It’s been sometime

Maula maula maula mere maula

So, I have been fairly occupied outside work. Given the amount of personal time that I get, I got involved in many things – that said, I still bore myself at times. And before I head off to Kerala for the long weekend, a few notes.

First things, one of the best conversations/debates I had – at the most unlikey place with the most unsuspecting people at the least expected moment – outside Bandra station on our (Dharmesh and myself) way to Mazgaon Dockyard. Muslims, on the occassion of Muharram were distributing booklets on Islam and making people aware about the concept of Jihad, the causes for all the trouble, spread peace and condemn terrorism. Ok, so one of the guys, from our age grp, comes up and starts a talk and before we realize, we end up discussing world issues for 2 hrs right there, outside the railway station – the two us and around 15 of those guys!! Ofcourse, we solved all the troubles that plague this world The good thing was the awareness levels and the understanding of the conflict, the information shared, the mutual trust and respect and the realization that the change begins from you & I. Its the wrong that defines the right, technically there is nothing true or right or correct – it only comes as a reaction to something false or wrong or evil.

Next, On a lighter side – there are 35 girls, studying at the International school of management excellence residing at the floor(in 5 apts) below my apt. The long loud conversations they have with, I guess their boyfriends or potential ones in their balconies (which is right below mine), the discussions they have on the presentations/ case studies across the balconies and the birthday parties they have reminds me of IIT hostel days… girls are loud and not the best neighbours, especially at 7 AM on Sunday mornings when you so want to sleep.. Boys – they complain when they have none around and when there are too many as well, its hard to please people – my friends are so willing to swap their apt with mine

Hmm.. and then – the semi conscious state of mind on the weekend, a consequence of a sleepless night and the subsequent travel to Nandi Hills at 4 AM. Good trip – the drive, violation of HSE driving rules, the sunrise, the trek & the woods

I was looking forward to my trip to Bombay – had to visit home for personal reasons and managed to time it with the final leg of the Dutch ladies’ India tour – Claske and Jose. They were eager to play Holi and so they did. It was one of the best holis I played – relatively neat, with gulaal and lots of water, literally. The baloon fight, the light bollywood dance, salsa with Jose, Claske’s green and blonde hair after six washes in as many hours – it freaked her out, the friendly neighbours, the multi coloured goras at Mocha and their 20 L beer pitcher, again the converstaions, the spicy Indian meal, the local train travel between Bandra and Churchgate – with the ladies in the gents compartment (Well, it didn’t end up being a big deal as they had the gumption to travel Bom-Ahd with unreserved tickets in the general compartment of Karnavati express for 8 hrs – I have not done it and neither will),  more conversations/ hanging out with more friends, the football with the kids, reliving Paris/Etretat in Bombay with Tissky over a gelatino – all in all a wonderful week with Bombay meri Jaan  

Thought of the day:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light and not our darknes that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world, there is nothing enlightened about shrinking yourself so that others do not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It is not in just some of us but in all of us. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same as we are liberated from our own fear. Our presence automatically liberates others.

One of the equations that this translates into is – The change begins from you & I.

Of late I have come close and in a few cases even experienced the above.. You surprise yourselves with the energy levels and it’s so infectious. You feel content.

The KISS principle

Keep is Simple Stupid

Shamelessly plagiarised from here.

Case # 1 : When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens would not work at zero gravity (ink will not flow down to the writing surface).

Solution # 1 : To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees

Solution # 2 : And what did the Russians do…?? They used a pencil.

Case # 2 : One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan ’s biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty.

Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly Line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty.

Management asked its engineers to solve the problem.

Solution # 1 : Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so.

Solution # 2 : But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution.

He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Nit Khair manga

I really believe you can make things happen, no matter what. Keep pushing.. and if you are convinced that you are doing it for the right reasons and are clear in your head, you will not regret it one bit if does go against what you desired There is more clarity and That is some drive.

I loved Den Haag, the people it introduced me to, the soccer, the ease with which I could travel around western Europe, the falafal and the long walks, the woods, the snow and the variety of things to keep oneself busy. I was a bit apprehensive about Bangalore – most of my peers struggle to keep themselves busy outside work. I would say that I am gradually working my way through..

For the last five weeks, I have watched a movie every mid week – Slumdog Millionaire, Luck by Chance, Dev D, Billu and Delhi 6. And they have all been interesting. Dev D for its bold view & brilliant picturization, Billu for painting a larger than life picture of SRK – how can someone glamorize and self aggrandize himself to such an extent and finally Delhi 6 for its real cinematic touch. The metaphors used my Mehra are very creative and I found it a very intelligent movie – the viewer’s reaction justifies that because many fail to understand the concept behind it.

Am happy to get to play soccer twice weekly and I love the fact that I manage to do it on weekdays. Tennis kicks off this Thursday too – I still have weekends to book myself Lets see where I can fit in Squash.

 And finally, meeting new people. Nothing gives me more pleasure than striking a conversation with a stranger and building on it.

It was incidental that I got to know of the week long Kabir fest. Quick decisions lead to a visit to IIM B on Tuesday for Hadh Anhad – a documentary and it hit me hard enough to get me up and going at 7 in the morning on the Saturday. I stayed the full day till 11 in the night. Well, even the confusion with the return route (I ended up on the route to Mysore) didn’t deter me from making an early start the next morning. ..and it paid off when Kabir Khada bazar mein really cheered me up The discourse, the q&a and Chalo hamar des lifted my energy levels. Absolutey love it when ideas germinate .. a brilliant piece.

It made my weekend just splendid. Beautiful insights about his poems, his philosophies and mindblowing sufi music.. the concerts had folk singers from MP and Rajasthan, sufi singers from Pakistan and when they started off with Nit khair manga, deewani deewani and mast kalander it was absolute mystical Made some good friends, had interesting conversations and took me over an hr to say byes. Its funny – I tell someone I am making a move, take his leave and 15 mins later he finds me on the staircase talking to some one else.To add to that there were a few design exhibits on display and the creativity was sublime.

That said, the demography of the audience was not the best, mostly grey haired. Those in the my age group were primarily from the Shrishti School of art and design – the organizing institute. And only a handful otherwise. Also, it hits me that most people here get stuck in socio-religious issues. Economic development, commerce, money seem to be treated independently and issues arising from there do not get linked to societal change. I made an observation with an intention to start a dialogue with the people present in the auditorium, which is what I mostly prefer and I all got was nodding heads. And these were again mostly grey haired people there.. pissed off an IIM B prof as well. But zilch ..

Still humming Nit khair manga, nit khair manga soniya main teri, duwa na koi aur mangadi ..