The nicest and safest place in the world!

What is the safest place on earth? This was the question i was mulling as i saw pictures of Muammar Gaddafi being dragged out of a sewage pipe and given the treatment that isn't different from the ones meted out by him to most of his opponents for the last 4 decades.

With due respects to the departed soul, i was giving myself a dry smile at his very "karmic"ally apt last words 'Don't shoot me". Do you need any more proof that "Time is great leveler"?

I would not disgaree if you call him "mad dog from the middle east" with a nauseating sense of dressing, usurping power with a single tool called "merciless elimination of dissent" and who ruled with an iron hand on the foundation of nature's oil reserves. But my memory of Gaddafi from my college days were firmly rooted in adulthood jealousy when i read about his female virgin body guards :). His quotes like, 

"Were it not for electricity we would have to watch TV in the dark" 

"A woman has the right to run for elections whether she is male or female"

were quite revealing and inspiring in making me realize that nature isn't entirely logical and it can endow power and wealth to absolute merciless morons like Gaddafi. Then nature started revealing more such morons exist in the world like Dubya Bush and i think i am quickly reaching a stage where nature is suggesting that vast majority of our world leaders are rooted in ignorance, idiotic and dogma driven without any trace of logic and rationality in their genes.

The Gaddafi's clips on screen led me to recollect the images of Saddam Hussein being pulled out of a underground pit and hanged but the ending was a shade more gracious than his African counterpart.  

News of Jaya being questioned in Bangalore was also noticed by me on the day. A trial for 66cr, has been going on for the last 15 years and with more than 1500 policemen deployed for 2 days and the cost of just these 2 days should be more than 25 lacs to the state. I am sure by now the overall cost of trial is more than the tax from the wealth that could have been realized. 

Irrespective of country, creed, religion, and nationality, corruption has attained the qualities of god - Omnipresent and Omnipotent. With most of our leaders being mentally corrupt usurping power and wealth without any limits, but all the accumulated power and wealth does not provide the safety and protection when the time is not on their side. 

Chanakya in his "Chanakya sutra" says "Stinking riches are not possible without evil" 

(नास्त्यपिशाचमैश्वर्यम् । - nāsti apishācham aishvaryam)

So coming back to the question i started this blog with, what provides safety against the vagaries of time and life? This is not just for our leaders but for all of us in general. If enormous Power and wealth does not seem to provide that safety consistently, then what provides this safety.

Then i read this old email accidentally which said, the most valuable places to be,

"The nicest place in the world to be is in someone's benign thoughts

The safest place in the world to be is in someone's prayers"

Be it Saddam or Gaddafi or Bush or most of our leaders neither existed in benign thoughts nor in people's prayers. I understand that there cannot be a sweeping generalization and the argument that a person can never exist in everyone's prayers.

So, the next question i have, "Is there a easy way to be present in everyone's prayers that gives us an affordable ticket and visa to be on the safest place?'.     

I don't know the answer to this question but thinking logically about the “Law of reciprocity of nature” or you call it “Law of Karma” which states that "As you sow, thou shall reap", then the easiest way to be in the safest place / in everyone's prayers is to have "everyone in our prayers". So the trick seems to be,

For a healthy life, pray health for all, 

For a wealthy life, pray wealth for all

For a prosperous life, pray prosperity for all

For a safe life, pray safety for all

For a peaceful life, pray peace to all,

To be in everyone's benign thoughts, be benign to all

To be in everyone's prayers, pray for all!

2 aspects of this concept is concisely captured as under:

• தீதும் நன்றும் பிறன் தர வாரா - Theedhum Nandrum piran thara varaa (Translitt) (In Tamil it means Good and bad things to you does not come because of any one else but because of your thoughts and deeds only.)
• Shreyo-bhooyat-sakala-Janaanam (In Sanskrit, it means may the whole humanity be blessed with excellence).

From time immemorial nature has been teaching us the same lesson with many characters Ravans, Kamsas, Hitlers, Gaddafis, Saddams et al, and that does not seem to register with us. Guess, we shall continue to do what we would and nature would continue to teach us what it should!..

I am signing off wishing you and your family a very happy Diwali. 

May the festival of light help us lit the light within.

Happy reading!

Floating in the field of thought forms....Part 1/2

Part 1/2                    Part 2/2


We are also what others think!!!... this is predominant thought that drove me write this blog. If you are interested then check this out.... 


Our thoughts follow our passion or desire and our energies follow our thoughts. Hence we are what we deeply desire. Many of us understand the power of thoughts but fail to understand the consequence and negative side of living in a society. 

Each thought, it is said, comprises of a thought wave and a thought form both of them essentially a blended function of "thought-emotion-energy". It is explained that a thought wave and thought form is technically different but has the same root, hence we will ignore the technical difference for the time being and consider them as one.

It is told that each of us create as much as 60000 thought forms in a day, which essentially means about 40 thought forms a minute. These thought forms can be considered as a small energized "Thought - emotion" packets floating around us. If they are powerful enough they can be directed to specific individuals or they can be absorbed by other people.

Now unlike magnetic poles where "Opposites attract and likes repel", here in the case of thought forms "Likes attract.". This means if i am emanating some kind of thought form say lust or devotion, then i tend to attract similar thought forms from the surrounding and so you do from me.

This sounds very simple and straight but what blew my mind off is the following:

• If each and every one generate 60000 thought forms then in a office of 1000 people we generate 60 million thought forms in a day.
• Fortunately or unfortunately most of these thought forms weaken and get destroyed in a matter of hours. Some of the strong and persistent ones survive and travel across. If its strong enough then it is told that it can travel anywhere and reach any one. Thats where the power of thought comes. Lets say most of the thought forms destroy themselves in 4 hours. 
• So, we produce 10000 thought forms in these 4 hours and 10million thought forms in a office of 1000 at any point of time. Yes, 10 million good, bad, ugly thought forms around us!!!!....
• In a city like Bangalore which has 6 million + population its about 60 billion thought forms that are radiating in the city at any point of time.
• Cities like Shanghai, Mumbai, Delhi, Karachi, Moscow, Sao Paulo etc have a population of 10 to 15 million people and hence 100-150 billion thought forms radiating / floating around the city.

Have we not noticed that we are comfortable with the company of some and not comfortable with few others?

Have we not noticed as we land in a city like Delhi or Mumbai there is a qualitative change in our mental make up?

Have we not wondered some times, Why we did what we did? I guess when ever we tend to think we just do this piece only :)).

The answer to most of them is we are moving around in the "Floating or radiating field of thought forms"... Whether we like it or not, we absorb others thought forms and offer ours to others.

It was scary when i read and discussed about this to some of the experts, since we are not just what we think but we are what others think too!...

Life is full of choices as we choose among  them and make a living. Hence its decision making all the time... it could be small or big. If this is the case then how do you protect yourself  from undesirable thought forms of others and influences you to do what you don't want to do?

Check that out in the Part 2 of this blog...

Part 1/2                    Part 2/2

Yours thoughtfully,

Happy reading!

A gay is a gay is a gay!

Major sections of Indian media, most of the rational forward thinking minds and an unknown number of actuals “victims” are all going gay gay!... oops sorry ga ga!... over the repealing of Section 377 of Indian penal code for “decriminalizing” same sexual orientation. My thoughts are as follows:

1. The term “Homo Sapiens” referring to human race, (phonetically speaking) seems to atlast found legal basis in India. :)
2. The most interesting law of electro magnetic ….”Like poles repel each other” seems to have failed in this generation. That’s more work for the researchers to understand the gap.
3. How a consenting adult in this country can be called a criminal for having a sexual orientation that’s deviating from the normal? This decriminalization should have been done when we as a country came into existence. I think the necessity, political will and the social acceptance has probably taken 60+ years to arrive. Good that it has arrived now!
4. The judicial system needs to be complimented for establishing / bringing out a convergence in views among various religious leaders, be it Hindu, Christianity, Islam or Sikhs. Many of us did not think that we can see some convergence from all of them in one voice, does not matter that they are opposing something together.
5. I don’t understand people who oppose this on spiritual grounds. Spirituality is always between me & god or between an individual and himself (aka god). Neither law nor religion nor society nor relationships can put its foot between an individual and his spiritual belief. There is no vacancy here for a third party to come in. Many tend to confuse this with being religious which I will address below.
6. I don’t understand people who oppose this on moral grounds. Morality is an extension of the society and has a significant time and place value or should I say “Spacio-temporal” value attached to it.
7. How can any hindu religious leader explain the vast differences in moral standards and values Rama and Krishna stood for? Both were supposed to be an avatars of Vishnu. Both were Kshatriyas. They lived in different times (Tretha Yuga & Dwapara Yuga). While Rama stood for "means" and "ends". Krishna largely ignored the "means" and looked at the "ends" only in the way he fought the Mahabharat war. But if morality can vary so much between 2 yugas then kali yuga which is by design supposed to have moral degradation, and how can it be otherwise?

If god wanted Kali yug to be like this, how can we undo his design? He has to own up this…. Per my own words in one of the blogs earlier… (http://ragsgopalan.blogspot.com/2009/01/musings-ignore-god-and-extol-godliness.html)

“If I am a producer, If I am a creator…
I own up my product, I warrant the performance…

If product malfunctions, If product misbehaves….
The product does not own up, But the producer has to own up…

If God is the creator, If God is the destroyer…
If God is the producer, If God is the user….
I am his product, You are his product….
God has to own up, Good and Evil
God has to own up, Performance & malfunctions
God has to own up, Fear of non-performance
God has to own up, Fear of malfunction…

For there is no god, when there is no fear
For god is there as god, as a byproduct of our fear"

As a country we need to know how to respect individual freedom. Our legal system is just a framework and this cannot impinge on the basic provisions of the constitution or on individual’s right. I some times get a feeling that adults in this country are getting a raw deal are repressed and are being treated like a alien to this country.

I do understand as to why religious leaders oppose it. I believe religion is all about one of the tested and prescribed ways of realizing god. Every religion prescribes a path of love, learning, discipline, moral values and increasing austerity. It also largely keeps the society and its structure intact; we don’t have to argue if it is good or bad. It is perfectly understandable that the equity of the religious leaders and the religion itself will get diluted with this thaw on the legality of this act.

Then what is "homosexuality" all about?

I believe that this is a state of mind and can very comfortably say that it’s a "Psycho-somatic" disorder. This is not a disease as there is huge difference between disease and disorder. It is essentially cultivated in a life style that is tamasic and in a debilitating environment and nurtured in a mind & body that is completely out of harmony with nature and probably thrives in an environment of emotional suppression, hormonally abnormal or with physical depravation of any sorts.

Any one can argue that this is not the case and its perfectly natural to be a homosexual. I beg to disagree.

This condition is curable. If you interpret these individuals in this light then you would understand that it does not make sense to label them a “Criminal” for being harmless and yet with a disorder. Diabetes is a disorder. How about labeling all the diabetics as criminal in India? This may sound stupid. Labeling "homosexuals" criminal is as stupid as that.

Having practiced yoga for few years and been under some good gurus I can very easily tell you that Yoga can cure this condition. One of my yoga guru explains us how to cure “adamant and stubborn’ characters. For example, back bending exercises largely cure you if you are adamant and intemperate. Same way if the irritation in the body or in mind is removed then this disorder is curable.

I request that lets be considerate to our fellow citizens, don’t hate them, don’t celebrate them, but just be as considerate as you would be with some one who is affected with a mental disorder.

Opposing them morally, spiritually, religiously or legally does not help us or them in any way!
Helping them out isn't our duty but its possible (non- allopathically) medically!

Till then we all need to realize that “A gay is a gay is a gay!”

Yours straightly! :)

Happy reading!

PS;

Q: Isn't evident with references to just gays and homosexuals and no reference to lesbians, that the author is close to being labelled as a MCP? Or is it that the author has some other unexpressed opinion on lesbians?

A: I believe that some things are best left to an individual's imagination!

It's tough to play "God".......

Yes it’s been close to 2 months since I visited and wrote a new blog on this site. There are many times in life that you consistently have something in your “To do” list and maintain it that way without a reason and writing blog was one such item for me for the last 2 months. I am surprised to find out that there were few anxious enquiries as to why have not I blogged. I categorize them as people who are so troubled by me and can’t live without the pain I inflict on them…

I am just back from my annual haj - a visit to “Tirupathi” which is still lingering in my mind positively. Few notable observations & experiences:

Vacation time and the visitor traffic are expected to be very high and there are no surprises in that. But the crowd which I mostly saw is in their teens that represented the maximum %. The next in the category was the recently married category with a young kid. The predominant belief that younger generation is moving away from religion, rituals and religious places seems to be a myth. Yes they may be there to request or bribe the lord for better marks in exams or for a better future. But the reason does not matter. The trend of younger generation thronging the temples is not just limited to few famous temples like tirupathi but across the spectrum. So, bhakthi is growing and not diminishing.

I was lucky to have a friend who managed to arrange this trip at a short notice and we wanted to walk up the hill. We started our climb at midnight. I was surprised to find that large % of people are also climbing up at that time most of them with a bag (shoulder pack) or with their kids. Kudos to their drive as I can see that by their appearance they are going to take a general queue or a least paid ticket for which the waiting time ranges between 8 hours to 20 hours. There were a few who were applying haldi and saffron to each and every step. So just imagine that people climbing up carrying babies / bags that would weigh anywhere between 5 kgs to 10 kgs, wait in a line for more than 10 hours to have a glimpse for about 30 seconds or less. Amazing levels of energy & drive displayed and you can call it bhakthi, faith, superstition anything… it gives me goose pimples even now if I think about them.

But most important of it all is the fact that I with my single pack abs managed to climb up almost at the same duration as I did in my previous years, which essentially conveys that my stamina levels have not gone down drastically. My delusions of falling stamina levels have been pleasantly broken.

Tirumala is not a place where you plan and visit for a darshan at your will but I strongly believe that Lord has to call you and remind you that your visit is due. This time too it has happened in the same way.

Just as we were reaching the top of the hill at about 2.30AM we could hear “Venkateswara Suprabatham” played in the temple premise for the lord to wake up. Its then I realized that how difficult it is to play god if we stupid humans make it a point to wake him up at about 3 AM in the morning every day. I can be awake till 3 AM in the morning without sleeping the whole night but can’t allow some one to wake me up at 3AM in the morning…. Not for half of this world.

It’s tough to play “god”…

Finally this visit is a fine blend of stamina test with a 3 hour trek, weight reduction program for the heavy heart and a mild sedative for the restless mind. Guess i have reset my sin counter which allows me to commit more...... :)

Yours religiously

Happy reading!

Bringing up children, is bringing up ourselves!

Disclaimer:

1. Its an attempt to write about children and their importance. At the current stage of parenting I realize that "Bringing up Children is actually bringing up ourselves".

2. Ability not to take them for granted and not to thrust our thoughts into their minds, not to kill their inquisitiveness, downloading right sense of values (not ours), ensuring that they think and decide things for themselves, not to blind them with the luxury of material life and making them see reality once in a while are all challenges which all of us face. We either recognize this or live without recognition.

3. I have borrowed the lines from Kahlil Gibran "That children may be through us but not from us" is a great phrase with very deep meaning. Think about it and we can discuss this over a drink.

4. A couple of lines in this blog can be decoded only with deep "bio-math" knowledge only ;), which isn't common. Can be added to the discussion topic above :)

Is life all about moving from
One stage of dependency to another?
Is life all about moving from
One stage of infirmity to another?
Its total dependence till 20
Its mutual dependence till 60 else,
Its forceful dependence till 60 and
Its total dependence post 60
Its physical infirmity till 20
Its mental infirmity till 60 and
Its psycho-somatic infirmity post 60
Looks life is all about moving from
One stage of dependency to another
One stage of infirmity to another

Name and fame shall always wane
Shame and blame unlimitedly came
Dame and bane are one and the same
Not realizing this you are just insane!
In a life that’s so mundane!
Begetting children are the only acts of sane!
Yes, begetting children are the only acts of sane!

When 16 met 16
When 3 met one
When "testosteronestrogen" evolved
When “Heman” said hai to hymen
Hymen gave way to semen
Though the success is for just one in a billion
Yet the world now is with more than 6 billion

As a produce of our longing and craving called life
As a produce of our insatiable amorous thirst called love
As a symbol of our social pact called marriage
As an insurance of our future infirmity called old age

As an excuse to amass wealth called inheritance
As an expression of the most productive fluid called semen
Sometimes as a proof of product failure called condom

Sometimes as an inadvertant negligence from madam

As a passport to her next stage in life called womanhood
As a proof his virility and his ability to defy gravity
As a proof of her feminity, and an outcome as sure as serendipity
Children bring along the nectar of life and a concept called hope

But beware,
Just 40 minutes of pleasure can

Demand 40 weeks of commitment!

But just 40 weeks of sacrifice we can’t
Demand 40 years of commitment!
We may be the producer yet
We are not their creator
They may come through us yet
They are not from us
We may give them life yet
We don’t own their lives
We may share our wisdom yet
We can’t force our values
We ought to protect their bodies yet
We can’t claim their souls!
We may give them shelter nothing more than
A motel in a highway called life that
Trades in love and not in cash

Realize
Bringing hope to a life so barren
Laughing away anxieties that overran
A body so active
A mind so inquisitive
An attitude that’s adaptive
A smile so addictive
Smiling and Crying, Crying and teasing
Crawling and walking, walking and falling,
Growing and learning, learning and Trying
Trying to sit up, trying to stand up
Refusing to dress up, refusing to shut up
Sometimes so difficult to put up
From finding our weakest nerve
To pressing it at the weakest moment
From testing our limits of patience
To touching the heights of disobedience
As nicer they grow up!
Wiser we end up!
As you help them come up!
They help us grow up!
Hence realize

Bringing up children is actually
Bringing up yourself!

Happy Reading!

Musings: Individuality Vs Personality!

In a day of life!
Birth is dawn!
Adolescence is morning!
Prime time is day!
Love in life is evening!
Old age is night!
Death is midnight!

For I bought a mirror
In the morning
Unknowingly pledging something valuable
Which I don’t know what it is!
I carry this mirror
To see the world
From morning to midnight
This mirrors reflects and tells me
What my world is!
What my life is!
Even, telling me, what I am, which I am not!

Mind is this mirror
It shows my personality!
It hides my individuality!
What the world thinks of me is my personality
What I am naturally is my individuality
Roots of the mind are in the society
Roots of the personality are in the mind
For, personality is the extension of the mind
As mind is the extension of the society
I realize mind and Personality are social phenomenon
I realize mind and Personality are dependent phenomenon
I realize personality is no different from a spectacle
For they both are in the eyes of the beholder

But do I realize what did I pledge?
Did I pledge something valuable?
I faintly realize that I pledged my individuality!
But do I know my individuality?
If I think I do, I don’t
If I think I don’t, I still don’t
If I feel I do, I do
If I feel I don’t, I don’t

It’s been a life all along
To live it for the society
To keep up my personality
To keep up what I am not
It’s been a life all along
Ignoring my individuality!
Ignoring my uniqueness!
Ignoring my sexuality!
Ignoring my sensuality!
Ignoring my nature!
Ignoring my consciousness!

Little did I realize that, it’s all been
Personality masquerading as individuality
Long term pain masquerading as short term pleasure
Your thoughts masquerading as mine

Little did I realize
That a trip in ego is a one way trip
That a trip in ego is a never ending trip

I can’t throw this mirror
As it’s whole of my interior
As I start growing wiser
I shall slowly stop being an actor

A smith removes the flaws from silver
Slowly, one by one, carefully
I am smith and the flaws are in my thoughts
I have decided to ignore
Slowly, one by one, carefully
I shall stop being an actor
Slowly, in one by one, carefully
I have decided to discover
Slowly and carefully!

I faintly realize but strongly believe
I don’t have to invent my individuality!
I just have to ignore my personality!
To discover my individuality!


Happy reading!

Asatyam masquerading as Satyam...

There is a very interesting story I read and probably authored by Kahlil Gibran. And it goes like this…

God created the world (let’s believe it for this story’s sake) and everything else that was needed. When he reviewed he thought there are 2 things which are missing – Ugliness and Beauty. So he created both of them and gave “beautiful” clothes to Mr/Ms. Beauty and “ugly” clothes to Mr/Ms. Ugliness. (Let’s say its Ms. Beauty and Ms. Ugliness) Both of them had a long and strenuous journey to earth from heaven and they decided to take a bath.

Both jumped into the river nude and were enjoying the bath. Ms. Beauty went far into the lake and when she turned back she was surprised to find that her "beautiful" clothes and Ms. Ugliness - both missing. She understood that Ms. Ugliness has taken her “beautiful” clothes away. Ms. Beauty did not have option but for wearing “Ugly” clothes and started searching for the Ms. Ugly who is roaming around in “beautiful” clothes.

The search I guess is still continuing and this 2 para story imparts a great deal of wisdom that ugliness is always behind a mask that looks beautiful. Let’s try to look beyond the mask or clothes or the exterior appearance. I cant find a more apt situation for this story when I heard about “Ramalinga Raju and his Asatyam” today in the news!...

Ability to lie without a wink in front of the whole world and that too for few years is a skill and I think Mr. Raju has landed up on a wrong job. He was a natural fit for a politician, a lawyer or a diplomat. Unfortunately he managed to be a successful software services entrepreneur taking his organization to great places by camouflaging a great deal of dirt and was looked upon by millions as a great role model.

This ability would be an envy to many politicians / lawyers and diplomats and the individuals and institutions who / that honored him should have had a bitter pill to swallow today.

He has betrayed the trust of millions and I am not sure what made him to tear his “Beautiful clothes” and show his actual nature. It could be the fear of someone else finding it imminently or an uncontrollable spike of bravery or his realization of lack of any more avenues to cover this up or a great sense of burden which he was unable to carry any further.

"An unshaken solution decays" since heavier particles tends to settle at the bottom and lighter at the top. Hence we always have to “Shake well before use”. I learnt that does not apply just a solution in a bottle but also to any system in general. ;)

Just as I said in one of my earlier blog that we should thank the terrorists who attacked Mumbai since they woke up a large number of people from their slumber and shook us up, I would suggest that India Inc. and the regulatory bodies should thank Mr. Raju for giving all of us a lesson in corporate governance and exposing the gaps. Unfortunately he is not an ethical hacker but a “vicious trust breaker of the worst kind”.

I believe the best punishment for such incidents should be meted out by the society / industry than the legal system. While Mr. Raju can start planning his stay in jail and there are no regrets about this and can probably resurface as a politician after few years, I fear Satyam as an organization is going to be a history and as an example for bad reasons.

“Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. This is a very famous statement but I disagree with it. If someone is looking ugly in a mirror then it is not the fault of the mirror. A mirror just reflects. Likewise power and temptations reveal what we are as individuals. I still believe that there are many in this country as corporate leaders who are not corrupted by power, greed, and temptations… or should I say atleast unaffected yet.

So Iam at a liberty to edit the above saying as "Temptations reflects or Greed reflects or Power reflects". And I am not sure why and what has blinded us so far to see this reflection.

Probably its our certainty... certainty that they cant be wrong. Should we start believing in another saying..."Certainty is absurd and doubt ensures progress?"

Why dont we have the power to realize when (and then its the )...

Clouds masquerading as Sky
Smile masquerading as Cunningness
Ignorance masquerading as knowledge
Imminent pain masquerading as short term pleasure
Promotion masquerading as shit load of work
Personality masquerading as Individuality

Asatyam masquerading as Satyam

Iam very sad at the turn of events since its another instant of "betrayal of trust" by one of the most respected guys in the industry yet...

Happy reading!

Recognize the Positive cycle of change......

Once there was a monk who was also a teacher of martial arts. One day a student who wanted to learn martial arts goes to this monk and requests him to teach martial arts. Though the monk is reluctant since he finds this student arrogant he is impressed with his passion and sincerity in learning something. So the monk asks this guy, “Tell me how strong you are and how many people can you fight now?”

This arrogant brat (like me!) is also well built and strong (unlike me!) and hence says that “Master, I can fight over 100 people and win over them.”

The monk smirks to himself and asks him to join the school. After few years, monk wants to find out what this guy has learnt and asks him the same question. “Tell me how strong you are and how many people can you fight now?”

Not to monk’s surprise but to our surprise this guy says that “Master, I think i can fight over 50 people and win over them.”

Many years pass by and then the monk asks him the same question. “Tell me how strong you are and how many people can you fight now?”

Not to monk’s surprise but to our surprise again this guy says that “Master, how can I tell you without knowing who the enemy is and what their strength is. But irrespective of how strong they are and how many they are I shall put a good fight”. The monk is impressed and tells him that he can go out of the school as his learning is complete.

There is a theory called as “The positive cycle of change”, where every individual would move through phases. They are:

1. Uninformed optimism
2. Informed Pessimism
3. Informed Optimism
4. Completion

Check out the URL which explains the theory. http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/psychology_change/positive_change.htm

Our student has gone through these phases and we can easily relate this to our professional life too. When we join a new company or get married then the first stage we have is uninformed optimism. This is the honey moon period. We have accepted the change and have great expectations but our information levels are pretty low. But as time progresses just like the student above we also get to see the reality.

Once a sense of reality sets in then per the theory the person adjusts him to the situation and moves forward in life with realistic goals. If you notice the student’s confidence is reflected in this stage but he does not over estimate him.

One of the important things I look for in potential managers is his ability to propel himself from a state of informed pessimism to a stage of informed optimism. How soon can he do for himself and how well can he propel his team. The optimist is a human incarnation of a spring. The average pencil is seven inches long, with just a half-inch eraser - in case you thought optimism was dead. Working in ambiguity and in tough situations like the one we are facing now requires this leadership trait and unfortunately many of our colleagues and friends do not pass through to the 3rd stage from the 2nd. They may end up visiting / caught in the “Grief Cycle”. If you are people manager beware of this situation and this is a serious issue as this mentality is very contagious. http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/kubler_ross/kubler_ross.htm

Don’t under estimate the importance of pessimists as they are Optimists with the right experience. But, both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. I also came across this brilliant video clip which argues about the “the case for optimism”.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/larry_brilliant_makes_the_case_for_optimism.html

Yours contagiously +ve !

Happy Reading !

Do you suffer from Hyper active False positive Fronto-temporal disorder......(HAFPFTD)

• Train Ticket from Bangalore to Chennai via Tatkal: Rs. 350/-
• Drop to Station by Taxi and return: Rs. 550/-
• Magazines and mineral water: Rs. 150/-
• Feeling while sending off your Mother-in-law after a hard days work on a Friday..... priceless.
• Having an ice cream at midnight with Priya at railway station savoring the moment (though the official reason for icecream was to cheer her up)... Matchless.

Contraints stem creativity. Saturday morning was obviously set for the juice to flow. Some of the news topics that were very thought provoking and that turned me on today below...

News: Failure to detect sarcasm can be signs of dementia….actually its called FTD - frontotemporal dementia..
Now I wanted to understand why people find me sarcastic when I am not. This is the other side of the problem and I wanted to term it as HAFPFTDR - Hyperaactive False positive Frontotemporal disorder. Most of my friends suffer from this HAFPFTDR some times and few of them suffer all the time. ...:)....If you are wondering why there is a R in the last...it is just to signify that this disease is coined by me and hence suffixed with my prefix.

News: Activists want ministry for Men
The argument for this demand seems to be very logical… when there is a ministry for animal welfare then why not for men? According to National crime records bureau 2007, 57593 married men committed suicide compared to 30064 married women. Hence the legal framework today seems to have a huge gender bias in favor of women and they call it as “legal terrorism” by state against "mankind".

Few very close to me know that I am stuck by most creative thoughts when I take bath. I don’t know the relationship between bathroom and creativity but there is a definite link. I strongly recommend that Indian government should fund this research to understand the link.

But the “creative thoughts” I had today morning is the creation of Pollywood & institute an award ceremony called Pollywood awards in my own way. This is primarily triggered by the reference to “non-state actors” by Mr.10%. When there are actors (state or non-state) there will be acting and films. Hence lets do something for the film industry.

If Hollywood is in America, Bollywood is in Mumbai, Kollywood is in Chennai… Where would Pollywood be? If your answer is Patna then you are yet to be “globalized”. It’s actually in Pakistan. It’s a shame on Pollywood that despite having great actors, industry is not known to produce any great films… most of the works remotely match “Class C” films per Indian standards. Irrespective of the country the film making industry or the actor’s guild is not nationalized and hence every where an actor is essentially a “non-state actor”.

Commiserating with the talent that’s available in Pakistan I have decided to conduct this award ceremony on behalf of the Pakistan government and give away the following awards.

• Best Film for the year 2008:
  Nominations: Serial attack in Bangalore, Serial Attack in Delhi, Serial attack in Ahmedabad, Marriott hotel Islamabad, Mumbai attack
  And the award for the Best film of the year goes to “Mumbai attack”.

• Award for the “Best director” goes to “Hafeez Saeed and Lakhvi” of JuD.

• Award for the “Best Producer” goes to the ISI of Pakistan.

• Award for the “Best Villain” goes to NSG and Marine commandos in India.

• Award for the “Best support for the villain” goes to Mumbai police.

• Award for the “Best Joker” for Mr. Jaiswal, who is the Minister of State in the Home Ministry in India for his comments on TV (after the attack) that this Mumbai attack, is planned by Hindu Extremists. He also got an award in “Can you believe that?” category too.

• Award for the “Best Impotent Character” goes to Ex-home minister of India Mr. Shivraj Patil. There is no competition here and was a unanimous choice.

• Award for the “Best actor” goes to all the 10 guys who acted in this film. The actor who got caught alive (Ajmal) has also got an additional ‘You are not a Citizen of Pakistan” award.

• We, the people of India have jointly won “You are the best sucker” Award for putting up with all this.

• The International community has got the "best non-participative audience"

Hey! dont blame me for not awarding any award for "Best actress". Most of them looks like a "all-male" film.

We are living in times when News channel has become the best action channel giving “AXN” very tough competition. Our news readers start the news by saying “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” and after that almost spend 30 minutes to tell us why it is not a good morning or evening.

Its just about 60 years before both nations (India and Pakistan) started their journey and its surprising that one is being talked as a "likely superpower" exporting cutting edge IT services and other being closely branded as a "Failed State" but exporting "Terrorism". What i cannot understand is the fact that how some Kashmiris are so eager to be part of the "failed state" than the "likely super power"? I have started to doubt that if "Man is a rational animal". Do you?

Remember, if you think (or even if you agree without thinking that) i am very sarcastic after reading this article then you are suffering from HAFPFTD :). If you think iam not sarcastic, then you are not bold enough to accept that you have this disorder. :)

Happy weekend!

Happy reading!

Trisensical approach to effective people management !

"Whenever there is a hard job to be done I assign it to a lazy man; he is sure to find an easy way of doing it." Though it may sound little funny, the above quote has a lot of wisdom in it for it imbibes the basic rule of delegation & formula to succeed with people, which is "Play by their strengths".

I can't help but again quote Thirukural in which I read one of the best definitions yet, about delegation of work "இதனை இதனால் இவன் முடிப்பான் என்றாய்ந்து அதனை அவன் கண் விடல்" which means "Identify who is the best to complete this work, understand how we will complete and then delegate the work to him". I cannot believe a poet can be so knowledged and wise in management aspects too, that too 2000 years back.... (Indian civilization and literature ki jai ho!)

While it is easy to write the meaning for this couplet, its difficult to reproduce the sweetness and wisdom of this quote for you should know the language to appreciate the former and people management experience for the later. One of the significant, (personal yet professional) milestones in any one's carrer is to successfully manage a team and earn the respect from the team members. Once a person has crossed this stage in his career then you will see him as a very confident individual.

As always once a person is confident it is very diffcult for him to identify as to when he will transcend the border between confidence and over confidence. Once he has tresspassed into over confidence zone (knowingly or unknowingly) he will start proposing his own theories like am going to do it now. :)

"Managing & developing people is like mining gold. You need to dig & process tonnes of dust and sand to get an ounce of gold". I am highlighting here 3 senses which needs to be monitored and nurtured that i have always used while managing a team or more importantly in understanding an individual's state of aspirations irrespective of whether he is your colleague or a subordinate.

All animals have 5 senses and we human beings have (or supposed to) 6 senses and the sixth sense as you all agree is a misnomer for its not so "common". The 4 senses which i am highlighting are in addition to the above 6 and is as follows:

7th Sense: Money. Most often we find that this replaces our sixth sense. Irrespective of all said and done this takes precedence and this sense is compromised only when we have the other 3 senses which i am going to highlight below overpower the 7th sense. We all work for money and am not sure why it should be difficult for us to accept the practical side of life. But am also a believer "That nothing significant gets accomplished when mind works for money".

All of us want to retain good talent within the team instead of losing them to the competition. Very often we find that just money does not excite the best minds. How often we have heard "People work for People" and what makes few managers so special that they evoke a sense of loyalty in all their team members despite high paying jobs are available in plenty for these talented employees. While it is easy to say that i feel very comfortable working with him because of many reasons (blah blah), I am generalizing and giving a structured thought in the following lines. (No, I am not going to bore you with leadership qualities or communication, motivation etc.)

1. Sense of belonging: This is the first sense i want to emphasize which we have to look out in a potential employee during interview. It will be very evident in few of them and we can decide that they are or would be "Culturally fit" when we recruit them. But a smart manager would always be evaluating this sense in his team members. What can potentially reduce the sense of belonging in an employee? It could be many things and i want to list a few:

- Unfavorable image of the company in the market.

- Excessive inter/intra department politics. This really puts off apolitical characters.

- Cultural issues like Internal adminstration / executives don't stand up to the highest values like there may be evident levels of corruption, misuse of office resources etc.

- The sense of belonging may rest with the organization but not with the manager. But such cases mostly end up quitting the organization since they are driven away by the managers.

A smart manager would always count the number of employees who have quit and rejoined the organization which just highlights that their sense of belonging has got them back. On the other hand an employee's sense of belonging can be more with the manager than the organization. Then the organization should be concerned about the manager's sense of belonging for if he leaves, he would take his team away.

Sense of belonging is essentially which brings the passion to play at work from an individual. If this sense is missing at the desired level then 7th sense could take over anytime and alternatively this can effectively manage the 7th sense if its available in right quantities. I have to put in a word of caution that spending 20 years in an organization does not essentially mean that Sense of belonging is high, for heavier particles tend to settle down at the bottom and would not move much. :)

2. Sense of purpose: Every individual has to be oriented and given a sense of purpose. Often managers don't rise the level of thinking among employees and don't show them the big picture. Hence employees most often cannot relate their KPI with the overall picture. A smart manager would be very good at doing this and would inculcate a voluntary goal directed behavior among this team. There is always a debate as to how stretchable the goals one should keep and then they end up quantifying that 20% more or 30% more. But importantly "Always tell them what to do and not how to do". When employees are free to approach the delivery process in the way they think the best then the sense of purpose gets imbibed in them.

3. Sense of Achivement: Here comes the most important part, as an individual we need a sense of achievement which makes us feel better and improves our self confidence. If a manager cannot ensure that his team derives a sense of achievement then he can be pretty sure that he will lose his team.

Goaling has to factor this in. Else the manager can keep telling "Doing it right is no excuse for getting it done in time :)".

The secret of being the most loved manager and building a loyal talent base is the result of managing the Sense of belonging, Sense of purpose and Sense of achievement in an individual and within a team.

Even if we are good as a manager with the above skills it is important that we develop our team members to understand this aspect and factor them in day today team management. Lets remember "Leaders create leaders and not followers".

This is my "Trisensical approach to effective people management", for a guy who is good at this can thrive as a "Successful Benevolent dictator" in his own corporate fiefdom.

What say?

Happy reading!