Am I a non-confirmist -- I have a weird feeling may be yes!

The naive me -- young and enthusiastic looked at everything and everyone -- through my rose colored glasses of naivete. World had nice people just like me... trustworthy, honest, sincere, and curious. My rose colored glasses got shattered many a times. I continued to believe in the goodness and still do -- just that I am more cautious. I have also realized I am a non-conformist, followed an less taken road, derided for my choices, but nonetheless I believe in my choices.

The complexities in the world don't make sense to me -- I am simple and like simplicity -- in thought and expression. I found that it's not the norm -- people like to complicate, fuzzier the better, don't know why is that?

I made unconventional choices in schools. I left a famous public boarding school as I felt I was not being valued there. People tried to sweet-talk me to re-consider but I stuck to my decision. This is when I was 12. I chose to matriculate from a simple Central School 36 Kms from my then-home at Khairi, district Chamba of Himachal Pradesh. and far exceeded everyone's expectations.

I made unconventional choices throughout my education and work career. Always followed my heart and when I felt that I was not enjoying the experience, I questioned my assumptions, spoke to my fears, and if things still made no sense I let them go.

Money comes and goes. Careers come and go. Things happen, I learn the lessons and then I forget, just continuing on my journey, don't know what is my destination but I believe the journey is my destination.

Managers versus Leaders

I have been wondering - what's the difference. I hear about so many B-schools opening in India, about graduates getting salaries equivalent to those they'll be paid if they were to graduate from any of the top schools in the world. But, how many of these managers are actually leaders? Are these schools churning out leaders or managers? Are these schools serving the society by creating leaders or are these schools making money for their trust or owners by creating managers? In truth how many of the graduates of these schools are leaders ? But before I pass an opinion on these schools, how is a leader different from a manager?

I was confused by the difference between managers and leaders. What makes an individual a manager and what makes an individual a leader? In my experience, a manager is a person who can envision, plan and execute. Then what does a leader do and how is the leader different from a manager? While reading the biographies of some great leaders some traits appear to be common to all of them - leadership is taking a step forward when 99.9% of the reasons are against that step. Leaders anyways take that step. Call it faith in themselves, or the invisible and the unknown but leaders rise above the ordinary reality. Managers wait till there is 99.9% certainity and then execute their plans. Does it mean that managers do not have faith in themselves, the unknown and the invisible - well may be or may be not - but certainly most managers accept their own limitations.

Leaders are not stopped by opposition, resistance, discouragement, multiple no etc. Most leaders persist and believe in their vision and their work. The stories of Vinobha Bhave, Ela Bhatt, Aung Sang Suu Kyi, Gandhi are inspiring. Managers persist till they find some workable solution or till the time persistence makes sense.

Leaders put interest of others before their own self interest. I don't know what managers do, but I am certain that true leaders are motivated by much more than their own self-interest.

I am still studying this topic and will keep adding to this post as I find more points.

If bullets in their own backyard can't wake people up, then what will!

26/11 happened in South Mumbai and the public outrage at the post-26/11 demonstrations (the demonstration at the Gateway of India on Dec 6) made me think that people were serious - serious to bring about a change. At-last, people were shaking-off their apathy and waking up. But April 30, 2009 presented a completely different picture. What happened to those promises to bring about a change in those post-26/11 demonstrations, where did that public outrage disappear? Why was the voter turnout a mere 43% in Mumbai. If bullets in our own backyard can't wake us up then what will? I am heartbroken to see this public callousness?

Gandhi said 'Be the change you want to see', change begins with us - but unfortunately many of us chose to use the long weekend to go on a holiday rather than vote. Many of us missed out on the opportunity to be the change we wanted to see. God forbid, if 26/11 repeats, what will we do? Demonstrations, ad-campaigns - I am sure we will do that all, but at that time who will believe us, who will trust our seriousness and our anger? By abstaining from our duty to vote haven't we exposed our vulnerability and haven't we have become an easy prey to politicians who can now use us at their will to meet their vested interests and give us the easy reason; 'you chose us'!

My heart goes out to the activists who campaigned day and night urging people to vote. What a waste of their effort, what a waste of resources but above all what a brutal waste of an opportunity! This act of ours is totally unforgivable.

Laws of Life ... funny but true!

Law of queue: If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than the one you are in now.
Law of the Telephone: When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged tone.
Law of Mechanical Repair: After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to theLeast accessible corner.
Law of the Alibi: If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the next morning you will have a flat tire.
Bath THEOREM: When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.
LAW OF ENCOUNTERS: The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.
LAW of the RESULT: When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will!
LAW OF BIOMECHANICS: The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach. THEATRE RULE: People with the seats at the furthest from the aisle arrive last.
LAW OF COFFEE: As soon as you sit down for a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

(taken from an anonymous source)

Human beings as accessories ?

I read an article in New York Times about looking at India's prosperity through the eyes of invisible men or have-nots. This article is an eye-opener and after spending almost a year in India and observing lives of people from different spheres of society here, I found myself agreeing to every single word written in this article. I strongly advocate this article. I wonder why in our society doing our own chores is looked down upon. Hiring a retinue of 'servants' or 'help' seems more like a social-symbol thing than convenience. I agree we all need help to manage our lives but treating other human beings just as some life-less creatures who agree to our whims, adjust to our schedules, never complain, being insensitive to their pain just does not seem right. These people have no labor laws so their pain is never heard and never addressed in a just way. If we are to truly progress as a society we need to make sure we treat the lowest rung of our society with the dignity they deserve.

Technology with a heart

I read this very interest article on CNN.com titled 'Technology with a heart'. The beauty of internet and social-networking as a media is their amazing capability to touch and influence people's life to mostly create a positive change. This article talks about extending social networking to philanthrophy and to micro-lending. I think the concept is unbelievable and just brilliant. This article motivated me to the extent that I created accounts with Kiva.org, Change.org, Ammado.com and Nabuur.com. I'll keep posting whatever interesting stuff I come across or I do on these websites.

Land of the Chinars - Is it a cursed beauty?

Finally another wish fulfilled - I got to visit Srinagar, Gulmarg, Kinjarmarg, Qazikund, Banihal, Anantnag and Gulmarg in May. To repeat the cliche - Kashmir is beautiful and one could spend a lifetime in this paradise - is the sum total of my trip to Kashmir.

The most exiciting discovery I made during this trip was that I found out that Dal lake is not just a lake but a township in itself and I saw the majesty and beauty of Chinar trees. I was impressed by the buzz of activity and culture in Dal Lake. I had known Kashmir to be beautifu but I had not known about the existence of activity and culture in the Dal Lake - floating vegetable gardens, a bazaar with water streets, 2200 houseboats, four chinar trees planted by Emperor Jehangir in one of the floating islands of Dal Lake (also known as Char Chinar), shikaras for commuting, people selling everything from daily used items to expensive jewelery, carpets and food on Shikaras...wow! I was also impressed by women rowing Shikaras and women anchoring their Shikaras to catch-up on the gossip. Yes, it was very interesting to know this aspect of the Dal Lake.

With the happiness also came sadness and anger on seeing the slowly rotting heritage. There is a lot of algae in Dal Lake and this algae is slowly killing this beautful lake. Some cleaning efforts are in place but they are highly inadequate and I also learnt about the reckless felling of the Chinar trees. Chinar wood is highly prized and anti-social elements cut these trees illegally to make quick money. Chinar trees take a long time to grow and if cutting is not stopped, we may soon see the end of the Chinar trees soon too! What a loss it would be!

Finally - why Kashmir, is the beauty suffering from some sort of a curse, an evil eye...what a beautiful landscape and what a brutal treatment given to it ... merciless killings of men and women, innocent cries of children, brutal destruction of the Chinars, suffocation of the Dal Lake ... the soul of the land known to heal the soul of humanity is being ripped ... is there some logical explanation or is it fate? I am sure there is some bigger reason behind this suffering in the grand scheme of things but who knows what...till then God Bless Kashmir!

Breaking rules -- its not funny!

I have been India for the last few months and enjoying every bit of my stay here, though at times I do get annoyed by the "irritatingly familiar" aspects of life here. Irritating why, simply because these aspects just don't make sense. And yes by these aspects, I mean the familiar everyday things, the kind I feel I have no choice but to silently endure them - as I just can't do anything about these things.

Take the example of traffic - the morning peak hours, everyone is in a rush, the trains, buses and autorickshaws are packed. If you commute by a private car, the traffic is in a big mess. I just wonder, why traffic cannot be systematized in a country with one of the highest educated work-force in the world? Why can't the government impose strict rules and penalties and why can't citizens abide by with the existing ones? Why citizens take pride in breaking or floundering rules? Why a rule or traffic-law abiding citizen looked down upon by some people in this country? Why can't we have a developed world kind of traffic organization in this country? We are rapidly progressing in all aspects of life in this country - economy is booming (unfortunately, so is inflation), incomes are rising, infrastructure is supposedly becoming better - then why not the traffic sense?

A look at the newspapers reveals the startling number of innocent lives lost everyday to road accidents. Reasons : rash driving a.k.a 'look I am breaking rules', trivial reasons e.g. a bus driver failing to notice a lady crossing the road, driver losing control of a bus filled with people to twice its designated capacity - leading to major accidents and causing loss of innocent lives. I sometimes wonder, if there were designated pedestrian crossings or a strict check on the buses to make sure the number of passengers does not exceed the designated capacity, could some lives be saved?

Sure, we cannot eliminate road accidents completely by following rules, but we can definitely reduce the number of accidents. If adhering to traffic rules can save lives, doesn't it make simple sense to just obey these rules!

Yeah, Only if wishing and seeing the wish getting fulfilled were the same. C'est la vie.

Back to blogging

Back to blogging. So much to write, just don't know where to start from :). So much change has occurred over the past few months! Well, lets start from the good news-Me back in India and enjoying every moment of it, trying hard to catch up on the things I missed in the 6.5 years I was away. It's fun and the change and transformation (both good and bad) that India has seen in the last few years is really something hard to believe. On one side, I hate the traffic jams, pollution, the depleting green cover but I so much love the new found energy, the bubbling enthusiasm...that is so contagious. The new can-do, nothing-is-impossible attitude really makes-up (I am still debating this point) for the traffic-jams and the pollution. For now, I am enjoying every bit of my experience here and looking forward to this weekend hiking trip to Uran and Nhava-Sheva in Navi Mumbai. There is still so much more to write - well that's for another day :).

INS...Ufff

What is going wrong with INS. It says something (i.e. Immigrants under all categories can apply to get their I-485) on June 12, raising hopes, revokes that decision and dashing hopes, and today once again reinstates the older decision... The whole thing is soooo confusing. The new decision came after a lot of hard work put by the immigrant community, including protests a-la-Gandhigiri ishtyle.

For all those who already have a US Greencard or those who don't plan to get one...glad you're out of this mess.

New Year Wishes (anonymous)

Take twelve whole months.
Clean them thoroughly of all bitterness,
hate, and jealousy.
Make them just as fresh and clean as possible.

Now cut each month into twenty-eight, thirty, or
thirty-one different parts,
but don't make up the whole batch at once.
Prepare it one day at a time out of these ingredients.

Mix well into each day one part of faith,
one part of patience, one part of courage,
and one part of work.
Add to each day one part of hope,
faithfulness, generosity, and kindness.
Blend with one part prayer, one part meditation,
and one good deed.
Season the whole with a dash of good spirits,
a sprinkle of fun, a pinch of play,
and a cupfull of good humor.

Pour all of this into a vessel of love.
Cook thouroughly over radient joy,
garnish with a smile,
and serve with quietness, unselfishness,
and cheerfulness.
You're bound to have a happy new year.

~~~~Unknown Author~~~~~~