Capitalism: still an ideal to be known...

One of my long term plan is to eventually move from the corporate world into the social services sector. However, the only difference being that this move will be from one service sector to the other. And will incorporate a movement of the skills that I will acquire and sharpen from the Management Consulting domain in which I am currently working.

This is the very reason by Social Entrepreneurship as a concept has fascinated me for so many years. Its a blend of business and social work, and can give sustainable solutions and not just idealistic talks.

Capitalism is the only system geared to the life of a rational being and the only moral politico-economic system in history - Ayn Rand

I have always been a big fan of Ayn Rand. Her writings have had a great impact on my thought process and have shaped my value system. Individualism as it exists in the modern society need to draw inspiration from such sources if its intended at created a positive and affirmative impact. It might again seem contradictory that one has to turn to individualism to become an change driver but as goes her famous quote on contradictions -

Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think that you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. - Ayn Rand

Its easy to stay put on the face of external ambiguity but impossible to bear internal ambiguity. And the worst part is that the such internal conflicts can only be resolved by checking the base assumptions, which most of the people are plain incapable of doing and which is the cause of most of our miseries.

A life worth living will be one in no ideal is unknown or latent. The unknown ideal will be finally accepted and embraced not just a way but the way of life.

Mera Bharat Mahan...

As the year 2007 is winding up and we are all set to welcome 2008 with excitement, here are a couple of articles which surely set the mood -

The fastest-growing aviation market - http://specials.rediff.com/yearend/2007/dec/05yrbuz7.htm

The No 1 travel destination - http://specials.rediff.com/yearend/2007/dec/05yrbuz9.htm

The most attractive market for retail investment - http://specials.rediff.com/yearend/2007/dec/05yrbuz3.htm

The fastest growing telecom market in the world - http://specials.rediff.com/yearend/2007/dec/05yrbuz4.htm

Who am i ?

Striving for balance...

On a crazy tuesday at work the tought of having checks and balances in life strikes me. Living a fuller life and experiencing everything to the core is what one should strive towards not only at an individual level but collectively as well. And for us poor bachelors organisations should go ahead and implement... "Work-Eat balance"

:x

PS: I am halucinating about food since morning, more so of Nalen gurer sandesh

My first hanging in the air post...

30,000 ft above mean sea level :)

What happens when you are feeling happy from the inside and dont know what to do. And what makes the situation even more difficult to fathom is that this isnt a fleeting, momentary experience after several attempts of denial you realise that this is one of those metamorphic moments that you had always thought about.

There is a hindi couplet that I useto keep rehersing in my mind time and again. Just imaging the time, moment and the opportunity to actually use it for myself...

देर लगी आने में तुमको, शुक्र है फिर भी आए तो
आस ने दिल का साथ ना छोडा, वैसे हम घबराए तो

(der lagi aane mein tumko, shukr hai phir bhi aaye to aas ne dil ka saath ka choora, waise hum ghabraye to)

These lines are closest to what i meant and wished to be my last words and the end of a real long phase of strife. And now as I experience this phase gradually fading always from my life I feel much like a hopeless romantic whom Gulzarhas soo wonderfully captured in his words...

कोई रिश्ता नही रहा मगर फिर भी एक तसलीम लाज़मी सी है ...

(koi ristaa nahi raha magar phir bhi ek tasleem laazmi se hai )

Altought its all over, yet the ackowledgement is bound to be.

So apt and so true...

last but certainly not the least....

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

With an internship and job offer from a leading strategy and business management consulting firm, for a change I can say that I have started making headway in the direction that I forever wanted. A career in the feild of Strategy Consulting was a long cherished dream. And its only day 2 of my internship when I am already waistdeep on a client engagement that I have come to terms with the fact that I am finally there.

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

happy-less...

"Happiness must never be pursued, but should always ensue"

We spend so much of our time, energy and efforts on chasing happiness and yet at the end of each day find ourselves more tired and emotionally exhausted. That one fleeting moment of bliss which we experience at times makes life worth bearing and brings method in madness. And then, the very next moment after its gone we once feel lonely, miserable and cheated. We again go back to the tiring search where lies our only hope. This is an agony that we face and dont know how to get over.

So what is the way out ? (if there is a wayout)

A optimist will say - keep walking

A pessimist would turn into a cycnic

A logic driven person would remain equally clueless

And an emotional person like would write a blog ;)

To each onto his own. Or is it a self-serving Catch-22 ?

Viewpoint...

Perception is the looking glass through which we view the world. Often we fail to realise that this view of life is the view that we have chosen for ourselves and its the single most potent tool that can liberate us or limit us the way we use it.

Mumbai Skyline...

An unplanned sneak out to Marine Drive front last evening lead to this cell snap, the scribble below and truely tranquilizing experience....

A tired sun

melts

disolves

and finally fades

leaving behind

a sublime moment

of pure silence

pure bliss....

Why Consulting ?

Feedback from my training mentor on the internship project that I has executed -

"The students who have come for their training have shown sincerity and
positive approach towards learning. During the training phase, Ashutosh has exhibited a high level of drive. He has good communication skills, is analytical, takes efforts to learn new things - he will do well in his career."

And as I stood in front on my College Director, all beaming, shining and gleaming, she read it twice, half-smiling nodding in approval came the punch line -

"Surely you have a natural knack for understanding things in there
entirely, the lager picture as they say. And also you have the ability to
make simple things complicated, I think should aim to be a
consultant"

:p

So let me throw this question in the open, would surely love to hear what do my regular and not-so-regular readers think about this, suggest the best suited career for me plz ?

Psychology of Finance...

After two courses in Investment & Portfolio Management in this semester and a hangover of Corporate Finance from the last sem, my hunch lead me to further dig down and finding ultimatly finding the amalgamation of Psychology, Economics, Cognition in - Behavioural Finance .

And then happened to read through a stunning article on decision making biases by Nobel Laureate, Daniel Kahneman, who by the way is a psychologist by training.

And finally, from the Nobel Prize Website here is Autobiography and video of his Prize Lecture .

I tend to get carried away most of the times and end up all excited, amazed and awed. However, let re-iterate, all the links above are worth the time and effort required to read through.

Why HR ?

A million dollar question that is as fundamental (read as redundant) for a placement interview in a b-school as are the questions -

To be or not to be ?
Who am I ?
Who came first, chicken / egg ?
What is life ?

While mankind, spanning from Plato to Jug Suraiya ponders on these questions and tries to find Atlantis, here is a candid insight into this question by a group of seasoned HR professionals, along with a .... well.. a satrical, literal interpretation of the golden rule ->

"People are our greatest assets".

remembering papa

दर्द का एक टुकड़ा
अभी तक मॅन में दबा रक्खा है ....

Its been fourteen years, fourteen long years since I lost my dad, and ever since life has never been the same and never will be... there is a deep sense of vaccum that engulfs a part of me, just like an eclipse, a permanent one in this case... a growing of loss was a part of my formative years... and what was even worse was that I tried to hide this and everything that I felt, never acknowledging my feelings even to myself... I was in general angry and confused with the world around and the one within...

I remember being petrified at the age of seventeen when for the first time I had heard Roger Waters sing in a subdued voice, a song that would haunt me for a very long time, echoing in my ears at nights when I would lye tired and emotionally weared out and could never sleep... still remember the hospital corridor where I sat all night filled with silence outside and my head full of noise, these words playing somewhere at the back of my mind....

Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd'ja leave behind for me?!?
All in all it was just a brick in the wall.

The pain that had been diffused for so long had all of sudden, in one moment crystallised in one moment, in these few lines... There is a lot else that I could have remembered and said on this day, a lot better sounding words and pleasent memories, but again that would have been one more coverup... a facade...

लाल सुरा की धार लपट सी कह न इसे देना ज्वाला,
फेनिल मदिरा है, मत इसको कह देना उर का छाला,
दर्द नशा है इस मदिरा का विगत स्मृतियाँ साकी हैं,
पीड़ा में आनंद जिसे हो, आए मेरी मधुशाला।।

Thoughtless thoughts …

Experiencing a wave of thoughtlessness which comes as a welcome break… sitting in the evening with an idle mind and feeling an inner calm is truly a matter of privilege, so I am in no hurry to let this moment go and neither have any intention of a dissection and/or analysis… a no brainer moment J

We often live an oscillating life; either, buried somewhere in the past - brooding, repenting, agonizing or the most killing of all "what if" ,or, tending towards (in true sense of calculus) a sublime future – loaded with all that we wish (to be, to have and escape from)…

And then once in a while there is a moment that stands still in the time frame of the present… and such moments are literally a present (a gift) which should be acknowledged with a smile, a pleasant surprise and then relished… they are just like the delicate sensuous feel of a chocolate melting in the mouth… a pure experience… and that's how exactly they are meant to be enjoyed… these fleeting moments are meant to be fully and thoroughly lived in the present (the now) in full, just like when standing in the rain and getting drenched, soaking up the freshness, the joy and letting the child within us to take over…

So here I am, after so many weeks of making mental note of forcing myself to post something here and couple of times me and the "compose post" page blankly staring each other, I had lost hopes of coming up with something original, something that I would like to write about, and something thats worth sharing… and then on a thoughtless evening a brainwave J

Hibernate

Seems like an eternity ever since I posted something here... Or so it seems... every other time I have done this there has been a guilt pang, regret, remorse... but this it was plain simple indifference...

In this world of loaded words and loaded meanings sometimes indifference is a relief... and that too indifference by choice... its a mark of impartiality... towards oneself... an unbiased view of the world around with a tinge of amusement...

Psycho-Socio-Mental Impact of SCM

On the eve of the start of second academic phase exams at our college, here I am sitting gloriously with books, notes and hand-outs of Logistics & Supply Chain Management (SCM) which forms a core bunch of the Operations related subjects that we studied during this entire phase.

And as I sit by the window on the sixth floor apartment of my relative and give a half-pondering/ half- blank stare at the setting sun, I get a brainwave :)

Why not start the solution to the case study that we will be getting tommorrow with the noble statement - "Man is a social animal..... " and then proceed further to discuss the sociological impact of demands; the psychological impact of demand management in SCM and what better way to sum up by bringing to light the fact that how demand-pull and forecast-pull create an adverse impact on an poor student like me :p

Follow your heart ....

Amidst all the madness that I am experiencing as the month keeps on progressing I chance upon the beautiful words of Osho -

Look deep into your heart.
Listen to the still small voice within.
And remember one thing:
life is fulfilled only through longings, never through ambitions.
Life becomes blissful only through the heart, never through the mind.
Mind creates science, the heart creates religion.
Mind can give you better technology, better gadgets.
The heart gives you the real, ultimate values:
love, bliss, truth, freedom, awareness, God.
And a life without these values is valueless.

And yet time and again in life we fail to follow the most natural and real, falling in the self-alluring trap leading us nowhere but into a downward spiral of abnegation.

Manic May...

With Manic May in full action I dont think it will be possible for me to blog for sometime now.

Just hoping and wishing to get over it safe and sound......

Off to Mahabaleshwar...

It happens rarely with me, hence thought of acknowledging and penning down the feeling asap.

I am feeling excited and happy about the Mahabaleshwar trip that I am leaving for tonight. The happiness has a freshness which is a rarity for me to experience. Almost a childlike free will which is playing in my head :)

Goal Setting...

During the span of last 3 months, I happened to read about Dr. Ram Charan - first from a blog buddy's post and later read a wondeful book by the same author - Know-How : The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't .

And just last week happened to find a entire collection of his published articles -> Ram Charan - What Every Company Should Know

It been truely a pleasure to go through the articles and see how masterfully he has broken down the biggest strategic challenges faced by organisations across the world into simple modules and tackled each of them by suggesting real and actionable steps in which they can be dealt.

My favourite one has been, Goal Setting. Here is what he recommends -

Goals should always reflect the opportunities in the outside world,
tempered by what's realistically doable. Here are some guidelines:

• Think about the "how"
Saying "We're going to grow revenues" is not enough.
Saying "We'll grow revenues faster than our competitors" is better, but is still
vague.You need more specificity: "We'll grow twice as fast as the GDP over the
next five years. One-third of that growth will be fueled by new products, which
will be the result of a 25 percent increase in R and D money. We'll fund the R
and D with money saved by cutting marginal product lines."
State your goals clearly, but also understand how they'll be accomplished. What actions will they trigger, and what are the implications for your business?

• Involve others
You want the people who have to work toward the goals to have a chance to challenge them and the assumptions behind them. Then you'll know you haven't overlooked anything and you'll have a feel for whether the goals are realistic.
Some people resist goals because they don't like being held accountable, but others resist because they know that meeting them will do real harm to the business. Besides, people are more likely to buy into the goals if they have a chance to help shape them.

• Consider how goals interact
A single goal -- whether it's profit or revenue growth, or market share, or even a hybrid like shareholder value -- distorts the business as people try to maximize that one measure. Instead, choose multiple goals, and as you do, consider how they interact with one another. No company can maximize everything at the same time. Be sure the set of goals you choose can be accomplished simultaneously. Reducing working capital by 10 percent, for instance, might be impossible if another of your goals is to grow revenue 15 percent.
Several years ago, leaders of one of the world's largest automakers stated their intention to increase overall market share, but pursuing that goal proved to have a negative effect on earnings as the company struggled to support a very wide range of products.

• Consider the context
Set your goals in light of the opportunities that exist internal and external to your business, unit, or department. Maybe there's an opportunity to redesign your supply chain and tap huge cost savings in the process, or a whole new customer segment that could cause a big jump in revenues.Think broadly, and look forward, not backward. And be prepared to adjust the goals in light of what the rest of the
business is doing -- for instance, in response to the CFO's need to increase
cash in the coming year.

The beauty of these guidelines is there simplicity. In the sphere of management consulting where throwing jargons and sounding complicated is considered to be highly desirable, here is someone who can speak plain english and yet make an impact.

The underlying philosphy in all that he speks about is building synergies; hence he talks about goals been based on the opportunities in the external world but the way to achieve is through introspecting, identifying ones strenghts & shortcoming and arriving an optimal. Just as what Sigmund Freud said - "A man should not strive to eliminate his complexes but to get into accord with them: they are legitimately what directs his conduct in the world".

Marketing Mix of Life ...

Passion and Profession are two of the most overlooked 2 P's of life. My management friends will surely understand it right away, and for the rest here is a quick Marketing 101.

We are so often caught in the trap of living upto 'n' number of expectations, both real and percieved, that we tend ignore things core to ourselves. Passion is something thats pure indulgence from the heart. And Profession is where we devote more than half of our waking and walking time. Yet there are so few of us actually think and move in the direction of clubbing these two.

In the ever cluttered space of Indian Online Job Portals there is little differentiation in terms of product offering. And as the dog fight starts for claiming the #1 slot, we can only expect things to get worse. I happened to come across a wonderful business model in the area of Online Recruitment used by Careerspice.

Here is what the section marked - "the careerspice difference" on the website says :

By studying the lives of extraordinary achievers through history, a unique discovery was made for the professional. The single source of all extraordinary achievements is Passion. There is an innate Passion within everyone. When tapped and aligned with properly, ones full potential is realized and great accomplishment is made. Careerspice is founded on this discovery. It is the only online employment service that utilizes deep profiling with passion™ at its core.

The next generation: Careerspice is seizing the opportunity to shift the industry paradigm to a more personalized plane. The Match PSS™ system focuses on deep employment compatibility rather than the current "cookie-cutter fit" practices. Based on key employment dimensions (passion™, strengths, and skills), Match PSS™ captures detailed attributes from both sides of the equation. This system narrows the field from thousands of random results to a highly select cases that are compatible. A win-win for job seeker and employer.

Careerspice services come at competitive rates to employers and are free for job seekers.

Its high time now for the Indian Job Portals to evolve there business models and think about something on similar lines. Or else the moment we update our resumes on any of the job portals, the first impact is a bunch of calls from Placement Consultants forcing upon you an entire range of job offers, ranging from wierd to amusing to downright absurd. And most importantly, having very little corelation with the description that you have had to fill in all those forms while you were signing up as a job seeker with these portals.

mobile blogging

Just installed Google Mobile on my mobile, this is a downloadable Java Application offering a great Gmail experience. Will surely recommend it to all who have a internet enabled mobile aceess.

And the first thing I did was using the Mail-to-Blogger service and send a post to my blog.

Getting a taste of mobile blogging and posting from my gmail account using my Motorola L6 :)

Just Words...

And just when my thought process started to shape up and a lot of things started to verbalise, I am back into the grip of writer's block.

Any help/ suggestions ???

Google China

Driving market share northwards is surely the key objective of any business enterprise and undoubtabley it should be so. Its not very uncommon to find organizations going to any extent to grab the maximum share of the pie. There are a lot of ethical issues involved in defining the scope of what is right/ what is wrong. There is no count of the companies which have fallen into this trap.

Another complimentry issue which closely runs in the background is the issue of brand equity. Brand Equity has been defined as "An intangible asset that depends on associations made by the consumer".

So in terms of value, what market share is to a company, brand equity is to a consumer. And the proportionality function is -

Market Share:Organization :: Brand Equity:Consumer

So when we think about a company with the credo - "Do no evil" , there is a logical implication that both the above stated ratios stand to gain, in a postive way.

Google is one company which has lived up to all these expectations. They showed great candor about a year back when they admitted there shortcomings and the challenges they were facing in China -> Google in China

But what a disappointment it has been to see Google apologize to rival search engine.

Now we will have to wait and see how will they go ahead with there stated objective -

"We're in this for the long haul. In the years to come, we'll be making significant and growing investments in China. Our launch of google.cn, though filtered, is a necessary first step toward achieving a productive presence in a rapidly changing country that will be one of the world's most important and dynamic for decades to come. To some people, a hard compromise may not feel as satisfying as a withdrawal on principle, but we believe it's the best way to work toward the results we all desire."

Entreprenurial Divide...

An excellent writeup and reflective by Ajit Balakrishnan (Founder, CEO - Rediff) -

http://ajitb.rediffiland.com//scripts/xanadu_diary_view.php?postId=1175605247


Here he raises a very critical issue of the role that low-tech entrepreneur play in a vast majority of Indian businesses, and yet how vulnerable they are to market variations over which they have no control. And also the ironic divide between the elite graduates who come from the top Engginerring and Management schools as against the "commoners".

Thoughtless...

Spend a particulary thoughtless/ thoughtfree sunday, which now as an after thought seems to be worth it. The highlights of the grand sunday were -

• Waking up at 10 a.m.
  
• Going back to sleep
• Watching the entire Malaysian Grand Prix from start to finish
• Enjoying every moment of it, goofing up by Massa, Hamilton overpowering the Ferrari's, neck to neck run between Raikkonen and Hamilton, McLaren topple Ferrari.
• Simultaneously, watched a Mohanlal starrer Malayalam blockbuster (forced on me by my roomie) and the 1992 multi-starrer (Dharmendra, Naseeruddin Shah, Aditya Pancholi, Shammi Kapoor, Amrish Puri, Javed Jaffrey, Ekta Sohini, Mukesh Khanna, Sonu Walia, Pallavi Joshi) action, suspense, comedy, thriller Tehelka (which i forced on him, as a return favour) ;o)
• Brainwave in Hindi
  
• Listened to
  
• Maggi for dinner

NB: BTW Just in case you are as clueless as myself as to what is all this suppose to mean, then let me tll you, on a monday morning, when you have absolutely no bearing of whats happening in the lecture (except for the topic being discussed) and are half asleep in the last row, what else can you think of ?
And yes just in case if you are able to figure what is all this about plz feel free to enlighten me as well :)

Management Internship...

Finally, after a bit of delay, the writeup on our first phase of internship is up on our college website

A good feedback from project mentor is certainly a booster :)

कुछ भाव ...

आज भी मन की सतह पे उसी तरह संघर्ष जारी है ..................

नीरंतर ही मन भ्रमण करता है
छोर की अन्तीम वीरः तक

पथ के साथ चल कर भी
अनभिग्य रहा मंज़िल से

शब्दो में उलजा हुआ
ढूढ़ रह हू भावो को.....

समय ने मुझे बहुत तराशा है, बहुत से अनुभव एवं अनुभूतीया दी है । जीवन से बहुतायत रोश या आत्मग्लानी तो नही, मगर फिर भी आज भी मन की सतह पे उसी तरह संघर्ष जारी है ........

Evolution by shopping...

Seems some poor guy got brandished in a shopping spree of gals and then as an after-thought came snippets of wisdom .....

The seven ages of the woman shopper

Personally it amuses me to see the extent to which marketing has fine tuned the art of observation. What was for a long time considered to biggest nightmare for men (watching a women shop) has now been described which such astute finesse that it almost seems like an artform ;o)

Googlezon...

While researching for my college magzine write up, got to read an interesting point of view -

Is Google Too Powerful?

Men who blew...

After staying awake till 4 am and having a packed schedule of classes from 8 am to 8 pm yesterday, I realised that it was not the best day to form an opinion. So after a good night sleep there is one thought which is still there is my mind, without the slightlest bit of remorse and hard feelings, I have been wondering all this while as to how did the Indian Cricket Team achieve the task of loosing with -

• A batting line-up of 7 batsmen
• Chasing (which is considered to be our forte)
• So much at stake (both in terms of reputation and performance)
• A coaching using most innovative techniques ( Six Thinking Hats et. al.)
  

Times of India reports -

It is understood that coach Greg Chappell, whose tenure is unlikely to be renewed, would give a damning report on India's performance though for public appearance sake, he kept repeating that rather than any individual's failure, the team collectively shares responsibility.

Chappell believed that the team collapsed under "the weight of expectations" which started building up soon after the team had suffered a shocking loss to Bangladesh in their group opener on March 17.

Chappell believed that the Indian players were under more pressure than any other international team members.

"I think India is definitely under more pressure because of the weight of expectations back home," said Chappell.

"It does have an effect, and I would say from the experience of the last few weeks, it definitely had its effect.

"Coming into the Bangladesh game, I thought the boys were a bit anxious at that stage, and the pressure built from there. That pressure had a bearing on what happened out there on Friday."


It seems, based on the statements mentioned above, that the root cuase of the mishap was the pressure to win, whereas till date I was under the impression that the reason why India Team was in West Indies was to win some matches and perform.

So much for the enlightenment and now back to some of the core competencies, the blame game and future planning has already started.

And then someone was reminded of the power of positive thinking - We didn't lose, the other guy won

Windows Live Writer

 

My first post using Windows Live Writer. Windows Lives Spaces Website describes this application as -

"Writer has lots of features which we hope make for a better blogging experience such as WYSIWYG authoring and seamless photo and map publishing.  You can also extend the types of rich content that can be inserted into your blog post by creating plug-ins using the Writer SDK."

test blog

test blog using remote posting feature

Google - समाचार

Google News Service now available in Hindi as well, says the Official Google Blog

More on this -> गूगल समाचार के बारे में

And more on how this service was developed -> http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/03/read-hindi-newspapers-or-magazines-on.html

Indifference....

I am amidst an inner conflict. On one hand I am feeling indifference towards a backlog thats looming large on my head, while on the other hand there is certain degree of stress thats looming in my head.

This is not the first time that I am experiencing this. I clearly remember my second year of graduation, where during the entire year I felt an in-built guilt and anxiety due to my previous years backlog in maths. During the entire academic year I lived under great deal of stress which no matter what I did, I was unable to overcome.

Even stranger was the feeling that I experienced the night before the re-exams, I knew I was not prepared well and I also knew that slogging a little bit harder at that moment would be help. Yet, somewhere deep within I felt exhausted and drained out, there was a feeling of being "emotionally drained out". Which I could hardly understand. There was a part of me that had given up and turned numb. This was similar to the kind of numbness a pain killer induces, wherein the pain and cause of the pain exists but the sensation is completely blocked. I knew that there was a part of me that was suffering and was deeply scared and yet I did not have the nerve to face it.

And again after almost six year I am in a similar situation and responding in a very similar way. The only difference is that now despite of my growing cynicism, I have the courage to acknowledge it. And face myself.......

Self Reminder

I have to write a post on - No Poach Agreements and the Bond Policy followed as a Recruitment Policy by the HR Department of companies in India.

Rocky Balboa

I have been a Rocky fan for a lifetime to say anything analytically, so let me use my favourite cliche - if have not watched Rocky Balboa you are missing something and living an incomplete life

What a way to complete the Rocky epic. And this is not about the fights and being an underdog, it goes way deeper. Its about coming in terms with oneself, the biggest and most worthy of all fights. I watched the last fight sequence holding my breath and my fists clenched, and the most moving emotion during the entire fight were not hate, revenge and wining, instead it was the battle for self-respect that both the boxers fought and in which both won.

Here is a snap of two of the most stirring sequences in the movie :

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rocky Balboa: You know I couldn't have done nothing without you... Yo Adrian we did it...
[kisses tombstone]
Rocky Balboa: We did it...
[Walks off into distance]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rocky Balboa: Yo, don't I got some rights?
Boxing Commissioner: What rights do you think you're referring to?
Rocky Balboa: Rights, like in that official piece of paper they wrote down the street there?
Boxing Commissioner: That's the Bill of Rights.
Rocky Balboa: Yeah, yeah. Bill of Rights. Don't it say something about going after what makes you happy?
Boxing Commissioner: No, that's the pursuit of happiness. But what's your point
Rocky Balboa: My point is I'm pursuing something and nobody looks too happy about it.
Boxing Commissioner: But... we're just looking out for your interests.
Rocky Balboa: I appreciate that, but maybe you're looking out for your interests just a little bit more. I mean you shouldn't be asking people to come down here and pay the freight on something they paid, it still ain't good enough, I mean you think that's right? I mean maybe you're doing your job but why you gotta stop me from doing mine? Cause if you're willing to go through all the battling you got to go through to get where you want to get, who's got the right to stop you? I mean maybe some of you guys got something you never finished, something you really want to do, something you never said to someone, something... and you're told no, even after you paid your dues? Who's got the right to tell you that, who? Nobody! It's your right to listen to your gut, it ain't nobody's right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!... You know, the older I get the more things I gotta leave behind, that's life. The only thing I'm asking you guys to leave on the table... is what's right.

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Rocky Balboa: Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that!

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A quick 101 for starters - Rocky Balboa (the character)

Movie Trailers - http://www.apple.com/trailers/mgm/rockybalboa/

The Official Site - http://www.sonypictures.com/homevideo/rockybalboa/index.html

Workaholic Me......

One of the common myth we all tend to live under is that there is a co-relation (positive) between being a workaholic and being productivity.

All of us (including me) have tried at somepoint or the other tried to push harder. And mostly its during the times of high anxiety that we tend to misinterpret ourselves and dissipate in unproductive ways.

Here is an article from Psychology Today, perfectly illustrating this - A field guide to the workaholic

Ye dil maange more........

As the placement season in the most exalted b-schools in India (the IIMs) starts and reaches its full frenzy within a short span of hours, the aspirations and determination of all management aspirants reaches an all time high, with the fattest ever pay package laid in the platter. This is the time of the year when we get to view a glitzy spectacle which proves two things : firstly, the paradigm shift that India has experienced and how we have moved towards a veiw point which evaluates a management gradute solely on the basis of how much was salary package he/she was able to grab in the placements; secondly, our sheer passion and single point agenda of living a salaried life.

The way I look at both of these, there seems to a paradox to me. Now since we live in a country of paradoxes, I have been tempted a number of times to ignore this, and follow the chalta hai law. However, now as I face the quarter life crisis and am in the process of confronting a number of issues and comming in terms with life, as I choose to view it, this issue again came to the fore.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines Dream as - "a strongly desired goal or purpose". Desire is something that we long for, which also at the same time is furturistic in nature. Chase dreams, is something we have heard so many times in life and at times cherished too. However, how many of us have actually given it a thought at a decision point in our life.

A handful of students of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have once set precedent by making a stand at one of the most crutical decision point of there life, by making a choice to chase there dreams, not just a job.

One of most amusing and insightful statement in the article (hyperlinked above) was "The cushion of two more chances will also help the students to withstand the pressure from parents to get a ‘decent job’"


Post Script: Although it was very tempting for me to end this article in a "Moral of the story" format, but I refrained। I would like anyone who is reading this article to use his/her own thought process and formulate there own conclusion, because thats the first step towards an enabled life.


This post has also been cross-blogged at -> http://newvalleywest.blogspot.com/

Hindi Blogging

गूगल ब्लॉगर के नए feature के द्वारा मेरा हिंदी मे ब्लोग करने का प्रयत्न

Blogger has now intergrated transliteration for hindi blogging directly in the template :)

How to use this feature -> http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=58226#fonts


PS: (Peptalk) This should be all the more reason for me to write in hindi

My Daily commute in Mumbai Local Train

My everyday commute starts with churning some thoughts in my idle brain to wake it from hibernation. That (when I say churning) by the way reminds of a beautiful hindi word – Manthan, which literally means introspection through the process of push & pull of thoughts, through deliberation. I specify (by using "literally") this because of the usual twisting of words, meanings and there usage that at times I tend to indulge in, which by the way does not in any imply that I am good with words, it simply means (as of my good old college friend use to say) that spend them very casually.

Every day travel by the Mumbai local train is a manthan (again in the literal sense of the word), especially considering the twisting, churning and all such similar motions that one experiences inside a local train compartment. So much goes into it in different forms, at various stages of travel, here is a what a process flow of my daily train journey will be like –

· Stage 1 : Getting started – This is a stage is initiated/ triggered at the defining moments of my bus ride to the station. The moment I step out of the bus and start to walk towards the station a sudden realization of the crowd around, dawns me.

· Stage 2 : Brainwave at Platform # 2 – This is a stage at which I find myself in the safe company of a majority of Kanjur Marg civilization (civilization – coz of the sheer assortment of people you can find standing there – no offence intended) and I start to think why is that all people have developed a sudden liking for the 08:11 CST local. Is it that HT Café (a tabloid which seems to be the staple source of news and current affairs to people who travel via various public transports AND who have mastered the art of reading the newspaper while standing/ pushing/ pulling/ enduring a stampede/ engaging in or being audience to a verbal duet) have collectively declared it to the most happening train ride. I wonder.

· Stage 3 : Getting into the local – After using all my strategic intelligence (whatever is functional at that glorious moment) and tactics, finally I align myself (now I have started to understand how did study of trajectory and projectile motion become an integral part of 11th grade physics; off course not mention, like everything else this is also become outdated and irrelevant, I propose including Chaos theory of Modern Physics to make this subject more contemporary and applied) with a bunch of people. As soon as the train halts, something happens in the span of next 30 seconds. This span of half a minute is an acid test of whatever you have learned thus far about the art and science of traveling in a Mumbai local during peak hours (which usually span from 4 am till well past midnight). If are able to apply is correctly, you are in the train or else wait for the next local (which effectively means, you are back to stage 2).

· Stage 4 : In the line of fire – Stepping into a compartment is just half the battle (you still cant say whether you have won or lost). There is an all together different dynamics of motion that is followed, the inflow and outflow of the people in a fluid motion of high viscosity seems to be governed by an all together different intelligence. No where can a better live example of collective consciousness in motion be found. The constant shuffle, sort, re-arrangement and filing has a beauty of its own (which by the way, one day I got lost in admiring, and found myself promptly downloaded two stations before my destination).

· Stage 5 – Destination ahoy – This is a logical resultant of following at the previous steps, managing to stay steady in the compartment for 35-40 minutes and last but not least remembering to get down.





This is in short by typical one way journey to office :o)

Google Adwords Seminar

Finally after a weeks wait, got a confirmation for Google Adwords Seminar on pay- per-click online advertising to be held on March 1st in Mumbai at the NCPA auditorium.

Something that got me excited and woke me from self-hibernation.




PS: When you are lost and in the blues, its time for a good scolding ;)

Thank god its a MONDAY.....

Mind is good when money is concerned;
mind is good when war is concerned;
mind is good when ambitions are concerned;
but mind is absolutely useless when love is concerned.
Money, war, desire, ambitions — you cannot put in the same category love.
Love has a separate source in your being...

[ So read the No-Thought of the Day ]

[Flashback]

On any other day these soft flowing words would have elicited a wonderful visulisation, some tender thoughts and the usual inablity to express them in words. But nothing like that happened. I was, as usual amazed at my ability to amaze myself when I least expected or thought, I could.

[End of Flahback]

Had a especially boring weekend and was disappointment with a book that I had been planning to read for a long time (atleast the first sixty pages have been nothing more than personal cribbing about the state of everyday affairs in the city of Mumbai).

Monday seemed to have a different plans. The moment I stepped out of my current .... well.... (the only words that comes to my mind are stop gap/ pit stop). I was greeted by a overclouded sky. My haggle for change with the corner newspaper vendor made the perfect backdrop for a light drizzle which became a downpour by the time I entered the local. Got half wet in the process of getting down and reaching office. And then adding to the drama, was the climax. As soon as I entered the washroom to dry myself and looked out of the window, and of all things what I get to see is the sun shining in its complete glory....

[Background Music Credit- Film: Karz, 1980 ]

The last one hour of my life flashes by in quick frames forming a Picasa style collage in front of my eyes. And only then did I realise the meaning/implication/depth of the saying "Sum is greater than the parts". Truely unbelievable, I gasped, infact I am still in a state of delirium, so I took refuge in the wisdom propounded by none other than one of the greatest mystery buster to have ever existed in the world of fiction (when reality hurts, only fantasy comforts), in the words of Sherlock Homes "Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth."

[Flashback]

On any other day these soft flowing visuals would have elicited a wonderful visulisation, some tender thoughts and the usual inablity to express them in words. But nothing like that happened. I was, as usual amazed at my ability to amaze myself when I least expected or thought, I could.

[End of Flahback]

[With the camera rolling a long shot.. gradually I come back to focus in the frame]

Back to reality.... today being the first day of the week, I woke up all pepped up, braved the rain and reached office 30 mins before time only to find that there was no work for me and all that I had planned had long since gone haywire. Spend the first two hours reading through the entire epaper edition of Times of India (err the first page of the main paper and then the entire Bombay Times, for some, eye sight, oops... inside, damn... insightful news... insight indeed :X ) and then the Economic Times most read articles section (after all I am a management student).

With 30 mins to lunch I looked like the busiest soul in the office. Deeply engrossed on my laptop screen (which by the way, was positioned at a strategic angle to prevent any kind of visual trespassing).

Post luch, shot a email to my project guide as a follow up of a long since over issue and within a short span a second one which was a follow and update on the previous email (I have yet to figure out the analysis and the bar diagram that went with the sencond one, so dont fancy any questions on either of them). As soon as I satisfied my guide about the hard work that went during the course of my entire I was back to my workstation. Since I was busy with my laptop the rest of people around thought I was busy, leaving me in peace ;)

So here I am, after spending an entire monday, sitting at my workstation, winding up this post and packing the rest of the stuff scattered around (printouts, notepad, stationary, my wristwatch).



[Postscript]

On a monday evening, after a hard days work, moral of the story: Never start a monday morning jumping from bed with excitement and anticipation (the thing is, they might come your way but in such a different way that you would pefer the monday blues and fighting them off instead). And last but not least, never spend a workless monday with a ineternet enabled laptop ;)

ohhh... and totally forgot to mention, my discovery of the day was Hindi Search Engine - Raftaar . Still wondering at its name and search capabilites, more on this and other niche search engines in a different post, which is still pending in my drafts btw :(

Sunset @ Bandstand

A poor attempt to capture the beautiful sunset from my Motorola L6 VGA Camera.

Sunset @ Bandstand

My LinkedIn Connect..... Apple reconnect....

Three days of my netconnection working all weird... and donno what happening... with three posts in draft and two hanging in my head... feeling bad :(

Ok....

Here is my LinkedIn Profile -> http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashutosht

Finally started with LinkedIn a couple of days ago, but still pretty much cluless on how to expand my network. Happened to find some real good info/tips on the blog of Guy Kawasaki (really wondering how come so less details mentioned on Wikipedia... Wikipedia disappointed me after such a long time)

Here is the Bloglink -> Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn

Had a dejavu sensation... which forced me to point to Apple Homepage and there is was... finally an Apple iPhone ... (still mentally kicking myself , how could is miss the launch which happened yesterday.... )

“These are not three separate devices. This is one device and we’re calling it iPhone. Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone,” Steve Jobs exclaimed at the at the annual Mac Expo yesterday.

I am always star gazed when ever I start to dig more and more info about Steve. How many people in the world have the guts to say ""We're going to make some history together today." and that too not as an exclaimation/proclaimation, instead a mere statement.

Here is a minute by minute roll of how it all happened -> Live from Macworld 2007: Steve Jobs keynote



Apart from that, hope to complete the pending drafts soon.

Those were the best days of my life...

Being a sceptic forever, I am really stumped when someone asks to describe the best day in my life. Still lack a perfect answers for that, but in the recent past, undoubtebly 2nd Jan 2007 will go down with this credit. Three good things happening in the same day is too much for me to discard. So after a long time acknowledging the fact that even I can enjoy guilt free happiness.

First working day of the year, went to my training company with rock bottom hopes. And found that I have been allotted of the best projects I could hope for. Again a part of me kept kicking all through the day, stopping me, mentally kicking, but I guess there is one more quality that I possess I had long forgotten that came to the fore... which is being an absolute sentimentalist.

And happened to see a movie -> Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , about which I am too shaken to comment. One movie which I dont think will be able to forget in a hurry. Right now too thrilled with it to comment further. Now I came to realise why it was voted amongst the top 100 spiritual movies till date. Watching it was an enrichment for me. Only minor regret is that I watched it alone.

So, back to some re-affirmations... here are snippets of a conversation that I had soon after, with a friend whom I bumped into after an interval of time...

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Ashutosh: pata nahi kyun but felt happy today after a long time
xxxxxxx: :)
Ashutosh: its kinda feeling thts hard to describe
xxxxxxx: elated?
Ashutosh: cant find a cause/root
nahi yaar
something deeper
xxxxxxx: this feeling that finally things are falling into place...
and yet nothing on the face of it has moved?
Ashutosh: probably
yeah
metamorphosis
xxxxxxxx: of what?
Ashutosh: of self
xxxxxxxx: from wat to wat?
Ashutosh: u might find it strange... but i am feeling happy in a way when i defeat myself... my outer self...
and break the shackles i hav set for myself
xxxxxxxx: its not strange..
Ashutosh: which no one ever has been able to even move
xxxxxxxx: people who have feltlonely have often felt this way on accomplishing somehting like this all on their own mettle
Ashutosh: yeah but also at the same time i am afriad to express it
xxxxxxxx: afraid to express happiness?
Ashutosh: i fear that i may loose it
xxxxxxxx: that it will go away?
Ashutosh: haan
xxxxxxxx: wat use is it if u dont share..
share it..
let more ppl know that youre happy..
Ashutosh: has happened all too often in my life
xxxxxxxx: even if it lasts a few moments..
Ashutosh: for years at a strech
xxxxxxxx: it'll have lived a bigger life..
happiness never comes for long..
but it can come in a large quantum, boss
and its your responsibiloty to make it big
go ahead..call a few freinds
party out..go out for a sumptuous dinner
keep awake till as long as u like..
sleep it off tomorrow morning till whenever..
Ashutosh: geez.. i am already feelin so nice
thanks
xxxxxxxx: torture u'rself by indulging
believe me, when u r done with this, u'll wanna start
working like a workoholic
:)
Ashutosh: yeah
i felt so damn alive today
xxxxxxxx: :)
so wat was the reason for the happiness?
or is it one of those stupid grins that one gets one fine morning..?
Ashutosh: naah...got a nice project... something i wanted to do but had stopped thinking abt.... reasoned myself out of it... sayin that its not practical... aand today whn i was offered a proj in HRMS... no matter hw hard i tried... cudnt stop myself frm sayin yesafter that was mentally kickin myself all afternoonstill feelin happywas almost grinnin like a fool

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How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd ...

- Eloisa to Abelard

Thoughts .....

The year 2006 had been a year of full trials and tribulations for me. Had to take some though callings and life took some turns, the outcome of which only the future will tell. The year 2007 starts for me fully loaded with hopes and expectations.

And thats broadly the same story with so many people around me. As each year ends we load the next year. And follow the same iterations.

Dont know if this is right or wrong. All I know is that, this is the endless circle of life. And amidst this very chaos we have a couple of choices... as has been so beautifully highligted ->

You are led through your lifetime by the inner learning creature, the playful spiritual being that is your real self. Don't turn away from possible futures before you're certainyou don't have anything to learn from them.You're always free to change your mindand choose a different future, or a different past.

- from "Illusions, The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah"

So, wishing all people and year ahead full of whatever they dream, wish and aspire for.


PS: Resolution and Professional Goals to follow shortly.