experiences of life

The Right Question

2010-05-09T21:15:00.003+05:30

Yesterday (08-May-2010), I was walking down the market. It seemed the same usual place, people with carry bags, shopkeepers completing their transactions, vehicle parked along the footpath.
A few meters away I saw a rickshaw wala whose rickshaw was overloaded with boxes. His sweat drenched shirt was telling a tale of the long journey he had undertaken. He was trying to pull his rickshaw over a step on the road. But, either because of the load or tiredness, he was unable to do so. After 2 unsuccessful attempts he took a break to catch his breath.
At this point I asked myself "What should I do?". My mind replied "Why should I help him?" and gave the following reasons against it:

I don't know him.
Its his daily job, he will anyway do it.
Somebody from the crowd will help him

So I had made decision to let him (or his fate) take care of this situation.
I was about to cross him when an inner voice inside me said "Why shouldn't I help him?" Without much thinking I just gave a push and got his rickshaw over the step. He turned back to see from where the magical push came but by that time I had moved on. I will never know if he understood that I was the magical force. But this small gesture make me feel proud of myself.
Walking back home I tried to answer the question my inner voice had raised "Why shouldn't I help him?" Interestingly I couldn't find a single answer. Its then I realized that asking the right questions can help you in taking decisions.

Jake

2010-05-09T21:12:00.000+05:30

Bill Andrews was a big, awkward, homely guys. He dresssed oddly with ill fitting cloths. There were several fellows who thought it smart to make fun of him. One day one fellow noticed a small tear in his shirt and gave it a small rip.
Another worker in the factory added his bit, and before long there was quite a ribbon dangling. Bill went on about his work and as he passes to near a moving belt the shirt strip was sucked in the machinery. In a split second the sleeve and Bill were in trouble.
Alarms were soued, switches pulled, and rouble was avoided. The foreman, however, aware of what had happened, summoned the men and related this story.
In my younger daya I worked in a small factory. That's where I first met Mike Havoc. He was a big and witty, was always making jokes, playing little pranks,. Mike was a leader. Then there was Pete Lumas.
He always went along with Mike. He was a follower. And then I remember Jake. He was a little older than the rest of us -- quiet, harmless, apart. He ate his lunch by himself
He wore the same patched trousers for three yeras straight. He never entered into the games we played at noon, wrestling, horse shoe and such. He was indifferent.
Jake was a natural target for practical jokes. He might find a live frog in his dinner pail, or a dead rodent in his hat. But he always took it in good humour.
The on fall when things were slack, Mike took off a few days to go hunting. Pete went along, of course. And they promised all of us that if they got anything they'd bring us each a peice.
So we were all quite excited when we heard that they'd returned and that Mike had got a really nice big buck. we heard more than that. Pete could never keep anything to himself, and leaked out that they had a real whopper to play on Jake.
Mike had cut up the critter and had make a nice package for each of us. And, for the laugh, for the joke of it, he had saved the ears, the tail, the hoofs -- it would be so funny when Jake unwrapped them.
Mike distributed his packages during the noon hour. we god a nice piece, opened it, and thanked him. The biggest package fo all he saved until last. It was for Jake. Pete was all but bursting; and Mike looked very smug
Like always, Jake sat by himself; he was on the far side of the big table. Mike pushed the package over to where he could reach it; and we all sat and waited. Jake was never the one to say much.
You might never know that he was around for all the talking he did. In three years he'd never said a hundred words. So we were all quite hypnotized with what happened next.
He took the package firmly in his grip and rose slowly to his feet. He smiled broadly at Mike -- and it was then we noticed that his eves were glistening. His adam's apple bobbbed up and down for a moment and he got control of himself.
"I know you wouldn't forget me," he said gratefully; "I knew you'd come through! Your're big and you're playfu, but I knew all along that you had a good heart." He swallowed again, and then took in the rest of us.
"I know I haven't seemed too chummy with you men; but I never meant to be rude. You see, I've got nine kids at home -- and a wife that's been an invalid -- bedfast now for four years. She ain't ever going to get any better."
"And sometimes when she's real bad off, I have to sit up all night to take care of her. And most of my wages have had to go for doctors and medicine. The dids do all they can to help out, but at times it's been hard to keep food in their mouths."
"Maybe you think it's funny that I go off by myself to eat my dinner. Well, I guesss I've been a little ashamed, because I don't always have anything between my sandwich. Or like today -- maybe there's only a raw turnip in may pail.
"But I want you to know that this meat really means a lot to me. Maybe more than to anybody here because tonight my kids," he wiped the moisture from his eyes with the back of his hand, "...tohight my kids will have a really..." He tugged at the string.
"We'd been watching Jake so intently we hadn't paid much notice to Mike and Pete. But we all noticed them now, because they both dove at once to try to grab the package. But they were too late."
"Jake had broken the wrapper and was already surveying his present. He examined each hoof, each ear, and then he held up the tail. It wiggled limply. It should have been so funny, but nobody laughed -- nobody at all. But the hardest part was when Jake looked up and tried to smile."
This was where the foreman left the story and the men. He didn't need to say anymore; but it was gratifying to notice that as each man ate his lunch that day, he shared part with Bill Andrews and one fellow even offered him his shirt.

Who came first God or Man??

2010-04-02T11:15:00.002+05:30

Does this question sound familiar? When I read this am always reminded of the famous unsolved mystery 'Which came first hen or egg?' You guessed it right, its analogous to it.
Now lets try to answer this question . The only way to do it is to go back in time. So lets have a look at all those moments in history where existence of God was mentioned.
First lets go back to 00 A.D., the era of the Christ. Many people , at that time, said they interacted with the son of God. Its all written in Bible. But one this we are sure of is that man existed before it. So this does not answer our question and we need to go further back in time.
Secondly lets go back to the age of Mahabharata. According to Indian Mythology Lord Krishna was present on earth during that time. But again we can say that man existed before him. This again does not provide us an answer and we need to go further back in time.
The next reference point that am reminded of is the age of Ramayana. There is a lot of mention of Gods and Devils in the books of this time. However the same books mention the existence of man before Ram.
No matter how far I go back in time I am never able to find a point where God existed without man. Thus the question that we started with still remain unanswered. But from all the aforementioned points I can conclude that existence of God on earth has not been without man. Other form of life don't seem to leave any trace of their belief in existence of God. I will sum it up in a single quote "People say God created Man, but I think Man created God."
This idea is still in its infancy and will explore more about it in near future.

The 360 degree leader

2009-02-22T12:39:00.002+05:30

Its been a long time since I read a good book. I am in the middle of reading a book called "The 360 degree Leader" by John C. Maxwell.

The book is about being a leader from anywhere in the organization. I came to know a few new things about being a leader. Its a good read for all those who are confused what leadership is and how to become a leader.

The biggest revelation that I came to accross was that leadership is all about influcence. And you can develop that from anywhere in the organization. You don't need to be a leader to influence someone, instead influence someone to be a leader. Another interesting thought is that people believe that once the become a leader they would influence people and develop leadership skills. However that will always land you into trouble. You don't need to be a leader to practice leadership. Instead if you practice it all along then when you actually become one, it will be a lot easier for you to handle the situation. As its said "Start now so you can be prepared when the oppurtunity knocks !!".

The best part of the book was the five levels of leadership that one can fit onself into. Its based on the reasons why people will follow you.

Because of authority : Whenever you meet someone new, the reason he will follow you is your position. But this only stays on for a little time.
Because of relationship : A person will follow after the first level, because of the relationship you maintain with him. They will follow you because they want to.
Because of results: People would follow you because of the results you have shown in the past. This is where they follow you because they think you are capable.
Because of what you do for them: If you genuinely help others in becoming better they would follow you out of loyalty. The really feel that they should follow you.
Because of respect: This is the type of leadership in which everyone wants to follow you because of what you are and what you represent. They might not have worked for you or even met you, but you represent something that they want to follow. This is generally the really high ranks in the company like CEO etc.

The author has beautifully categorised leadership into three areas:

Lead up, when you lead amoung your seniors
Lead accross, when you lead amoung your team mates
Lead down, when you lead amoung your juniors

I would first like to take up the Lead accross category.

Compete and complete your team mates: There is always competition among the team mates and thats a good thing. However it should never be totally for personal gain. Having fun in competion is the best that could happen. Whenever your team mate is in trouble and requires your help you should complete him else just compete with him.
Nobody is perfect so don't pretend to be one: We often try to impress others. This does gives us short term gains but in the long run we are at loss. If you are a people pleaser then you would always do something to please others instead of doing something that is right. You might end up comprimising your integrity. Thus its better to accept what you are and be what you are. I remember a quote on it "Don't impress others, instead let others be impressed by you !!". Be genuine and people will get impressed with that.
Stand up for what is right: Often we don't bring up a point because we don't want to hamper the realtionship with others. Again that will be short sighted view. In the long run the other person would be grateful to you for your timely advice. The golden rule for judging when something is going wrong is to pur yourself in the other person's shoes and feel if its right or wrong. If you stand up, then you gain a lot of respect.
Be a friend: As discussed earlier, that leadership is all about influence, one should always maintain a honest and good realtionship with others. Ultimately people do come back to their friends when in trouble.

Numerati : A revolution

2008-12-09T07:42:00.002+05:30

'The Numerati by Stephan Baker' is a revolutionizing book. It introduced me to some of the greatest research project going on in the world. The biggest surprise is that it is not about some product but about humans. Understanding and predicting their behavior on a very large scale.

The author starts with a project undertaken by IBM. They are trying to create a huge database of all their employees with their qualifications. Thus in future a computer will pick up team members for a new project. And since maths more often right than humans so this team is more likely to be successful. Also it will be easier to choose professionals from different regions as the database contains details of all the employees. Number crunching can help bring up the behavior of the employee. Something as simple as analyzing the contact list of all the employees and creating a network out of it, can tell us the social behavior of employees. We just need to make sense out of the data present with us.

Another of the landmark project taken up by Accenture is in the field of marketing. It trying to bring about the concept of customized marketing on a very large scale. By analyzing the data of customers and predicting if they are of any value or not. This will also benefit the regular customers as they can be given the benefits and discounts, rather than giving it to all. This will be a big boost for the company as this will help in minimizing the wastage of resources, in the sense that discounts don't reach the disloyal customer. Here is an example of how companies are exploiting the data left by us. One encounters a lot of ads, in the form of pop ups, while surfing net. What exactly is happening behind the scene? How is the ad chosen? The computer is able to predict what we are looking for by just analyzing our clicks. Its another masterpiece created by humans.

The author describes how we are analyzed and mathematically modelled in many roles i.e. as a voter, lover , terrorist ,patient, blogger etc. But for this purpose they need to collect data about us that the computer can analyze. They have devised ingenious ways of collecting data. The give us shopping id cards from which we can avail discount, but every time we visit their shop they know what we bought and how much we spend. The can predict our age, culture, budget etc by these small bits of information. There was a time when it was very difficult to know about peoples opinion and personal information. But now, by understanding blogs, this can be achieved. The impact of a product launch can be immediately seen by understanding whats going on in the blogs.

From reading that book one clear conclusion can be drawn is that this is the age of discovery. We have loads of data are now we are drawing conclusion out of it. We are now moving on from the information age to the knowledge age. But where is this heading. As industrial age was followed by information age which in turn is followed by knowledge age, what will follow knowledge age. I think we will keep on discovering many things from the data for a long time. But ultimately we will need innovation to keep us forward. The knowledge age will be followed by the innovation age.

Ignited Minds

2008-11-15T18:45:00.002+05:30

One of my new hobbies, book reading, has exposed me to yet another good book. I have just finished reading Ignited Minds by Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam.

The book lets us see India from someone sitting at the top of hierarchy. He tries to find out the solutions to problems faced by India. The best part is that he has proposed a solution at the very basic level. He starts out by telling what developed countries did differently. One of a very good point that he brings up is the people must dream big and believe that it can come true. I personally find that people don't believe that things can happen and thus don't try. This is the area where people, especially young ones, need to start. The great visionaries of India believed and that is why we remember them. A common vision can inspire and unite people to work for a better India. He follows this up by integrating religion and prosperity. One of the most interesting part of the book where he includes the need of religion in a developed India. In one of his talks with a saint he reveals that when money and prosperity are in abundance then people lose their path. They don't know how to use them judiciously. That is when religion will guide them in leading a more happy life.

At one point in the book he mentioned a new dimension to our problem. He says that we have a proper plan and required potential to make India developed but need a group of people who are dedicated to work for the goal. I personally never thought this was the problem. Another common issue is that patriotism is beyond politics. This is the type of problem that are created by people out of nowhere. They are analogous to man made problems. Recently they have resurfaced in the form of Raj Thackery and his actions against North Indians. If this thought is revealed to such people perhaps these problem can be solved.

After reading the book I was full of energy and enthusiasm. I believe that we can be developed and prosperous only if we work towards it. Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam has again proved that he is young by heart, quality of a true visionary.

A change in life: Fish

2008-10-09T12:57:00.002+05:30

Just finished reading the book Fish by Stephen C. lundin and John Christensen. Just couldn't stop myself from writing about it. But before I do I would like to thank Sanjukta Acharya, a faculty at ILP, Gandhinagar, as she referred this book to me.

The book is a beautiful articulation of the neccisity and methods of making work fun. The most important thing to realize is why is it necessary to make it fun. Adults spend most of their day in work. Aggregate that to 365 days in a year and many years after that. That is definately a lot of time spent on work. If all this time we have fun also then it would be really great.

There are 4 tools to achieve that.

The most important one is our attitude. Everyday in the morning we should choose how we are going to spend the rest of the day. The answer should and will come out as a positive one. That is where we start making a change in our day. As a famous quote from the book Fish "You can't choose the work that you get, but you can choose the way you do your work."
We should play while we work. It makes the working enviornment light. Remember that we should take our work seriously and not ourselves. Having small pranks just lighten up the work enviornment.
People around you want to be treated in a good manner. If we make their day they will remember us for long. Don't believe me just remember a person from a place (market place or workplaace etc). You will realise that in some way that person did make you feel happy.
The happiness resides in the moment. If we will be present in the moment we will realize so much happiness around us. Doing just one job at a time is the key to being presnt. Multitasking can be left to the computer, we must have some benefits of creating the computer.

All these statements really moved me from inside and I think it is worth an experiment if I try them in my work. I want to make the most of now !!!

Ways to learn Management

2008-06-21T23:12:00.003+05:30

"Management is an art of................". This is a common start of any quote relating to management. It is the most sought after carrier for the generation. But what are the ways to learn management. Is it something that could be taught or experienced. Lets look at some of the ways one could learn management.

One of the easiest way is to join a management institute and get a degree from there. I don't know whether one learns it at an institute or not, but the degree is definitely a proof that one is familiar in that field. This could be regarded as a shortcut.
Another way is to learn by experience. As one progresses in life one learns from the society and people. It is quite effective but very slow. It may take years of experience to groom a person into a good manager.
One of the best medium to learn management is self. Confused....... let me elaborate. In our day to day life we come across a lot of situations in which we have to make decisions. Many of our decisions are based on emotions i.e. how we feel about it or how it interests us. Take a simple example as whether one should study at present or not? The first reaction will be to postpone it to the last moment and then hurry through things. But if one is able to put one's laziness ( or indiscipline) aside and work according to the needs it will bear sweet fruit. Thus in the latter we put aside our feelings and thought clearly, one of the benchmark qualities of a manager. Also we were able to say no to ourself, one of the biggest achievements. If we are able to say no to ourselves then we could say no to others also, which many people find it difficult. We see that managing ourself to : (a) be more discipline (b) learn to say no (c) thinking more clearly would help us implement it with others. And thats what successful managers do.

Whatever way we choose we will end up being a manager. But the difference will be in how good one is and how smooth the path was in reaching to that point. There is an old saying that "Every things begins at home". I think its time to take it to the next level i.e. "Everything begins in self".

From stadium to...............the rooms

2008-06-13T20:05:00.000+05:30

Continuing with our amazing experiences with IPL, here is another one. IPL has done something that I thought was never possible in Indian cricket. There is no denying the fact there is no match between watching a match live in a stadium to that on a television. There are supporters of both sides in the crowd and hence the arena is never quiet. A bad moment for one team becomes a celebrating moment for the other. And the respective crowd sing along with them. Its a great treat to watch half of the supportes boo the other half. However when sitting in room, there is no such excitement. Only supporters of one team are present.
But then came the era of IPL which changed everything. Now a gathering watching a match has supporters for both sides. Thus the excitement stays on for the entire match. On every boundry there are cheers and boos. And the best thing is that it has filtered down to even the smallest of group. A family could have its members supporting different teams. Now watching an IPL match in a community hall has become far more interesting that watching a one dayer. I thank IPL to give a taste of rival audience to everyone

From 20-20 to 50-50

2008-06-12T18:33:00.000+05:30

The IPL which recently concluded, took with itself all the fun and action. Some of the non interested viewers, like me, also got involved in it towards the semis. It created a void in everyone's life. But for the cricket fans the tri-series between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh was a relief from the void. So this series was supposed to fill that void to some extent. Recently I was watching the Indo-Pak match and to my surprise found it very boring. Its just that after watching the IPL, the 50-50 format appears so slow. During the IPL one or two good overs and one was gearing up for some excitement. But here a few maiden overs don't bring that much of excitement into the viewers ( like me). Captains don't go over to the bowleres so often. Batsmen are not imporvising. The energy level of the same players in the two formats is totally different. Its true that for the cricketers the two forms of the game are equally important but what about the audience? The die hard cricket fans will be excited about both forms of cricket but those viewers who are in a dilema about watching the match will suffer. The audience on the ground will not decrease ( as they are the die hard fans of cricket), but the TV audience will definately go down the slope. The TV channel will definately be hoping that I am wrong but only time will tell.

Social audits, a gift for everyone.

2008-06-08T16:56:00.000+05:30

The latest news, about the death of Lalit Mehta ( a social activist ), is a shame for all of us. It reflects how inhuman some people have become. He was doing an audit of the NREGS in Jharkhand district which threatened the corrupt personals of their acts and he was mysteriously found murdered. And this is not an isolated case, many such incidents have happened. So how do the social activists do their job without endagering their life.
There could be a few solutions to it. First they could move in groups, thus ensuring no small group can fear them away. Of course its not their job to fight against people but the present senario demands so. Apart from that they could also take the help of the local police in accompaning them during the audits. But considering the lack of the number of police personals I doubt it could be implemented smoothly. Also the faith and interest of the police will be more important than their numbers.
The best way will be to involve the local people into this act. They can be the best resource in such a situation. Winning their confidence can really turn the tides against corrupt officials. Although, having done some social work myself, I know its a very tough job to win their confidence being new to their area. But using some local help like the teachers, can solve the probelm easily.
Now there is something that the goverment can also do here. Most of the officials become corrupt for the need of money. Now the goverment could seperate a part of the project's budget and use it to award the honesty of the officials or to those who prevent corruption by informing the concerned authorities. This may lead to more of the resources reaching the masses and at the same time benifiting the officials. But the problem again comes on how to decide the honesty of an official. And the answer that comes to my mind is a................social audit.

Switching to IT sector.........seems a mistake !!

2008-06-07T11:21:00.000+05:30

These days so many people especially engineers are going on to join the IT sector irrespective of the department in which they have completed their engineering. And I am no different than them. After spending 4 years on studying Mechanical Engineering, I am about to join one of the IT companies.
For the past one month I have been thinking "is it a mistake?". Its just seems that I have lost my identity. After a few years, upon being asked about my qualifications I would have to say that I have a bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and I am a software professional. What a waste of resources spent. If I want to do post-graduation, not in Mechanical Engineering, its tough. Have I just made my coming years in life more tough on myself, by entering into an unknown domain. Even if I have the knowledge required for it, I have no credentials to support it. My journey in the next few years will demand more out of me.
Lets just say that this is the last mistake of this kind that I commit in life. I would make sure that there are no changes in the domain in which I am working. After all its better to be master of one than to be jack of all.

Why so much money into advertisements?

2008-06-05T14:31:00.000+05:30

For the past many years we have seen a large chunk of a company's budget going into advertisements. For example the soft drink giant Coke has an advertisement budget of more than $2.4 billion.
Is this spending justified? Can't this money be used to provide better services to the consumers. Just imagine if this money is used to sell the drinks at subsidized rates, how much more happy would the customers be. Ultimately people want to have have quality services and cost effectiveness. And during the course they will have people talking about the product as to how cost effective it is. The brand will have the biggest advertising medium i.e. the customers themselves. Just imagine if the mobile service providers slash the call rates instead of investing in advertising. What else will the customer want ? In the long run its the services that matter the most to the customers.
And it is not the brands have not implemented it. We have a very successful brand of search engine operating on this strategy. Its non other than GOOGLE.
Maybe the time has come that we realize that advertisements don't get customers but services do.