Emotionally incorrect

Accidents, terror attacks, natural calamities, man-made calamities - more often than not these tragedies result in loss of human lives. There are people who live to see another day and then there are some who are not so lucky. Those who survive thank God for his kindness and then there are some who point towards their special tryst with God which resulted in their providential escape. It is understandable that these are the most natural of reactions, but somehow, one's heart reaches out to those who loose out in these battles, and their near and dear ones. While carrying guilt for being survivors in tragedies would be extreme, a certain amount of restrain in feeling alive would make it emotionally correct especially with so much of media footage streaming into every drawing room.

KM

"You can manage only what you own."

Organizations need to wake up to this fact even before they contemplate about KM. How an organization manages to increase its stake in the unstructured or yet undiscovered knowledge base can be left to their own judgement, but an actual effort towards this should be visible for individuals and communities to start un-buttoning their camouflage.

Conflicts

At the very fundamental level there are three types of conflicts

Right vs. Wrong: The classical conflict depicted in epics, mythology and folklore

Wrong vs. Wrong: Immortalized by Mario Puzo in ‘The Godfather’ and the kind which is seen on the political canvas on an everyday basis.

Right vs. Right: The type of conflict which brings in- what should I say- shades of white instead of gray. In this conflict ‘the truth’ keeps shifting with changes in the dimensions of time, events, and actors.
Cause- Differences in culture, upbringing, values, and what one wants out of life.
Effect- The most painful of all conflicts and the emotional scars sometimes remain etched in for an entire lifetime.

Ideas for a non-existent Ideal

Google Inc. will award $10 million to solicit ideas it believes could benefit the world.

I mentioned this award casually over dinner and to my surprise I found that my 10 year old daughter was very curious. I gave her a rough estimate of the amount at stake in our currency and she was all the more excited. I explained to her that we need to come up with an idea which is good for the majority of the human race.

She gave a pregnant pause and then asked – “But papa, can you tell me what is good for the humanity?”

Now, when you are asked to ideate, it’s normally towards something. In this case we have been asked to ideate towards the welfare of humanity. But, do we really know what’s good for us. All indicators from the social, economic, faith indexes point towards a negative downslide. Growth is synonym to plunder, religion to fanaticism, and social relations have been stymied to – What’s in it for me?

I didn’t have an answer to my daughter’s queries; perhaps a project which helps the administrators of the world in understanding the actual needs of the deprived millions for whom words like growth, prosperity, and freedom have a different connotation altogether is not a bad idea.

Teach India

The induction program is scheduled on the 14th of October, and I’ve been tagged with an NGO called Project 511. After the induction program we will get the details of our training program. For years together, I've always thought of giving back something, but somehow was never able to get out of the ‘me, my family, and my job’ routine.

Thanks, Teach India Movement.

Children benefiting from this movement are only one part of the story. A critical mass had developed in the society which was waiting for the right launch. It had the right intentions and the desire to make some difference but somehow was just not able to give shape to its ideas. A platform is all that was required to break the inertia. Close to a hundred thousand will get exposure to social responsibility in this movement, and I can see immense possibilities. What if just a hundred out of these volunteers get the impetus to execute the next big movement? I sincerely hope that this movement is a resounding success, because in its success lies the hope of building a nation in which the youth don’t just ideate and ask questions, they also act and provide solutions.

IT, CA, and the JV

Sep. 30 has taken a toll on life and blogging. The dreaded IT return date will not be extended this time, as there haven’t been any changes in the framework, though a one month extension has been given to Bihar & JK due to socio-political issues. IT returns- this is another area where the laws of Murphy are very active. My CA, poor soul, he starts reminding me from the month of June about this impending date, but year after year, i always manage to reach this point wherein everything has to be done on a yesterday basis.

I've been spending the last few weeks at the CA's office. The journey of the raw data to the audited balance sheet is quite fascinating. But, the problem is that i don't enjoy it even though i'm reasonably well versed with it. CA's are an amazing breed, their calm and composure even when you take a problem to them which you thought would make you poorer by a few lacs or crores (depending upon your engagement) beats me, and the best part is they always have a solution. So most of the time you will find happy faces emerging out from a CA's cabin unless some one has been caught in a scrutiny.

I'll take this opportunity to praise someone who has stayed with me all along through the rough and the smooth and has delivered unflinchingly every year. Tally. I think it's the best product that has emerged from any of the small-medium software development houses. It's blazing fast, amazingly simple and user-friendly. I still remember that it took just 4 hours to make my dad proficient in Tally when he decided to computerize his office accounts. I'm looking forward to explore the latest versions.

While we are at this thing about CAs and accounts, i'll not overlook another master tool. The JV. What's a CA without the JV? It's the master key for every problem. In the final run towards the BS it's the handiest tool. For most of my questions born out of ignorance there is one standard answer- 'JV pass karna padega'. So, pass that JV before you fail.

On Freedom and Bondage..

You believe that

The ability to satiate our desires and senses is freedom.

The compulsion to act as per the demands of the situation is bondage.

or,

The compulsion to satiate our desires and senses is bondage.

The ability to act as per the demands of the situation is freedom.

Finally it's all about our beliefs.

karmic diffidence

the waves out there call me
the tides with their
highs and lows beckon me
everday i playfully tangle and untangle
the rope from my mooorings
and then everyday i watch the canoe from a distance
what is there on the other side?
Is it not, but just another shore?

A humbling experience

I'm almost up there at the top
Somehow things automatically take shape
I know i'm far above the rung i actually deserve
Perhaps He knows best, maybe it's because of good Karma
It's a humbling experience
God is great.

Now try this

I'm almost down there at the bottom
Somehow things just don't fall in place
I know i'm far below the rung i actually deserve
Perhaps He knows best, maybe I'm still not ready for bigger things
It's a humbling experience
God is great.

Out-of-the-box thinking

We generally associate it with an idea or a solution which is more effective and radical when compared to the already set norms and beliefs with respect to the problem or issue at hand.

The focus is almost always on the final result but we need to analyze the thought process which throws up such thinking. One important aspect is that the ideator in these cases definitely have a 360 degree view of the problem at hand. He would see the problem in a different light and context altogether and at that moment he is not even concerned about the ultimate viewpoint. The final solution appears only after sharp focusing on that view a little longer.

So the next time you feel like giving an idea, ask a few questions

1) Was it spontaneous?
2) Is this the way you always felt about it?

If the answer is 'yes' to both the questions, then probably you have not even thought about the issue at hand. It was just a reflex thought born out of set patterns. Take a break. Revisit the entire situation and if possible start with diametrically opposite ideas and slowly drift back to the original idea, waiting in between, to check the probability of an entirely new solution. Of course you should learn to differentiate intuitions and gut feelings (not associated with thought) with in-box thinking to be a consistent and effective out-of-the-box thinker.

Events

Two important things happened in the last week

1) I'm a certified PMP (Project Management Professional) now. Cleared the examination on the 20th of this month and since then there is a vacuum - the type that always happens on the culmination of key events.

2) A fellow blogger of considerable repute (she has had visitors from 115 countries) has mentioned my blog in her list of recommended blogs. I'll repeat her words here for self-indulgence

Circle of Life (Rakesh. Introspective. Poetic. Passionate. To start with, I found this poem to be stunning and extremely moving.)

Coelho mentioned in one of his columns that writing is a courageous job as it's rewards are unpredictable. I just landed up with my first reward. Nimmy- thanks. In one stroke you have turned me into a serious and responsible blogger. I'll live up to it.

On Morality

The most effective contraceptive for mankind till date has been Morality.

On Inspiration

Inspiration is the cousin of plagiarism twice removed.

Hollow Spiritualism

If you read columns like ‘God in Gucci’ or ‘I AM’ in the prominent dailies, you would have definitely noticed the growing fad of spiritualism. Almost every star, actor, P3’ite, and even wannabes claim that they are no longer religious; they are all spiritual. And you start wondering what type of spiritualism they are all talking about. Is it any different from what you the Metro riding-Tiffin carrying-Spouse tolerating species perceive off, or is it something on a level which is beyond your grasp because of your material and social standing?

To start with it’s far easier to be spiritual than to be a God-fearing, principle following believer of any religion. There are no rules, no rituals, no discipline required to be spiritual and it suits….Oh so very much….all our pub hopping, gun trotting, skin revealing, two-minute fame seeking souls.

Don’t ever get fooled by all this grand talks of spiritualism, stay steady on the path of whatever religious practice you believe in and in the years to come by, you would definitely emerge as a better person if you go by the dharma of your religion whereas the en-vogue hollow spiritualism will leave you with nothing more than high levels of spirit in your body.

Your religion is a tool and technique to reach/discover the all important final destination and while you are in search of the end don’t abandon the means. The problem with that kind of pseudo-spiritualism is that you would never know when you fall from the path of righteousness. Spiritualism is not something that you adopt, its what you evolve into and I refuse to believe that we have so many evolved souls around us and that too all of them competing in that – BIG RAT RACE.

Uninitiated

How does it feel?
To see yet never comprehend,
To start a sentence and not finish,
To swallow the sudden lump in your throat,
To grope in the dark and find no one,
To shuffle uneasily in sultry afternoons and not conceive
To lovingly look into stony eyes,
How does it feel to bear life for months and deliver death?
How does it feel?

Life in the times of terror

Yet another act of terror has been inflicted upon us by the unabashed enemies of humanity. Footages of the dead and injured interspersed with interviews of key witness, the sheer helpless babble of our rulers, and the desolate faces of people who have just lost someone very precious in life keep filling in the prime slots. In a few days things will be back to normal and the media will report about the resilient spirit of the Ahmedabadis and Bengulureans just as it did about the Mumbaikars and Hyderabadis.

I often wonder whether our resilience has anything to do with the conviction of fighting out the enemy or it is just plain apathy towards the issue at hand primarily because it didn’t happen to us but to somebody on TV. In our desire to just get on with life we are becoming easy preys to these sons of Satan. And even our efforts towards amelioration have come to cipher because in our hearts we know

मुझे जो मेरे लहू में डुबो के गुजरा है
वोह कोई गैर नही, यार एक पुराना था.

Life in such times is a collage of fear, despair, tyranny, and cynicism. Is there any hope?

The world needs a dialog- a dialog between the freedom fighter and the terrorist.

Life is Elsewhere

The lonely afternoon would draw me towards the window time and again. From the third floor of our apartment the view down and towards the horizon was dull and mundane. The apartment stood on the opposite side of a row of budget hotels. Children were very apprehensive about these hotels and the men who frequented them. There were lots of kidnap and rescue stories of children attributed to these hotels. These rumors were mainly planted by worrying parents who didn’t want us to venture out on to the main road. But back then the fear was real. Our building was surrounded mostly by shanties with red tile roofs, a common feature in the Calcuttan suburbs in the 70s & 80s. Adjacent to our apartment was a two storied building which incidentally belonged to one of my classmate. Their affluence was attributed to the white owl which had appeared on their terrace on a full moon day during the auspicious ‘Kartik Maas’. Today the Vidyadagar Setu takes a curve exactly at the point where this building stood.

Down there within the empty spaces between the shanties a few children were playing marbles. Towards the horizon a Double Decker bus was slowly laboring upwards the bridge running parallel to the tracks terminating at Howrah Station. The occasional crow would call out in an afternoon that had certain uneasiness about it. Papa and mama were both busy attending my younger brother who had been hospitalized because of meningitis. At the tender age of seven, I was the master of my daily activities except for that brief interlude when Raju, the office peon would come with lunch for the day.

I would often wonder at the fate that awaited my younger brother. Once I had asked dad whether he would be cremated or buried if he died at this juncture since he was too young. He didn’t answer. Once or twice in a month I was allowed to meet mom and my brother at the hospital. He was still in coma.

On that particular listless afternoon it suddenly occurred to me that everything around me was part of some story that I was dreaming and that real life was someplace else and in some different form to which I would wake up as soon as this dream gets over. The idea enamored me; it worked as a pressure release valve.

Decades later among the din and bustle of life as a businessman, professional, and parent the idea lurks somewhere in the deep recesses of my heart and comes to my rescue whenever things get difficult.

Call me a romantic, an escapist or anything else which defines it.

But even today life for me is elsewhere.

The beginnning

The desire to write something phenomenal as an introduction, the urge to appear clever, and even the dilemma regarding as to what was apt for this medium and what was to be saved for award winning master pieces led to this delay running into quite a few months. Most of us have this tendency of dreaming and visualizing that one different thing we want to do in life, but it’s quite surprising that even the first step towards that remains elusive. We all need to make that start someday and today is the day for that wish of mine.

I wish.
I wish to write.