Some of my friends' blogsites:
Ramna's musings -
http://ramna.rediffblogs.com

Manasij's -
http://manasij.blogspot.com

Aniket, when are you going to create yours?

Many of life's circumstances are created by three basic choices: the disciplines you choose to keep, the people you choose to be with, and the laws you choose to obey.
Charles Millhuff

No Bangalore trip is complete without a visit to Ramakrishna Ashram on Swami Vivekanand road (formerly Old Madras road). This time too, despite my hectic schedule, I visited the Ashram. It's always a pleasure to drowse oneself in the tranquility and piety of the place. I find it to be spiritually very vibrant.

This time too it was a joy to be there. It is a joy to read the words of Swami Vivekanand carved on the walls of the meditation hall. It's a joy to browse to the books in the bookshop. The library is also staffed with a lot of interesting books. (Somehow I have been to the library only once despite having visited the place so many times. May be because it's on the first floor and doesn't attract one's attention. And after browsing through the books in the bookstore on the groundfloor one doesn't feel the need to go the library).

There was one change in the Ashram this time. Two big statues of Swami Vivekanand and Shiva, respectively, have been errected just opposite the meditation hall. For some reason I didn't receive it positively. Somehow it seemed to have diluted the spiritual atmosphere of the place. The statue of Shiva immediately reminds one of Kemp Fort. No matter how beautiful the Shiva temple at Kemp Fort is, it is quite commerialised, and lacks the serenity of a temple. May be because of recall of Kemp Fort, or due to some other reason the statues seemed out of place at Ramakrishna Ashram. This new statue of Swami Vivekanand does not touch off spiritual thoughts as the one inside the meditation hall.

May be I didn't appreciate it just because it's a change from what I am used to. May be when I frequent it more I would start liking the statues. May be I just need some to get used to them. Let's see, I'll know later.

Assertiveness Training

Basic Human Rights

I attended a one day session on Assertiveness, on Tuesday. It was a useful programme. What I liked the most was the list of individual rights enumerated by the trainer (Hema Mani, HR head of SRM BU).

The list of goes as follows:

1. The right to choose
2. The right to “be” (yourself)
3. The right to be respected
4. The right to make mistakes
5. The right to say “NO”
6. The right to ask for what we want
7. The right to ask for what we need

There are other things from the training that I post can here, but these rules are the best.

My take on Lok Sabha 2005 results

Indian elections are like cricket match where the teams bat first and the winner is decided at the end by tossing a coin! BJP might have lost the toss and the match, but it has definitely scored more runs during its five years in power.

I believe it's better to perform well and lose, than to do badly and win. BJP's five years in power were the best years the country has had since independence. BJP leaders and supports should be happy about it rather than grieve over what happened. Indian elections are unpredictable. Sometimes you lose for no fault of yours. You just have to take it in stride. People will bring back BJP after they taste the deadly potion of Sonia and Leftists that they have cooked for themselves.

If a government of good people can lose because of anti-incumbency, one made up of clowns and bigots has no hopes of returning to power. Till then, though, the country will have to bear the brunt of it's follies.

Great parting words from a great leader!

"We have given up office, but not our responsibility to serve the nation. We have lost an election, but not our determination"

Great ending words from the greatest prime minister our country has ever had. An era has come to an end. Great Atal Bihari Vajpayee will never be the prime minister again. He will be replaced by an foreigner with no credentials. And with it begins another chapter of shame in the history of this great nation.

This day will go down as one of the most unhappy days of my life. I needed to hear these words to somewhat lift my fallen spirits - "We have lost an election, but not our determination". With determination, perseverence and wit, we will some day triumph and wipe out all these scars of shame.

"Brain is a wonderful organ. It starts working the moment you get up from bed and doesn't stop until you reach office!"

It's a wonderful quote and it's true for many people we meet in the coporate world. Seems like they have left their brains at home. I can understand someone leaving his heart at home - that would be a felony. But leaving your brain at home - that's murderous. Yet we so many people guilty of it. Why should blame others - I can't say that I am not guilty of it myself. Often I work like a machine - without thinking. As if I am programmed to do things; programmed to press random keys on the keyboard and stare at the screen. It's a habit I need to break.

When I was studying for my engineering degree I had a rule - never begin coding before I have the code written down in my notebook. I followed it religiously and I became very good at programming. There is always a temptation type the code and run, without thinking about all the cases. Writing it down on a piece of paper helps resist that temptation. It forces one to think about the problem from all angles. Think about all the possible scenarios. It makes the code complete and reduces errors. In the end it saves a lot of time.

Today, I no longer do coding. But the rule that applies to coding should apply to other activities as well. Often I fall prey to the tremendous temptation to open laptop and start "working", without thinking about all the aspects of work. The pressure to complete urgent tasks is so much that I don't spend time on planning. It's a habit that I have to break.

In my school and college days I was always one of the laziest guys in the class. I used to study for hardly 20% of the time an average student in the class studied. But I always outscoreded even the most hard-working guys in the class. I should be able to replicate the same at work. I should be able to work 8 - 10 hours a day and still produce outstanding results. For that I need to apply the same techniques that I used at school to my work. I have to think and plan in so much detail that the time taken for execution is dramatically reduced. I know it's possible. And it is the correct way of working.

All the things that I need to do should be listed down in my diary in as much detail as possible. More time should be spent with pen and paper and less time staring at the screen. I should use my laptop as little as possible. Many problems require long uninterrupted thinking. The temptation to hit the keyboard interrupts thinking and causes loss of focus. The best way would be to close the laptop and think for a couple of hours and then open it and finish the work in half-an-hour. I think it's possible.

I even believe that every week we should work for one full day without the computer. Spend every Friday just thinking and planning. Think deeply about the problems you haven't resolved this week. Plan what you want to do next week. Don't boot the computer at all. Do all the important work that you can do without the computer. If that's not possible because you need to refer to emails or documents then switch on the computer but don't type anything. Just read and think. No typing. If you need to take notes, use your notebook. But no typing. Resist the temptation of "working". Do more thinking.

I want to implement this model. I will do it someday. And it will be sooner rather than later.

Do you carry a camera on a vacation?
Okay, we all carry a camera with us when we go on a vacation. Who doesn't want to capture the glore of a setting sun in deep blue waters while flocks of birds dot the sky, to relive it again and again? Well, for one, I don't! Not because I don't love to see beautiful pictures that remind me of my beautiful days. But because quite often in the concern to take good photographs we fail to experience the joy of the moment for which we have travelled so far. I have seen people so anxious not to miss the right moment to take a snap that they forget to enjoy the moment. They don't enjoy the moment when they are at the scene, but later try to enjoy it by looking at 4 by 6 inch picture of the same place. On the other hand, I love to be totally immersed in the moment. I don't care about taking pictures. I don't need any pictures. The happy moments of my life are burned in my brain forever.

This is fearlessness, which is alien to my generation of cricketers and one that makes my jaw drop in awe at such performances.
- Arun Lal

India 675/5 declared. Sachin 194 not out.
"Yes, I was terribly disappointed, anyone would be when a score like 200 is around the corner. At the tea break we had decided that we wanted Pakistan to bat for about an hour and we knew we had to play positively, but I did not know we would declare just when Yuvraj fell. I thought we had a few overs left when I saw Rahul waving to us to come in. Once a team has declared, there is no point in going back and talking about anything. What's happened has happened." This is how Sachin described his feelings when Rahul declared first innings at 675/5, with Sachin at crease on 194.

I believe Dravid would have declared the innings at that point had he been at crease on 194 instead of Sachin. For a man who has always played for the country and not for his personal records, it is perfectly understandable that Rahul would think only about the team and not care for any individual's record. Cricket is a team sport and all that matters is whether the team wins or losses (or draws). Individual record can be appreciated only as long as it helps the team achieve it's objective. After scoring 675 the only thought in a captain's mind has to be about getting the opposition in and out asap. Six more runs scored off Tendulkar's bat would not have helped India achieve that. Giving the bowlers more overs to bowl to the tired Paki batsmen might have.

It is such a pity that a man who has scores of records against his name should play for personal achievements and unabashedly speak it out. As a great fan of Sachin Tendulkar, I am terribly disappointed with him.

I love to drive in traffic. I get bored when I am driving on an empty road. I also love to be in places where there is a lot of activity. Like bazaars. I love to stand on a cornor of a busy street eating a sandwitch and chai. The only thing I hate about it is unnecessary honking of vehicles. Most to the vehicles have horns that are too loud. There has to be a law that restricts decibels of automobile horns. Screeching horns should be banned. Only soft horns should be allowed. There is no reason to believe that louder the horn the more is it effective.

By the way, this reminds me - I do need to change the horn of my bike. I rarely use it because it is too loud. Some day I may have an accident because of reluctance to honk.

I want to reach a stage where I can think about my work just the way I think about having a vacation - no worries, no stress, no negative feelings. But I am far from that state. The moment I think about work, I feel an undercurrent of stress or tension. Only a firm conviction that I have done my best will enable me to reach that state. I must be convinced that I have not made any mistake, that I have never shown lack of commitment, that I have never violated my rules. Only then can I have peace of mind with regards to work.

One day in retrospect the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
- Sigmund Freud

We subscribe to four newspapers at home: Business Standard, The Free Press Journal, Saamanaa, and The Tabloid of India.

Ideas, ideals and principles should become more important than all material things in life. And also love.

I left office "early" yesterday and reached home at 7:45 p.m. (I come to office at 9:30 a.m.). The last time I had reached home before 8 p.m. was, I guess, on 27th Jan! I have been so busy last 6 weeks. And it will be so for two more months. It is surely affecting me. I think I need a short break. Even half-a-day would do me good.

shyaamchi aaee

maajhaa mulgaa hushaar naahi asa koNi mhanTla tar malaa vaaeeT vaaTNaar naahi,
paN maajhaa mulagaa bhitraa aahe asa koNi mhanTla tar malaa tyaachi laaj vaaTel.
- shyaamchee aaee madhye shyaamchyaa vaDilaanche udgaar.

Yesterday I saw shyaamchee aaee on DD Sahyadri. It is as good as any of the Hollywood classics I have seen. Excellent characterisation, first-class acting, perfect depiction of pre-independence rural milieu, and lastly, messages to remember.

So I have added Shyamchee aaee (original in Marathi, not the English translation) in my list of must read books.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
- Edmund Hillary, Explorer

Are some people more lucky than others?

A pschycologist by the name Wiseman conducted more than ten years of research to find out says a mail I received some days back. After monitoring the lives of hundreds of men and women who considered themselves either consistently lucky or consistently unlucky, he came up with the following conclusions.

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected. As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends.

Research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles:
* They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities
* They make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition
* They create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations and
* They adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good

Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:
* Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right
* Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine
* Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well
* Visualise yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call.

Luck is very often a self-fulfilling prophecy!

Again ...
Purity, patience, persevernce are three essentials of success, and above all love.
- Swami Vivekanand

Oh God! It's only Wednesday! Four more days for the week to end. I am so tired ..... but I can't give up. I have to keep going.

My two day week!

It's past 1 a.m. right now, and I am sitting in office hoping to finish today's work - rather yesterday's work, for it's already tomorrow now. These days there are only two days in my week. The first day of the week is Sunday. The second day begins on Monday morning and ends on Saturday night! This time the second day has been even longer - it began last Monday and will end, hopefully, this Saturday. That makes it thirteen days long! And it's still five days before it ends! sigh!

Oh! I think I better push off now, or I will have to wake up before I go to sleep! I'll do the rest of the work when I come back to office today. Good night guys! I hope you are luckier than I am.

Came across the following in thesaurus:

Liliaceae - Includes species sometimes divided among the following families:
Alliaceae; Aloeaceae; Alstroemeriaceae; Aphyllanthaceae; Asparagaceae;
Asphodelaceae; Colchicaceae; Convallariaceae; Hemerocallidaceae;
Hostaceae; Hyacinthaceae; Melanthiaceae; Ruscaceae; Smilacaceae;
Tecophilaeacea; Xanthorrhoeaceae

Wonder whether any sane person can ever spell, pronounce and memorize all these words, or even some of them!

Courage is the price life exacts for granting peace

This quote by Amelia Earhart, foremost woman aviator and the first woman to fly over Atlantic, actually forms the opening line of her poem titled "Courage":

Courage
Courage is the price which life exacts for granting peace.
The soul that knows it not, knows no release
From little things;
Knows not the livid loneliness of fear
Nor mountain heights, where bitter joy you can hear
The sound of wings.

How can life grant us boon of living, compensate,
For dull gray ugliness and pregnant hate
Unless we dare
The soul's dominion? Each time we make a choice we pay
With courage to behold resistless day
And count it fair.


No other quote I have heard, I believe is more closer to truth than this: Courage is the price life exacts for granting peace.

Speaking of courage, Swami Vivekanand says, "From all our vedas and upanishads if we were to pick out just one word that's more important than all others, it's abhih - fearlessness! Always say, 'I have no fear'. It is fear that brings misery, fear that brings death, fear that breeds evil. You have to go beyond all fear. So from this day be fearless."

Indeed, there can be no peace without courage. As I struggle each day towards peace, I pray I shall never fail to have enough courage.

Atomic Pun!
Two atoms sitting in a bar -
One: I have lost an electron
Two: Are you sure?
One: Yes, I am postive!
:-)

Quote for a lifetime .... 4

For seeking wise guidance there's nothing like ancient Hindu epics. Here's
one brilliant piece of advice from the Mahabharat (Shantiparva, chapter 70) :

Be religious, not bigoted;
Virtuous, not self-righteous;
Devout, not fanatical;
Gather wealth, not cruelly;

Enjoy, without elation;
Speak gently, not insincerely;
Be brave, without boasting;
Be generous, not wasteful;
Give, not indiscriminately;

Speak boldly, not harshly;
Make friends, not with the ignoble;
Fight, not with friends;
Seek information, not from the unreliable;

Serve your interest, without hurting others;
Ask advice, not from the unwise;
Praise virtues, not your own;
Trust, but not the evil;
Punish, not thoughtlessly;

Love and guard the spouse, without jealousy;
Be refined, not supercilious;
Feed delicately, not unwholesomely;
Enjoy conjugal pleasure, not over-much;

Honour the worthy, not proudly;
Serve, without deceit;
Propitiate, without fawning;

Be clever, not out of season;
Be angry, not without strong cause;
Be gentle, not to the mischievous;
Worship Deity, without display.

My principles of good life

1. Concentration
Focus on the present moment and thinking only about task at hand.

2. Self-awareness and self-control
Monitoring of thoughts, curbing impulse, awareness of my emotions, appropriate handling of my emotions.

3. Altruism
Self-sacrifice, thinking about others, unselfishly helping others, never expecting anything in return.

4. Courage
Doing what I believe to be right without being afraid of consequences.

5. Detachment
Detachment to results. Detachment to all material things - success, achievement, respect, money, status, friendship, love, etc.

6. Self-belief & self-respect
Belief that I am pure and I will triumph over all obstacles and succeed in realising my ideals. A belief that I am valuable and worthy.

7. All is for good
A belief that all that has happened is for good and all that will happen in future will also be for good. The Divine Will always prevails.

8. Disregarding future
It is always the unexpected and the undreamt of that happens. So, I should not think too much, or worry at all about future, and just work in present in accordance to principles.

9. Love
Love as the highest ideal.

10. Following the heart
Always follow my heart. As Swami Vivekanand says, "In a conflict between your head and your heart, follow your heart!"

11. Good communication
- Thinking about other person's viewpoint.
- Being unbaised
- Clarity about my thoughts
- Not being intimidated. Not being aggressive.

12. Professionalism
- Hard work
- Know every aspect of the work I am involved in
- Work selflessly for the client

Kalyan to Ghatkopar in 35 minutes!!

We hit the national highway at Kalyan at 7:10 p.m. The thought of driving at night with no street lights was not very exciting. The pain of trying to concentrate on the road while headlights of vehicles travelling in opposite direction blinded you totally worried me. Anyway, I was determined to do my best. I started following the tailligths of the vehicle ahead of me, keeping safe distance from it. As the road twisted and turned the refecltors at the edges of the road guided me safely, while a florescent white colour clearly demarcated the lane I should keep.

Before long we touched Thane. We had not taken a single halt. No red lights, cross roads, no pedestriants ... no cows either! The efficient guy at the toll naka did not waste any time and the only halt we made was a short one at Mulund signal. Although there were quite a few vehicles, the four-lane highway was big enough for everyone to move at their top speed. At 7:45 p.m., when we reached Ghatkopar, we couldn't believe our eyes - Indian roads are have changed like magic!

Change Management - Biggest challenge in software projects

Change management is the biggest challenge in software projects. Every change in an organization causes uncertainty. Someone has to take personal responsibility for the risk involved in the change. This means someone risking his/her career for the project. The person taking ownership should have the power to push through risky or controversial changes.

Teesta Setalvad figths for Godhra victims!

I was surprised to read a news item in today's ToI by Smita Deshmukh that Teesta Setalvad is fighting for Godhra victims! Piqued, I went on to read the whole stuff. Here's it in a capsule:

According to Teesta Setalvad -
* False evidence has been gathered by the prosecution against the accused
* Application of POTA for Godhra is questionable
* There is no evidence of a terrorist conspiracy in the case (isn't it for the courts to decide?)

Good! My worldview isn't flawed. Teesta Setalvad is indeed fighting for the accused ... as expected.

The article does raise one question though :-
What cumpulsions drive sane and sensible journalists to write misleading articles?
Any expert answers?

A good thought

No man should ever be looked down upon. In his own way each person is struggling towards the same end. Hence each person deserves respect.

Quote for the day - 3

"Be what you are"

Be who you are and say what you feel because people who mind don't matter and people who matter don't mind!
Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991)
Writer

Meeting deadlines & quality of work

We shouldn't compromise quality of work to meet deadlines, because when the quality of work is compromised, deadlines are not met anyway. First we have to determine how best we can do the work without considering timelines. Only then should we think of timelines and plan how to meet those with minimum impact to quality of work.

Quote for the day - 2

In a conflict between your head and your heart, follow your heart!
- Swami Vivekanand

Quote for the day - 1

Purity, patience, persevernce are three essentials of success, and above all love.
- Swami Vivekanand