About 'Nothing'....

I am caught in my own bind.

One of those days, I committed to myself that I will write one blogpost per day in this blog.

I soldiered on for these few days, with a book review posted, or a post on my travails with E mail etiquette thrown in. I also got an article on self promotion by sounding modest by attributing my success to myself thrown in for good measure.

I called that article 'My Attribution Effect'.

But today, I have shot my bolt. Today, I have nothing to write about.

I have an idea !!. I will write about 'Nothing'.

Hence this post. It is about 'Nothing'.Nothing in particular.

It is not about 'Spiritual Emptiness', it is not about vacuum, it is not about Blackhole, it is not about loneliness,  not about the vast, never ending sea .....

It isn't about anything. It is about 'Nothing'.

How can he write an article on 'Nothing'? you may wonder.

I do too....

In 'Seinfeld', George Constanza came out with an idea of creating an episode based on 'Nothing'. No story.  'It is about Nothing?' the broadcasting house manager asked him. 'Yes', he replied, 'it is about nothing'.

They ran three (as I remember) episodes just about 'Nothing'.

If Seinfeld can, why can't I?

I mean, people write entire books on 'Nothing'. If you are regular reader of Dostoyevsky, you will agree with me. (of course, if you are a regular reader of Dostoyvesky, some people may say that you ARE nothing, or you have 'Nothing' else to do.) If you have read Anna Karinina (I am sure I spelled it wrong) you know what I am talking about. You would have learned nothing and understood nothing. There are many modern writers who write tomes which are 'Nothing' but words in a particular sequence.

Why do I think of Chetan Bhagat, when I wrote that last line?

I am rambling. That is because I have 'Nothing' to say. 

With 'Nothing' to write, and having to write something about 'Nothing', I have a new respect for some of our news paper columnists. 

Like Chetan Bhagat (who is the crowd favorite today), who writes paragraphs of 'Nothing'  on everything. If there is something to say, Chetan Bhagat has a lot of 'Nothing' to say about it. 

And gets paid too.

I know some columnists, who with everything to write about, write about 'Nothing'. I recently read an article on a Fast Food Chain going Veggie, and the whole article was about 'Nothing'. Of course, there were lots of words there. But at the end of it the message was 'I am ambivalent if this chain should go veggie or not'. Fat lot of message, that.

Writing about 'Nothing' forces me to analyse and identify if there is 'Something' that I can write about.

Of course there are a number of them.

Like, I can write about my experiences with investing money in Stock Market.

Like, I can write about the good book that I read recently.

Like, I can write about the BAD book that I read recently

Like, I can write about the courage shown by the 14 year old child

Like, I can write about the 12 important habits that I want to develop
Like, I can write about my dream for my country
Like, I can write about 100 ideas to make more money
Like, I can write about how to start a blog
Like, I can write about my goal of reducing my weight and how I am taking action to achieve that
Like, my opinion on if you should go for Stocks or Investing thru mutual funds
Like, the top 10 Investment related websites in India
Like,.....

You get the gist, don't you? 

There is always 'Something' to write about. 

E-Mailing Mr.Smith - An imaginary acquaintance

Mr.Smith is an imaginary name. Here in India we don't name our children as Smith.

This is about a real person, whom for the purpose of this article, I shall call as Mr.Smith. I don't want him to know that I am writing about him.

Outside of this article, I won't call him Mr.Smith, of course. That would be silly. I will call him by his real name which is Mr.....(had you there, hadn't I? for a moment you thought I was about to reveal my secret)

Mr.Smith is a person with whom I recently got acquainted with. Due to various circumstances, I have to write emails to him once a while. 

I have had disastrous experiences writing emails to him. Somehow, through reading my mails, without even talking to me, he has got it in himself that I don't like him. Which is wrong since he is one of my casual acquaintances and I have no stake in either liking or disliking him. When it comes to Mr.Smith, I am neutral.

The problem is that when reading the mail, Mr.Smith perceives what people 'might have been' thinking when they wrote the  mail. He goes through the mail with a fine toothcomb. He checks to see if he is the main recipient or he is in cc list, who are the other addressees in the mail, what is the subject line, how does the subject line sounds like, feels like, how is the body of the mail starts, does it starts with a simple 'Hello' or 'Hi'  or does it start formally as 'Hello Mr.Smith' etc...He also checks each and every word in the mail to see the hidden connotations, hidden agendas and hidden meanings.

Mr.Smith, almost always, thinks only the negative connotations of the mail. And unlike others, he takes action.

The action he takes is always tangential. He will not respond to me but to others. He will not mention what he thought about after he reads my mail, but will convey something and expect that others understand what he is talking about. This can be a problem for the recipient of his mails since they have no clue of what he is talking about. 

I tried telling him that he should call me back if he did not like what I have mentioned in the mail. But he never gets back to me. 

For a person like me, who like to click 'Reply All' with gay abandon, type a mail on the computer while listening to music, watching a video on my iPad and reading the latest Archer, who always start the mail with 'Hi' (sometimes not even that)  and hit the mail running without even a cursory 'How are things', and start off the mail without any context, and in whose mail, the body of the mail is totally delinked from the subject of the mail....

Writing a mail to Mr.Smith can be stressful.

I have learned my lesson the hard way. Nowadays I plan well in advance before writing to Mr.Smith. I look carefully at the addressee list. I almost never do a 'Reply all' without checking the recipient list and if Mr.Smith is in either the addressee list or the recipient list, I edit the subject of the mail and start off the mail with a formal 'Hello Mr.Addressee.....'

And I am very careful about what I write in the mail. Before I write any word I try to think what Mr.Smith will perceive as my thoughts as I wrote this mail. I try to think the way Mr.Smith will think I thought when I wrote the mail. I think not my thoughts, but his version of my thoughts. 

I do this exercise even if Mr.Smith is not the mail recipient. Who knows what Mr.Smith can think?

It has not been easy. It has been stressful. I let the steam off in my next mail. The recipient of my next mail gets it, full on. 'Reply All' is clicked with vengeance, even if only one person need to be replied to. Subject remains 'Re: Obama's Fortunes in the upcoming elections' and the body goes like 'I plan to reduce my weight by 8 KG in two months'. The mail starts with 'Hi' and the mail starts off  'sin context'.

I violate every email etiquette out there. Every one of them.

Once I do that I am relieved. 

Oh, and by the way, I have lost quite a few acquaintances in the past few months.

I don't know why.

My 'Attribution Effect'....

Was listening to an interview on CNBC. The interviewee was talking about 'Attribution Effect' in stock market.

"Attribution effect deals with how you attribute your success and failure in the stock market. If you buy a Stock and it tanks, you attribute it to market forces. However, if you buy a stock and it does well, you attribute the success to yourself. 'I identified the right stock', you will tell yourself'.

So if your decision is success, the credit is yours, if it fails, someone will have to take the blame. 

This is attribution effect." concluded the interviewee.

"Attribution Effect can happen even in our lives", he mentioned as an afterthought.

This interview took me back to the winter of year 2000. 

Just after graduation, I had joined the Durgapur Steel Plant of Steel Authority of India  (SAIL)  in the year 1987. I had graduated the previous year in Mechanical Engineer, and SAIL was considered to be a dream job at that time. 

I started my career in the Captive Power Plant of the company as a management trainee and went thru various roles including that of Plant Operations, Maintenance, Coal Handling, Water Treatment.... the works.

I worked at this job till the summer of '95 when I went to do a two year MBA at the Kolkata University. I took a two year Sabbatical from SAIL to do this program. 

Having completed the program, I went back to SAIL since I was on contract with the company. 

The one year that I did in the company post MBA was torture. I had done my MBA in Finance and had come to enjoy it. I found that I had a flair for Finance and enjoyed the subject. However, the year in which we completed was an year of recession and since I was over-experienced, none of the companies wanted to recruit me. 

Having gone back to SAIL, I ended up doing the same work that I was doing previously and like I said, I hated every minute of it.

In the winter of '98, I quit the job in sheer desperation having managed a very low-paying job as Faculty in Finance in a management institute in Bangalore. I was ready to clutch even the last straw. 

This was a period of self-doubt, uncertainty and frustration. I had no idea where my career was headed. Only consolation was that I was in Bangalore, the most happening city in India at that time and I was always positive that something good will come about. 

Very near my management institute, there was an Organization training people in IT. They launched a new program to teach Oracle Technology. The cost was whooping 40000 rupees. 

This was a large sum even in those days. Also when you consider that other institutes were offering programs at significantly lower rates, one should be mad to join this program.

I was mad. I joined this program.

The program lasted for about 6 months. By the end of the program I had become pretty good at Oracle. I also realized that I had a flair for programming languages. I got myself certified in Java from Sun Microsystems.

Having completed the program, I landed a Job in an IT Company as an ERP Consultant.

This was in winter of 2000, the period that I mentioned at the beginning.

Now I found that I was good at ERP implementation. I enjoyed the overall process of ERP implementation. The feeling of bringing business value to an Organization through the use of ERP was exhilarating  I also found that I had an edge in ERP implementation since I knew how to handle the Shop Floor worker (I had done that for 12 years, remember?) and the CFO (and had an MBA in Finance). I also enjoyed training the workers in the new technology and relished the look of gratitude in their eyes as I made them understand their potential.

ERP provided me with instant feedback. And most of them were positive.

I was proud of my achievements. I was proud that I had seamlessly made the transition from Shop Floor to Academia and then to IT. While most people hardly change their career directions ever in their lives, I was in my mid thirties and had already changed career direction twice.

I was filled with hubris. I was one great guy, I felt. 

I attributed my success to myself.

Until....

I started thinking. There were many like me in the previous generations also. Why did they not do what I did.?  Take my father, for example. He worked in the same company throughout his career. Joined as a trainee, retired as the HOD. He was very intelligent and responsible. He had a flair for story telling. He had interest in various things other than work.

Why he couldn't do what I did?

Because, in his time, there were hardly any opportunities. You were lucky if you got even one job.

So, that means, I was able to do what I did partly because of my competence. But more importantly, the changes initiated by Manmohan Singh in 1991 were bearing fruit, 10 years hence, and India needed talented and knowledgeable people to drive the growth.

I might be good. But I was in the right place at the right time. 

Did I become more humble after that? Well, may be a tad.

How I lost my arrogance? That is another story for a later post.

Book Review: 'The Krishna Key' by Ashwin Sanghi

Just completed reading the book 'The Krishna Key' by Ashwin Sanghi. Mr.Sanghi is the latest addition to the ever increasing tribe of Indian writers in English Language. 

The book follows the genre of mythological fiction which started off with the books by Dan Brown, including Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and The Lost Symbol. The Krishna Key intrapolates the Story of Krishna from Mahabharatha with a modern day quest for 'The Krishna Key', the symbol left behind by Krishna in the epic. The book starts off with the archaeologist Anil Varshney, who discovered four seals and the base plate in which they were attached to. The four seals together with the base plate is supposed to contain some secret message left by Krishna regarding the presence of the mythological gemstone, the Syamantaka. This is supposed to be the Krishna Key.

I say 'Supposed' since I never found out. 

Each chapter starts off with a paragraph from the story of Krishna in Mahabharata. The book starts off with blood and gore. Anil Varshney is found murdered in his room with a sharp pointed tool pierced into his artery. The tool contains the words 'R M' and based on that, the police arrests Varshney's friend Ravi Mohan Saini (suspecting that he is the 'R M' mentioned in the sharp object. Which stupid murderer will do something THAT silly?). Police inspector is Radhika Singh, a ruthless specimen of the Indian Police Force, who chews Almonds and keep on chanting 'Hari' when stressed. Ravi Mohan has his doctoral student Priya, both of whom escape the police clutches and goes in search of Varshney's other friends Bhojraj, Chedi and Kurkude. Each of them has one of the seals given to them by Anil Varshney. 

The killer is Taarak Vakil (an anagram of 'Kalki Avatar', we are told) who is coincidentally born in a stud farm called 'Sambhala Stud Farm' (Kalki is supposed be born in a place called 'Sambala') and has a pet parrot named 'Shuka' (name of Kalki's parrot). He also owns a Horse named DeeDee (Kalki's horse is Deva Datta, DD), his father's name is Dr.V Y Sarma (Kalki is supposed to be born to Vishnuyasa) and his mother's name is Sumati (here author gave up finding similar sounding names and chose the mythological name of Kalki's mother). In Mahabharata, it is specifically mentioned that Kalki, who will end it all, will be born to a family who meets all this criteria.

And this family of three, meets all of them. The author lets loose all this information in one page (Let's give 'em). Too many coincidences in one page. Head reels.

Taarak is not his original name, of course. He took his name  when 'Mataji', his spiritual guru told him to do that. Mataji is vehemently anti christian and thinks that the Europeans have totally misinterpreted India's history and has decided to set it right. She is a member of a religious sangh and does physical exercises and gives spiritual discourses. Where have I seen this before?

Each of Anil's friends who holds the seal are murdered by Taarak and Mataji. Somewhere in the middle of the story we find that Mataji was none other than Saini's doctoral student Priya. 

The killer is identified in the first chapter, the accomplice is identified somewhere in the middle of the book, so what do the rest of the book deal with?

Sanghi soldiers on...

From now on Radhika Singh becomes Saini's friend and mentor. Now everyone, including Saini, Radhika, Maataji, Taarak Vakil, Sunil Garg (he is the CBI director or something) is in quest for Syamantaka. They look for it far and wide, in Mount Kailash and in Somnath temple, finally guess where they found it? Buried under the tombs in Taj Mahal !!!.

And they don't find it. In the last page of the book, they give up the search because 'Philosopher is more important than the stone'. No idea what that means.

In the cuisine of almost all the states of India, there is a special item called 'Mixed Vegetable Curry'. It is made by tossing in any vegetable that you can find, adding some masala and lo (and behold, of course) your mixed vegetable curry is done. It is known by different names but the principle is the same. 

I was reminded of Mixed Vegetable curry when I was reading this book. Ashwin Sanghi has tossed in multiple ingredients into this book to make into a concoction. There is dollops of Mahabharata of course, then we have a table spoon of the Indus Valley Civilization and the discovery of seals, and then there is pinch of geography, a dash of romance (and sex) between Radhika Singh and Saini added and topped up with story of Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim thrown in for good measure.

Embellish it with a corrupt CBI official and garnish with Mataji who somehow remind you of 'Sadhwi Ritambhara' and you have all the ingredients for ennui.  

Chapters in this book are dedicated to recitation of historical events. Only history, mind you. No drama, no emotion, no love, nothing interesting. Just plain, old, boring historical facts.

I have never read so much history even in school. And Geography too.

And in my school I did read a lot of crap.

The optimistic guy at the publishing house says (rather wistfully !!) that the book is a 'Furiously paced and riveting thriller'. 'Furiously paced'? yes, it does move at a frenetic pace. Unlike the frenetic pace of a well directed arrow, this story moves here and there like a loose cannon. 

No focus I mean.

Riveting? of course not.

Reading this book, at times, I felt like tearing my hair. Something suddenly happens and you have no idea how it happened. For example, you leave Priya and Taarak, in an underground chamber somewhere in Nepal in one chapter, and behold (and lo, of course)  they are inside the Taj Mahal in the next chapter.

When you go to watch a 'Govinda' movie (Govinda is a movie star here in India), you are asked to leave your common sense at home and not to ask any questions. At some point, while reading this book., I felt like I was in a movie theatre watching a Govinda Movie.

The book goes on and on. At some point, you are frantic and wonder if the story has any ending at all. 

I purchased this book in the Bangalore airport. Reading this book was a part of my identifying new authors whose books I should be reading in future.

I tried Ashwin Sanghi. I am not sure that I want to read his other works.

PS: If you did not know what R M meant, it meant Ratna Maru, which is the name of Kalki's sword.

Take that.

Can you believe this?

In response to a series of rape cases coming out of Haryana, this Khap Panchayat member says that it is the movies and TV that is leading to all these sexual assaults. His solution? Get the girls married by the age of 16 so that their sexual needs will be fulfilled.

Check out this bizarre statement in this video, and read the news here

It is the movies and the TV. It has nothing to do with a bunch of narrow-minded and jealous old people, trying to impose their will on their younger generation. It has got nothing to do with the fact that Haryana has some the lowest female / male ratio in the country. It has got nothing to do with the fact that there is a huge generational and aspirational difference between the young and the old.

The current spate of news and opportunity availability information is adding fuel to the volatile situation. The current generation is much more informed and hence think differently. And the previous generation is not able to accept that the younger generation may be better and smarter. So get them married young. That will solve the problem

Wait a minute, there is a serial in TV called 'Balika Vadhu' (Child Bride).

You know, it may be the TV and the movies to blame, after all...

Be ready for opportunity...

The battery in my camera was down as I was leaving to airport en-route to Mumbai. In addition, the battery level in my Samsung Galaxy phone was also less than a quarter.

I had thought about charging both of them, two hours ago. But I didn't. I decided that I will charge them once I am in Mumbai. Nothing can happen in three hours, I reasoned. What is the urgency? I have sufficient battery in my mobile to take calls.

As it turned out, a lot could happen in three hours. And I missed almost all of them.

After reaching the airport, I found that the airline had decided to cancel the flight. There was chaos all around. I had mentioned about this in my previous posts here and here.

Once the airline announced the flight cancellation, there were sea of irate passengers, swirling around embattled airline employees. There were frantic passengers, there were irritated passengers. I also saw a worried old lady who did not have any idea of what to do and how to get help. 

People were shouting. Amidst the din, you could hardly hear what anyone was saying. It was the night of the loudest.

Among all these, I observed one person. He was middle aged, around 50 I think, dark with a lot of pimples on his face and with a ghoulish look on his face. I immediately identified him as dangerous. On and off I kept watching him.

Right from the beginning, he was behaving very boorishly. Initially he started talking to the airline employee like the employee was a kid. He started talking condescendingly at first. "Beta (son), don't worry, we are not going to hurt you. We know that this is not your fault that the flight has been cancelled. You see all these passengers? we all want to reach our destination. Just put us up in a flight belonging to another airline, that is all we ask."

The employee responded that he will not be able to commit that passengers will be put up in another airline, but he will try.

"Please try" responded this boor suavely. I observed a menacing look that said 'better get us in another plane or else'.

As this employee was leading the passengers to the counters of the competing airline, this guy moved into the second level of aggression. He put his arms around the employee as if they were two friends. This was a clear violation of personal space, but in the heat of the moment, the other passengers did not seem to mind.

As far as these passengers were concerned, he was just being friendly. 

At that time, I also thought that he was being friendly. In retrospect, I can see the violence and aggression behind all these acts.

Finally, after about an hour it became evident that other airlines are not going to extend credit to this airline and the Bangalore office did not have enough cash to ensure that the passengers can be accommodated in another airline.

By then many passengers had accepted the refund that the airline had provided, but still there were some who tailed the airline employee, among them was our friend, the boor.

When it finally became clear that nothing further could be done by the airline, the few passengers, including some ladies, surrounded the employee and  became very aggressive. Leading them was this guy.

He became very abusive. "What the xxx you think of yourself you motherxxx (in hindi, he said 'MC'), you think we are all gxxxxus? You BC, I will thrash you into smitherns. You Chxxxxxxas think that you can do anything......"

It went on and on and on. Here were all these uncouth passengers, most of them middle aged, shouting down at a solitary employee, who was young enough to be their son....

I tried to intervene and tell that it was not the employee's fault that the flight was cancelled. But I was shouted down by all those uncouth passengers led by this boor, who was determined to lower their self respect in front of all the other people around.

Soon I left the scene.

Later on, I felt that had I had my camera charged before I left the airport, I could have videotaped this scene. Remember this Video of a customer abusing a 'Chick-fil-a' lady for the personal views espoused by the owner of the restaurant chain?.(You can watch it here). That video went viral on Youtube and led to that opinionated customer losing his job. That abuse was a prayer hall meeting compared to the filth that was being displayed at the Bangalore Airport. 

I regretted not having the forethought to charge my camera battery. Had I had my camera, I could have videotaped this scene and put it up on Youtube. With the kind of aggression and filthy language on view, this video would have gone viral in a matter of minutes. And who knows, would have led to some punishment for this guy and shame for all the other passengers who passively and actively allowed this scene to carry on. 

I had the tools to capture this bad behaviour and had a chance to share it with the world and may be make the world better in my small way. But I could not do this because, I did not have battery in my camera and my mobile phones. 

Just because I was not prepared, because I was casual, I lost a major opportunity to capture a very uncouth behaviour and display it to the whole world.T he video could have changed this person for the better and could have led to positive better behaviour change in the universe.

I lost the opportunity because I was not prepared.

I was not ready for the opportunity. 

The world will provide you with many opportunities. You have to make sure that you are always prepared for the opportunity. And the preparation may not be perfect or time consuming. Be ready with all the tools and techniques (and the smart wit) needed to capture the opportunity that the world may provide you. 

As an example, check out this video, taken by an amateur videographer which capture a Wild Buffalo Calf was being torn around by lions and a croc. And later on the  the buffaloes charge on the lions and rescue the calf. National Geographic paid tonnes of money to this videographer for this video.

PS: I informed the police inspector of the aggression being inflicted on this employee and was gratified to see that they quickly moved in and brought the situation under control.

Also, I think that the airport camera would have captured this scene. It may be a good idea for the news channels to capture this scene and telecast it. At least this will make other people more edgy and careful.

What tough people are made of.....

Joby is one tough cookie.

Joby works as the Duty Manager for Kingfisher Airlines in Bangalore Airport. The airline is going through some tough times with the owner having piled up mountains of debt. With the airline virtually in doldrums, there are multiple instances when the airline cancels the flights.

I was involved in one such cancellation (hopefully my only one).

I had booked by this airline to travel from Bangalore to Mumbai on Monday, 1st October. On Sunday morning, the airline informed me that they have cancelled the Monday flight and they moved me to the flight leaving Bangalore at 7.20 PM.

Even though my Sunday was spoiled, I accepted the offer since I had to go to office on Monday.

At Bangalore airport, the airline first postponed the departure time to 8.20, and then to 8.50 and finally cancelled the flight. The reason for  cancellation was that the engineers, whose job was to make the aircraft ready for departure, stuck work since they had not been paid salary for the last 4 months.

All hell broke loose. Joby being the duty manager was the face of the airline at the airport and had to handle the volatile passengers. 

There were Delhi passengers, there were Mumbai passengers and there were Chennai passengers all having booked the tickets by this airline. Every one needed to reach their destination since they had to attend offices next day. All the irate passengers vented their frustration on Joby.

There was one passenger in particular, who was almost overtly aggressive and used very bad and filthy language on Joby. The other passengers were guilty of the same crime by association. 

All the passengers were having only one demand. The airline put them up in any other airline at no extra cost. Or, Kingfisher arrange another aircraft to take them to their destination.

Among all this aggression, Joby stood very calm and composed. He did not give in to the pressures. No, I cannot get another plane for you, he told some passengers. I can try to put you up in another airline going to the same destination. I will try to see if Kingfisher can pay the difference, but I can't promise.

The passengers piled on the pressure, but Joby was graceful, respectful and dignified. His implicit message was simple. I will try my best to help you, but I do not own the airline. 

There was an Indigo (another airline) flight to Mumbai. Joby tried to put us up in that airline. But that airline demanded cash payment from Kingfisher. Joby tried to arrange the cash. But he had a directive from his boss, no cash payment.

Indigo refused credit to Kingfisher. 

This refusal was blunt and in front of all the passengers. I, who was an observer, felt humiliated when I saw this blunt refusal. If Joby felt embarrassed, he did well to hide his feelings.

I also observed that for a long time, none of the Kingfisher colleagues was there to help Joby. He was single-handedly facing the anger, desperation and boorishness of the passengers with grace and dignity, at the same time never giving in to the pressure exerted by the passengers.

You were awesome, Joby. You were let down by your management and the owners. But the attitude you displayed was highly commendable.

I don't wish even my enemies to undergo the kind of experience that Joby went through. But, if they do, I want them to be as strong, graceful and dignified as he was.

Joby, you are a tough cookie. World need more of you.

Vivek Oberoi shouldn't feel slighted.....

Dear Vivek,

(To my international readers (Where are you?), Vivek Oberoi is a film actor in the World's second largest film industry, the Bollywood. He has acted in some very good movies, some of which I have seen. He is the son of Suresh Oberoi, who is also an actor, currently doing spiritual programs on national Television. Vivek was once romantically linked to Aishwarya Roy after having done a few awesome commercials with her. You can watch one of them here.)

You and I travelled in the same flight from Bangalore to Mumbai this monday. It was the afternoon Indigo flight which left Bangalore at 12.50.You were sitting in the first row with your beautiful wife Priyanka. You were the first person that I looked at, (except for the excited Air Hostess) as I boarded the aircraft. I did not recognize you when I first saw you. When I looked at you, you were lovingly looking into your wife's eyes and talking animatedly, and your wife was looking at you with that loving affection and half smile that wives bestow on their husbands in the first three years of their marriage.

I did not recognize you first. You were just another handsome dude...

If you had looked at me, you would have seen an expression of resignation and insouciance (I have no idea what this word means). You would have seen the look of  a guy bored with the whole world, scornful of that stupid family who was taking photograph of every plane in the airport (I had done it earlier, so I know that it is stupid), and bestowing a cursory 'good morning' on the Air Hostess, you know, the kind of guy who has travelled a lot by air and want people to know that. 

You must have felt slighted because of my 'I don't care attitude'. As a bollywood actor, you would have at least been entitled to a slight expression of awe and fascination from me and did not get it. You would have rationalized by thinking 'Yet another telugu movie fan, doesn't know that world exist outside of Chiranjeevi'.

I realized that you were Vivek Oberoi, when that stupid family (husband, wife, father, mother....) wanted to have a picture taken with you.

Then we got out of the plane at Mumbai and were waiting for the luggage. I was standing opposite to you.

If you were expecting me to ogle at you, because you were a star, it did not happen. My insouciance was still there, this time mixed with feigned tiredness. I was standing opposite you, determinedly looking at the luggage conveyor, never giving you as much as a cursory look. If you did not feel slighted in the aircraft, you would surely have been slighted now.

You would have seen me, standing there arms akimbo, looking straight at the luggages (like some Indian Yogi standing in a contorted position and looking at the sun during his 'Suryanamaskaram') which were coming, with that look of feigned importance and irritability, trying best not to look at you. 

You were yet another co-passenger for all I cared.

You are an actor, reasonably well-known at that, and you except to be recognized. Especially when all the trolleywallas in the airport recognized you and were happy to serve you. Among all of those fans, there I was, refusing to accept your presence. You had every right to feel slighted. 

But don't be. It has nothing to do with you. Even if you were any other actor, Shahrukh, Salman, Abhishek, Hrithik, Dustin Hoffmann, Schwarzenegger....I would have behaved the same.

(Not Tom Cruise. No sir, no way. I draw the line at Tom Cruise. Have you seen 'A few good men?'....How can you even ask after watching that film. I would go gaga over dear Old Tom. And may be Amitab Bacchan. That is where I draw the line. Not an actor more )

So Vivek, don't feel slighted. It is not you. It is me. I am like that only.

Note: This is an amatuer attempt at humour

Is private sector better?....

Currently, in the US, there is a raging debate whether private sector is the panacea of all ills afflicting the country. Conservatives, who fiercely argue of exit of government from the lives of the persons, is equally vehemently opposed by Democrats who favor a wider involvement of Government to facilitate the private sector to deliver to the benefits of society.

The situation is complex.

I am pro private sector when it comes to delivering business services. I believe that government should not be in the business of business, but should be playing the oversight role, ensuring that the private sector plays by the rules and society as a whole should receive synergistic benefits.

However, I now realize that all my firm convictions are shaken when 'I' receive pathetic service from the private sector.

Take for instance my experience with Kingfisher airlines.

I work out of Mumbai, while my family lives in Bangalore. Every two weeks I make a trip to Bangalore to be with my family. I travel to Bangalore on Friday night and back to Mumbai on Monday morning. Considering that we work on alternate saturdays, you can imagine how precious these two days are to me and my family.

My key parameter in the decision of airline is the timing on Monday morning. On the one hand I don't want to get up very early in the morning and feel tired and sleepy the whole of Monday, while on the other hand, I don't want to go much late and be late to the office.

This is where Kingfisher comes in.

If you are a reader of any Indian Newspaper, the word used to describe this airline of late is 'beleaguered', with 'in debt' and 'in dire straits' thrown in for good measure. This airline is so ailing that the owner's house has become a resort of sorts for the creditors.

For me this airline holds an advantage. It has a flight that leaves Bangalore at 9.05 in the morning, which reaches Mumbai at 10.20 and this takes me to my office at about 11.00 AM. The timing cannot be perfect.

With all the risks attached, it is worth taking the risk of travelling in this airline. 

But this time I have not been lucky. The law of averages have caught up with me.

I had booked to travel back to Mumbai by tomorrow morning flight. Today, sunday!!!, morning, the Kingfisher guy called me and sweetly informed that the flight have been cancelled due to 'Operational Reasons'. So I opted to travel to Mumbai by the 7.20 PM flight today.

You can imagine that this would have been hard on my family. I have not been home for the last three weeks and having finally managed to come home for a precious weekend, the same has been cut short by this airline.

It is hard.

Since it take about 90 minutes to reach the airport, I had to leave home at 4.00 PM. So effectively, I was getting half of Sunday. 

I reached the airport at 6.00 PM. Now I have been informed that the incoming flight has not yet started from Mumbai and the flight to Mumbai will start only after the incoming flight arrives.

For all I know, the flight may even be cancelled.

Great...

This brings me to the point I was making originally. In other countries, with such a mess, the license of this airline would have been cancelled long time back. But not in this country. Here, we have an elasticity of policies in one direction. While the policies are highly elastic in favour of any sector, the policy actions are highly inelastic when the business gets into inefficiency and ideally should be wound down. 

Like Mitt Romney told in the infamous NY Times article, it is better to allow the 'Beleaguered' airline to go through managed bankruptcy rather than limping along pathetically. 

One of the reasons of this mess was that Vijay Mallaya, the high profile owner of this airline, does everything other than ensure that the airline flies efficiently. He has is hand in all sorts of nonsense, including modelling and IPL among others.

Mr.Mallaya need to know that when you run an airline, you have to focus on keeping aircrafts in the air. There is a reason they are called aircrafts, they belong there. Else they would have been called 'Landcrafts'.

Keep the aircrafts flying, Mr.Mallaya. Else get out and let some competent persons handle your airline.

Kingfisher (jestly called 'Kingfissure') airline is a classic example that we cannot let private sector do everything. Government has a role. A very important role.

Shoe Polish Deliberations...

The other day, I went to a cobbler to get my shoe polished...

Having been used in some very dusty roads the previous two days, the shoe looked decidedly dirty and shabby.

The cobbler got to work. He applied the shoe polish, brushed it with hard brush first and then soft brush and then finally with a soft cloth and....

Lo and behold, the shoe was gleaming again.

The transformation was instantaneous and exciting.

While walking back to my office, I was thinking about this transformation. How did this happen? What did the cobbler do to facilitate this transformation? How did a dirty shoe turn into a glistening shoe in a matter of minutes. I could break down the transformation process into the following elements.

First, identification. I identified that the shoe was shabby. The perception of 'Shabbiness' was personal. What I found as 'Shabby' may be just a 'bit dusty' for some people. 

Next comes the Intention. Once I observed that the shoe was shabby, I decided that the shoe need to be polished. The intention started as a thought which was in mind for about two days before that became strong enough for me to take action. 

Once you have the intention, you will have to find the support resources, in this case, a cobbler.

Once I had identified the support resource in a nearby cobbler, next came the action. Even though I had identified the need for shoe polish and had the intention of doing so, I postponed for two days the action  of taking my shoe to cobbler. Until I took the shoe to the cobbler, till I took action, the polished shoe remained only as yet another of those good intentions.

After the shoe was taken to the cobbler, I was observing what he did. First of all, he collected and arranged all the material and resources that he needed to execute the transformation. He collected polish, brushes, smoothening cream and the soft clothes.

Finally came the process. There was specific sequence that he followed. First he brushed away the dirt. Then he applied the cream and spread it consistently across the shoe by the use of the hard brush. Once that was done, he applied the polish and spread it evenly on the shoe. After applying the polish, he kept the shoe aside for two to three minutes for the polish to sock in the leather. Finally, he used the soft brush to bring in the glisten and topped it off with a rub with the soft cloth.

Simple as it is when applied to shoe polishing, the same guiding principles apply to Goal Achievement. Let us take the example of Weight Reduction as a goal to illustrate the process mentioned above. First step is for us to identify that we are overweight. This will depend on our frame of reference. For example, if you are a sumo wrestler, you are fat and obese and overweight, but you do not identify this as a problem. So 'Weight Reduction' is not a goal for a Sumo Wrestler. For the rest of us, who decide that we are overweight,  the measure may be tightening pants, and for others need to adjust your belt lengths. Or a visit to your doctor for your annual check up. Each of us need a specific parameter to Identify our Goals. 

Once we have identified our goal, we need to have intention to change. Most of us will have the intention to change once we identify the goal. Else why we will even identify the goal in the first place? Identification of the goal and intention to change go hand in hand.

Next important step is to identify the support resources. In case of our goal of achieving the weight reduction, we will need to find a nearby Gym, or a playground where we can comfortably do the exercise. The earlier we find the support resources, the faster will be the next step of moving from intention to action. In my case for example, my process of weight reduction got a stumble block when the Treadmill in my apartment conked off and did not work for two months. I had got so used to the treadmill that once it conked off, I lost interest in continuing the process itself. What could I have done differently? I could have joined a Gym or gone for a walk of done something. 

The tricky part is to convert intention into action. Just like I did it in the case of taking the shoe to the cobbler, we all need to convert our intentions into action. Taking that first step is the most difficult. We can follow the steps given by Leo Babauta in his blog Zen Habits to create the habit of moving from intention to action. 

Ok, now we have identified the goal, have an intention of moving from the current state a desired future state and have taken action, what next.

There are three important activities that you need to do next. First is to collect the resources and material required. For our goal of weight reduction, we should have a gym, or a treadmill or a playground or a cycle...Anything will do. The key is regular availability of the support resources. Also we should have a plan B in place. What will I do if my treadmill conks off? How will I continue my exercise program?

Next step is the process. This is very important. In case of our example of Shoe polish, the process was to apply a set of materials and follow the processes in a certain sequence. Do you think that the shoe would be polished however hard the guy polished with a soft brush without applying the polish and the cream? No way. The process, the application of materials and resources in a certain sequence is very important to attain the goal.

And finally, the measure. Like they say, what gets measured gets done. We should have a measure of progress in our goal achievement that we can check on a regular basis. The measure need not be checked frequently, like the lady who checks her weight everyday before and after using the treadmill. The key is, we should have a measure and we should check it regularly.

That is it. Follow the steps given above regularly and consistently and you can achieve any goal. Each and every step is important. Follow the above steps in the correct sequence and you can have the chiselled body that you always desired.

 

Are you a growth stock....

I am currently reading 'Goals' by Brian Tracy. In this book, Mr.Tracy asks this question...

Are you a growth stock?

What does this mean?

In stock market parlance, a growth stock is one which appreciates at the rate of more than 25% per annum over a forseeable future. The analysts could take any parameter, be it revenue or earnings, the identified parameter grows at the rate of 25% Year on Year for a forseeable future.

When applied to an individual, the above question, 'Are you a growth stock' implies multiple facets. To answer the above question, you have to consider the following.

1. What is the parameter that you are considering to measure growth : Unlike a company, that has only two main parameters to measure its growth, there are no common parameters when it comes to measuring growth. And these parameters keep changing as one grows older and mature. For some, the measures may be knowledge growth, as in how much more have I learned in the last one year. For others it may be earnings growth, how much have my income grown over the last year, while others may consider other parameters like spiritual growth, altruistic growth (how many more people have I helped this year compared to last year), networth growth etc.

2. What is the measure you use to measure your growth in the chosen area? For example, you may use the number of spiritual discourses that you attended this year as a measure of Spiritual Growth, or the number of articles/ books on spirituality that you read in the current year may be another matric. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets done.

3. And finally, are you growing at or above 25% rate in your chosen parameter?

Unfortunately, many people do not even reach the step 1 above. They do not have a destination, a goal, a measure or a plan. They get up in the morning, go thru the motions through the day and go  to bed at night, having wasted a whole day  and a month and a year. These people do not have any curiosity to learn anything new, and without learning anything new, you cannot grow.

Let me just give an illustration. There are many people who work in and around  Bombay Stock Exchange. This is the leading stock exchange in India. The place is dotted with Investment advisory companies. All around, you are inundated with material on stocks, investing and wealth creation. However there are many people who work around this area who do not know anything about Stock Market and Investing. Considering that stock exchanges are engines of growth, shouldn’t one have a curiosity to learn a bit about stocks and investing?

Don’t be like them. Look at the question ‘Are you a growth stock’ critically, take steps and get ahead in life.

Wait...Do not delegate !!

Yesterday, while having lunch with my colleagues, I learned a great lesson from Dr.Nagaraja.

Dr.Nagaraja is the GM in the company that I work for. In his early 50s, he is a person whom I appreciate for his intellect and his exceptional communication skills. He has the rare ability to see through all the clutter of information and pinpoint the real issue. He is one of the real leaders with whom I have the pleasure of working.

We were attending a farewell dinner for our friend Ajay, who, as I mentioned in a previous post, doesn't like to save his previous mails as he moves to a new role.

Dr.Nagaraja was the Project Manager and Project Champion for the ERP implementation project that our company had undertaken. He was talking about his experiences in the project.

"Modern management theories speak a lot about the benefits of Delegation", said Doctor in that slow and clear voice of his, "No doubt, delegation is good and you need to delegate. That is the only way in which you can improve the quality of your people, and that, in turn, will help you grow."

"But, in my opinion there are two types of tasks which you should not delegate, especially if you are working in a cross-functional team like the one that we had. One, you should not delegate tasks that fall between the gaps, the kind of tasks that cross modules and which cannot be owned by a specific member of your team. You should not delegate these tasks."

"The second kind of tasks that you should not delegate are those about which you are very passionate. For example, I am passionate about training and ensuring added value to the organization. While I am sure that there are competent members in my team who can take up the ownership of training, I would prefer to own and drive the training engagements since it is close to my heart."

I found that to be a good lesson. When I look back. in almost all the trainings that I have attended, they stressed on the importance of delegation. Delegate, delegate and delegate more  was the common message. Listening to Doctor, I was reminded of the similarity between his views and the views of Jack Welch, who, in  his book 'Winning', mentioned that he never delegated the ownership of Training and retraining and how he used to personally sit through training sessions to ensure that the quality of delivery was excellent and that the organization benefited out of the training sessions.

This lesson is applicable even in our personal lives, I think. There are certain tasks in our life which we cannot abdicate responsibility. There may be tough situations in our lives where we have to 'be a man' and own up the responsibility. 

Before you decide to delegate, please wait and think....

Bad week for Armstrongs..

This had been a bad week for Armstrongs. Both Lance and Neil.

First, Neil Armstrong expired yesterday. He was 82. First man to walk on the moon. A man famous for his words "A small step for man, a giant leap for mankind". While in school, I used to hate him. I used to blame him for all that we had to study about the space, for example, about Yuri Gagarin, Valantina Tereshkova about that Russian dog (what's its name, the first dog in space), about the differences between Astronauts and Cosmonauts, about Sputnik, Apollo and all those stuff.

And Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins, for good measure..

Had it not been for Neil Armstrong, I would have been spared of all these boring stuff, I used to think.

It was Winston Churchill who famously said, "When I was sixteen, I used to be embarrassed as to how ignorant my parents were. But when I turned twenty one, I was amazed to see how much they have learned in the last five years". So was the case with me. As I grew up, and started seeing the big picture, I was amazed to see how, in a span of 10 years, America was able to put its first man in space. That put Neil Armstrong in a different perspective. Here was a man, symbolic of all that is good with America, all that is spectacular about this great country, which can deliver the impossible.

At least, it used to...

Then there is the other Armstrong, Lance....

Lance Armstrong has been a kind of hero to many in my generation. Won 7 Tour de France titles, successfully fought and won against 'Testicular Cancer' (Ouch !!), winner all the way.

Till...

They stripped him of all his Tour de France titles, all seven of them, amidst allegations that he used performance enhancing Steroids.

Lance fought hard against these accusation and finally gave up. He did not bother to contest these allegations.

He did not give up against cancer, he did not give up against his competitors in the world's toughest cycling Championship, he fought against all of that and won.

But in the end, he gave up against Bureaucracy...

But in my book. Lance, you are and will always be the 'Never say die' winner that you always were..

I salute both the Armstrongs...

Benefits of Procrastination....

Right from my childhood I have been told that procrastination is not good. You should not postpone actions, they told me. If is worth doing, it is worth doing now, goes the saying. We have similar saying in Hindi which goes like 'Kal kare so Aaj kar, Aaj kare so ab' (a part of Kabir Doha), which means, if it need to be done tomorrow, do it today. If it need to be done today, do it now.

Like most of us, I fall pray to procrastination once in a while. And every time I procrastinate, I feel terribly guilty. Every time I go to a place of prayer, the one prayer that I always chant is "God, give me strength not to procrastinate". Despite my prayers, I procrastinate...

And feely guilty.

That is why, when I heard that this book ' Wait: The Art and Science of Delay', is about Productive Procrastination, I was curious. When all my upbringing has told me that Procrastination is bad, how can the author of this book, Frank Partnoy, tell us that Procrastination is productive, I wondered. On thinking, I remembered a few incidences from my life where, had I procrastinated the outcomes would have been better. For instance,

• I could have waited a bit before impulsively purchasing that dud of a share. I could have done some analysis and found the obvious mess with that stock. Ever since I purchased it, I have observed that the share prices of the company are affected by Gravitational pull.
• I could have waited before selling that stock and found that immediately after my selling that stock, the stock touched stratospheric highs
• I could have waited before I clicked the 'Send' button in my email
• I could have waited before tendering that apology to a situation where I was perfectly justified in getting irritated.

There are many instances in our lives, where, if we had waited a bit, the outcomes would have been much different and better. 

That is what this book is all about as I understand from the reviews. I have not read this book, but I intend to..

How to Make a great presentation...

I am sure that most of us who read this page will have to make a few presentations in their lives. Almost all of us envy those 'Smart Alecs' who effortlessly (so it seems) makes great presentations.
How can we (you and me) make great presentations? Scott Stratten shares the following 18 points for making a great presentation in fastcompany.com.
My favorite? I have two. One, ask for organizers contact information and inform him of your arrival for the presentation. And two, Record Every Session that you do.
I think I am going to follow these tips.

Eat that Frog....

Mark Twain once commented that if you eat a live frog at the start of the day, everything else that you do in the day will look good. 

Motivational theorists suggest that if you 'Eat that Frog', tackle that big, bully task first thing in the morning, you will feel highly productive for the rest of the day.

So what do successful people do with the first hour of their day? Check out this article from fastcompany.com

The favorite of mine? Complete at least one task in the morning before you check your email.

The advice conundrum....

They say that you should not ask others for advice. You don't know what you get.
People react differently when you ask them for advice. There are different categories of responses.
I thought about this when I asked my friend Ajay for a simple advice yesterday. Our company uses Lotus Notes for our Email system. Ajay is a consultant working in our company. He is in the process of leaving his current employer and moving to a new employer. Since Lotus notes do not open in any outside application, I asked Ajay how he proposed porting his current emails to the new company. I also had my mails in Lotus notes and I wanted to see how to port my lotus notes mail to another application.
"Why do I need to read my old mails?", Ajay countered
"This is a very important phase of your life. Don't you want a track of these mails for future reference?" I asked him.
Ajay could have responded with a simple 'No'. But no, he had to prove a point.
"I don't believe in keeping track of my old mails", replied Ajay a bit pompously (I thought), "I believe that once you are out of an organization, you must forget about your past."
"You must always look to future, not to past", Ajay added for good measure.
Ajay's response is a typical way in which people respond to request for advice. I call it the "Why should I?" response.
Another one is the "How can you do this" response. Typical demonstration of this is when the daughter comes and tells "mom, I am pregnant, what should I do?" and the mom answers with "how can you do this to us? Is this the price for our spending our lifetime raising you?".
Yet another response is going to the past history. This happened recently in my case. My son came and told me about how some kids did not let him play.Rather than just listening and empathizing with him, I went like "when I was in class seven, there were some kids who formed a group and ignored me. Instead of sitting and  feeling depressed, I went and joined another group of boys with similar interest".
Wouldn't silence have been a better response in this situation?
A variant of 'How could you do this?' is 'You are always like that' response. Wives often use this response. Husband tells "I forgot to send the passport for renewal.", the immediate reply? "You are always forgetting. You never remember anything. Remember the time when you forgot to....."
Yet another common response is "If I were in your position" response. "If I were in your position, I would go and ask for a raise to my boss" for example.
Old people often comes up with "When I was your age" response. "I don't know why you are struggling to jump over that tree. When I was your age, I could easily hit over that tree" (of course, when you were my age, the tree was only 3 foot tall, now it is 20 Meters tall).
What is the best response to a request of advice?

One thing to do before you are 60...

This post is for all those non-Indians (and for some of the unfortunate Indians) who haven't had the taste of Indian Mango.

You have all those 'Bucket Lists', the things that you have to do before you kick the bucket, that include items like, take a walk on the Great Wall of China, Visit the Pyramids, see London through London Eye....

There is one item that all these lists miss.

Eat Variety of Mangoes in India.

Mangoes in India are different from those anywhere else in the world in terms of Size, Colour and Taste. There are small mangoes and there are huge mangoes, there are red, yellow and green mangoes and there are tasty mangoes and there are Oh, so yummy mangoes. Nowhere in the world can you see the kind of Variety of mangoes that you have in India.

Mango, also known as 'King of Fruits' is the national fruit of India. India boasts of over 800 different varieties of mangoes. Like their language, culture, cuisine, art, dance and music, every state of India has its own special mango.

When we were growing up in Kerala, we used to have so many mango trees in our farm that most of our summers were spent on top of or under the mango trees. As the sun rises, we will get out of the bed and rush to the Mango Trees. Most often, ripe mangoes would have fallen down during the night and those Mangos will be our first food of the day, even before we drink our milk and eat our breakfast.

Since these mangoes ripened naturally on the tress, they would be yummy, oh, so yummy.

We used to eat 'Kilichundan (bird beak)', 'Moovandan', 'Perakka Manga (tastes like Gauva) and other innumerable types of Mangoes. I have forgotten the names of few of them. We used to eat raw mangos with salt and chilli powder, medium ripe ones, which were both sweet and sour at the same time and of coursed, the ripe ones.

Some times, we used to climb the trees to pluck the mangoes, we used ladders at other times. We even used to pluck mangos by throwing stones. The feeling of satisfaction as you hit a mango and it falls down to the ground cannot be imagined...

During the mango season, we used to have one curry made of Mangos on a daily basis. Tambrams (Short for Tamil Brahmins) has so many Mango recipes, including Mango sambar, Mango Pachadi etc

And who can forget Mango Pickles. We had 'Kadukumanga' (Small Mango) pickle, 'Avakkai Manga', 'Manga Thokku', sweet mango pickles etc.

As we grew up, we went in search of our identity and individuality and moved away from our natural habitat. With that, we lost the pleasure of plucking mangos from the trees and eating them. We became 'customers' of Mangos. Though the purchased mangos were not as tasty as the mangos that were plucked from the trees, we did not have much option.

On the brighter side, we were able to taste the fruits from other parts of India.

Mango season in my current city Banglore starts sometime in end of February. 'Raspuri' mangoes are the first ones to arrive in Bangalore. These mangoes are not very tasty and I avoid them. But as Raspuri appears, I wait with bated breath for Badami mangoes which are very, very sweet. By about third week of March, we have very ripe Badami mangoes.

Along with Badami, come the Himayat, another of those very tasty mangoes. Also you have Malgoa and 'Andhra Malgoa', which are some of the biggest mangos that I have seen. It takes about two people to finish one Andhra Malgoa.

And sure enough, you have the most famous of them all, the Alphonso. These are normally exported and are very expensive for Indian standards.

Along with Malgoa, you also have other mangos like Dasari, which comes to Bangalore from the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.

End of mango season in different parts of India is signalled by the arrival of a few types of Mangoes. Here in Bombay, Mangos like Langda, Neelam and Chausa are the last to be seen in Shops. In Bangalore also, we have Neelam to announce the end of the season.

There are many more of these mangos that I don't know of. There are some, like Roomani, that I have heard about, but have not tasted at all. This mango is terribly sour when raw, but deliciously sweet when ripe. The problem is it takes a long time for this fruit to be ripe, and it is difficult to know when it has ripened. Many a Roomani have I thrown out because, they looked ripe from the outside but the first bite was so sour that it was impossible to eat more.

In case you are planning a visit to India, plan it in summer. Sure, it is very hot, sultry, dry, crazy etc...

But to your relish, you get these mangos...

Your choice....

One hour difference...

I was talking to my colleague, Dr.Wagle, in the office cafeteria today...

Dr.Wagle is a veterinary surgeon and he works in the inventory department in the company where I work.

It is always a pleasure to talk to Doctor. He is always positive, ebullient and has an impish sense of humour. I am always amused by the way he follows up his one liners with a loud laughter, providing a cue for others to laugh....

Doctor was talking to me about an exam that he took during his graduation days.

"There was a question in the exam about the medicine that you give to a horse which is suffering from an acute infection. I wrote the answer quickly and moved on to answer other questions. After about an hour, I realized that the answer that I had written to that question was wrong. So, like any student would do, I crossed out the original answer and wrote the new, correct answer."

"I was pleased as a punch, for having realized my mistake just in time"

"Imagine my surprise when I saw that my Professor had given me Zero marks for that answer. I was livid. I barged into Prof's room, with all the text books to back my claim and demanded that he give me full marks for my correct answer."

"My Professor pacified me. He asked me to sit down. I sat down"

"Then he went on to give me an advise which I will never forget for the rest of my life"

We (other friends had joined us by now) looked at Doctor expectantly.

"Assume that you have become a doctor, said my Professor, and a farmer brings a horse with an acute infection as mentioned in the question paper. You immediately diagnose the case and administer the medicine. The grateful farmer leaves with the horse. After about an hour you realize that the medicine you administered was wrong. Do you think you will get a chance to rectify to your mistake?"

"In real life, by the time you realize your mistake, the horse would be probably dead because of your wrong prescription. That is the reason I gave you zero marks for your correct answer, said my Professor"

"That was an eye opener. I suddenly realized that many a time in your life, you will be faced with situations which calls for the 'correct answer'. You do not have any scope for mistakes. Since talking to Professor, I have become very careful about how I respond to challenges. "

Dr. Wagle completed his anecdote.

When Doctor was talking to us, I remembered an incident that happened when I was working as an engineer in a Steel Manufacturing Company.

We were attending a training on Quality. 

"Do you feel that we can achieve 100% quality in what we do? " asked the trainer.

General consensus was 'No'. 'How can we achieve 100% Quality? We are all human beings and prone to make mistakes, no? Possibly 90% at best, you need to factor in human errors'.

We were all very happy that we had given a well thought out answer.

"Yesterday, I went to a doctor to talk to him about an impending operation. Being a quality person, I asked him the same question. He also gave me the same answer that you gave. He told me that while the chances of success was about 90%, I have to factor in 10% for human error. Do you think I will go to that doctor again?"

"Why is it that when it comes to our deliverables, we compromise on Quality by factoring in 'Human Errors' and  expect 100% Quality when we are the recipients? Why can't we live up to our expectations of Quality from others?"

A food for thought, perhaps?

Universal secret of success

I had this 'Aha' experience while I was pasting stamps on the invite letters for a function that we were planning to conduct.

It was a daunting task. There were about 500 invites and I was alone, sitting in my room in Mumbai, looking at the pile of the invites and the daunting task of pasting stamps on each of them. I was looking easily at about 2-3 hours of my time being used in that task..

And I did not like that at all..

Of course, I had the option of procrastinating. I could put off that task to a later date and carry the tension of an incomplete task. 

Or I could get down to it.

I decided to get down to it.

Once started off with the first envelope, and continued into the next and the next. Slowly the pile of stamped envelopes started growing and somewhere into the 45th minute, the the height of the stamped pile overtook the the pile of the yet-to-be-stamped envelopes.

I soldiered on. Envelope after envelope, stamp after stamp I continued till I completed the whole 500 of them. 

This is when the 'Aha' experience struck me.

Most of the success in life is achieved by doing the same thing again and again and again. You start off with the first step and continue to do one boring task after another, always keeping the end goal in mind. 

They call it diligence. It is knowing that something has to be done and persevering with the task till the task is complete.

In his book 'Better', Dr. Atul Gawande, talks about the fight against polio in the state of Karnataka in India. They form a  group of local doctors, whose job is to  administer oral polio vaccine to the children in the various villages in the state.

Every day, they get up in the morning, and start doing the rounds in various villages, administering the vaccine. They keep a record of the number of children covered in this scheme. Heat, cold or the unwelcome attitudes of villagers do not bother them. They are focused on this task and continue to do it, village after village, child after child....

It is the diligence of teams like this that made India 'polio free' this year.

In his book 'Outliers', Malcom Gladwell talks of the 'rule of 10000 hours'. He says that to develop expertise in any area, one has to work at it for about 10000 hours. That is when one becomes expert.

Imagine doing the same thing again and again and again for 10000 hours. That is diligence.

Liem sui King, the former Indonesian Badminton player, who had a continuous run as 'All England Badminton' champion, used to hit 1000 smashes every day in practice. Just toss up the shuttle and smash it again and again and again..

That is diligence....

And that is the very simple success secret. Diligence. Being at it. Doing the same thing again and again and again till you achieve the end goal.

Of course, you could always procrastinate....