Monday blues: Life is a journey

Life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the ride. Be prepared for obstacles, challenges and movements. Learn, lead and live. Make it worthwhile.

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A good life

For life's an experience God's children go through

That's made up of gladness and much sadness too... 

But we have to know both the bitter and the sweet

If we want a good life that is full and complete! 

 (H.S. Rice)

Tell me its done

A post from November 30, 2008. God I miss being a student.

Being a student is never easy.

Especially when you play cricket every single night, watch movies, blog, Orkut, check mails, eat, do assignments, exams, fights, pranks, birthday parties, watch TV, have serious enlightening debates about life, terrorists, rain, try to read on the bed (sorry all other stuff like mags, novels are at the table) and then sleep when all the civilized world is waking up around 4 AM. So its not a big deal when you don't sleep, I mean in the night.

Its OK until you go to class and try to concentrate your sleep deprived brain, stressing on what the faculty is trying to say, read the alphabets on your book, scribble something on the paper. And after what seems to be at least 4 hours of non-stop logic, you want to see if the prof has exceeded the class time and try to give a quick look at the watch.. Its then that its hits you. Its hardly 15 mts since the class started. So what you do is pull up your chair stop leaning back on the featherlite chair and look at the prof as if you have some magical laser in your eye that would drill a hole in the prof or may be make him catch fire or disappear in to thin air with a whiff of smoke and you are left alone to doze off happily. By this your eyes are strained so much from the last nights movie that you cant hold your eyelids up any more and they act like they are made of wax and exposed to fire. They come slowly down, like a rain a blessing.

Ah! the feeling can't be expressed or explained. You need to FEEL it. Its so relieving, so soothing and beautiful that you seem to have reached such heights that you forget everything. All the world around you comes to a standstill and it becomes so silent and don't want to disturb you. Some rude push/punch/thud/elbow jerk wakes you up. Some people even pinch and you can't even yell. You are back to square one.

This time you try something different. You try to look at the prof who looks at you directly. No he looks through you and you don't know what is being discussed. You could be pulled up and questioned as to what was being discussed. The prof gives you the Do-you-want-me-to-pull-you-up-and-mess-your-life look and you give the look of a puppy that just spilt the coffee on your new blazer on the day of your interview. But the problem is that there is no where to run or hide. May be you could just disappear. Wow, isn't it a great idea. Disappearing. Puff and you are gone. Gone without a trace or may be you could leave a small smoke behind just to show you are gone or may be a dazzling flash of light. Light would be brilliant. It would be surprising and no one would know what happened. It would be sudden and fast like what Batman does in the movie. Hmm.. I remember the scene. Katie Holmes was looking too good in the movie. The dark background, her dove like eyes and what was the color of the dress? Need to re-watch the part when I get back to my room. Did you see Phonebooth? Oh! How I wish I was in my room, on the soft bed, hidden under the warm blanket where no one could disturb me, with my lappie, my iPod headphones plugged into my ears, going through the ppts, google and sleeping without realizing it. After all you need to be updated and stay ahead of the competition. Some one reduce the speed of the fan please. PINCH. Oh! did I sleep? No I didn't. I was just thinking as to what color would the smoke be when I disappear!

NO nonsense this time. Its hardly 30 mts since the class started and look at me! I need to concentrate and listen. I have a feeling that all the profs in common have something magical in them, some technologically advanced version of time-stopping-device or technique that makes 10 minutes like eternity and forget the full class of 105 mts! Its scientifically prove that the human concentration span is just 20-40 mts but still no one cares. So now how many more minutes before I leave this room That's 105-30, sorry 105-32 mts. Some 73 mts. Or is it 71? Who cares my mind has stopped working and demands rest right now and can wait no longer and the slides on the screen are Purple, Dark Purple. Hmm.. sounds like Bond, James Bond. How come they didn't use this phrase in the new bond movie Quantum of Solace? Is it a strategic decision or just a gimmic to attract attention? What a movie that was? The print I saw was bad but it was not exciting. What stupid story? Did I blog about this? I think I did. Ouch! Somebody pushed me! I swear I wasn't sleeping. "Not sleeping? You were snoring", comes the reply.

Oh! So I am think-sleeping (reached the advanced stages of insomnia like Al Pacino!) now. I should blog about this and should do some nice blogging and concentrate on management topics like Prof. Ray and Prof. Mark J Perry. Hey did we do the assignment that we were supposed to submit today? Who was doing it? Let me ask my team mates. Where are they? I give a quick glance at the prof who is explaining some concept to the class (Oops! Even I am a part of this...) What is he talking about? His hands are drawing something in thin air! Its a four-dimensional figure and I have missed the starting so I cannot understand the rest. Ok lets find the team.

Sitting in the first bench has its own advantages. You can sleep off, dream and with one turn look at the whole class. The disadvantage is that the whole class stares back at you as if you are some exhibition item which fell and broke off. There they are, the team, sitting in 7 separate locations like shattered glass and we are all united in not doing the assignment. I signal about the ppt and the report and they don't get a word. By this time half the class is looking at you and the prof, who gave you up, invariably looks at you and you nod your head in assertion as if you are agreeing with whatever he has just said and try to scribble in the paper. Oh! Where is the paper? And the pen? the paper is missing, the pen fell off long ago when you were dreaming about Katie's eyes and you try to pick it up. Look back at the prof and then the watch. Hmm.. 45 mts! Yes only 60 more to go. I know only doesn't make it any more easier. The thought alone sickens you. By the way it took just 1/100th of a second for you to calculate the remaining time.

I think I should SMS them and find out. There is no network. No one follows you here. Where is the pug? and Rahman? Lets see about the assignment later. There is a pause the lecture. Some one raised a point or may be its an objection and it is being discussed. May be I would understand if I start listening from here so that I can get the conclusion of the concept. 38 seconds later I get the feeling that the lecture is boring. Will I stick to the concepts and framework in the book or will I write creatively? You are expected to tread the text book, reference books, and gather all the information you could to have an in depth knowledge.

This is the time you are should learn and fill yourself with concepts, knowledge, information that would be useful to face the harsh world. Make good use of it.

Make it count

"Every creature on earth has approximately two billion heartbeats to spend in a lifetime. You can spend them slowly, like a tortoise, and live to be two hundred years old, or you can spend them fast like a hummingbird, and live to be two years old."

— from "Joyas Voladoras,*" an essay by Brian Doyle

ps: Brian Doyle, "Joyas Voladoras", originally published in The American Scholar, Autumn 2004 and reprinted in The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005, edited by Philip Zaleski (Houghton Mifflin Co.) 2005, p. 44.

* Joyas voladoras: Spanish for "flying jewels." It's what the first European explorers in the Americas called hummingbirds.

Steve's image is from here.

The real rocky

Art is an impression of life?

Eric Schmidt's Keynote Speech @ CMU

Schmidt underscored both the importance of technological innovation and understanding the value of the family, friends and people around you.

You should listen to...

Seth Godin: The critics are never going to be happy with you, that's why they're critics. You might bore them by doing what they say... but that won't turn them into fans, it will merely encourage them to go criticize someone else.

It doesn't matter what Groucho or Elvis or Britney or any other one-name performer does or did... the critics won't be placated. Changing your act to make them happy is a fool's game.

Here's a surprising thought, though. You should ignore your fans as well.

Your fans don't want you to change, your fans want you to maintain the essence of what you bring them but add a laundry list of features. Your fans want lower prices and more contributions, bigger portions and more frequent deliveries.

So, who should you listen to?

Your sneezers.

You should listen to the people who tell the most people about you. Listen to the people who thrive on sharing your good works with others. If you delight these people, you grow.

Lessons for life

Padmashree Sudha Murthy speaks on lessons for life

Check out list

It is not what you have achieved but how you have achieved and what you have learnt. What also matters is who are with you when you are up there and when you come down.

The Home-grown terrorist

What a shame you keep blaming the neighbour about the extremities being committed! We are no less. Here is a first hand example and what a pity, you try it on yourself! It only keeps getting worse. Intolerance is a stain that is spreading deep and fast in our country. Violent attacks by hoodlums inspired by extreme ideologies - be it regional chauvinism, religious bigotry or a warped sense of Indian tradition and ethos - are becoming an alarmingly frequent feature of our times. The incident last weekend in Mangalore, in which women were physically assaulted by a bunch of goons bearing allegiance to whomsoever is disgusting. 

Is beating up women also part of this culture? Our culture and traditions are neither static nor singular. Through the centuries, they have been shaped and reshaped by historic events and interactions with other cultures. Today, there could be more than a billion ways of being Indian.

It's worrying that small groups of people can hold the public to ransom and assault our collective liberties with such apparent ease. More troubling is the fact that our state and central governments seem ill-equipped and unwilling to crack down swiftly on such groups. Be it against Raj Thackeray in Mumbai or similar troublemakers elsewhere, administrations move too slowly and feebly, undermining citizens' faith in their ability to secure law and order. Those responsible for attacks on churches and prayer halls last year in Mangalore have not all been brought to book yet.

I think they are no different from the terrorists who created havoc in Mumbai in November 08.

May be some researcher or psychologist can explain why people behave in this way. We don't need any foreign terrorists, we can grow a few here.

Attention

First-year students at Texas A & M's Vet school were attending their first Anatomy class, with a real dead pig.

They all gathered around the surgery table with the body covered with a White sheet. The professor started the class by telling them, 'In Veterinary Medicine it is necessary to have two important qualities as a Doctor: The first is that you not be disgusted by anything involving the Animal body'. For an example, the Professor pulled back the sheet, touched his finger in the mouth of the dead pig, withdrew it and put his Finger in his mouth. 'Go ahead and do the same thing,' he told his students.

The students freaked out, hesitated for several minutes. But eventually took turns putting their finger in the mouth of the dead pig and tasted in their mouth. 

When everyone finished, the Professor looked at them and said, 'The Second most important quality is observation. I touched with my middle Finger and tasted on my index finger. 

So learn to pay attention.

Step lighter

Many people wish their lives were less complicated. They remember a carefree time and dream of returning to a simpler day. They yearn for more freedom. Less worry and more laughter. If only they could trade some of today's complexity for yesterday's simplicity.

American essayist and novelist Charles Dudley Warner said, "Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough."

Rudyard Kipling yearned for less when he said, "Teach us to delight in simple things."

Author Augustus Hare observed that "the greatest truths are the simplest -- and so are the greatest men."

Maybe it's time to make a decision for greatness; a decision for simplicity. Maybe it's time to let go of that which weighs you down and walk with a lighter step. Maybe it's time to love life again.

Don't remember the source.

Tell me its done

Being a student is never easy.

Especially when you play cricket every single night, watch movies, blog, Orkut, check mails, eat, do assignments, exams, fights, pranks, birthday parties, watch TV, have serious enlightening debates about life, terrorists, rain, try to read on the bed (sorry all other stuff like mags, novels are at the table) and then sleep when all the civilized world is waking up around 4 AM. So its not a big deal when you don't sleep, I mean in the night.

Its OK until you go to class and try to concentrate your sleep deprived brain, stressing on what the faculty is trying to say, read the alphabets on your book, scribble something on the paper. And after what seems to be at least 4 hours of non-stop logic, you want to see if the prof has exceeded the class time and try to give a quick look at the watch.. Its then that its hits you. Its hardly 15 mts since the class started. So what you do is pull up your chair stop leaning back on the featherlite chair and look at the prof as if you have some magical laser in your eye that would drill a hole in the prof or may be make him catch fire or disappear in to thin air with a whiff of smoke and you are left alone to doze off happily. By this your eyes are strained so much from the last nights movie that you cant hold your eyelids up any more and they act like they are made of wax and exposed to fire. They come slowly down, like a rain a blessing.

Ah! the feeling can't be expressed or explained. You need to FEEL it. Its so relieving, so soothing and beautiful that you seem to have reached such heights that you forget everything. All the world around you comes to a standstill and it becomes so silent and don't want to disturb you. Some rude push/punch/thud/elbow jerk wakes you up. Some people even pinch and you can't even yell. You are back to square one.

This time you try something different. You try to look at the prof who looks at you directly. No he looks through you and you don't know what is being discussed. You could be pulled up and questioned as to what was being discussed. The prof gives you the Do-you-want-me-to-pull-you-up-and-mess-your-life look and you give the look of a puppy that just spilt the coffee on your new blazer on the day of your interview. But the problem is that there is no where to run or hide. May be you could just disappear. Wow, isn't it a great idea. Disappearing. Puff and you are gone. Gone without a trace or may be you could leave a small smoke behind just to show you are gone or may be a dazzling flash of light. Light would be brilliant. It would be surprising and no one would know what happened. It would be sudden and fast like what Batman does in the movie. Hmm.. I remember the scene. Katie Holmes was looking too good in the movie. The dark background, her dove like eyes and what was the color of the dress? Need to re-watch the part when I get back to my room. Did you see Phonebooth? Oh! How I wish I was in my room, on the soft bed, hidden under the warm blanket where no one could disturb me, with my lappie, my iPod headphones plugged into my ears, going through the ppts, google and sleeping without realizing it. After all you need to be updated and stay ahead of the competition. Some one reduce the speed of the fan please. PINCH. Oh! did I sleep? No I didn't. I was just thinking as to what color would the smoke be when I disappear!

NO nonsense this time. Its hardly 30 mts since the class started and look at me! I need to concentrate and listen. I have a feeling that all the profs in common have something magical in them, some technologically advanced version of time-stopping-device or technique that makes 10 minutes like eternity and forget the full class of 105 mts! Its scientifically prove that the human concentration span is just 20-40 mts but still no one cares. So now how many more minutes before I leave this room That's 105-30, sorry 105-32 mts. Some 73 mts. Or is it 71? Who cares my mind has stopped working and demands rest right now and can wait no longer and the slides on the screen are Purple, Dark Purple. Hmm.. sounds like Bond, James Bond. How come they didn't use this phrase in the new bond movie Quantum of Solace? Is it a strategic decision or just a gimmic to attract attention? What a movie that was? The print I saw was bad but it was not exciting. What stupid story? Did I blog about this? I think I did. Ouch! Somebody pushed me! I swear I wasn't sleeping. "Not sleeping? You were snoring", comes the reply.

Oh! So I am think-sleeping (reached the advanced stages of insomnia like Al Pacino!) now. I should blog about this and should do some nice blogging and concentrate on management topics like Prof. Ray and Prof. Mark J Perry. Hey did we do the assignment that we were supposed to submit today? Who was doing it? Let me ask my team mates. Where are they? I give a quick glance at the prof who is explaining some concept to the class (Oops! Even I am a part of this...) What is he talking about? His hands are drawing something in thin air! Its a four-dimensional figure and I have missed the starting so I cannot understand the rest. Ok lets find the team.

Sitting in the first bench has its own advantages. You can sleep off, dream and with one turn look at the whole class. The disadvantage is that the whole class stares back at you as if you are some exhibition item which fell and broke off. There they are, the team, sitting in 7 separate locations like shattered glass and we are all united in not doing the assignment. I signal about the ppt and the report and they don't get a word. By this time half the class is looking at you and the prof, who gave you up, invariably looks at you and you nod your head in assertion as if you are agreeing with whatever he has just said and try to scribble in the paper. Oh! Where is the paper? And the pen? the paper is missing, the pen fell off long ago when you were dreaming about Katie's eyes and you try to pick it up. Look back at the prof and then the watch. Hmm.. 45 mts! Yes only 60 more to go. I know only doesn't make it any more easier. The thought alone sickens you. By the way it took just 1/100th of a second for you to calculate the remaining time.

I think I should SMS them and find out. There is no network. No one follows you here. Where is the pug? and Rahman? Lets see about the assignment later. There is a pause the lecture. Some one raised a point or may be its an objection and it is being discussed. May be I would understand if I start listening from here so that I can get the conclusion of the concept. 38 seconds later I get the feeling that the lecture is boring. Will I stick to the concepts and framework in the book or will I write creatively? You are expected to tread the text book, reference books, and gather all the information you could to have an in depth knowledge.

This is the time you are should learn and fill yourself with concepts, knowledge, information that would be useful to face the harsh world. Make good use of it.

Home-maker

A man came home from work and found his three Children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty Food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a Cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, Breakfast food was spilled on the Counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a Small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over Toys and more piles of Clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door.

As he peered inside he found wet towels, Scummy soap and more toys Strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a Heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What Happened here today?'

She again smiled and answered, 'You know every Day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all Day?'

'Yes,' was his incredulous reply?

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

Unnecessary Luxury!

You might have guessed what I am talking about: Sleep, when you are a B-school student. You want to know how life is here? Well read on and find out what we do( and what we don't!)

• Most of the time is spent in classes, extra-classes, special-classes, surprise classes and what not - Small, big, boring, interesting, forced, sleeping, dull, loud, silent, patient, effortless, cumbersome, straining but useful in some way (hope so)


• Group discussions, assignments, reports, projects, PPTs, write-ups, presentations, debates, print outs, files, signatures, submissions, rejections, spell checks, errors, results!, resubmissions…


• Exams: lots and lots of them! Internals, externals, term-end, surprise tests, group tests, domain tests, functional tests and what not

1. You should see how people study - some start days before, some don't, some sleep and read, some read and sleep, some sleep-read, some bath-read(Yes it is possible), some brush-read, some read while brushing, some rattufy, some skip topics, chapters, subjects
2. Some write with as many as 10 color inks, sketches, pencils and decorate the paper as if it were a wedding card, some use the same pen for everything, some don't bring a pen at all, some write essays, some write poems, some write epics, some punch lines, some draw arts, some try to write!
3. Some sleep in the exam, some smile, some eat chocolates, some dream, some pick their teeth and some think of tomorrows exam, some keep looking at others, some look at the paper and smile, some weep, some pray!
   

• Parties: Birthday parties(You should see how we dance in the night to loud music, hit bumps, how all the 200+ people in the canteen join in the song), festivals(Any religion, culture, occasion), decorations, ethnic wear, rangoli and sweets, songs, anniversaries, break-ups (Yes), patch-ups, exam results, cricket wins, movies, freshers, farewells, surprise parties (When you have surprise classes, surprise exams, why not parties?), assignments... the list goes on, food, the music, DJ, rain dance, pictures, games, jokes, groove.. You need to be there to feel it
  


• Movies: Don't be surprised if someone knocks your door at 3 AM in the night armed with a USB drive asking for a movie or give you one. We actually are very liberal in nature: We don't mind the language, quality of the movie as long has it has nice music, some stupid story, eye candy and some nice message. If it is boring why else do we have the fast-forward button for? Some even write reviews and pass it on to others and help us save 3 hours of sleep by watching the movie, some watch as many as 4 movies in a day!
  


• Books: Different kinds of books - related, not related to MBA, magazines, newspapers, big books so big that they are used as stools, some so small that fit in the back pocket. Do we read them? Guess...


• Results:

1. Wow! GPA, CGPA, TGPA, what’s the highest, lowest, average, median, mean, last term, this term over all, subject-wise, stream wise, compare, think, adjust, calculate, X is 0.1 more than Y (weep tissue weep)…
2. Some cry, weep, smile, jump, roll, hug, shake hands, high-five, dance, run, become numb, rejoice, curse, recheck, note down, take pictures, surprised, pray, call parents, SMS, mail, walk…

I can go on adding to this list till tomorrow. I have deliberately left gaming (Counter Strike till 5 AM, chess, indoor Cricket (till the warden catches us), Volley ball, WWF, Kick Boxing, TT, TV, common room antics, tickling sessions, sudden group GDs, water cooler, cleaning, packing, booking tickets at PVR, air, train, bus travel, sudden getaways to Pearl Valley, Goa, Taj, Pondicherry, Kerala, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jog Falls, Hogenekkal, Wonderla, Waterworld, Bannergatta National Park, Temple visits in the night, bike rides, police lathis, good old Forum, Garuda, Central, Total, CCD, McDs, Dominoes, KFC, orphanages, blood donations, Independence Day, Republic Day, Teachers day, Holidays, Poch Bun, Disco Daba, RK Mess, Greenlands Bakery, F1 oops CC1, CC2, Central Campus, long walks in the campus, hot chai in the rain...


You hardly get time to sleep. So if you can sacrifice sleep and have fun, frolic and learning all the time, Welcome to Alliance Business School.

Yes sleep is indeed an unnecessary luxury. But do we care? Who is complaining?

Think Again

Mahesh Dattani writes...

What did we miss out on by not paying that fortune for a multiplex movie watching experience? We missed out on the stale air in the theatre, the air conditioning that is probably bad for your health, the heavily fattening, overpriced milk shakes, and the annoying titters and comments of people in the row behind who find the movie boring but have nothing better to do with their time, money or their lives.

The rising cost of leisure activities will affect the upper middle class soon as the consequences of global recession hit them in the next fifteen minutes.
....
What if we all spend less, even if we do have spare money? .... Think of all the no-expense leisure activities and you will be amazed at how creative you can get. Fly a kite with your kids or play a board game at home. You can make the kite and the board game yourself or with the whole family. Spend less, borrow less, and pay off your debts but binge on love and fresh air.

The best is still for free.

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