Silver Jubilee

Today I turned 25.I know that it is not an achievement but I do feel happy that I did manage to complete a quarter century on this planet. Ofcourse, to be frank I have spent only the last one year taking the complete responsibility of myself. For 24 years I had been a student on paper but my actual studies began after I was stripped off the description student.

It has been a decent journey so far. I have never been the topper in studies. Nor was I good at sports. Though I was into other extra curricular activities I was (and am) an amateur. But, I always managed to go the next level of my life in a smooth manner. That has been the case till I actually entered the wide world after my studies.I have struggled and am still struggling to keep up with commitment levels that are required to be a good professional. The last one year has been a grilling one. But I hope it made me a better human being.

Today, I cross an important landmark in my life.I will look at this day as the starting point of my life for all the years prior to this were only aimed at preparing me for Life. Many times I am filled with a sense of fear that I may not be able to do my duty to the utmost of my capabilities but I guess that is the only hindrance between me and my success.
Today, I want to empty my cup and refill it with new vigour and new enthusiasm to stretch till the farthest point and reach my dreams. Today I turn 25!

Who Knows the Way??

Thousands of Years ago, Moses was to lead his men to a promised land. It was a daunting task that God had bestowed upon him and he had to go through a lot of hardships during their journey. My knowledge of the old testament is rudimentary and I am not sure whethere he was hundred percent successful in the task. Therefore I will not talk much about it but take it as an inducer into this display of train of thoughts

Today, We live in an extremely complex world, not that it was less complex before but the complexity is increasing at a tremendous pace. I never get tired of thinking how Information and Communication Technology (Mobiles, Internet blah... blah...) have changed the world. I also never get tired trying to comprehend this Huge Universe. Human mind has a limitation that it can work in one to three(or may be four or five but not all) planes of abstraction at a given point of time. I am on the verge of completing a quarter century on this planet and in my own little experience I keep hitting at some questions for which I don't have any answers but can't resist often wondering about them. I don't know how relevant these thoughts are but off we go:

• Every one knows that technology is changing at a rapid pace and also changing lives at a rapid pace. But as Humanity are we going forward or backward? If the question seems trivial, I beg to differ.
• There are many experts, academicians and leaders who speak about inclusive growth and sustainable development. I have always been intrigued by these aspects of humanity. We have so much surplus in this world and yet so much poverty. There will not be a happier day in my life than that day when no child born in this world is deprived of his right to childhood. But will that day ever come?
• A Man is limited by space and time and therefore even the best of the leaders in this world across various spectrums and fields may not quite well comprehend where the world is heading to.We can only try to predict but do we know where we are going?
• I am ready to place all my cards and say that Humanity is going through an extremely crucial stage and we can succeed as Mankind only if we search for answers in the spiritual realm. It is in this regard that Mother India needs to provide answers not only for herself but for the entire world for she holds in her bosom the highest spiritual wealth. It is beyond doubt that there has been tremendous western influence among the young generation of this country. We will win if we take the best of both the cultures and are bound to loose if we replace the inherent strengths of our culture
• Material Prosperity is not the clear indication of Happiness and at the same time we can not have complete happiness in this world with poverty creating ruckus in two billion lives.
• I am not a hundred percent optimist by birth but at one point of time I realized that there is no point in being pessimist. Therefore, it has been my endeavour to be an optmist at all times and am optimistic that I will turn an out and out optimist. But the question still haunts Who knows the way?

KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid

There is a very famous anecdote involving how the Russians and Americans tackled an interesting problem. Let me recapitulate it quickly. After both the United States of America and the erstwhile USSR sent men on to space they were facing a very interesting problem. Pens were not working as there was no gravity in space and the astronauts were not able take down observations. So, the U.S.A spent lots and lots of money (I don't know if it was in millions or billions) in research and came up with a pen that would work in space, in immense depths of sea etc... The Russians on the other hand replaced the Pen with a Pencil.

I cam to know of the second example which I am going to narrate from the telugu movie 'Kalavaramaye Madilo' It seems Ustad Allauddin Khan spotted the great flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia during the later's formative years and directed to him to go to his daughter, Annapurna devi to learn and get polished. So, when Hariprasad meets her, she tells him "You have already learnt something about music and this learning will be a hindarance to what I am going to teach you. You have to unlearn what you already learnt and learn a fresh to shine." Now, How does a person unlearn???? I thought that unlearning is much more difficult than learning. But do you know how hariprasad chaurasia achieved it? Take a guess - He started playing the flute by holding it in the opposite direction!

The leaders of the independent India in the 50's considered the population of India is one of it's greatest weakness. I think everyone was of the same opinion till the 90's. Atleast I thought so while I was a child and held that notion till the days of my under graduation. But, if you ask anyone today, they say that we are extremely rich in human resources and that's one of the biggest strengths on which we need to leverage upon.

Some of the most complex problems can be solved by simply changing the method of attack. Weaknesses become Strengths by a mere change of attitude and outlook.


Today Technology is evolving so rapidly and changing lives dramatically. We do not know where the world is heading towards. Problems prevailing for centuries will be solved in a trice and of course newer challenges which were never even dreamt of  will be posed. But we should try to keep the solutions as simple as problem. We generally try to keep the solutions complicated but most of often simplicity is more effective.

The Fourth Idiot

Note: I haven't yet watched the movie Three Idiots though I intend to do it in the near future but have read the book Five Point Someone. The reason for naming this blog The Fourth Idiot is because I was also like the characters in Five Point Someone and in all probability three idiots too.

I had always hated exams because they only taught me how to cram in but never to question. I liked the book Five Point Someone for this reason and appreciate Chetan Bhagat's views on Education system. In all probability everyone of us know that our education system is seriously flawed and that is probably one of the main reasons why 3 idiots has become a huge success. I must also note here that I was very happy when Kapil Sibal became the HRD minister for I always deemed him in high regard and believe he is taking some concrete steps in making the education system better.

Let me put forth my views however insignificant / immaterial they may be to the actual scheme of things. 

Firstly, Every human being is unique. So every human being has a unique way and pace of learning  . However, in my guess they may fall in different types / bands in the way they learn. In ancient India, the child was admitted in a gurukula and his education is complete when the guru says it is complete. I never understood the significance of this but it became clear to me in the past few years(probably 4 -5) that the prime reason for this was that the guru imparted education on a student to student basis.

Secondly, Every one would agree with me that one of the biggest challenges to the current education system is that the pace at which information  and thereby the textbooks get outdated in today's world. However, the pace varies for various fields. Basic Sciences may have much lesser pace than technology fields.

Thirdly, Every one disagrees with the existing methods employed of evaluating a student. But we have not yet been able to find a better and uniform method to evaluate a student.In my humble opinion tests should become more and more open book based. This should be augmented by extremely good and committed faculty. Today, the student is expected to read, cram and reproduce what is already known. Instead, he may be asked to solve a problem which he has not crammed in. He should be evaluated on how he approaches the problem and not on what he knows or doesn't know. I feel that the student should not be put to time constraints and also the tests should be open-book as I mentioned.

Fourthly, I strongly feel that students willing to do research should be put in an environment that is conducive and oriented towards doing research right from their undergraduate days. This would reduce the time a Phd is created. Currently, there is a huge gap between the undergraduate / postgraduate stage to pursuing doctrate stage. Also, the stipends of Phd students in India is very less whereas they deserve much more than that.

Conversation with Time

One fine day I happened to meet Time. I went to him and the conversation went thus:
Sasi: Hi, Mr. Time, How are you doing?
Time: I should be asking such questions. Not you.
Sasi: Why do you say so Mr.Time?
Time: I am changeless. I am the witness to the entire creation. You are born in me and dissolve in me.
Sasi: Hey, You are talking big and raising lot of questions inside my head !!
Time: Go ahead little one. I have all the time to answer your questions.
Sasi: Firstly, some times you appear to move very fast and sometimes terribly slow. Why is it so?
Time: That is your perception of me. Not me.
Sasi: Some times you heal wounds and sometimes you deepen them. Why is it so?
Time: Your mind is your biggest weapon. It is like the fire and I am like the wind. If your mind is feeble I will just blow it away. But if you keep it strong and sturdy I am your friend.
Sasi: You are so crucial to handle. Only 4 days ago I had a row with one of my closest friend over a silly issue. At that point of time I lost my temper but now it sounds so silly. You and Mr.Anger are very tricky guys.
Time:That's true, when you are angry, I am the best refuge. Take me and Mr.Anger has no choice but to go away.
Sasi: But it happens the other way round also. There are many times my anger would go on increasing simply because I was lost in my own thoughts and perceptions instead of communicating my concerns to my loved ones.
Time:You are true, but I even out any concerns if only you couple me with your mind and heart. Think positively and I am your best friend. Think negatively and I am your worst foe.
Sasi: Can you tell me more of your association with Mr.Knowledge and Mr.Wisdom.
Time:Why stick to knowledge and wisdom. I will tell you more than that. I am the soil in which you need to plant the seeds and nourish them to grow into plants. If you plant good thoughts and nourish them with good actions you reap good character. If you plant questions and nourish them with inquiry you reap knowledge. If you plant knowledge and nourish it with the words of your conscience you reap wisdom. If you plant your talent, however minuscule it maybe, and nourish it with hard work, and put a fence of willpower, you reap what is called as SUCCESS.
Sasi: That was very kind of you. But you still puzzle me. Sometimes I get the results of my actions immediately. Sometimes you hold those results in your bosom for so long that I lose the mapping between my actions and my results.
Time: Ha ! You have come to the crux of God's creation. I have been instructed by God to do so. He told me that it would be the cause of all fun in Life to man. That simple ability in me would what make your stint with me wonderful, colourful etc.. etc...
Sasi: But that is also the reason why there is so much misery in this world. People who commit countless mistakes, exploit others and feed on other men do do simply because they don't get punished immediately. You claim to be the caretaker of the Theory of Karma but of what use is it?
Time: Hmm ! You may have a point. But you'll have to take it up with God. I only do what I have been instructed by God. And, but for that ability of mine you would not want to lead this wonderful thing called Life.
Sasi: I do agree with you, but somehow I feel bad about it. Mr.God  has not yet given me the answer though I have asked him this question N number of times.
Time: It is in me and through me that He will answer you. You will have to stick to me and keep listening to Him so that you can pick the answer when He really gives it to you.
Sasi: That was very kind of you Mr.Time.Thank you. I had really good time with you.
Time: One last thing - I am embodiment of God. Don't waste me. Treat me with utmost respect and use me to the best of your capabilities and you will stand out among other men.

Ontogeny Recapitulates Phylogeny

I first came across this phrase two and half years ago in the book "Modern Operating Systems" by Andrew S. Tanenbaum.

Ontogeny is the growth (size change) and development (shape change) of an individual organism; phylogeny is the evolutionary history of a species. (ref: wikipedia)

Tanenbaum quotes this phrase and explains how it has happened with compute science. In this blog I would like to generalise it.


When the radio was invented, it was the hottest medium of mass communication but radio became obsolete once TV was invented. It almost became extinct but suddenly came back as FM Radios became a very common thing in cities.

I have never used a gramophone player but gramophones were circular to allow random access but became extinct after tape drives came into existence. But CDs and DVDs are once again in circular shape. Here the circular shape of the storage media has done a come back.

When I was very small kid, we used to have antenna on the top of our home to receive the DD channels - direct to home is the concept. It became extinct after local cable operators became very strong and they would provide people with lot of channels. But the concept of direct to home with a small antenna on the top has done a come back now.

Writing Diary has reinvented itself as blogs.

Pen-friendship has reinvented itself as anonymous friendships on the net.

My mother told me once that when she was a kid, house holds used to use raagi quite often for food. But after some years it was looked down to have raagi dishes in the middle class families. Now, once again raagi and other such cereals have seen increased consumption due to health reasons.

Man started with raw foods and moved to cooked foods but once again raw food in the form of salads has seen increase in consumption for the same reason as in the previous case.

The Transformation ...

There have been numerous articles in papers; numerous books have been written; it is in the air every day - India's transformation in the post license-raj era. But today I want to recollect my days to the farthest corners of my memory as small school boy to this day - a young professional who just entered the corporate world.

I was always excited at the prospect of New year when we could distribute greeting cards. My memory goes back to as far as  1992 - 93. ( I would have been 7 or 8 years old then ) It is not very long ago in terms of time but the way things have changed since then is unimaginable. We(My brother and I) would get to buy greeting cards each worth one or two rupees only. We would give a card including both our names to common friends and teachers. I can not remember buying a card worth even 10Rs till my 10th class. My brother and I would get to use pens costing 2 - 3 Rs. Reynolds pen with white bottom and a blue cap was 5Rs then and we would rarely get to buy it. Reynolds Jitter which was 14 Rs was always out of reach. I always wanted to buy that but don't remember if I ever bought one before my 10th. I don't remember when was TV bought in our home. But I faintly remember that the first TV we had was from dyanora company. ( I am neither sure of the spelling nor of its existence today)  But I have vivid memory of BPL - AJITH which had 6 buttons for 6 channels ! Why do you require 6 channels when there were only two channels that you would watch - DD and the local cable TV operator's movie telecasts. This BPL - AJITH is not yet defunct and is faithfully serving even till date. It is in one of my uncle's home(We were a joint family then) I can faintly recollect the days when we did not even have TV and would go to some one else's house quite a bit far to watch the weekly Mahabharatha  serial in National DD. I also cherish the memories of  our struggle with the antenna on the top of our home to get it working so as to receive the DD channel. I miss the Friday evening Chitralahari program - a bouquet of songs.

I was in fourth standard when they introduced computer classes in my school. Logo was the first language that I learnt. There was a boot floppy followed by another floppy to load the OS and probably another to load the language. Logo was a drawing language. The programs to draw triangle would be
FD 20
RT
FD 30
HOME

Very recently did Bajaj anounce that it would be exiting from the scooter segment. I  very vividly remember those days when I would stand in the front of my father's chetak, my brother and mother sitting in the back seat.

My last recollection is that of the first time I saw a phone in my neighbour's home. My most memorable phone call is the day I got a call from my friend soon after we got a phone ourselves, after I longed for one for a couple of years. This would be somewhere in my seventh or eighth class.

Just seven to eight years back there was no internet connectivity available in my hometown. I created my first mail id only in the third year of my undergraduation which would be in the year 2005. You might say I am very late in catching up with technology for the previous sentence. Agreed, I was very late in catching up with technology but my point is not that - we are changing at a rapid pace!

I described my memories of TV, money(the way a middle class family would deal with it), phone, and computers. Today I see my cousins growing up in an environment with atleast 50-60 TV channels. They will probably laugh at me if I tell them that we had only one or two channels as small kids. I need not say much about the amount of info that goes around today. The middle class is no more conservative in terms of money. ( especially in the urban and semi-urban areas) This carries some bad news with it. Firstly, India being the youngest nation has millions of  youth who have just started earning salaries which are more their parents were earning almost at the end of their careers. This has lead to severe indulgence into materialism among those who earn and thereby leading to change in lifestyle patterns(especially in the cities.) I never imagined myself sitting in Cafe Cofee Day to spend 50 - 60 Rs on cofee even a couple of years back. My mother will surely chide me if I tell her that sometimes I spend that much amount on cofee.The problem is that college goers and teenagers want to have similar cosy life styles and many of them are burdening their parents with little concern for their plight.

A lot has changed in just 15 years. I am happy that my own growing up has coincided with this change. I am also proud to be part of the times which will take Mother India to new peaks of glory and happy for having been placed in the right age group to do so. The past has been filled with sweet memories. The future is filled to the brim with unknown opportunities to learn and contribute and therefore filled with excitement. I cherish my past and look forward for my future.

5 Reasons why you should know more than your Boss does?

1) Because the Boss never works - you have to work.
2) Because the Boss only knows how to give work – He doesn’t know how to do the work.
3) Because the Boss will never know more than you, but somebody must have the knowledge for the work to get done.
4) Because managing your boss is more important than managing your subordinates
5) Because every system that is in place for appraisals allows the Boss to evaluate you, but no system allows you to evaluate the boss.

If I am given a choice I want to put in place a system that will allow people to evaluate their bosses during the appraisal cycle just as bosses evaluate their subordinates.

My thoughts on Communication skills

Initially I wanted to title this blog as 10 ways to Enhance Communication skills and put 10 good points on the topic but looks like I haven't got those many points despite my waiting for quite some time. So I decided to change the title and make it less attractive instead of never getting to post the blog.

Understanding the importance of communication skills: Once we understand the need and the importance half the work is done. In one of the soft skills lecture that I happened to listen, the speaker rightly pointed out that the importance soft skills keeps increasing and that of technical skills keeps decreasing as one grows up the corporate ladder. Initially I thought of putting this point in the end as a finishing touch when I was pondering over the previous title.

Awareness of the fact that communication implies Transfer Knowledge/thoughts:. Each of us has a unique state of knowledge and what we perceive is based on what we already know. Hence one needs to constantly ponder on the ability to know the other person’s state of knowledge. This becomes more challenging when one needs to communicate to a group of people and even more challenging when the group is mixed(with respect to the subject/topic of communication).

Eye for Brevity and precision: Though this a thumb rule we often miss it. I think one needs to constantly listen to himself in oral communication and read a couple of times what he/she has written when it comes to written communication.

Stop thinking in the native language and then translating to English: This particular point is specific to English & us Indians. All Indian languages have a different grammar than that of English. Many people tend to think in their mother tongue and then translate it to English when speaking. We have reached a stage in India that we have added so many English words into our native languages and now we don't speak either languages properly. My own humble opinion is that one needs to know both the languages fluently and not mix them up.

Communication is a process involving the following facts:

• I know something.
• I have to make the other person know it.
• What I know is a thought.
• What I speak is words.
  
• What the other person will know after I communicate is once again a thought

Now here is the catch:

• Thoughts are infinite in nature.
• Words are limited + Our vocabulary is even more limited.
• We ourselves may lack in the clarity of our thoughts

All these lead to loss of information/knowledge during the process of communication. Therefore there must be a constant effort towards minimizing the loss of information/knowledge during this conversion. Two ways to improve this is increase of vocabulary and clarity of the subject with the latter one being more important.

P.S. These are just my opinions and as I said each of us needs to lay emphasis on our communication capabilities.

The Other Side of the Coin

Note: I always come with disclaimer! The views expressed here are purely personal. No Offence is intended. Any unintentional offence is apologized before hand.

Two days ago, a friday I was planning to go to Bangalore for the weekend to a friend's house. I have been in chennai for a month for now as my work brought me here. Now, this is what happens - The day starts in a board room with a presentation from a leading open source company in our company. I was very much taken by the professional environment that prevailed in the room for this was my first job and the first such meeting and as I am only one month world in the corporate world. This our first bookmark - I am part of India that is professionally competent with anybody in the world.

Fast Forward to the end of the day. I am in the CMBT bus terminal of Chennai to catch a bus to Bangalore. As I walk into the bus stand I see many people sleeping on the floors outside the terminal. This is not a new sight to anybody but still I was moved at the site. After I go inside the terminal I wanted to take of the pressure of my kidneys as I had long night journey. So, as I go towards the toilet I see a huge line into the toilet. Everybody is closing their noses as the stench is intolerable. The flushing system has taken a long vacation I guess. Those two minutes were unbearable to the passengers. There is a wonderful fountain outside the terminal and yet there is no cleaning mechanism in any of the urinals. This our second bookmark - I am still part of the India where the government is working awesomely wonderful!!!!

I reach Bangalore on Saturday morning and we go for a movie in the Forum in the afternoon. The movie starts with the hero throwing a party to friends in Sydney or somewhere and he is shown very affluent. After the movie we go for lunch to a mess a nearby and find an old man living as a destitute seeking help. We give him a ten rupee note and go for food. But the point is I am still part of two worlds.

Later on we go out seeking to buy a wrist watch for me and when I entered the showroom I saw too many good watches which for a moment thought I should have. Third Bookmark - Too many desires and craving to own too many things
This is the problem as I have always seen(refer to previous blog) - We are living in a world that is extremely powerful in communication and media. The media is glamourizing affluence like anything while there are still millions for whom a square meals a day is a luxury. Only a month ago there was a huge coverage for a french flight that crashed - I don't remember the details - but the amount of coverage for the kids suffering in poor nations in africa or other developing nations for an entire year would not be probably equal to that. We are living in a bipolar world and it is going more and more bipolar by the day. It is very easy for a millionaire to earn another million in a year from now than for a person with income of around Rs100 a day to make it something like Rs200 a day in a year from now. If the big guys(nations) want to prevent/eradicate Terrorism, I suggest them invest in poverty eradication than in arms.

The ideas that I have pondered over till now are anything new. But this blog is a snapshot of an Indian youth caught up between affluence and poverty. I know that I am a part of the solution and not the problem. The new economic story of India post reformation by our beloved Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh way back in the 90's is what we have seen in our formative years. Thousands and thousands of people like me are in the beginning of our careers and are gowing to a life that is comfortable materialistically but have come from middle class or lower middle class background. Education had made this possible - Don't we have the responsibility to take the other 300 million in India alone and over 1billion in the world to take us along with us?
We are caught up between two forces - One driving me crazy in the form of media towards material world and the other which is morally holding me.
Probably we can use the money spent in a bowling alley for better purposes like helping a kid get his education. Probably we can help millions if all of us give one day of our salary every year for lesser privileged people in this world.

I am a part of the generation that will go down the history with probably the most number of challenges. Will we be able to pass on the great Indian cultre which we got from our parents to our kids when our turn comes? Will we as Humanity be able to give future on this planet for three generations from now? Will we go down as the ones who took the right decisions? - Only time will tell.