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!