shoot off 4 years of your hard work! I think its HOT!! RAGING HOT!!!

Neways, please dont even start telling me that in this multi faceted world, engineers need tools to manage people & vice versa managers need to know technical stuff. That was yesterday. We are going into super-specialty fields!

Awareness & learning are two different things. I completely agree that an engineer turned MBA would do great stuff in a managerial position at a factory, but hey, even a  person with 5 years of engineering knows what to manage. The charm & the art lies in being shrewd enough!

Coming back to my field, we are in the business of creativity, and the greatest problem is to sell it to (Un)willing buyers. Well if we didnt know that was to happen, we would be sitting ducks!

So all the stuff you MBAs talk about is embedded in us the day our first client kicks our butts & the day we have to haggle for our consultancy charges. So dont come about here asking me if im going to apply for an MBA. If you need one of those, I can darn well give you a crash course in managing people, clients, life and what not! You dont need a stupid piece of paper telling you that you can ACTUALLY do all that monkey business!

I dont mean to disrespect my fellow friends & acquantances. But dont look at the world through the glasses of MBA crap. Theres waves of people out there, naturally adept at what you have set out to learn. Please respect that. & more importantly, NEVER EVER  question experience based learning to you 2 years in hell. 

If you are not clear as to what purpose your MBA will serve you, get yourself TWO options only: Ask those who know what to do, OR leave the damn thing alone. But of all things, dont go on propaganda mode asking everyone around you to do MBA. Its not the 12th standard degree which is a must to get elsewhere!!

When will we break free?

Are we free?

What is freedom?

What counts as important in our life?

Mufaazaa laments the death of emotion in modern India. How can we be indifferent to a massacre of 2000 persons in a span of a few days? I do not deny our current self-serving attitude, but I always like to put things in the larger perspective. & I began to dissect Mufaazaa's essay for the same inherent explanations.

Punjab burned in 1984 for two people who killed our Prime Minister. There was no logical connection between the killer & the responsibility of his community for the death of Prime Minister. The backlash was politically engineered to distract & gain sympathy. The revolt to the backlash was even greater, making a CAUSE of injustice to the community. 

The same thing happened in Kashmir (& still happens today). In Eastern India, the states have separate laws which give the military sweeping powers. I doubt if they can even be called as democratic.

In the middle of this all, 2000 Indians in a progressive state may just be lost in the crowd, if the media gave equal coverage to each problem. I agree with Mufaazaa when he says they have a fish-eye view of the world. What is served to us, is only our own imagination?

Even if I don't touch philosophy, does one expect the rich to give up all his / her hard earned or inherited money to feed the poor? There is no such obligation, & yet we have Bill Gates & Andrew Carnegie vouching all their wealth for development.

There is an interesting folk tale:

A devout poor person used to circumambulate  & pray to God Shankara everyday. Goddess Parvati asked Shankara one day:"Poor fellow prays to you everyday, why dont you make him rich?" 

Shankara replies:"It is not in his destiny to be rich."

Says Parvati:"i do not believe you"

So Shankara decides to put a bag of gold on the poor guys prayer path. But the very same day, the poor guy thinks:" Shankara does not seem to be pleased with my prayers. From today onwards I should make ambulations with closed eyes."

& hence, the guy goes about his prayers with his eyes closed, not noticing the bag of gold kept for him.

My point is not that destiny exists. That would be a joke!

We see what we think is true. Shankara was pleased with the poor guy, but the guy thought he was not. This thinking & cross thinking only leads us to negative results, which have been adequately highlighted by Mufaazaa.

I wonder if we are free to think what we want, what we like? If we feel strongly about something, are we free to do more than just voice it? not free as in allowed to do it, that we are?

But do we have the guts to stand up for our viewpoint & prove to everybody by our acts that this is the right view. 

Which brings me to my next question? Should every individual think about everything? I used to belive that one should be proactive everywhere. On the surface it may be true. But its more like being jack of all trades & master of none. 

Dont you think it would be better to master one issue, one complication on the earth & go about solving it with so much energy, anger & resolve; that we cannot find a good night's sleep until we have achieved the solution to our satisfaction?

The other side of this is that there are too many events happening around us, that are beyond our understanding, not because we are dumb, but because we do not have the time to investigate the truth. In absence of availability of truth, does a second hand opinion of so called experts, or anybody else matter? More importantly, even if we knew the truth, what good would it be unless we are able to do something about it?

At no point am I saying that ignorance is bliss. I revolt at the sign of ignorance in people. I mean to say that each person is capable of taking only one load, & if he or she does it to the best extent, there could be a slight chance of perfection!

The third question asks us our priorities? Are we responsible enough earthlings, forget even citizens of any particular country, to behold our ideals & live in harmony with everyone else?

Or does our daily toil take out our energy reserves to a level where we are too helpless to even think of the state of the world & what our contribution or actions may be doing to it?

An ode to Amdavadi Autumn

This poem is inspired by all my classmates from around India who braved the Amdavadi autumn heat for their convocation!

An ode to Amdavadi Autumn

Days are hot,

Nights cold;

Autumn in Ahmedabad:

On the roll...

Blinding (sun) light-

Chilly night winds;

Sweating all day:

& shivering at night!

City of contradictions:

Ahmedabad is:

Inspiration I realize,

Climate gives!

Balance of opposites,

Each taking its turn.

Harsh environment:

Keeping everyone on the run!

The day shows mirages-

Wind whisltes at night.

Stillness of the day

Killed with vengeance

As darkness comes to stay.

Nature makes me run

Stillness is no fun.

As long as I'm in motion:

Breeze ventilates me

In the sun.

If I stop-

Heat takes over;

Beads of sweat

Threaten a downpour.

These are lessons

In speed and agility,

Sharpness and flexibility;

Ahmedabad teaches,

I'm still learning!

New-entertainment

I am probably writing this gheesa peeta topic. The new entertainment of our age are the NEWS channels. They bombard us with the same news all the time & give us our penny's worth of time pass. 

Gone are the golden days when we used to find our solace in reading Wordsworth, Munshi Premchand and the likes of them. Now, we sit in front of our great Idiot Box (who has undergone radical slimming cycles) and look....

At what? anything that seems to occupy satellite wave-space. We do not care whether its someone's personal life being splashed on TV or whether its someone's death being announced. Every news is just another piece of ITEM to us. 

& why are we so? We are so busy with our lives, that we really do not care. We watch the news, just because we feel guilty of NOT CARING about the world. & hence, we see, we discuss, we gossip, call up people & feign interest. 

But, at the heart of it, we are still just passing our time. When we go to sleep, we neither care, nor want to deliver on any issue. & this brings us to the larger state of our nation: IMPASSIVITY.

I am guilty of being an Anglophile to some extent. BBC news has been providing quality programmes as far as my memory goes. They do not bring up "Ganpati drank milk" and "Recreation of a rape / blast / accident". They just show the news & move on. Rest of the airtime deals with news too, but news that mean something. Our desi channels have yet to learn that NEWS does not mean showing ONLY the breaking clips. It also means, making sense of it (yes, there are those programs, but then..how many are they?), creating documentations on it & showing them. After the Iraq war, BBC showed a documentary of the entire war, with its different angles. I don't think our channels have done anything more than hosting talk shows where they call the politicians & citizens, and arrange a cat-fight.

How long will they take to understand that one cannot move ahead by showing exotic clips? If quality is a parameter, i guess our news channels are guilty of shooting in the dark?

& oh yes, 177 died today in some hill in Rajasthan, as Chief minister of Maharashtra announced 5 lac compensation for bomb blast victims in malegaon, while our cricket team gets ready for yet another unending series, and Abhishek Bachan says hes a cool young man while his father was the angry young man. 

You just read the top headlines shown some time ago, in about 20 seconds. Make sense, anything? Now imagine these guys showing the same headline every half hour for the next 2 days!! Some news, eh?

Mindgames

Its been some time since i have found the solace to write.. the essay took up all my energy last week... & now back in blogbusiness..

I have been reading Mitch Albom: Tuesdays with Morrie followed by Five People you meet in Heaven. 

I always thought I wouldnt much like to read spiritually elevating books. But then my dear friend Doc introduced me to Albom with For one more Day  and I have been hooked. Also Jun had given me Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance and then suggested Lila (which i shall read shortly). I have found all these books quite vocal in their thoughts and messages.

I do not want to review them, for they can only be understood and read when one is ready to accept their train of thought. Else, they will seem either gibberish or too soft. 

One thing that has struck me: One always values more, what one never achieves. 

I speak this in context of our current life, where we always run after things, and take them for granted after we have attained them. I talk not just of work, academics or materialistic things. I feel the same equally about relationships: friends, lovers and even family.

For those who are away from them, lost them or are separated from them, it is an exercise in patience, a daily tearing apart of the mind where lonliness only seems to increase the dark feelings. 

But for the things we attain, we quickly set our goals on the next thing, and forget that we must relish our achievement first. We should be quick & elastic, for the world today demands it. But one cannot be carried away by everything that is the trend today. After all, general opinion is seldom right. 

I have had a few achievements lately, but I have not found the excitement in them that I should have. I realize that they seem futile or irrelevant, not because they were too fickle, but because I accepted them too soon, and moved on to the next step. The new battle takes up all my energy and leaves me with little time to remember that I have recently done something to make me and all my wellwishers proud.

When I reflect this on the general world stage, I find it true for all things. Not just work, I may take some relationships for granted, not realizing how hard the other person is working to maintain it or to keep me supported. I may ignore my friends, because I know they will be there when I need them. I do not share time with my family, because I think I am doing something too important to waste time in the smaller merriments of life. 

But when I look back, I think I am missing the big picture. Who will share my achievement, who will laud me, who will keep me floating when I am in trouble? I feel taking all these people for granted is the bane of our modern lifestyle. I remember the earlier days, when we used to share each & everything with friends, family & those we love. Today, we are running too fast to even reflect on our actions, leave apart sharing our life. 

& from here, when i move on to the next stage of what is it that I strive for? I realize that I strive for all those things that I do not have. While I have stated above that one need not do it, as one can be happy with what one has, this other feeling has a distinct angle of its own. I recently saw this ad for an insurance company which I will try to describe:

A long haired college youth is walking on the road and sees another dude on a huge bike, which he would like to have. The biker then sees a girl behind another guy on a plain bike, female company he does not have. The girl on the bike sees a young mother with a child, something she yearns to be. The young mother sees a bald rich man buying an expensive piece of jewellery that she wants for herself. The rich man buys the jewellery and sits in his car. When his car waits at an intersection, the long haired college youth passes by and the rich man longs for such well endowed hair growth.

The story is familiar with our life, and it struck a chord with me. We always respect what we do not have, and forget what we have. So, if we are so incapable of changing ourselves to NOT enjoy what we have, should we then leave what we yearn for most, unattained? 

Will getting more money make me happy? or should i be poor & rather keep my respect for every new thing that i buy with each hard saving?

Should I ask the girl of my dreams to marry me? or should i never attain her? So that i always keep my love for her intact, and never take her for granted, because achieving her may make me get used to her in some time.

Will making more & more friends keep me company? or should i NOT make any more friends, so that i always respect & give importance to those I already have, in effect forming a closer bond with my pals.

I can ask many such questions about life. If you see them as objectives with only YES or NO for an answer, you will not agree with me. But if you take your time to reflect on them, you will come to understand how we value things, relations and life in general today. 

We only value what we DO NOT have. I would like to change this perception and find happiness in everthing we have or keep having, because the way forward is always the right way. But, unfortunately, if we are unable to change our current mindset, I would say (rather offensively) that we do not deserve to move forward. And, that we are better off valuing what we have.

I don't want to end up a bald rich potbellied man yearning for a dense patch over my head. I would rather have a luxuriant growth, no belly (because i work hard) and be dreaming about how she would feel when I gift her that piece of jewellery! (Reference to ad above) What say Mr Mufaazaa? hair or head? ;)

www.sandylief.blogspot.com

Amateur vs professional...

I saw a teaser of a movie called 'Hello' based on Chetan Bhagat's 'One Night at the call centre'. I have read all three of Bhagat's books and found them descending in order of quality of content. Now, Bhagat fans (maybe Mr. Mufaazaa) will want to disagree with me, since now we are conversant with his style, while his first book may have read as a fresh style.

I have started writing recently (I am NOT even starting to compare myself to an accomplished writer /pro) and I have found an important difference in writing styles.

While, writers today resort to callisthenics in order to make their book more saleable, i, as an amateur can write what i want, the way i want and still be free of wanting to sell my words to the readers.

To elaborate my above statement, Mr. Bhagat probably wrote the first piece from his heart, since he was not much bent on selling it, as he was on writing for the fun of it. As he has written successive books, his style is more leaning towards Bollywood scripts, with heroes & villians, struggles of life (as if we dont know how to read characters), and a host of other happenings in normal life which he wants to include or identify with.

In order to cater to a wider audience, I believe he has lost the original audience, who read his book for its maverick style of " I WILL WRITE WHAT I WANT, READ IT OR CHUCK IT... THE HELL I CARE!!"

His latest book is more like Iqbal married to Parzania married to Discovery channel documentary on Gujarat Earthquake (including spicy interviews of victims)...

I read through it only because I was desperate to start reading novels again. Ditto, with the earlier work on call centres. I still think everything is spicy & fine (although not as good as his first work) till he puts God in perspective. All hell breaks loose in later pages as the call centre turns into a terror cell for Americans. I can scarcely believe all this is written by the same author who penned the first book.

So Mr. now-writing-for-Bollywood writes for the intention of selling.I couldn't help do some book bashing to prove my point which follows:

I think Mr. B is justified in his style, if we are to put ourselves in his persepective, where he is under pressure (now) to sell his work to a larger audience and also earn from it. Where amateurs gain, is that they write for the fun of writing (me now & him in his first book). We write from our heart, as we want to convey something, rather than sell it or gain something by writing it.

So, in retrospect, maybe amateur writers are better off at some level, in writing from the heart. While i will be largely proved wrong by a plethora of professional writers if my statement is taken as a generic stand on professional vs amateurs, my point holds true for first time published writers who want to continue it as their occupation. We cant lose track of our style, just because we need to cater to different people. We should in fact be proud (and maybe even arrogant) about our style, while finding alternative strategies (advertising or fancy packaging). But, i still believe those who read the first book with fervour and found it intersting should always be our target audience. 

Happy writing...

THE BETA SYNDROME part 2

I just saw a piece of news that supports my BETA syndrome theory. As i start to write this, i do not know whether ill end up giving just another example of the BETA syndrome. But, i hope to achieve much more than that. 

A piece of news being followed by a news channels (with their so called consumer surveys, interviews & the likes) is about CALL DROPS on cellphones.

So why do calls drop? It could be given to many reasons:

1. Over crowding of spectrum, more users & less bandwidth

2. Less cell sites by cellphone companies

3. Still unfathomable spaces in current cellphone technology, like basements, elevators & high-rises.

We have started living with this CHALTA HAI attitude when our cellphone shows limited or no signal in basement parking lots (which i believe are spaces needing most connectivity due to their exponential increase in size recently), high rises (how do i call a fire brigade?) and elevators (ah, need i say more...)

So the most critical spaces are NOT being covered by our cell sites. These would also include most hilariously, highways with less traffic, and remote villages.

So, in short our great cell companies have a vendetta to advertise their product as purely urbane & having functionality limited to general gossip, and sports a NOT TO BE USED IN CASE OF EMERGENCY tagline.

We all know how safe & connected we have become with the cellphone revolution in our country. We can call anybody (literally) at any time of the hour from anywhere (almost).

I have used the cellphone successfully in remote locations on the way to ladakh in 2004, when these things were seen as a wonder. 

So, what has it got to do with BETA syndrome? & why am i lashing about cellphones with my head in the sand?

if we are to look at cellphone technology, in theory, it is meant to go through walls (not multiple walls though) and provide us seamless connectivity. But, it fails due to higher spacing between cell sites or network traffic. So, while i cannot say about other countries (but hearsay is similar to ours, so im not india-bashing), the companies are so eager to launch their product that they do not test it completely. I agree it is virutally impossible to test all places before releasing cellphone technology. But there are other ways, companies could just turn out with schemes which ask customers to report places where signal is weak or not available, and in return they get a token gift (which is useless most of the times). 

Just using customers as their testing personnel, companies stand to gain a lot. Im not saying they will be able to wipe out the inefficiency of technology, but they will atleast come across as a pro-active organization, which is ready to accept the drawbacks of its product, and do the needful in order to serve the consumer better. 

There is hardly anything like perfection, but then, one can always create a positive image by trying hard..

While there are other ways of tackling this problem where a regulator fines the companies for such deficits, i think it is taking the point to the extreme. Yes, in the interest of maintaining their consumer base, the company can give discount plans to consumers facing recurring problems!!

Anybody out there, listening?? .... oh damn:

LIMITED CONNECTIVITY- emergency calls only