Thougths and Flashes

Life, Principle and Change

2010-01-10T09:21:00.000-08:00

We become part of our social and cultural system over the period as we grow, which is a known phenomenon.
But as we get exposed to things we haven't been seen or experienced before, our perception about life and principles change.
I remember having conversation with my Ex-Idea colleagues at a coffee table months back, specially with Sahil where the topic was 'Do principles change?'
We ended up concluding that 'Principles do change' in a person's life.

But recently i came across a situation where i got a chance to analyze & apply that conclusion.
But what i also came to know was i had assumed the conclusion in wrong way that day.
Its not principles which change, its people and there is nothing wrong.
On the contrary its healthy to adopt to change as we learn from life.
As we get exposed to different faces of life we tend to adopt different principles.
Probably that is what makes each person different from each other.

I even had a healthy debate on this part few days back with Dhruva.
The debate was 'Should we adopt to different principles as we get exposed to different faces of life?'
Though the debate ended with both of us tending to agree that we should adopt to them as we grow, we could not conclude it in firm words.
Here we also came across the resistance one shows when adopting from one principle to other.
This is a time where a lot of friction happens in one's head.Its nothing less than changing one's religion.
The common worry is what if the new principles we adopt to contradict our initial understanding of life?
Is this worry natural or just the show of resistance to change?

To simplify my point, let me try pictorifying my thoughts:
Lets say life is a pyramid, for definitely is not a 2D figure. (I would call it a polygon with more than 3 dimensions)
Anyways, the point is, life looks very different from every angle we look at it from.

Some gets an opportunity to look at this pyramid/life from multiple sides.
Of course this does not mean they have a better understanding about life, coz, it might also lead to more confusion :)

So the point I'm trying to make here
1. Is it the principle which change or the person.
a)If it is the person, then are principles constant?
b)If its principle, then should we conclude principles are dynamic in nature?

2. Should we adopt to different principles as we grow?
a)If yes, then are our initial understandings of life wrong?
b)If no, then can we survive with same principles within this ever changing world?

Presentation

2009-10-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while i attended any sort of self development training
Since i had no work and simultaneously the 'Presentation Skills' training came up i opted for it.

Well the write up is about an observation on the presentation.
We had to give a 3 minute presentation for pre-assessment.

So i talked about a topic too. Just to make it interesting i took a funny topic.
I was sitting in the bus on my way back home,thinking about that episode
Inspite of being an ordinary presentation the topic was found interesting by the team. They got involved so much that they even forgot to give their observations.
A tangential discussion started based on my topic and few of them started talking about thier experience too. So what went wrong/right

I came to the conclusion:
Discussion can turnout good inspite of ordinary explanation if the topic is found interesting.
If this is true then what about the contrary side.
Can the discussion still be good with a very boring topic with extra-ordinary presentation?

Well lets see if i can recollect some examples on most common topics
Cricket - Indian Premiere League, a hit!
Romance - Movies: Same theme but diffent repesentations has resulted in blockbusters

So the contrary side also holds true :)

Fear n the Fight

2009-08-10T01:19:00.000-07:00

Its been almost an year i had that horrible experience on flight.
The impact was so deep that even now i chose it only if must. Only if that is the only way out.

Since then i had almost decided that i wouldnt board a flight again.
Then after a couple of months, thought it is foolish and just to kill my fear i decided to fly again. Felt satisfied about my bravery....and called it 'I faced my fear'

But after that there were a couple of occasions where i could have chosen flying but ended up going by bus. Though i convinced myself that bus was cheaper...deep down it was that fear which stopped me from chosing to fly. The fear had crept back again without my notice

Finally i decided this time take on my fear and booked for a to-fro flight to chennai. I had been wanting to visit chennai and clubbed it with to meet my college mates.

Saturday evening was fun, Friend took me to a couple of pubs and was taken by surprise. I had underestimated the social life of the region.

Sunday morning i got a chance to check out few upmarket bicycles.
Bianchi-Liquigas (priced at a lakh plus rupees), Cannondale.

The food was great....typical south indian hotels with unlimited rice served. Being a veggie and with available options, ate like pig.

On my way back i was more prepared to fly....constantly convincing its better than dying everyday.

Trekking around myself

2009-05-06T05:01:00.000-07:00

It was going to be a 3 day weekend!!
Wow!! being the initial reaction..and before i could further imagine myself enjoying a long wknd...
What am i gonna do with it?? Suddenly the joy turned into a worry.
Hard to digest but yes, nowadays weekends are turning into a misery. I get into the 'Cast Away' character on weekends here.

Had i been with my ex-colleagues/friends the least i could have used it to be an audience of 'Intellectual bakwaas' at CCD.
Even though a bakwaas is a bakwaas, not every bakwaas is digestible. There has to be a 'frequency match' for the bakwaas too

Its been four months since i returned to Pune i have hardly enjoyed the stay so far.

So finally decided to do some random act and booked for a 3 day trekking with my room mate.
Chakram Hikers Club from Bombay (Now i too prefer calling it Bombay)

The thrill was i was going to join people whom i don't know.
Far better than sitting at home and realizing on Sunday noon that another set of days went past with nothing out of it.

There had been a lot of thinking and talk of recession and layoffs.
Firstly: I badly wanted a 'break'. I wanted to disappear from my known world.

I am not going to share about my trekking but few things i experimented in those 3 days
Secondly: I wanted to get into the unknown group, to be part of that group.
I didn't wanted to be an invisible player of the trek
My observation so far says that it takes more than a friendly approach to get into the circle of people here.
So i just wanted to try and crack that.

Thirdly i wanted to tune up myself that i am going to enjoy every bit of it regardless of what may happen. (Call it self-hypnotism)
Lastly: Myself too being a reserved kind i wanted to try a personality makeover for this period.

At the end of the trek, i succeeded in second and fourth task and was moderately successful in first and third one.
Trek was exhaustive. We had been to Rohida and Rajgadh. A halt on Rajgadh for two nights was memorable.

It refreshed my memory of sleeping right under the stars and staring at them for hours,thinking nothing.
This was the first time i really felt happy about the poor network connectivity of my cell phone.
None of team members were able to use their cell phone, except a couple. i would say it is a rare sight.

The team was diverse. Had people from varied backgrounds starting from a 8th std kid, a blackberry user IIMA grad, a film maker to an advocate.
Not bathing for two and half days, drinking water which could be termed as sewage water stared at my "Hygienic Me".
But breaking patterns is fun many a times... The pattern of day-to-day activities.

Commitment, forced

2009-02-15T22:33:00.000-08:00

Okay i did not expected that i would have to start watering the plants.
Its not that i hate doing that...but why on earth would i take up such a responsibility.
It simply contradicts the rules of a carefree bachelor's life.
As i moved to this rented house, the owner requested me to water the plants he maintained in his balcony. I had to reluctantly agree for this new DAY-TO-DAY activity.
I wasn't ready to take up the blame for their death.
As expected i missed watering the plants for the first two days.
Slowly i started thinking about them...
Third day i tried hard to remember and watered them. I felt like i saved few lives..:)
It gave me a sense of fulfilling my resposibility.
Somehow after that, i have started watering them every alternate days
After every watering i feel like i have saved their life for few more days.

Into the waters of Pune

2009-01-05T03:25:00.000-08:00

This had to happen.
Relocated to Pune last week. Though i was prepared for it, wasnt expecting to so abrupt.
Packed my things and left to yet-to-explore city. Had two days time.
I had to find myself a place for a month in two days. Strangely i wasnt worried about it much. Call it a blind faith or luck or both or yet another exhibition of dumbness. But it worked.
A friend's courtesy resulted in sharing a 15 by 15 ft. room for time being. Reminded me of life of yester years. Its been 2 weeks here and getting used to the new city.
Here are some of the conclusions so far:
1. The auto fare has no relation with distance you travel. Same distance can result in drastically different fares. Auto drivers haven't found the use of meters yet.
2. The bus stops has nothing to do with the city buses. Bus drive takes the call on whether to stop or not. Number of people waiting at bus stop is not his measure to stop
Same bus can travel in different routes. The only constants are start and ends. Back to back buses indicate's a big wait for next bus which can stretch to even a couple of hours.
Bus conductors retain the rights to give back the change or not.
3. The direction given for an asked destination is dependent on which language you ask them. The only way to find out is to ask as many people and proceed based on the concensus.
4. A 10 minute walk should be assumed as a minimum of 5-6 kilometer distance.
5. Brokers decide on who should stay where and how much they should pay. The comission is annual, not one time settlement.
6. Laundry guy owns no responsibility of your clothes. Its uour job to follow up, get it pressed and help them find out your clothes from the filled up racks.
7. Finding an ATM is a treasure hunt.

Food and weather calms you down though

Trial but Only Errors

2008-11-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

There you go!,
After being dumped by my bicycle.....i have managed to moved on. Here she is.

She rarely lets me reach where i want to reach...:)
Not sure, but i think i may have picked this up from my profession...missing the target...but its fun, rite?

All these dents around the dartboard are not created overnight. It has taken a couple of months effort.
Found it hard to frame the farthest point i hit.

Hope i wont get caught 'red dart' by the owner of this apartment.

Driven by Curiosity!!

2008-10-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

So finally i got a chance to visit that street.
Probably the most talked about in Mumbai. The GRANT Road, known as the Red Light Area.

There was this curiosity to visit this place, which was realized when i came to know i am not the only one .
The date chosen to visit this place adds a smile to experience. October 2nd (Gandhi Jayanti)
We were having morning tea and the program got fixed on the spot. After 15 minutes we were on our way towards South Mumbai
Went till the Lamington Road by taxi and got down there. Four of us. One was married....so i assume it was not so adventurous for him.
Spoke to a taxi driver and convinced him for a guided tour. It was 6.00PM. The driver gained energy when he realized his every word is being heard. He continued 'The business time is from 6-10pm.' After a few minutes of drive we were at that place.
Women standing in front of their houses, with their overdone makeup, bright dresses. Supporting men in their white kurtas and a jeans. It was like what i have watched in movies.
One of a dalal approached our taxi and asked 'Saab chahiye kya?.' None of us reacted.

Taxi Driver had cautioned 'Dont get down, most of them are pocket thieves and cheaters'. None of us were ready to get down either. I could see small 8X8 rooms with curtains partly covering the cot inside. Man! its even visible from the road. Driver was busy talking, 'saab the rate starts from 200 and ranges till 500'. I felt like i am passing through a gutter channel. Our taxi took a turn and reached another road. This one was more packed!
Women were in their 20's and 30's. Then thoughts started flowing, questions. Are they here because they want to be here? Are they victims of some traps? Cant they live a better life? A better profession? How do you define a better profession? what about their kids? Is this the result of their greed? Or answers found by them to overcome their poverty. My observation of their faces said they are not enjoying what they are doing. I was missing my camera.

The trip ended in 15 minutes and i realized i was holding my breath throughout the journey.
The driver was busy unfolding his knowledge to us, regarding the other locations and rates.

Landed at Atriya Mall and filled our stomachs. Went for a "4D' movie. A not so worth overpriced experience. In the end, i felt a sense of achievement. But my mind was still trying to figure out answers for those questions.

Usisubiri Mvua (Dont wait for the rain)

2008-08-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

Recently came across this beautiful project execution done at Kenya through some website.
The promo song had its effects and made me recall its first line for a couple of days. A project carried out by Kickstart an NGO and IDEO. Done for the Kenyans.

After going through this project...it just hit my head.
For that moment it awakened my social responsibility as a designer. I assume IDEO has done it for free, regardless of the reasons behind it. There are more things to do as designer than trying to do a make up. The product named as 'Moneymaker" may seem highly mechanical and not so appealing. But it has served its purpose when it comes to addressing the real need. Statistics say that, coz this product alone has contributed to 0.62% of the GDP of Kenya (as per some web page). The product didn't seemed like IDEO work at first look. But again considering the user group, who may care the least about how it looks, may be they have done it rite.
For more info click HERE or at http://www.ideo.com/work/featured/kickstart/
I guess even the video composition is done at IDEO, not sure. Just assuming that they give complete solution for a project, including promos and after sales feedback.
It may have used this project to improve its brand image and showcase its Corporate Social Responsibility...but the result is appreciable.
And yeah 'Usisubiri Mvua' can be taken in many ways. Ok let me stop here. I'm getting more vocal these days, time to sleep 1.00 AM

A Rip-Off

2008-08-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Reading their blogs,
running through lines
liking the way, they reflect their thoughts.
Playing the words,
dug out from thesaurus
wondering, how do they do that!

Convincing myself
I too can do this.
One day,
discussing lyrics, and
inking my thoughts

When the going got tough...(Time or Money)

2008-07-19T02:07:00.000-07:00

My hilarious journey to my hometown.
Saving time is a smarter thing to do than saving money...well this is why i decided to take the flight. After rigourous analysis of various flights and bus fares i finally settled down to choose the flight from Mumbai to Mangalore. I also wanted to explore via this route this time. To my surprise the fare was also comparitively less than the bangalore flight. But I had to cough up the extra 400 rupees for ticket because i took too much time in deciding the flight and the ticket price had gone up by that time. Once again i cursed the flight service providers for not including netbanking to book the tickets (Except Spicejet and Yatra). Used my room mate's card and booked the tickets. I also wrote a mail to greviences service of Air Deccan regarding the same and felt better. I guessed i could save some 2 hours of journey by this new route. Shervil accompanied me almost till airport in the mumbai rain. As expected the flight was delayed by 30 minutes. Whenever you visit your hometown every minute/seconds seems precious. Called up nirdesh and got info on how to reach Mangalore airport in a cheeper and better way. Priya, Nirdesh's wife gave enough information on that. Landed to Bajpe Airport at 8.00PM. Air Deccan/Kingfisher was the only service provider to that place. Came out and asked for taxi fare... 400 rupees!! As guided by priya...i went out to get an auto till bajpe bus stand. Brilliant! not a single auto and the last bus from bajpe to mangalore was gone. Didnt knew it was just the beginning of a test to check my patience. Finally got a guy who dropped me till Bajpe Bus stand and paid him 50 bugs. Got a bus till Koovooru and from koovooru got one more bus to Mangalore bus stand. By this time i was rethinking about my decision of not opting for taxi. But decided to live the moment (Airtel). The old kannada songs calmed me down and i started to recall the moments where we used to sing these ones at the time of antakshari....i wont call childhood memories, coz u need to be GROWN UP...to say that.I was starving by this time but restrained myself to have anything as i had told mom that i will be there by 11 night. 'Jale par Namak'- The last bus from mangalore bus stand to my hometown (Chikmaglur) had left at 8.40!! What the fuck!...all my calculations of saving time were thrown in air. Suddenly my brave decision of Re-boarding a flight seemed pointless. I could have taken a volvo bus to bangalore from mumbai. It felt like i am on an All-karnataka tour. Again tried to divert my thinking and started to recall the name of towns i had to pass through so far. Their tulu-accent kannada was hard to understand. Called up mom and informed it might take 3-4 hours more. (These hours seemed like days). Boarded a bangalore bus and got ticket till Hassan. Reached hassan by 3.00am. Finally i was on my way to chikmaglur.....few buses overtook us. The bus driver's previous vehicle must be none other than a bullock-cart. I was hungry, frustrated, sleepless and angry. My feet touched heaven at 4.00am. Went home and knocked the door. As always mom was awake at that time too!!! Dropped luggage and straight away went to kitchen. Ate stomach full of food, had a chat and slept. At the end, it was not so bad, i had reached home only 4 hours late. But again...ridiculous, i could have easily come by bus and saved some 3k....grrr...
Convinced myself saying atleast i explored a new route.

Smart move...an analysis

2008-06-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

It was still a 30 minute wait for the First Quarter Final Euro2008 match. I was counting seconds as i got addicted to football recently....thanks to Nilesh
Guess i am in that initial Josh on a new game. Thought of browsing through the channels and got stuck at a news channel as usual.
I do try to analyze political moves to some extent (personal level) but not an active analyst. I try to analyze the reason behind the moves and guess i solved the below one this time.

Was watching the news and observed a small alert saying Karnataka Govt has reduced the excise duty on Diesel and LPG.
Ignoring the news i continued my navigation. Then the thought came SMART MOVE'!!
Yeah when the Congress hiked the price, it must have gone through all pros and cons. All the congress led state govts announced slash in duty for petroleum products as soon as the central govt announced price hike.
The party even asked BJP led states to reduce the duties on state level. At that time i thought it was a smart move from Congress. But BJP did not in few states, and this was beyond my understanding.
The price was hiked and after two weeks of price hike the BJP led Govt announced slash in duties.
Now how is this a smarter move from BJP? The price hike heat was felt by the people all over India and the impact of hike was reduced by duty slashes at state level.
But BJP let the rates go up intentionally and then reduced the duties after people felt it. This compels a common man to feel that state govt has done more effort. Hence the conclusion, Nice move from BJP!!

Felt proud of myself and got back to ESPN. Germany vs Portugal. Messaged Nilesh to alert him that match is about to begin. I was supporting Germany...no reasons and guess he was supporting the Portuguese. The Portugal had the star factor advantage.
Germany were leading 2-0 after the first twenty minutes...again felt proud of myself siding the Germany. Germans entered semifinals with 3-2 lead. The time was almost 1.30AM and had to wake up early. Day ended in gud note with a couple of analysis going right...:)
Set to go on a weekend trip to Pune and Nashik a visit after almost 6 years. Last time i had been to nashik on office purpose for 3 weeks. Lemme see how the city has evolved in this period...

Stoney days of life....literally

2008-05-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

Its been my long time wish in getting an access to swimming pool and it was realized when I moved to this place. Was happy for it but no company….guess I have this problem of not initiating something on my own. I always look for some company to start, which is no doubt BAD.

This was my second visit to this pool, most of the people come here are WELL settled financially. Me and Hasibul went for the swim. Before that I had experienced a slight pain near my left side of stomach {at left kidney to be precise}. Thought it will go off after some time and started swimming. Pain didn’t budge and once I came out I experienced more pain. I rushed to my apartment without bothering to wait for him. The pain was increasing steadily. Went to toilet pooed and peed. There was no sign of relief, pain was unbearable. I started rolling over the floor notwithstanding the pain. Tried to sleep in different positions but was of no help. I started fearing something is seriously wrong. Adding to that none of my room mates were there. Started sweating and sensed that I have to rush to the hospital. There was only one hospital I had seen nearby which was next to my office. Called up Pathak and went to hospital. There were two nurses (On Training) and a freshly graduated doctor. As expected that young doctor starting asking questions which at that moment seemed to me senseless. By that time the pain had reached to its peak and I was going crazy. Nurse needled me a pain relief drug. I insisted to call the surgeon. Doc came, asked for X-ray and Sonographic scans. The reports showed three Non-Rolling stones..:] I got so relieved hearing that. Coz I had imagined something worser…:] They gave me two options, either go back home and report tomorrow or get admitted rite now. I was in no mood to take a chance like that and got admitted immediately. Again as expected, they put me on saline. Hydrotherapy was started. I was confused….should I call them up and inform or just shut up till I get a clear picture of whatz happening in my body. Three days observation, doc said. I guessed the bill would be around 15k at higher end and I had hit the bull’s eye when saw the final bill [400 rupees less]

I was made to pee at least 8-10 times a day. Every patient lying there were expressionless. Asked my room mate to get my newly purchased unread book ‘Losing My Virginity’ an autobiography by Richard Branson. It gave me a nice company as I was about to stay in hospital for 3 more days Surprisingly most of my colleagues visited to see what happened to this chap all of a sudden. Pain disappeared the same nite and I was counting seconds to get out of that place. I just hate hospitals. May be some influence from my past. Strangely, before getting admitted to hospital, I was thinking what would be the last place on earth I would prefer to go. I was exactly in that place after 2 days. I didn’t want to be one more expression less patient. So started reading book, paper magazine whatever was available to read. After observing the way nurses taking care of patients, I learnt to plug and unplug the saline connection, regulating the flow myself... I had somewhere read that if air pocket enters the veins it can turn fatal. So I kept watching the bottle and as soon as it was about to be over I used to call the nurse. It was a self initiative to save self.

Many things were going inside my head. Should I inform them or not, if informed they will either come running here or get me back to Bangalore. Finally I convinced myself not to inform them.

I got discharged after they felt they have looted me enough. While paying the bill I was surprised about the ruthless pricing. Doc used to visit me twice a day and was charging 500 per visit. His total time spent was not more than 5 minutes in these three days.

Now if the bill can worry a person who is earning a fairly decent salary…what will the impact on low income people do who can’t afford to pay? Strongly felt that few sectors should be kept out of profit making zone.

I wouldnt have asked for a worser weekend. At the same time i recalled a sentence in the TV show, the interview of Amitabh Bachhan where he said 'Worst is not Over'

My Thrilling flight journey to bangalore

2008-04-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share this incident with u guys.

I was going to Bangalore to visit my hometown. The flight was to depart by 4.40pm and the scheduled landing time was 6.20pm.

Everything was fine for the first 35 minutes and the clouds started appearing after that. Dense Clouds. Some how I was feeling uneasy about my plane choice (but wanted to try new one this time) and the service. Don't know why I was feeling that. Then suddenly the fight started to vibrate a bit, due to clouds I guess.
I was staring at a damn pretty girl who was sitting just in front of me…:)

The flight started vibrating more and more and started moving upwards leaning rightward. May be one of the turbine had to cut through the clouds and the other didnt. I don't know where it came from or it was just my illusion, I started getting burnt oil smell (I was sitting in the last row). Everybody started screaming . After 3 seconds the flight took a downward movement (I can say a 40-50 degree downward angle). A couple of ppl flew out of seat and hit the cabin roof. (Now I understand, this is why they ask us to wear the seat-belts…:) )
The coffee in somebody's glass was so excited to splash on to the roof (not the cabin luggage roof, the other one). The luggage bags in the cabin started falling. By this time everybody was sure that this might be their last journey of their life. I started planning what to do if the plane tears apart into two and if the air enters inside ( I know it was foolish/over confidence but I am just penning everything which happened inside my head and outside at that moment). Was also trying to recall the images of crashed planes and which parts remained safe even after crash. I scolded myself for not opting the Insurance to save 129 rupees in the flight charge.
I thought of running to the crew and ask for a parachute. ( I just didn't wanted to die) I even planned of jumping with crew, forcefully grabbing them. I felt the parachute can hold the weight of two people. All these happened in less than a minute.

By that time the plane returned to normal and I could see sweat and tension in almost every face. The crew whose cabin was just behind me started talking and one said to another "Thank god, This the Second and most severe thing I came across".
After this the Captain announced that the plane returned to normal and crew can serve the needed items. They came with dozens of tissue papers and water bottles. Nobody was in a mood to get off the seat. After 3 minutes people felt the need of toilet. I could see the shivering hands while they passed by.
After two more minutes the captain announced 'The weather is bad outside and we expect more turbulence. Request the crew to proceed to their seat'. Everybody rushed to their seats. The guy who was sitting a seat after me asked me if he can sit beside me. I could see the fear of on his face (I was also terrified, but somehow it was not that visible on my face). He sat beside me and almost held my hands . (I wished it would have been so nice if it were that girl sitting in front of me).
May be I was comparatively less scary bcoz I thought I knew there is very little we can do on this and just hope for the best.
The next 25 minutes journey was horrible. We were breathing slowly, sitting straight. Even the slight vibration was enough to freak us out. There was no talking and the artificial smiles were exchanged to ease the situation.
We all were so happy when the flight landed. When we boarded the bus which picked up from the flight, the Pilot too came in with us. Someone asked him what went wrong. He was in no mood to accept that something went wrong and justified by saying "This happens, Arre this is nothing. In rainy season there are chances of experiencing worser vibrations."

So what is the result of this incident on me? When the day came to return back to mumbai, same flight, something inside me told not to board this flight (This something is fear of death of course). Then the justifications for canceling the flight started popping in my head wearing the face of practicality, calculative risk, sixth sense etc… Finally they over ruled my resistance to accept my fear of death and switched the flight from to 'Spicejet'.
I would have looked wiser if I had read a flight-accident in the news paper. Thankfully it didn't happened and I realized that I had lost 1000 rupees for switching flight, but no regrets…:)

After i returned to my office i browsed through the images to find out my logics...and guess what i was correct. The people sitting at tail end has more chances of surviving an air crash (69%)
Damn this might be the only case where i would like to be at the end.

Still Living
Vikram