Manifesting a Beautiful Environment Around Us

On World Environment Day, it occurred to me that the most important environment is not spoken about: The 'Inner' Environment.

How will the environment around us change, when we internally remain the same?

Religion, spirituality and science, all agree in unison that the external environment is a manifestation of the inner self. Which leads me to believe that a green, clean, unpolluted earth will manifest from a commensurate mindset.

If Workplaces Functioned & Graded Like Traditional Academics...

Yet again, it's that time of the year: When students in India are being ranked on their ability to rote learn their yearly quota of "curriculum".

But, if education is expected to prepare students for a career, shouldn't it be more in sync with how workplaces function?

For amusing ourselves, let's imagine what a workplace would look like, if it followed the grading rules and methods of educational institutions and exams:

- You should work individually and not in a team.

- You cannot share your work and reports with others.

- Each person in the meeting must take down a separate Minutes of the Meeting and it should not be shared with others.

- The Minutes must be memorized as the Boss can ask you to repeat them at another time. If you cannot speak without referring to your notes, you are stupid, incompetent, nincompoop, and your daddy is wasting money on you.

- You cannot collaborate on projects. You can be fined, punished, suspended, detained or even thrown out for collaborating.

- You primarily get paid for showing up, and you can generally get by, by applying sly memory methods taught by tutorials 

- You cannot use a calculator, a mobile phone, messaging apps, collaborating apps, or Google. These are taboo, and can be a serious offence leading to end of career.

These examples can go on and on, of how a workplace would be like if it followed the amusing practices followed by educational institutions and systems to grade students. Can you think of some too? Add to the comments below and we'll have some more fun, poking the system.

"No! Not Ambitious Enough..!"

Recently, I was drawn into a conversation about Ambition and Ambitious-ness by a parent who was seeking admission for his daughter. The impromptu conversation led me to making statements and some interesting realizations:

- Tangible Vs. Intangible:  Ambition is not something that can be measured tangibly. Nor can we take a preset criteria and announce that X is more ambitious than Y because of A, B and C.

- CXO Vs. Rat Race: Corporate success cannot be the measuring rod for ambition. Can a CXO who wakes up and isn't thrilled about going to work on Monday morning, be called ambitious? Or is s/he just another one in the rat race?

- Happiness Quotient: Can happiness be an ambition? Can a person who is very happy, be considered ambitious? Or is that person the anti-thesis of ambition? Because, by concept, ambition seems to mean striving for something you right now, either don't have, or aren't.

- Family Vs. Career: If a person chooses to be a stay-at-home parent, and is happy about raising a good family, isn't that person ambitious too?

- Head Vs. Heart: What about a wanderer who follows his heart?

- The Buddha Conundrum: And if we return to the typical definition of ambition, wouldn't we classify Buddha as an unambitious escapist, who left the palace and kingship for the woods and solitude?

Defining ambition is an awkward attempt, at best. I think its best that we not try to define it for others, nor let others define it for the self. Let each of us decide our own life paths and what we will consider as a life well lived. And that, is ambitious enough.

Neighborhood Stores Withstood Supermarkets; Can They Withstand E-tailing ?

Though they were expected to be marauders, supermarkets could not make a major dent in the economics of the friendly neighborhood stores.  Proximity, personalised services, friendly faces, and credit facilities kept the neighborhood stores preferred vendors despite the discount offering and high budget advertising supermarket chains.

The entry of organized retail was protested by one and sundry as it was expected to lead to an end of the Mom-n-Pop shop small economy.  But contrary to predictions of economic pundits, some retail chains like Subhiksha (yea, remember that one?) collapsed entirely, while the neighborhood stores happily survived.

We are now entering the next phase of retail, which is e-tail.  Swipe your mobile a few times, and get entire orders of groceries, meds, eggs, sweets and other daily need items delivered directly to home.  No parking hassle, no traffic driving, no finding time from office schedules or missing important TV shows, no cash payments, no standing in queues for checkout, no rush.  Just simple, easy, 'branded' shopping.  With such value additions without the supermarket compromises, this one seemingly has the power to sweep mom n pop shops away.  Interestingly, there isn't 1% of the protest which preceded the organized retail revolution; which we now know, wouldn't have had too much of an effect on small shop economy anyways.  But then like it or not, internet shopping and easy home delivery is the shopping model of the future.

How will the small neighborhood shops survive in the future, then?  These small shops have to realise that they need to quickly tie up with delivery service providers and also do local branding in their own area to remain relevant and popular.  They also need to find alternate business models.  Otherwise, they are going to find themselves on economic shaky ground in the near future.

If God Stopped Giving, Would You Still Worship? :: The Unpopular View of Spiritualism, Materialism and the Modern Religion

“I give you A, you give me B.”  This, is a standard business transaction.  Interestingly, this isn’t limited to regular business dealings in the marketplace.  Modern religion too, mostly consists of such transactions; (1) between devotee and God, and (2) between devotee and temple management.

The transaction between devotee and temple management is P2P (Person-to-Person) and so is simpler to accept and understand.  The devotee usually transacts with the temple management through giving bribes or donations, and receiving priority access to worship areas and other religious facilities.

The transaction between devotee and God is P2A (Person-to-Abstract) and is tougher to accept and understand.  I devote this writing to discuss this relationship.

In this transaction, the person is making a transactional deal with an unreal non-person, who he supposes (or believes) to exist.  The devotee (irrespective of religion) approaches a God he believes in, and offers prayers and promises, in return for benefits that are primarily materialistic in nature.  A non-exclusive list of benefits most often asked for, would include health, career growth, marriage, children, property, money, help in legal situations etc.  On days when there is nothing specific, the devotee asks for a vague ‘happy life’, which is substituted with specific requests at other times as per specific need.

A line from the popular Ganesha bhajan effectively portrays this idea of asking God for materialistic favours, and probably even respecting God primarily because of his perceived ability to shower materialistic fulfillments on humanity.  The line goes as “Andhe ko aankh de, Kodhin ko kaya; Banjhan ko put de, Nirdhan ko maya”.  The English translation of this line will be:  (Lord gives) eyes to the blind, an able body to the leper, child to the barren, and riches to the penniless.  So the concept at play seems to be - Pray to the Lord, and ask him for materialistic benefits in return – this is what modern religion seems to have come to.  And what if God no longer promises such benefits? Do we abandon him in this case?  The weird conclusion is Yes, because that's what God seems to exist for.

If I reject this twisted conclusion, what then is the purpose of the theory of religion?

I’ll use the Indian context to address this question and to identify most of modern religion as a poor subset of religion’s original purpose.

The Bhagwad Geeta is a central discourse in India about a human being’s spiritual journey.  The discourse, narrated by Lord Krishna (the Supreme Godhead), clearly points towards the final goal of life as being Moksha (Nirvana) – the freedom from the repeated cycles of birth and death and a return to the state of bliss in the Godhead.

Religion teaches us about the three Gunas, and the path to break free from the clutches of Guna and the autocracy of the Karmic Debt in controlling our lives. 

So in fact, the entire benefit of religion points towards what happens post-death.  Religion requires human life to be lived “with the end in mind”, literally.  The Karma should adhere to actions arising from spiritual awakening of the soul – the understanding that we are not our bodies but we are souls stuck in a materialistic universe – this is the basis of spiritualism.  The entire remaining religious discourse highlights the path to achieving an escape back to our soul’s original Home – the Vaikuntha. 

Hence, the reduction of religion as a path to enjoy a happier life on earth, is not exactly a part of the intended Indian discourse on spiritualism.   

Unlike popular belief, I do not distinguish between religion and spiritualism.  I find them inseparable tag team partners.  My understanding is that religion and spiritualism are intertwined; wherein religion provides the structured learning roadmap through a guru, and spiritualism is an aware state of mind, an awakening, a sense of connectedness with the universe and being able to see the light that demystifies ‘Maya’ – the materialistic world.

Considering the above, one derived conclusion is that the idea of ‘materialistic possessions’ or ‘worldly happiness’, are not central to the idea of religion.  Spiritualism, is central to the idea of religion. 

Based on this, we return to our question: How has transacting with God (prayers for benefits) become so central to religion and religious rituals and practices?  Why are temples no longer actively involved in helping people evolve from mere transactional devotees into spiritually enlightened individuals? 

Modern religion definitely requires a shift in focus from materialism to spiritualism.  Without this, the true nature of religion has been reduced to that of a business deal between the devotee and the God.  And this gives the devotee the perception of being religious and even spiritual, but the end result is falling prey to yet another cycle of birth after death. 

Google Is Better At 'Re'invention, Not Invention

I just got a Google+ account and was looking through it; and it seems quite preliminary right now.  Nothing stands out as a strikingly different feature that I was dearly missing.  However, I'm sure that as I explore the service further and Google starts adding updates to the Plus services, things will take a turn - for the better.

'Coz that's how Google always does it!  From the way it looks, Google is better are reinvention rather than invention:

• Yahoo!, Altavista and AskJeeves were already around when Google launched its flagship search services.  Google improvised search and has remained the market leader for over a decade now.

• Hotmail came up with the idea of free web based mail, and Yahoo! gave it a run for its money.  Then Google reinvented free web based email and is still giving everyone a run for their money.  Even today they're adding new interesting features when everyone else is trying to catch up with the original Gmail.  The latest 'Priority Inbox' in Gmail is absolutely a charm!

• Android is an awesome open source technology, but it had a predecessor - the I-Phone OS.  Google took what the I-Phone OS already offered, reinvented it, open sourced it, and launched it world wide.  And today, Android is about to beat the I-Phone or it already has according to some statistics.

• Blogger was doing a great job but losing out to Wordpress already when Google took over and converted Blogger into a super-user-friendly web based engine.  Professional users claim Wordpress' greatness when it comes to plug-ins; but everyone else swears by the drag and drop features in Blogger.  And Blogger plug-ins are catching up for sure!
  

Yes there are some exceptions like Google Earth and a few others, but Google's best services have come when they were reinventing; and not when they were inventing.  Some inventions like the 3-D chat, disappeared just as quietly as they appeared; most people haven't even heard about them.

Orkut couldn't move Facebook's market when Google took over, but then Google was dealing with a legacy app and Facebook was already facing humongous popularity from its technology and the ability to connect people and provide interactive updates.  Orkut remained clumsy, and privacy was always an issue.  

Google+ is purely a 'reinvention'.  Facebook has existed for many years now, it has a strong market base and the number of users give it more population than most other countries around the world.  Just like Hotmail, or Yahoo! search, or the I-Phone; all torch bearers and market scorchers; but losing wind to Google once this company got going.

Google+ is Google's new latest reinvention baby.  It might as well be called Facebook+, I guess.  But this time, the foe is extremely formidable and threatens to push the new G-baby into oblivion and make it an unsuccessful mutiny into the F-hunk stronghold.  

Only time will tell where the battle leads, but Google is reinventing again and Facebook needs to take notice.  The competition is super hot, and as Google adds new features to G+, it will only get hotter.  Let's see if Google wins the reinvention game yet again!

From Today Into Yesterday

Where do they come from,
These desires of today,
To relive the golden memories of yesterday.

Why do they come,
When I did not call them here.
And why did they then leave,
When I did not send them away;

Leaving me with a void,
One moment empty,
Another moment heavier than I can lift,
Choking me on both counts.

Once that which gave me life,
Beckons me to call out again,
But gone is the sunlight that used to feed it.

Be gone, sweet memories, halt your dreams,
You can no longer be brought back to life.

K V Kamath Joins Infosys

K V Kamath becomes K V Come-eth for Infosys. 

Infosys hopes to sail again with ex ICICI honcho K V Kamath joining the organisation.  

Toon - Nitin Nohria becomes Harvard B-School Dean

Nitin Nohria becomes the first Indian Dean at the Harvard Business School !

Toon - Sachin Tendulkar Joins Twitter

My tribute to Sachin uncle joining Twitter!!

Victoria's Secret Rival Brand

My Toondoo toon creation adventures continue...

Toon - Institute of Controversy Creation & Management

Found this great new site Toondoo.com. It allows me to create toons, and fulfill my all-time 'toony' creativity, without the knowledge of drawing them.

Yay! for tech and Yay!! for Jambav team to create the Toondoo.com engine.

Here's the first one I created:

The Psychology of FB Updates

And why exactly is FB such a big hit? What is the magic behind that irresistible urge for updating statuses?

Been thinking about it, and the only thing that comes to mind is - the Need for Attention, for Social Validation.

Uploading new photos, writing witty status messages, or commenting - everything finally leads to the child in our heart that desires attention.  FB is such a fantastic tool to study psychology, really!  Researchers, anyone??

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada's Prayer before Landing in America (September 1965)

Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), landed in America in 1965. He was not sponsored by any religious organizations, nor was he greeted by followers. He had embarked on that journey as guided by his Guru.

The wikipedia page on Swami Prabhupada summarizes his achievements in the final 12 years of his life, beginning since he landed in New York - without money or supporters (He came to New York with 8 dollars in his pocket):

• Circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents
• Directed the founding of the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which claims to be the world's largest publisher of ancient and classical Vaishnava religious texts
• Authored more than eighty books on Vedantic philosophy, religion, literature and culture
• Watched ISKCON grow to a confederation of more than 108 temples, various institutes and farm communities

Huh?!? Sounds like a feat doesn't it? In just 12 years, he went around the globe 14 times across 6 continents, authored 80 books, and influenced the construction of 108 temples in over 11 countries? Almost a supernatural feat.

But why I am writing about this, is because his prayer caught my notice. Some time ago, I was mired by my life situations. And I landed up at an ISKCON temple as if I was being guided there (I had never been to one before, or was never specifically a Krishna devotee). For the first time in my life, I prayed into submission. When I came across Prabhupada's prayer, the one he told Krishna right before he arrived in New York, it was for me a sense of deja vu. I don't feel competent to compare myself with Prabhupada yet, but it kinda makes me believe I'm on the right track.

... as he neared his destination on the ship, the Indian freighter Jaladuta, the enormity of his intended task weighed on him. On September 13, 1965 (Again unbelievably, Today - the day I chose to write about this prayer - is the eve of the 44th Anniversary of his prayer) he wrote in his diary, "Today I have disclosed my mind to my companion, Lord Sri Krishna."

Prabhupada's Prayer:

"I do not know why You have brought me here. Now You can do whatever You like with me. But I guess You have some business here, otherwise why would You bring me to this terrible place? How will I make them understand this message of Krishna consciousness? I am very unfortunate, unqualified and most fallen. Therefore I am seeking Your benediction so that I can convince them, for I am powerless to do so on my own."

Hare Krishna.

Best Definition of Non-Confirmism

This is, by far, the best definition of Non-Confirmism I have come across.  It is by a guy whose ideas I've really liked - Tim Ferriss.  Tim has a path breaking book called The Four Hour Work Week, and he talks about concepts such as mini-retirements, maximum work with minimum effort and living to realize dreams rather than living to work!  

I have usually been unable to explain to people what exactly I mean by non-confirmism; and that there is a certain logic to non-confirmism and it is not just for kicks.  Tim Ferriss does an excellent job of explaining it in his book, and I hand it over to him...

 

"Most people walk down the street on their legs.  Does that mean I walk down the street on my hands?  Do I wear my underwear outside of my pants in the name of being different?  Not usually, no.  Then again, walking on my legs and keeping my thong on the inside have worked just fine thus far.  I don't fix it if it isn't broken.  Different is better when it is more effective or more fun.  If everyone is defining a problem or solving it one way and the results are subpar, this is a good time to ask, What if I did the opposite?  Don't follow a model that doesn't work.  If the reciepe sucks, it doesn't matter how good a cook you are."

Why Not I Sing...

Why not I sing the song
   Quickly,
That lies in my heart,
So that I don't risk it remaining there;

Why not i sow the seed
   Quickly,
That lies in my hand,
So that I don't risk it not germinating.

~ Rabindranath Tagore

I think Rashmi found this translated poem somewhere and shared it with us... the words continue to tinker my heart; just like most of Tagore does.

The Classical Cinkara Ad Rip-Off

Bank Account Bechara,

EMI Ke Bojh Ka Maara,

Isse Chaiye RBI Ka Tonic Rupaiiaaah!

:)

If you forgot to brush your teeth last night...

For the first time, I am displaying a posting from someone else's website.. but its worth it.  Short but powerful, this motivational message sums up a great deal in a few words.

If you forgot to brush your teeth last night, did you decide this morning to throw in the towel and never brush your teeth again? Since you're obviously a slob who doesn't have enough self- discipline to remember to brush your teeth, why bother brushing them at all if you forgot to last night?

Of course not.

So if you had ice cream for dinner last night, or didn't exercise yesterday, or gained a pound this week, don't throw in the towel! Make a healthier choice for dinner tonight by eating something lean. Go for a short walk. Weigh in again next week.

Just do NOT give up. 

Lisa.

You Can Call it "Language Pollution"

INDIA AND THE UGLY RISE OF 'FRIENDLY' SWEARING IN PUBLIC

C***U!!! I heard the teenager swear loudly as he walked down the parking lot. And no, he wasn't angry; he was swearing at his friend, just out of fun and as a part of regular discussion.

B** C**D!!! This time outside a store same day evening, this other teenager on a Honda Activa swore the favourite Indian gaali at his friend who was standing about 50 meters away. And again, he was not scorning, he was simply indulging in friendly swearing.

Friendly swearing is the new in-thing. It is becoming a cult of sorts. And though friendly swearing has always been considered normal amongst friends, the habit is now showing up loudly in the social sphere. However, in its new avatar this seemingly harmless habit should be raising an alarm.

What Is Going Wrong?

Shouting out swear words in public places is extremely embarrassing for bystanders. Imagine a family unit - husband, wife and kids - moving around together, and a gang of youngsters suddenly begin to hollering swear words at each other, followed by a devilish group cackle. Can you visualize the situation? The helplessness of the adults at the sheer insult of their family's sanctity?

These days, we not only have to breathe foul air, we must also put up with foul language. Its a new type of pollution seeping through the Indian society. Call it Language Pollution!

We Need A Code of Conduct for Social Behavior

The code of conduct for social behavior should consist of the Biblical statement "Do Unto Others As You Want Them To Do Unto You".

Its funny though, that the very people who indulge in indecent swearing in public behavior, are ready to indulge in a brawl over someone else's indecent behavior. It is indeed ironical that they take up the task of policing others, whereas let themselves run amok in the society, tearing up threads of decency which bind community living together.

Why Are Teenagers Acting So Indecent?

I was discussing this problem with a very close friend of mine, and she rightly pointed out two reasons:

1. Earlier considered to be a sign of ill upbringing and low quality behavior, social swearing is now becoming part of cool behavior.

2. It is a form of power display, where the swearer gains a sense of social power by being indecent in public. (remember Munnabhai of M.B.B.S. fame? or Pakiya of Satya fame?)

What Can Be Done?

I don't really think we can stop it from happening. But to think we are helpless bystanders does not seem right either. Hence, I tried to think of ways to reverse this trend:

1. Parents should devote more time to their kids. One of the primary reasons why swearing was not so much the in-thing earlier, is because we were accountable to our parents who were spending a lot of loving time with us. With the advent of the dual 3 letter words - MBA and MNC - Indians are trading time with family and kids for their career enhancement. And then we claim to be smart traders. Bah! Kids can never be accountable to WeekEnd-Parents
   
   (WeekEnd-Parent adj. A parent who is only available to the kids for a very few hours on weekends. In case of month end, weekend-parent is not available even on weekends)
   
   
2. Btw, I am not saying we give up our jobs and become housewives and house-husbands and full time parents. But being from the same land that bore the Great Buddha, we must be smart enough to find our own 'middle path'.
   
   
3. Movies, television and print media should not promote swearing and use of low quality language as cool. The 'Bhai' language, a favorite of the Indian cinema, sure has its pitfalls.
   
   
4. Socially swearing without concern for others' feelings is a form of apathy, rebel and a release of repressed emotions. Being pressurized to perform academically and not allowed to connect with and fulfill their natural talent causes a feeling of repression and resentment. This helplessness of the youth surfaces as aggressive, indecent behavior. It is also a way to draw people's attention to the self in a world where everyone is unknowingly feeling lonely.
   
   
5. If the society and education fine tunes towards helping individuals achieve their potential rather than force them into pre-defined standard-sized academically labeled boxes, I am sure that kids will develop sensitivity towards the society from a very young age.
   
   The kids will respect a society which respects their individuality, and hence their aggression and rebellious spirit will give way to a harmonized existence with the society at large.

This is my set of socially creative ideas to counter the increasing language pollution spread by loud friendly swearing in public places. I would love to hear your experiences and comments on the same.

The Chak De! Irony

Chak De! did a chak de at all the award functions. It made a clean sweep in all categories. Best Actor, Best Director, Best This, Best That. Watching this irony brought a sly, helpless smile on my face.

It's really ironical: A film about a bunch of ambitious women wanting to make it big in hockey makes it to the headlines, becomes a crowd puller, a super-hit, and wins tons of awards. While the real bunch of ambitious women wanting to make it big in hockey pass by totally unkwown. Everyone recognizes Sagarika Ghatge (Preeti Sabarwal) or Vidya Malavde (Vidya Sharma), but none of us probably even knows the captain of the real Indian Women's Hockey Team, or its star strikers.

Ironical, that a made-up act runs in circles around the real act. The unreal becomes greater than the real. The persona surpasses the person. Boy! it sure is a damn funny world to live in.

I think it would have been great, if at the end of Chak De! India, Shahrukh would have gotten the entire Indian Women's Hockey Team for real and introduced them to the Indians. He had a big chance to create real celebrities out of them and giving Indian Women's Hockey a great fillip; and it is a big chance missed.

However, I also realized that Chak De! was not really a movie about hockey. It was a movie about aspirational (female) youngsters who are willing to stake both their relationships and their pride for pursuing their enchantment. It is this quality which creates a crowd-winning formula as it appeals to all. The main reason for this appeal is that each of us has a hidden desire to reach out for the stars, but very few of us actually manage to do so.

On the other hand, maybe the movie actually leaves us with an idea of how to actually make Indian Women's Hockey successful and the team a celebrity. If the federation succeeds in making a connection between the players and the Indian population like the movie does, it will create a new level of interest in the game. In fact, the movie is a testimonial to the fact that no one is actually interested in the game, but they are interested in the thrill of victory and in the emotional roller coaster a game takes them on.

Understanding and knowing the players as a person will provide the required emotional aptitude for enjoying the game. The players and their personal stories with interesting photoshoots must be featured in newspapers, in reality shows, in news and in advertisements. Actually, they make great material for a reality show, where the audience is taken into the lives, struggles, hopes and ambitions of each player. Later, everyone will want to watch the games of team of persons they are emotional about. When the players will know that there are a billion people emotional about their winning, guess what? They will start winning!!!

The success of Chak De! has surely shown a path to popularize not just hockey, but any game. Let the audience connect with the players off the playground, and then they will want to watch the players on the playground. Add a generous garnish of glamour to the emotions and you have the right recipe for success with the audience at large!

Chak De! Sports!!!