Opinion columns – AbhiKNotes – The blog of Abhishek Karadkar

Are We Running After: Job Or Career?

How to turn the Great Resignation into great opportunities | Business Observer | Business Observer — Picture credits

In 2021, the world came to know about a silent revolution which engulfed the entire globe. That came to be known as ‘The Great Resignation’. The psychologist Anthony Klotz coined this term which meant the enormous amount of dissatisfaction people had all over the world since many years regarding their job/work. Many of them had been hesitant to change jobs primarily due to social status, peer pressure or desire to keep earning in spite of hating their job.

Understanding and Avoiding the Great Resignation | Inc. - YouTube — Picture Credits

But the covid-19 pandemic and its after effects changed everything. For the first time, many of the unhappy employees and workers realized that life is short and uncertain. They came to accept that more than job or high salary, it is job satisfaction, spending time with family, and personal wellbeing that matters in life. Hence, the pre-covid hesitation to quit the job changed into a determination to leave the job immediately. Many employees started quitting their job, be it in healthcare, sales, tech, IT and manufacturing. Soon, this spread all over the world and came to be known as ‘The Great Resignation’

But if we look more closely, do we really see any change in people’s approach towards job and career? Because even though this fancy word ‘The Great Resignation’ sounds utopian, people are willing to quit their jobs for the sake of health and family. But in reality, it is not that easy. Because unlike the millionaires and billionaires, common wage earners and employees really cannot afford that luxury to quit the job. They have their family to feed, pay the bills, and thus make ends meet. Some of them might have quit jobs for their health, or family concerns, but many seem to be just following the crowd. Because so many employees are switching jobs, this has created a dearth of employees in the organization with the required skill set, and hence the demand has exceeded the supply. So, naturally, the value of that job has been pumped up, not because that skill is in demand, but just because companies are not sure if they would be able to retain their employees for long like pre-covid times. So, few employees are taking advantage of this uncertain environment, by revolving around jobs and thus spiking up the salary package scale.

IT firms hit with 'the great resignation'; what it means for developers & programmers | TechGig — Picture Credits

But the problem still remains, which is that by changing jobs just for better pay or perks, it won’t change the reality of a job.

This is because people often confuse between a job and a career.

Job is something we have to do, but a career is something we want to do.

The significance of Great Resignation is actually meant to go after a meaningful career, where we work because we want to do that work, we have the right skills and interests to do something creative, something useful in that field of work. This is what the Great Resignation tells us. The covid-19 pandemic awakened the people who were drunk in the materialistic success, but after the pandemic, it is time to go after meaningful career, which would not only give us work satisfaction, but also help us to spend time for our good health, family time, hobbies, travel, volunteering etc. This is the ideal work-life balance which we should aim for in our life.

But unfortunately, what we are seeing, especially in India, is that people are going after jobs, and not careers. People are willing to slog for hours for some foreign client/company, just because they are giving a 70% hike or even a 2.X salary as compared to the previous salary package. People are switching jobs because the market is ripe and pumped up by this virtual demand, coupled with the advantage of work from home. But they forget that this slogging for hours, while working from home, without any meaningful career is going to hurt their health, family life in the long term. They are willing to take a job which they hate, just because it is paying more, but it is never going to give the work satisfaction, and hence that is the bad side of ‘The Great Resignation’.

Hence, it’s far better to go after a long term stable career rather than a short term high paying work from home job which will cost more in the long term.

Views expressed are my own.

-Abhishek Karadkar

Petit voyage à Mumbai

Hello Readers,

I had been away from blogging for quite sometime as I got occupied in my work since last 1-2 months. Hence, I could not blog for a while. I recently happened to visit Mumbai on a short trip and hence thought to share this ‘petit voyage’ through my blog.

Mumbai, as we all know, is the most famous and visited city in India. It is the financial capital of India, is known for bollywood, and is often known as the city of dreams for Indians. Just like the american dream, this city also carries a legacy where rags to riches story have come true. The most famous example is that of the Ambani’s, who once resided in a poor chawl, and now live in the country’s most expensive tower, ‘Antilia’

Well, this was not my first visit to Mumbai. I had been to this wonderful city before, but only for some work, like getting a visa, or giving some entrance exam. I never got a chance to see the city except when my parents took me to this city for the first time when I was a kid, and hence, I hardly remember any of those memories now. So, this recent visit to Mumbai has been quite a new one as I could visit many places for the first time, since the city has changed and developed so much in just a span of last few years.

It was just a 2 day journey, but I have rejoiced every moment of it.

Day 1:

We started our journey from Pune with the historic Deccan Queen Express. The train has recently been upgraded to have a ‘Vistadome Coach’ and hence, we booked an executive coach chair (EV) to experience this. The train arrived on time ( which is surprising when we are being used to late train arrival) and departed exactly at 7:15 AM from Pune Railway Station.

The cost of vistadome coach executive AC chair is Rs.915/- per person.

Tea and snacks ( Omlet and Veg Cutlet) are served in the coach ( not included in the ticket). The scenic view of the western ghats seen from the coach is mesmerising. Since this was December, we could not see any waterfalls or lush greenery, as often seen during monsoon season. Hence, the best time to travel through vista-dome coach would be during monsoons ( June to Sep). Also, I observed that the Deccan Queen slows down as we reach Panvel-Thane which was not expected as this train usually runs as ‘SuperFast Express’. Due to this slowdown in speed, its not worth paying for an executive coach during non-monsoon time.

As soon the train reached Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) around 10:40 AM, I marvelled at the CST building which is designated as a UNESCO historical site. It is indeed beautiful to see the magnificance of this architectural marvel, and I couldn’t stop myself from clicking few photographs.

After coming out of CST, the outside locality of Mumbai is known as Fort Area. Historically, this area was once ruled by the Portuguese, and The King of Portugal gifted the 7 islands of Mumbai as a dowry to King Charles II of England. He had married the Portuguese princess Catherine. Later King Charles II handed over Mumbai to the East India Company for an annual payment of ten pounds. Today, however, this area is worth billions of dollars in real estate.

Then, we started walking down towards Flora Fountain, aka Hutatma Chowk (Martyer’s Square). This square is known for the remembrance of the freedom fighters who fought for the creation of state of Maharashtra. The most amazing thing I found near the square was the pile of books kept on the street by the book vendors. There were all kind of books, and its indeed a paradise for any book lover. I wish to spend more time, but seeing the huge pile of books, which almost resembled like a library being setup on the square, it would take more than a lifetime to read them. Hence, I vowed to come back again in that square to read and purchase few books someday, and decided to move down towards Gateway of India.

While walking down on the Mahatma Gandhi Road, we saw the tall Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building on the left. We took the left turn towards Dalal street, and saw the BSE building. Being a high security area, we weren’t allowed to enter the building. But seeing an aura of business and market, it does resemble like the NYSE on Wall Street.

It was 12:30 PM and we were hungry by then, so we decided to dine in at the Kamat Dwarka restaurant just at the corner of the Dalal Street. We always prefer Kamat restaurants, as they serve one of the best south Indian Udupi dishes. We had delicious Dosa, Medu-Vada sambar and filter coffee for lunch. Then, we took a taxi to Gateway of India, which was just a 5 min drive and cost us Rs.25/- only.

The Gateway of India along with Taj and Oberoi Hotel are the must visit tourist destinations on everyone’s list to see in Mumbai. Infact, Mumbai journey cannot begin if Gateway of India is not seen. This magnificiant structure was built to commemorate the arrival of King of England. It looks old, with a medieval architectural style but it was constructed in 1924, and hence its not even 100 years old yet. The Taj Hotel reminds us the courage shown by Jamsetjee Tata to build the first 5 star hotel owned by an Indian, after he was insulted by the British. Also, it reminds the heroic valor of the Mumbai police and later the commando’s to rescue the people who were attacked by Pakistani terrorists supported by its Army during 26/11 in 2008.

After taking couple of photos and selfies, we decided to go to see the Elephanta caves. We booked the ferry which costs us Rs.225/- per person from Apollo Bandar to Elephanta caves and back. The ferry ride took 1 hour to reach Elphanta caves. The island has a mini rail which takes the passengers till the entrance of the caves. The caves are beautiful with the statue of Brahma-Vishnu-Mahesh and also having the holy Shiva Lingam. But the other statues have been partially to fully destroyed by the invaders who had arrived centuries before to loot India of its treasures. Its sad to see that India had seen few unfortunate events in the past which lead to the obfuscation of some of its beautiful treasures.

Then, it was 4 pm and we decided to return back to Mumbai. We took the return ferry and arrived back to Apollo Bandar by 5 pm. It was time to check in to the hotel. We had booked our reservation at the Hilton International in Andheri East. It took us more than 1.5 hours to reach Andheri from South Mumbai by taxi due to the busy evening rush. During our travel towards north, we saw the most expensive residence of Mukesh Ambani ‘Antilia’ on our way. The taxi also drove over the Bandra-Worli sealink, which shortens the distance between north and south mumbai.

Mumbai skyline seen from Bandra-Worli sealink

Finally, we reached our hotel around 6:45 pm and we checked in. We were tired with all the day’s sightseeing. We had a nice dinner in nearby restaurant, and that was the end of Day 1 in Mumbai.

Day 2:

The next day we got ourselves ready with a refreshing breakfast served at the Hilton Mumbai International Hotel as part of our hotel stay. The breakfast included some usual Indian foods like Idli-Sambar, Mysore Bonda, Omlet, Puri-Bhaji, Halwa, fruits and ofcourse chai and coffee. The most interesting thing I observed was that the tea was served in a plain glass, which as per Mumbai’s local vocabulary is known as ‘Cutting chai’. I would never have guessed a cutting chai being served at an International brand hotel!!

After checking out from the hotel, it was already noon, and we booked an Ola to Jehangir Art Gallery, KalaGhoda. The KalaGhoda area is known as a Art district and is a paradise for artists and intellectuals. The nearby area hosts many important museums and colleges, such as Elphinstone College, David Sassoon Library, Bombay Natural History Society, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and National Gallery of Modern Art.

The Jehangir Art gallery hosted the paintings of some contemporary painters and sculptors. We also met one of the sculptor from Hyderabad who had displayed his creations in the exhibition. He briefly explained his designs which expressed the human brain and mind and the impact society has on it. It was not easy to understand this by just seeing his design, and only after he explained about it, I could appreciate the depth of the message conveyed by those designs.

Then, after seeing the art gallery, we decided to visit the famous Shri Siddhivinayak Ganpati Mandir which is located in Prabhadevi. We hired a taxi and it took us 45 mins to reach the temple. We had already booked an online appointment ( no cost for booking )at 3 pm as per the new rules. After reaching the temple, our bags were scanned, and we had to wait in a long queue which is normal as it being one of the most visited shrines in Mumbai. After 20 mins, we entered the temple premises, and took the ‘Darshan’ of Ganpati Bappa. The temple is beautiful, and the statue of Lord Ganesha is even more radiating with a divine aura. It felt so much peaceful after we took the darshan.

Our Mumbai tour was almost coming to an end. The last place we had to go was the Dadar Terminus, where we had to board return train back to Pune at 6 pm. We reached Dadar before 5 pm, had evening chai at a nearby cafe, and waited on the platform for our train to come. Dadar is one of the important railway stations in Mumbai, and the evening time are the busiest, with flocks of people headed towards their destinations/home towards northern suburbs of Mumbai. We watched the local trains arriving and leaving on time every 2 mins. No wonder Time is the most important asset in Mumbai just like the real estate. Seeing the Mumbaikars running and struggling to catch their trains on time made a Punekar like me feel being quite laid back. And this is true as Pune is very much easy going and laid back as compared to the hustle and bustle of Mumbai.

Finally, the Sinhagad express arrived on time and we reached Pune around 9:30 pm with a journey of 3 and 1/2 hours. The one thing I noticed is that the Railway stations have become very clean, thanks to Swachh Bharat movement initiated by the government. Also, the trains arrive and depart on time nowadays which is quite surprising after having seen the abysmal service provided by railways once upon a time. Infact as per my recent experience, the trains are lot better than private buses, the latter of which continue to render appalling service to its customers. Also, the booking experience through its IRCTC App is very good, with easy to use interface and a customer friendly service.

Thus, our short 2 day trip to Mumbai was a success. We enjoyed every spot we visited, and below is the brief summary from my travel journey to anyone who would like to visit Mumbai.

Destinations visited: CST Terminus, Flora Fountain, Bombay Stock Exchange, Gateway of India, Elephanta Caves, Jehangir Art Gallery, KalaGhoda Art District, Shri Siddhivinayak temple.

Some famous spots via taxi: Marine drive ( its good to walk on this long sea facing drive during evenings, and watch the beautiful sunset, but due to time constraint, we could not stop by), Antilia residence, Bandra-Worli sealink

The taxi fare to South Mumbai area from airport comes around Rs.500-600/-. The elephanta caves ferry costs around Rs.225/- total journey, however, there are additional tickets to be paid to enter the caves, which wont cost more than Rs.100/-. The food costs varies with location, but in general Mumbai being expensive, with even a cup of tea costs around Rs.30/- as compared to Pune where its costs just Rs.10/-.

Visiting Mumbai is always a dream for most Indians, and also most foreigners. It is a lot similar to New York, though it doesn’t have the grand central park. There are some of the richest area like Malabar Hill similar to Upper East side. Mumbai has the Gateway of India while New York has the Statue of Liberty. The Mumbai skyline might not be as grand as New York, but it does look similar. Just like the subway for New Yorkers, the local trains are the lifeline of Mumbaikars. The Wall Street and Dalal Street are very much the heart of financial world for both the cities. New York has Broadway, while Mumbai has Bollywood. New York has Times Square, while Mumbai has KalaGhoda-Flora Fountain area. And with the opening of Bandra-Worli sealink, it does remind of the Brooklyn bridge.

‘Yeh hain Mumbai meri jaan…….’

Why I Hate Work from Home!

I have been working in IT for almost an year now. I was interviewed at home, i was hired from home, and I started working with my team also from home. This is the first time in my life, where the job has become completely remote, digital and virtual.

Initially just like many of us, I also was excited for this work from home experience. We all were thrilled with the idea of not going to office, and hence avoiding the need to see boss angry face, or attend those boring meetings in person. At home, we could multi-task, work at flexible hours, even watch Netflix show while working, eat while working, no need to wear formal clothes anymore. As most of the team meetings are audio meetings, hence, there is no need to worry about dress code, and even as simple as T-shirt and shorts would suffice. Additionally, the benefit of saving the everyday hustle to go to office by either driving, company bus or trains. Even many saved money which used to get spent on petrol, eating outside with colleagues, and for those who had relocated from small towns to big cities like Bangalore, Pune, they were elated to save the rent expenses, which eventually ended us in bank savings or in stock market.

All these benefits and perks however came at an exorbitant cost. Very few thought that this work from home would end up becoming a liability for the employees. Because inspite of all the perks as mentioned before, employees are not happy anymore. Their assumption of flexible hours were soon replaced by long working, never ending hours. Their savings in petrol and rent, often ended up spending on ordering food from Zomato or Swiggy, as no one could find time to prepare food everyday. Those who got time, became so tired after long hours of work that they rather prefer ordering food online over cooking at home.

The virtual work environment lead to more alienation amongst the employees. Because there is no more human contact left in this work from home culture. Even though video calls are an option, but many don’t like it as it not only exhibits the privacy of their home environment to the company, but also requires the person to get ready with the formal dress code, and other personal formalities.

Then the work has become more banal, and demands long hours. This is because of lack of team motivation, distractions at home including family gossips, or the need to take care of kids while working. Even worse, is the lack of stable and robust infrastructure such as uninterrupted power supply, fast and reliable internet/broadband connection and Virtual Desktop (VDI). Infact, my personal experience with VDI client has been extremely frustating. This is because the VDI has never worked flawlessly for even a single day, and it needs to be reseted once a day, which demands calling to US based helpdesk, where a support rep having admin rights will reset the VDI for me to work. Due to these distractions, the work which can be completed in 8 hours, often gets extended 10-12 hours minimum on a daily basis.

Lack of networking and team collaboration is another side effect of the work from home culture. Before Covid, often people networked a lot besides doing work, took water cooler or coffee breaks, went for a walk in the corridor or office campus, shared their insights about work, goals and team objectives. But that no longer happens anymore. Infact, the HR in my company has started online water cooler break session for people to talk and relax, but very few attend those, because they feel to be like another meeting! Nowadays, people login to work, attend meetings, complete the daily tasks before deadline, update the team by EOD and this cycle repeats again the next day. I wonder what is the difference between a factory worker and a white collar employee these days? The digitisation and virtual work environment have made the white collar IT employees like the digital era blue collar workers.

Apart from all the above problems, I cannot conclude my post without writing about the terrible side-effects on employees physical and mental well-being. Not only has our clothes become tight fitted around waist, but it has also affected our stress levels as well. From my personal experience, the work from home rigorously demands sitting on a chair in front of laptop for long hours, because back to back meetings are often scheduled. Many people prefer to eat while working, which often leads to over-eating. Also, the consumption of junk food like pizza have increased because of the lack of time to prepare home food. Many employees drink less water, especially those who work in Air conditioned at home. The physical activity has reduced and this has resulted in weight gain. No wonder that the marketing of weight loss apps have skyrocketed in last few months.

Even the employees mental well being is disastrously affected. The stress levels have risen, the need for focused work have reduced due to incessant teams chats, emails and calls. Infact, the virtual work environment demands the need to be consistently online, and this has led to lack of personal time and space for many employees. They complain how much less time they get to spend with their loved ones, even though they are working from home. For the projects involving the need to support onsite clients, the employees often are expected to work till late night, and this has affected their sleep cycle, and disrupted their biological clock as well. Thats why the cases of people suffering from anxiety, increased stress levels, insomnia, and body pain have escalated in the last one year.

Thus, the perils and liabilities of work from home are more than its benefits and perks. After all, whats the use of saving few more bucks if one’s health is adversely affected. What is the point of working from home for long hours, when the same work could have been done in less hours in office, due to team work and networking. Are the employees learning by their remote work? Are they motivated during the start of their day? Has their productivity risen really as claimed by the companies, or do the employees spend long hours by working really hard to meet the deadlines, inspite of all the distractions and unreliable infrastructure?

I am sure many employees,especially in IT will agree that the liabilities of work from home are far more, and the initial bullish excitement of this work from home has taken a bearish mode for the last few months. If this continues, the graph of personal health, motivation and work satisfaction will continue to plummet and eventually collapse some day. Instead of mandatory work from home, let people decide how they want to work, either fully from office or home, or in a flexible way, with 3 days from office, and 2 days from home. A balanced, hybrid way of working will be far better for both the employees and companies in the long run.

Patience is a virtue

One of the most important qualities in life is to have patience. Many learned men and women have already preached us about this vital quality everyone should possess. But in this fast paced life, who has the time for patience? Especially, with the advent of ultra-fast fibernet, whatsapping, and trying to change the world with a few tweets and clicks, having patience is not so cool, these days!

But recently I experienced a good lesson of being patience. We see nowadays, people change their jobs as if they change clothes. Everyone wants to move on, and grow fast as if things will happen only now, and we are bombarded with the catchy words like , This is the Time, Time is Money and Now or Never etc etc.

So, what happened is few weeks back I got a text from a friend, who told me about the new job opportunity in her company. That company has been a very good MNC which I knew. So, naturally, I became excited about the new role, and how should i prepare for interview etc. She told me that it would be interesting position, and it would be good for my career. But at the same time, I knew that even though my current job has not been that great, but its only been very less time since I joined my current role. I am simply not in a position to judge my role and performance in a span of few months.

Hence, I thought for sometime, and took a conscious decision to not look for any job switch atleast for a few weeks. I did feel that what if I lose that once in a lifetime opportunity, and what happens then? Will I regret for it later? But then I told her my decision and got immersed back in my job. And few weeks later, I got to know from her that she had been thinking to leave that job, and to my surprise, she even has an offer from my company for some other position!

She later told me that there were a lot of org changes and she even had to work for long hours ( often late night ) in her job. That’s why she wanted to join my company. After this experience, I learnt a valuable lesson: That we dont need to run after things just because the grass is more greener there. Sometimes, we have to take a pause and look at ourselves, and ask a question, that do we really need a change so fast? Are we taking that decision just because someone told us and are we being carried away by the ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ drama thought? Because many times, our heart is the perfect judge to provide us the answers for our dilemma. It knows what we want and when do we want. Its far better to have patience, and wait, rather than hurry and then later worry for the hasty decision taken. This is what I learnt from this small event .

I hope the reader might have enjoyed this article and stay connected for the next article. I plan to write regularly here onwards, with the focus to share small tidbits of life experiences, joys and sorrows. After all, this blog is intended to be my voice to the world for writing and sharing.

This is called Life….

This is called life, 
this is how the life looks and goes.. 
A few sorrows, a few reasons to happiness... 
This is the sun shade of life. 
Do not think that what you win or lose in life 
And accept with an open heart whatever life gives you 
Leave the stubbornness, do not break the bond of life.. 
Every moment in life is a mirror to you.. 
And this is called life... 
Neither with wealth nor with the world, 
The strings of breath is tied with someone special's love...
Even if you leave the world, but will never break, such a strong bond it is... 
And this is called life... 

-Anonymous

Back Again…

Hello All, I am writing this post after a long time. I think its been almost like 2 months since I have posted anything here. I don’t know if I can call it ‘Writer’s Block’ as I haven’t been very much creative in my writing, but rather its more like sharing my experiences, views on few topics from a lens of a 20 something year old Millennial Generation guy!

A lot of things have happened in the last few weeks in the world. Right from all the horrifying videos of Afghans fleeing from the misogynistic tyranny of Taliban theocracy to India’s rising performance in both Olympics and as well Paralympics ( we often forget there are Paralympics games as well, and infact, India’s performance is much better in Paralympics as compared to Olympics, though the sports culture and awareness has just began in India and will continue to grow in coming years)

The work from home (WFH) job has become more and more hectic, and keeps us occupied. The WFH seems to like never end, just like the glitches in the new Income Tax portal in India. Festivals are here but there is no festive mood anymore. One one side, the rains have created havoc in many parts of the world, while on the other side, the drought like conditions along with forest fires in some regions of the world have starkly reminded us about the impact of climate change. We are fearful of another covid wave, but the only silverlining is that the vaccination drive has been very good so far in India, including me who just got fully vaccinated, yay!

Its hard to believe that its been more than 18 months since the covid lockdowns, WFH and all the covid related paraphernelia ( wearing masks, excessive compulsive handwash, & social distancing) started. We all were excited to call it with fancy names like ‘The New Normal’ and ‘Covid is here to Stay’ etc. But now, I am sure no one likes or enjoys that so called ‘New Normal’ anymore. We all want to live like the old days. Infact, it starts from job itself. The initial days of excitement of working from home has been replaced by dullness and tiredness of excessive working hours and lack of office exposure/networking.

But for me, it has also been one year of returning back to my country from US. It would take a couple of articles to express my experiences in India, and to compare with US and so on, but after one year, atleast I can say that this past one year has been a year of new learning for me. From getting adjusted to my own country’s living standards, from Indian environment to adapting to new job, colleagues etc, I can say it did change me somewhat for sure.

Because the things which I used to do easily before are not so easy here ( like going for random long distance travels, hikes or even working for just 8 hours at my job!). But at the same time, the things which I couldn’t enjoy before like home food, or specifically Indian delicacies which were often exorbitantly expensive in US are quite easily available here at very low cost. (On a side note, this has significantly contributed to making my pants tight since last few months!) But I do miss my US friends, especially the netflix binged hangouts, the chai tea and the gossips in office during lunch time. That’s why work without office and virtual hangout with friends cannot match the real life feeling which we experience in office with colleagues and with friends actually meeting each other.

I dont know when all things will become normal, some might be and some would never be.Even 2021 is coming to end soon, and we all might be writing about the next year to do plans. Time just flies away, isn’t it? Its been more than a year since I started this blog and except the partial silence for last few weeks, I feel good that I have been quite consistent to post new things or even random topics, in case I am bored or angry or even happy! I hope to keep writing and sharing, as it has very much helped me to not only improve my writing but also the fact that many of followers/readers like my posts ( not all maybe) and hence, I can improve and write better for the readers.

After all, I firmly believe that writing or blogging can become a food for thought and peace for mind, if we write regularly and share to the world, about our learnings and experiences. For my dear Readers, I would no longer be using the abhiknotes.com domain and hence the blog would switch to its original abhiknotes.wordpress.com domain name in a couple of days. Thank you for your support and comments on my posts before.

Life back then and Now?

There was a time when life used to be simple. There were no smartphones, no social media, no YouTube and no Netflix binge. Instead those days after work were spent in playing card games, or playing cricket, or even going for trekking on a nearby mountain.

I remember the summer vacations were the most excited period of life back then. Because those two months of holidays ( April and May) in India were the most awaited days during the school year. As soon as the last day of school ended, the everglowing smile on the kids face, and at the same time, the angry look on their parents face ( as they would have to spend the next two months running away from their kids never ending demands, fights, masti, whatever you may call). The first thing we kids used to do is purchase some wafers, or chocolate as soon as we came out of the school gate. The street vendors were also wise enough to stand just outside the school, knowing the last day of school is about to over.

Then the next two months plan would include, not much but playing cricket all day, watching WWF (known as World Wrestling Federation back then). If you are from 90’s generation, you would have experienced that golden era when all kids were crazy after the WWF fights, trump cards, huge fan following especially for Rock, or the Undertaker and even going to the extent of setting up a wrestling stage at home using pillows, cushions and mattresses, and trying to emulate the stunts with friends. Oh, What an era that was!

As there were no tech gadgets, hence, we rarely stayed at home. Infact, I remember my mother and my friends mother’s would often complain that we kids never stayed at home during holidays. I guess, nowadays the biggest concern of today’s generation mothers is how to get their kids out of their room or house for playing! I can’t believe time has changed so much in just 20 years!

When I compare the kids life today with the time when I was a kid back in 90’s, besides the huge technological leap and the sophisticated lifestyle many kids today are living, there is another difference between both the times. And that is happiness. Our happiness back then was often associated with little things, like allowing to play cricket all day, buying favorite chocolate, a special type of wafer known as ‘Bobby’ ( I don’t think anyone eats these days), or even eating our favourite maggi while watching WWF fights.

However, even those little things which we eat or watched made us happy. Because we knew it was finite, and that we won’t get it everyday. Hence, we enjoyed every moment of it. Infact, our school teachers, and parents even tried to play a trick that if we studied for ‘x’ number of hours, then we would get our favorite drink -‘Rasna’ or even allowed to eat Ice cream. Maybe it was a psychology ‘Operant Conditioning’ on us, but we valued the treat we got later. And that made us happy.

Maybe because there weren’t many things to do, and hence, whatever we got we valued them. Life was not luxurious back then, atleast when we compare to current standards. But that never made us sad or depressed. While today, we see there is excess of everything. Kids are pampered by all sorts of things to such an extent that they lose the value of what they have got ( and how much they have got). And even worse, is the social media, YouTube, online games, which all comes for free these days. Facebook is free, watching videos is free, playing games is free, and thus what happens is when we get things for free and in abundance ( with the never ending supply as these social media, gaming sites are available 24X7), today’s young generation hardly realises the value of it.

Because we understand the value of something after we pay the price for it, or when we lose/miss it.

And today’s tech, social media is inherently built on the foundation that their service is offered for free, and is always available. Hence, we don’t pay for it, and neither do we miss it. Now, do we realize how big this problem is?

And the worst part is that all this is not making us happy anymore. As I reminisced about my days as a kid, I find it very depressing that today’s kids are not experiencing that happiness in small things anymore. Because all the things they are getting easily, freely and without any dearth of supply. Nowadays, it seems that there is no difference between a summer vacation and a normal school day. Because everyday is the same for the new generation.

Hence, even though we have progressed a lot in technology, but somewhere in this process, we are losing our own happiness. Sometimes, I wonder if my 90’s generation might be the last generation which lived through their childhood without any cellphone signal, internet data packets, social media chats and tweets!

© Abhishek Karadkar and abhiknotes.com, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Abhishek Karadkar and abhiknotes.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

The perks of being a Wallflower!

I watched the movie – ‘The perks of being a Wallflower!’ When I started watching this movie, I didn’t even know what a wallflower meant. As per Merriam-Webster, it means

a person who from shyness or unpopularity remains on the sidelines of a social activity (such as a dance); a shy or reserved person

The movie is based on an introverted, reserved character named, Charlie, who is like a wallflower. I liked this movie not only because it is a good movie, but also somehow, it relates to me as a person. I always knew that I have been kind of introvert, or even reserved. And I felt ashamed about it. Because usually in society, an introverted or shy person is often neglected, or sidelined. Its hard for him or her to make friends, to get ahead in school or college, to work on group projects, to debate, to share and make friends.

I have experienced this in my life. I remember how hard it was to make new friends in my school and college days. Later, with time and as maturity came, I could cope over this limitation to make friends, but still I fail to keep the friendships for long time. Just like Charlie, I also rarely dared to raise hands in the class to answer the question asked by the teacher, even though I knew the answer. I used to wait for someone else to raise their hands, and thus avoid becoming the center of attention. Because for introverts like us, the most dreaded thing is the limelight or being put on the spot.

I used to blame myself for being fearful in those days. But later did I realise, its not really fear, but it has something to do with my introverted personality type. And the most important thing I learnt quite late is the wisdom that its OK to be introverted. That its OK to stay away from centre of attention. Not everyone needs to be on the stage. If everyone decides to perform on the stage, then who will be the audience? And it is important to accept that its perfectly OK to be a part of audience! Because only those who have the gift to appreciate the talent of others, can become a perfect audience. And introverts possess this gift, who values the aesthetics, and the arts and they appreciate the talent of others. That’s why Wes Fesler quotes

Wes Fesler Quote: “Every diamond has the ability to shine when there is someone to recognize — Wes Fesler

Though it has been many years since this movie has been released, but somehow, it still feels so relevant and lively even today. This movie highlights the fact that there is no shame to be a wallflower, unlike how society makes us feel bad for being one. That its our life and we have to define it on our terms and conditions to live as we want. Personality is a gift, and a unique one bestowed on all of us. There is no perfect personality trait, and hence at the end, there is no such absolute good or bad one. We have to figure out how we want to be!

To be continued…..

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky — Source

Never Give up!

Life brings with it all its flavors. Sometimes, the struggle for few people is hard, while sometimes, life is good. Sometimes, things dont work out as we wanted them to be, while other times, everything becomes a pleasant surprise. However, the situation might be, but life is beautiful. No matter however we struggle, or endure hardships, life is meant to be lived for a purpose, for some goal, even for someone.

Living life alone or just for selfish persuits is not only bad, but also is not sustainable. Because when we become too obsessed with our own goals and toxic ambitions, then we become depressed. The main reason to become depressed is overthinking about self. If we keeping asking, What will happen to me? Why me? Why me? soon we become sad and depressed over life. We might have enough money in our bank, but this constant worrying will make our nights sleepless. Whats the use of buying big house, and nice bed, when we cant even sleep peacefully?

It is interesting to note that depression is not just caused due to failure, or unable to accept failure, setbacks, loss of loved ones etc, but also because of unable to digest success, power, fame etc. That’s why we see, so many successful people get depressed even after becoming the number 1 in their field. Recently, Naomi Osaka twitted that she is suffering from depression, inspite of being the best tennis player in the world.

Even Virat Kohli, Deepika Padukone in India had come out openly in the media about their periods of depression. Why do these rich and the famous and the successful suffer from depression?

I guess it is because just like failure, it is important to digest success as well. We all are told about the need to overcome failure through hard work, and that failure is nothing but stepping stones to success. But we are rarely told that even success can be difficult to cope up with. Reaching the Everest of success is not a cakewalk. It takes efforts to reach there, But even more effort is needed to stay in balanced and in control on that peak of Everest. Else, it takes no time to fall down.

Those who cannot control this over attention, fame, power suddenly showered on them as soon as they are successful fall down sooner or later. Some go into bouts of depression for a short time, while others completely lose their interest in their field. Even a talented swimmer like Michael Phelps slipped down into depression, to the extent of taking his own life. Thankfully he did not.

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/19/health/michael-phelps-depression/index.html

The below conversations with Michael Phelps shows how bad the life of a winner or celebrity can become…

“I was always hungry, hungry, and I wanted more,” said Phelps. “I wanted to push myself really to see what my max was.”Intensity has a price.”Really, after every Olympics I think I fell into a major state of depression,” said Phelps when asked to pinpoint when his trouble began.

Phelps punctuated his wins at the Olympic games in 2004, 2008 and 2012 with self-described “explosions.” The “hardest fall” was after the 2012 Olympics, said Phelps. “I didn’t want to be in the sport anymore … I didn’t want to be alive anymore.”

Today he understands that “it’s OK to not be OK” and that mental illness “has a stigma around it and that’s something we still deal with every day,” said Phelps. “I think people actually finally understand it is real. People are talking about it and I think this is the only way that it can change.”

“That’s the reason why suicide rates are going up — people are afraid to talk and open up,” said Phelps.Today, by sharing his experience he has the chance to reach people and save lives — “and that’s way more powerful,” he said.

“Those moments and those feelings and those emotions for me are light years better than winning the Olympic gold medal,” said Phelps.”I am extremely thankful that I did not take my life.”

After reading such stories, I think it is important to teach the young students and kids in school and universities, about the need to be in control in failure and success. Just like failure are stepping stones to success, similarly, success can also become a trap for failure someday. Too much craving for success will surely affect the mental health, and thereby slid the person down into depression and loss of confidence. Hence, whatever happens, the only thing matters is to never give up. If we look at life from a wider lens, we see that achievements and setbacks are just phases in life. Afterall, we cannot take the success with us on the deathbed. Sorry to write in this dramatic way, but I think this way of looking at things will make us more better at managing success and failures.

The tragedy of success!

A personal experience on why success really not matters in life!

Who doesn’t want success in life? I am sure everyone are affirmative regarding success. Because failure is bad, it hurts, makes us feel sad and depressed. While success on the other side, makes us happy, popular and even powerful. The society praises the successful people. But, success brings with it its own set of tragedies, and we have to pay a price for that.

Let me tell you my school days story. I used to be a topper in my school. I was a A student or grade wise, a straight 4.0 guy. My primary focus in my school days was just study, get good grades, become a topper and again study more. Its almost like I was stuck in a infinite loop where more study made me topper in my class, but then I used to become afraid that I might lose out, and so I used to study even more for the next grade. So, basically, I was stuck, quite badly stuck!

Now, when I look back to my 14 or 15 year old me, I simply cannot stop laughing. Because I really don’t understand what made me so obsessed for topper rank or in other words, fascinated for success. I had tasted my fair share of success, but somehow that taste soon became insatiable. I wanted more and more, and however, more I got, I was not happy. Still the fear to lose out the top rank or even lose the praise from the society or family made me do that.

But now I realise that becoming successful is actually dangerous in life. Because the price to pay for success is much more than the fruits gained out of success! Why do I say so?

Let me elucidate by what I mean by tragedy of success. As I said, I got success quite early in my life. But assuming that was the biggest mistake I ever made. Because I did not learn the joy of hard working. Even though I was hard working, but my attention was always fixated on the outcome, and not on the process of doing. Hence, whenever I achieved the end result, I just moved on to the next goal, without even thinking how much efforts I had really made. Its almost like I had become some sort of machine.

So, when I say I did not know the joy of hard working is because the ones who fail in that age, know how much efforts it takes to become successful. They know how much work is needed to climb the ladder. Those who fail early in life become appreciative about their own efforts. Those who fail and succeed, not only understand what they have gained, but also the means by which they have reached the zenith. And that’s the best part of failing and succeeding. Because at the end, its not the goal that gives the joy, but the journey that takes us towards it. Its like a roller coaster ride, where the ups and downs are what we enjoy, and not the end of the ride, right!

This is the first tragedy of success which makes us forget that it is not the end, but the means that really matters!

I missed that train in that tender age. Because I not only feared failing, but also feared to change the path. Because once I knew the mantra to success, I just kept blindly following it. By that I mean I just started emulating the same way of studying or working to get the final goal. And it worked, because my path gave me the top rank. And that’s why I said before, I had become some sort of machine, because only machines never change their way of working. It’s as if I was programmed in some sort and I religiously executed the code!

But in that process I failed. Why? Because I missed the important lesson of not trying to change the course. When we stick to some way of work or living, we get stuck. We then don’t innovate or try something different. We then don’t learn new things and miss experiencing new adventures in life. And when we don’t learn or experience, that means our life is stuck. Its like a pond where water gets stagnant and eventually dries up, without no fresh inflow of water. While the river on the other side, flows and is dynamic.

This is the second tragedy of success, where consistent success makes us stick to the same path, thereby turning our river like life into a pond, which someday gets stagnated and eventually dries up( and making us bored of success as well)

Finally, the third tragedy of success is quite known which is nothing but complacency. As the legendary CEO of Intel Andy Grove quoted, “Success breeds complacency, complacency breeds failure…” When we get too much repeated success, then we gradually become complacent. This is the law of nature. Because if this would not have been true then the mighty empires like Roman, Ottoman, British would never have fallen down. Even the toppers, the richest, the most famous would have always maintained their status quo. But they all went down, eventually. Because they got complacent at some point in life.

So, the third tragedy of success tells us that even success is not eternal. Yet we strive for it, because we forget that it is not going to be with us forever. Of course this does not mean, that we should not aim for success. No. But knowing the wisdom that if we cling on to just success, then either we become complacent, or we become paranoid to maintain it, which is nothing but the first tragedy of success, where we become like machines to guard our precious success. But doing so, just makes us lose the joy of achieving it. Then what’s the point of getting that success when we can’t even enjoy what we have achieved, right?

Thus, I end this post, with the simple message I learnt from my personal experience of being an early success in life. And that is, to never go after success. Rather to focus on the path of excellence, which inevitably leads us to the pinnacle of success, someday. And the magic is we don’t even know when we have climbed the Everest because we were busy enjoying the ascent of Everest!

Book review: The Billionaire Raj

A commentary on India’s journey through its own gilded age

Buy The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age Book Online at Low Prices in India | The Billionaire Raj: A Journey through India's New Gilded Age Reviews & Ratings - — link

Over the last week, I completed reading this book about India’s economic journey since 1991 till date. The book is written by James Crabtree, and it was published in 2018. I found the book pretty interesting and below are some of the observations and comments regarding the book.

The Book is divided into three parts:

Part 1: Tycoons
Part 2: Political machines
Part 3: A new gilded age

The Part 1 highlights the stories of some of the richest billionaires in India. The author simply couldn’t have begun the chapter without mentioning about Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India. The story of the rise of Ambani family, along with their world’s billion dollar house ‘Antilia’ is very sparkling. The author then mentions about the other tycoons in India such as Gautam Adani, and the once ‘King of Good Times’ ( but currently fallen down to King of Bad Times), none other than Vijay Mallya. The author coins the term ‘Bollygarchs’ for these tycoons because of their resemblence with the Russian Oligarchs, for having gained enormous wealth after 1991, thereby widening the divide between the rich and the poor.

The Part 2 chapters mention about the political machines which drives the crony capitalism. Several scandals are covered in these chapters, especially during the 2009-2013 era, which includes the CWG, coal scam, 2G scam and then the bad debts incurred by the public sector banks due to non payments of huge loans taken by businessmen like Vijay Mallya, Subroto Roy and even Anil Ambani. The inter-dependency between business and politics in India is covered in detail. Especially in the south, particularly Andhra region, the nexus between businessman and politicians is often close knit to the extent they both are inseparable. That’s why the author calls them as ‘Andhrapreneurs’ who not only built huge industries but also became politicians to get their business deal done. This part also throws light on how industrialists like Gautam Adani could become so rich after 2000, in a mere span of 20 years, just because of his proximity to the then Gujarat CM and now PM Narendra Modi. The political machines( running and winning elections) are costly and hence, only private businessmen can fund such an enormous enterprise, for which they expect favors from the winning government.

Finally, the part 3 covers various topics like bad debt problem which the Indian public sector banks have been facing since 2013. Many big industries took huge loans during the India shining decade of 2003 to 2013, when the GDP rate of India reached 8-9% for quite sometime. The wave of rising GDP and having a former finance minister, Manmohan Singh as a liberal and pro-business face of the government, made these tycoons bet heavily beyond their paying ability. Almost everyone took the risk, and this led to the enormous ‘House of Debt’ on the banks. Then the season of scams happened in 2010-2011, and further the appointment of honest men like Raghuram Rajan as RBI Governor, and Vinod Rai as CAG made the life of crony capitalists difficult. The banks started demanding the payback of ‘house of debt’ and this led to the fall of the big names like Andhrapreneurs ( GVK, GVM etc), Vijay Mallya, Subroto Roy, Naveen Jindal etc. Further, the election of Narendra Modi led to even more stricter rules where corruption became almost non-existent. Hence, the once over confident tycoons became ‘anxious tycoons’ as covered in the chapter.

Then the author also writes about the other scams like IPL (Indian Premier League) and how cricket got completely changed in the last 15 years. Its almost as if the once game of gentlemen became the game of billionaires, who started owning teams, exerting control over BCCI and ICC and almost led to the death of the gentlemen’s game. Only lately the reforms were brought in by the supreme court which led to the ouster of billionaires like Lalit Modi and N.Srinivasan, appointment of able gentlemen like Ramachandra Guha, Vinod rai and recently Saurav Ganguly in the BCCI board.

It would be highly surprising if the author did not mention about the Indian media and his remarks on the ‘Modi’fied India. The rise of Indian private sector media is thoroughly covered by the author. How Arnab Goswami became the right face within the leftist dominated media is discussed along with the author’s rendezvous with the rebellious journalist. Later, the author highlights the journey of Narendra Modi from a simple chai-wallah to becoming one of the most popular and powerful PM of India.

But the author also expresses his opinions in the chapter ‘The tragedies of Modi’. He opines that once the world looked upon Modi as an ultra-conservative right wing leader having pro-business policies. But looking at his journey since 2014, the author worries that the opposite has happened. Modi did not create any wedge based on religious or communal lines, and have rather rendered a clean, corruption free, non-biased governance against every liberals expectations from him. But on the other side, he has been very conservative when it comes to his pro business policies. Instead of creating a private sector utopia, he has led to even more inclusive, self-reliant ‘Atmanirbhar’ and more government control leadership. Though he did not shy away from taking bold decisions like demonetisation in 2016, but on the other side there has not been much of a economic reform when it comes to private sector entrepreneurship. The heavy control of government on public sector industries, banking continues till date. As this book was written in 2018, hence Modi’s 2019 grand victory is not covered, but the author did mention that PM has taken care of making sure not to upset the common man, and at the same time, keep the big industry happy as well.

Finally, the book’s name as ‘Billionaire Raj’ is congruous with the pre-1991 era after independence, which was known as ‘License Permit Raj’. But since 1991, there has been a ‘Billionaire Raj’ not only because of the rise in the number of Indian billionaires in the Forbes richest list, but also because this journey from 1991 till date is strikingly similar to the ‘Gilded Age’ of America in 1870’s to 1900’s. Infact the parallel is stunningly similar that famous economists like Ashutosh Vasrhney, Jayant Sinha and many others have written about this parallel between today’s India and the Gilded Age America.

Infact, the author even compares Narendra Modi with the US President Teddy Roosevelt’ because Modi also has embarked on the journey to clean the system from corruption, and channel the country into a progressive era like America had from 1896 till the end of 1910’s decade. At that time, various anti-trust laws were made in USA against the big businesses like Rockefellers and Vanderbilts. We see that today’s Ambani’s and Adani’s are no different than America’s Gilded Age barons. That’s why the author names the part 3 as ‘A New Gilded Age’ and expresses hope that the coming years will be the ‘Progressive Era’ for India when the middle class should become more powerful, corruption to be checked, and the power of technology and capital to become the dominant force over religion and crony capitalism.

I also carry the same hope that the next 20+ years from 2014 onwards become known as ‘Progressive Era’ in the history of India. We already see the problems like corruption and terrorists attacks which plagued India before 2014 no longer trouble us. Isn’t this a sign of a new progressive era? Even though the pandemic has halted our progress, and there are many systemic problems yet to be solved, but with the ongoing digital revolution, and rise of educated young generation, I am sure India will continue to progress…..

Weathering the Storm…

India has been ravaged by the 2nd wave of pandemic which started since the mid-April. Now, its been a month, and things are getting no where near to settle down. Many experts predicted that India might see the peak of pandemic during mid-May, but now it seems no one is sure when will the peak come, or if it has already passed before. Everywhere, there is chaos, and confusion, be it in the media, or academics, government and business as well….

Even though recently the news of Israel-Palestine conflict has been streamed on the new channels and social media, but until then, it was all pandemic, covid and India, everywhere. Be it Indian media, western media, YouTube channels, Facebook, Newspapers or even when I talked with my relatives and friends, the topic is only about pandemic. It seems we all have been over whelmed and even taken over by the sheer force of the 2nd wave which swamped our life with a terrible shock.

Hence, for many days, I just couldn’t think of anything else apart from the why, when, what, how sort of questions. Why India got affected in such a bad way? When did it all start, and what were our government authorities doing to counter this? Why weren’t we prepared for this 2nd wave? How can we combat this, and weather this storm?

I know everything is not in my hands right now. Overthinking or worrying about it wont solve this crisis. Its a collective responsibility from all of us. All I can do right now is to follow the covid protocol, which includes wearing a mask, staying at home as much as possible, getting vaccinated, and keeping a positive mindset.

Much has been discussed in the media about all the precautions, but I find very less discussion about keeping a positive mindset. Hence, I thought to write something about this in this post which might help someone during this pandemic. First of all, I find one of the best way to keep a positive mindset and thereby remove the fear and negativity, is to keep ourselves busy in some work or hobby. As we all are at home, there is a lot we can do such as

-> I started reading books, especially challenging myself to complete a book every weekend. We might be busy during weekdays, and hence, we might get some free time only during weekends. I started reading book, and have completed 1 book each weekend since last month. Read any book, as long as it is not related to the pandemic or health issues. We are already over-whelmed with the illness fear, we don’t want to read about health and illness. So, I read a book on espionage world, and have started reading a book about relationships. This will help me in the long run and keep my busy for now.

-> Watch movies, documentaries. Yes, I am sure there is no need to put this option, as most of us already are enjoying this. I think Netflix and other OTT mediums are a boon during this pandemic. We can see any movies and TV shows anytime. We can make good use of our home time to watch our favourite shows or movies.

-> Home gardening – I started working on this pretty recently. And I found it to be so relaxing. Either we can purchase plant saplings or even we can just sow the seeds to grow the plants. Apart from flowers, I found we can grow some useful plants like basil, alovera, lemon grass, pepper mint which we can use to increase immunity as well. I have been using its leaves in making chai. Gardening can be very relaxing hobby and also make us close to nature, which are positive aspects of good health.

-> Regarding social media, I know it is very difficult to stop using it. But I found that in these chaotic times, the very use of social media can be very depressing. Hence, I decided to deactivate Facebook and messenger, so that I can keep out the depressing stuff away for a while. Then, I even turned off all the notifications of news apps so that I do not get disturbed with the non-stop flow of news updates which are mostly about the pandemic. But we also need to stay in touch with news. I found that listening to Radio ( India has official ‘News on Air’ app which gives detailed yet precise information.) It is much much better than the shouting and screaming on the other news channels. Also, reading opinion columns from famous columnists can be very informative as well.

-> Finally, practising meditation and listening music is another habit I have inculcated in the past few days. Instead of YouTube, I prefer radio apps which can play songs without the need to remain glued to the screen. I can often work and listen radio or podcasts together, which is far more productive. And meditating for few mins during the day is very helpful. It is like a shower for the mind to forget everything that’s going in the world, and just relax. Its OK to be selfish when it comes to our mental peace and relaxation. Because worrying about the future or when the pandemic is going to end is not going to solve the problem.

I also see many people volunteering during these times of need. Its a noble act to help someone in need, be it by blood donation, giving food to the poor, or even financially helping some NGO which is treating poor patients with the necessary medical supplies. I just think its better to avoid active volunteering, which is going out to hospitals, or coming in contact with covid patients, in case we are not vaccinated yet. Once we get both the covid jabs, then its more safer to volunteer in the field. Better to be safe and cautious for a while.

Thus, I hope we all weather this storm and stay positive by keeping ourselves busy, and with a mindset that this is going to end someday. At the end, we will come out stronger than before.

Opinion on Alma Matters: Inside the IIT Dream

Commentary on the inside the IIT Dream

Netflix's Alma Matters: Will It Even Scratch The Surface Of Sexism In Engineering Colleges? — Reference

Today, I watched an amazing documentary film named Alma Matters: Inside the IIT Dream on Netflix. It is one of the best documentaries made on IIT and Indian education system so far. I am adding my comments and opinions about this 3 episode series

This documentary is based on the life of students in IIT Kharagpur. This IIT is located in Bengal, and faraway from all the big metro cities in India. The campus is lush green and very remote. The first episode shows how the life of IIT students revolves around departments to residence halls, commuting using bicycles, eating in canteen and living the hostel life. The students who get selected in IIT have worked hard to crack one of India’s toughest exams, JEE and hence, after two years of jail time (Class 11 and 12), as remarked by one of the students, hardly anyone studies seriously after entering the IIT. Because the students get the freedom after their jail time, and hence there is no motivation to study hard again, with few exceptions as always.

Infact, it is shown in the film as conveyed by the students themselves that many of them are confused about their careers. Because first they dont know what they want to do in life, and second they have received admission based on their JEE rank. So, for someone who has a low JEE rank, ends up studying mining or metallurgy, while the JEE top rankers select Computer Science. Hence, many students in spite of their interest in Computer Science cannot study just because they could not perform well on the fateful day of the JEE entrance exam.

Then, the first episode also shows how gender bias still exists in places like IIT Kharagpur. Many girls studying in IIT experience this bias and sexist behavior of guys in almost everything. That’s why there has never been a single woman president or vice president of the student body in the history of the institution. The primary reason is the huge gender gap ratio, which is almost 1:9 for girls:guys. Hence, the institution is male dominated, in every sphere of life.

Then the second episode ( which is the best out of the three as per my opinion) is based on the job placements in IIT Kharagpur. All the IITs are not only famous in India for selecting the brightest minds, but also for their job placements packages. We often hear engineers from IIT getting Rs.1 Cr package. It is true that some do receive such luxurious packages, but it is not that all studying in IIT get such hefty paying jobs before graduation. Infact, this episode debunks the myth that all IIT engineers end up getting hefty salaries or jobs in Google or Microsoft. Infact as told by many IIT students studying there, very few, maybe 1 or 2 in a placement calendar year, only receive such life changing offers. While others either get good or industry standard packages only.

The episode also nicely shows how tense the students are to get the jobs. Because it is a matter of prestige and status. If IIT engineers, who are known as the best minds in the country, fail to land up a job, then how else can other engineers get the jobs? Hence, the pressure to perform and get placed is very very high. Many students don’t sleep or eat before interviews. They work hard with night outs, taking mock tests and group discussions to clear the interview round. Often the pressure is so high, that many get addicted to constant smoking or even drinking to release the stress. After seeing this episode, I remembered the movie ‘3 Idiots’, where Amir Khan aka ‘Rancho’ tells how the engineering colleges have ceased to be a place of learning, and rather have become a kind of ‘Pressure Cooker’. Indeed, after watching this second episode of this documentary, Rancho was right!

Finally, the third or final episode shows some hidden side of IIT Kharagpur(KGP). The so-called studious 9 pointers, or lazy 6 pointer engineers, participate in art, drama, painting and many other hobbies apart from their studies, video games, movies and smoking. The unique tradition of Illu in KGP to light diyas on a beautiful theme and convey the message shows how the left and right brain, when worked together, can create a beautiful world. The paintings created by the nerdy engineers reflect the hidden artistic talent inside their logical minds.

Then, this episode also shows a dark side of IIT KGP, which is suicide. Each year, 4- 5 students end up committing suicides and this is deeply troubling. The interviews with students throws light on the possible reasons behind the high suicide rate, such as excessive pressure to perform and excel, isolated campus, being away from parents and unable to cope up with the pressure and stress. I remember, one of my good IIT friend, committed suicide and it was deeply depressing. I don’t know why someone who has made it into IIT, unlike millions like me who couldn’t get into IIT in spite of trying hard, and still give up on life like that. I mean even if the academic stress or peer pressure is extremely unbearable in places like IIT, but there is always a way out. Because those 4 or 5 years are just a phase of life, and that phase surely ends someday. If someone fails in that phase of life, it does not mean that he or she will fail in other phases of life as well! I wish my friend would have thought about this, and he would have been alive today!

Finally, the episode ends with the camaraderie among students and friends who have bonded with each other for the past 4 or 5 years. At the end, almost everyone gets a job before graduating from IIT, and many of them end up going to IIM, crack UPSC or fly to USA for their M.S or Ph.D. Later in life they become like the Sundar Pichai’s or even Chetan bhagat in life. The episode ends with a very simple yet profound message from one of the students, who is not so good at academics in IIT, being a 6 pointer, and yet successfully landing a job, shares the secret to the viewers that “The most important thing in life is to never give up!”

I have had many IIT friends during my M.S in the USA, and one of them is a very good friend, almost like a brother. He comes from a small non-english speaking background, got into IIT KGP with his sheer determination, then completed his masters in IISc, and now is doing his Phd in the USA successfully. He is one of the best examples of perseverance, hard work and never give up attitude in life.

I used to believe that maybe these bunch of IITians are really smart and intelligent, and hence they become so rich and famous in their life. Yes, they are smart, but it is not their smartness, or how fast they can solve problems, rather it is their attitude which is the secret of their success. Those four years together mould them to become tough, and develop the attitude to never give up in front of any problems. They learn to handle pressure, and they burn the midnight oil to get the work done, or meet deadlines often. This ability to perform under pressure, take quick decisions, survive in tough environments ( with the ragging included) and to face the problems with confidence is what makes them so valuable to the corporate and tech companies. Because today’s corporate culture is very competitive, and only those who are able to work and handle enormous pressure can excel. So, it’s not really what the IIT graduates study, but their attitude, their 4 year exposure to the competition and academic pressure is what matters to these companies!

Ofcourse, many other engineers in India who are not from IIT are also equally intelligent and have similar attitude, but somehow the IIT tag, their bonding for life, which often means helping each other out in times of need, networking as IIT alumni, helps them to make the IIT brand one of the best in the world. I find this similar to Army life or NDA where similar kind of camaraderie or brotherhood exists. This team work and the belief that they can achieve anything in life is what makes them successful. Infosys is a wonderful example of how a bunch of IITians started the IT revolution in India. Even many of the Silicon valley CEOs are IITians( Sundar Pichai, Vinod Khosla, Arvind Krishna etc) and it’s no surprise why so many of them have achieved it!

Finally, I would like to end this blog post with some food for the mind after seeing this documentary. On one side we see that IITians continue to rise up the ladder of success in whatever field they work, be it in India or USA. They have become the CEO’s in Silicon Valley or investment bankers on Wall Street. But the primary purpose of establishing the IIT by Pandit Nehru was to create engineers and technocrats who would build the nation. Even the IIT Kharagpur building reminds us of being ‘dedicated to the service of the nation’.

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Fellowships in India 2020-2021 — Credits

But we see the highly subsidized IIT education has been benefiting the Silicon valley and Wall street with the ‘Brain-Drain’ which has been going on for the past several decades. Though not all emigrate to the USA, but at the end, India has been losing some of its finest minds who could have built several Infosys in India until now.

Then, the education system in IIT as shown in the documentary reflects there is some systemic problem. Because students either cannot study what they like just because of their low JEE rank, or they do not get the opportunity to work for core companies, as very few core companies visit the IIT campus. Hence, the students from any engineering background, have to learn coding to get into software companies, or they end up doing consulting on Wall Street. This is a failure of the system which cannot provide the best minds to study what they want and neither any good opportunities to work in India in the core sector. Then it is not surprising why they shouldn’t apply the ‘escape velocity’ to settle abroad?

And the fact that if the brightest minds in IIT’s themselves are confused about which field to work on or do not have the motivation to do research ( due to other more lucrative coding/consulting opportunities abroad), then no wonder India does not have much both, innovation and entrepreneurship until now. Because we see the guys who could innovate for India end up doing coding in Silicon Valley, while the folks who could build startups end up in consulting jobs on Wall Street! Maybe this answers why India hasn’t produced any Nobel Prize winners in core Sciences after independence, when ironically, we produced more Science Nobel laureates before 1947 when we neither had the freedom nor the institutions.

Hence, this documentary #AlmaMatters is an eye opener for India. It is especially important for the younger generation, who are still in high school and their parents, to watch, because I have personally experienced how madly obsessed my generation was to get into IIT. Now, after 11 years, I find that obsession to be overrated, driven by peer pressure and motivated by the myth that ‘Once we get into IIT, Life toh set hain boss..! . I wish today’s younger generation and upcoming ones do not get obsessed with the IIT tag. I mean it is okay to get into IIT, but that is not the only way for a successful life. Infact, as the documentary shows, the life of IITians is not very different from the other non-IITians. This myth that all IITians excel in life needs to be debunked, because we see many IITians committing suicides as well. How can that be explained?

And even more important is that just like this documentary reveals the other side of IIT, so is the need to debunk the hyper inflated life of IIM graduates, those pursuing M.S in USA or even UPSC aspirants. Because millions of youngsters in India waste their precious youth years desperately trying to crack the JEE, CAT, UPSC and even with the dream to settle in the USA. Just because few people could crack these exams or win the USA lottery, doesn’t mean everyone should do it.

India needs real factories, startups and innovation labs, and not the ‘Kota factory’ or ‘Rajendra Nagar, Delhi’ factory!

It’s high time to channel the world’s largest youth population( which India has currently) in the right direction, not only for India but also for making a better world!

Happy Mother’s Day, Dear Mom!

Today, May 9th, 2021 is Mother’s Day. I am so glad to write my 100th blog post dedicated to the most beautiful and purest soul in the whole universe, which is none other than Mother!

Being a guy, I know I will never ever be able to experience that exceptional pleasure of motherhood. Indeed, women are the fortunate other half in this world for being able to bear the child. I don’t know if there is any theory to explain what makes a mother so kind and unconditionally loving to her child. Because whatever, might be the nature of a girl before marriage, once they give birth, they not only transform to become a wonderful woman but also become the source of unconditional love to her child and family. This is indeed truely remarkable.

The purpose to celebrate Mother’s Day is to understand this importance of the motherhood. Because we men often forget how much sacrifice a woman and a mother has to bear for the sake of family. So, in a way, we can also say that the world has a need to celebrate mother’s day, because we men have forgotten their sacrifice. Its a pity on us!

At the same time, remembering and honoring Mother’s sacrifice and dedication to her child and family just for one day is also in a way disrespecting her. Because everyday we should value her hardships and how much she bears for the family, isn’t it?

Since the birth of her children to her last breath, all she thinks, works, cares, prays and wishes for is her children’s better life. So, a mother is kindly selfish when it comes to her child’s safety, betterment and bright future. I think it is the only selfishness which is kind and selfless in this world.

A Mother toils for her home, makes good and healthy food, takes care of her child and the bigger child as well( I meant husband..). And in today’s generation, she even has a career and hence works in office or from home due to Covid. She takes interest in her kids education, homework, even though she might not have liked those subjects in her own school days. She makes sure her child never ever gets spoiled into bad habits. She will watch her child continously as if to make sure nothing ever hurts her beloved piece of heart.

Is there any other profession which has so much responsibility and dedication? I am not aware of any such. And the most selfless act is all done without her being paid. I mean it would be atrocious if people start paying for motherhood. But I am sure a mother will never ever think of any monetary gains or even expect any praise from her child or family in return. That’s why the motherhood is so much respected, and cannot be replaced. Maybe all the other jobs might get automated by robots or AI, but the honorable duty of motherhood has no chance to get replaced by any sophisticated technology.

Finally, I miss my Mom. I owe my entire life to her, whatever I have achieved so far in my life. Be it my education, my job, my morals, my nature, my health, all is because of her selfless devotion. I wish she was here today. I know she would be so happy.

After losing my Mom ( I used to call her ‘Ammi’), I realized how much void has been created in my life, as if a part of me has been lost forever. I know nothing can fill that void. Because no one in this world can love us unconditionally, like a mother does. Hence, I wish I had been a better son and would have understood her love, dedication and sacrifices before. Because someday we go away from her to achieve our career, business, life, other relationships, and we get so busy that we forget there is someone dear who is waiting for us always. Only later, do we realize, but by then its too late!

So, I really wish my generation and the future ones, remember this, and understand the importance of mother in our life. There is nothing wrong in aspiring for career, or other relationships, but just make sure you don’t forget her eternal sacrifices, and be with her whenever she needs you! That’s all she would expect from her dear child….

Getting over failure…

To understand more about failure and human nature ..

I think one of the most difficult things in life is getting over failures. However we might have read about ‘failures being stepping stones for success’, or ‘we cannot really succeed without failing at some thing’, but getting over failure ain’t easy. We all have heard about Edison trying out like 10000 times, before he could succeed in lighting the electric bulb. Even the today’s generation Edison, which is no other than Elon Musk, had failed endless times to fly a rocket and build an electric car, and he did succeed at the end. Even J K Rowling was rejected several times for publishing her novel, and she even had to abbreviate her name to more or less sound like a man has written the book. Well, that’s another story, but she even had to struggle to succeed.

So, I wonder why dont these men and women get tired of failures? They say they persevered and were absolutely determined to fight until they win, which is true. But then if the receipe to make success and get over failures is so simple, then why don’t everyone around us ( including me) always succeed, and never fail?

Maybe many of us are conditioned to certain level of achievement. I mean we often work for and achieve a certain level of success, which is either influenced by society/family/friends or by our own interest/passion. Many would agree with me that our choice of career is also more or less influenced by what our family wants or even what our peers are going to do. Because it isn’t easy for a 18 year old to decide, what he/she is gonna do for the rest of the life, right! So, often the best profession or trade which suits the most accepted convention is chosen. And when a large group of people decide to embark on a certain profession, it certainly gets standardised. Which is like the achievements in that profession are often weighed by the well defined norms. Let me explain by an example- For someone who decides to become a software engineer, just like his/her peers, the highest level of achievement or success is to end up working for a famous software company like Google or Microsoft. Because that’s what the successful software engineer is supposed to do. This is peer defined success standard. There are very few who dare to break this norm, by working for a not so famous startup or even starting their own software company. They are the ones who are driven by passion.

So, when people are driven by peer group defined success standard, the inspiration to achieve a lot is not so high. They become satisfied once they are working for that particular company. But if they fail to achieve that, then its a big failure for them. And that failure is not so well accepted by the society. And when this happens, the confidence drops down, and only after sheer efforts and determination to rise up, does that confidence and success comes back.

But after having seen that failure and how society treats someone who failed, it isn’t easy for all to push even further. They are happy in what they have achieved as long as they achievements are socially accepted. But the internal drive to push further gets lost somewhere, and they end up in becoming the typical, which the society always wants us to be. Our approval to becoming a ‘typical’, is because of the fear of failing, and thereby losing social acceptance. But what we miss here is that by deciding to flow with the current and thereby not trying to achieve what our heart really wants to, makes us a failure at the end. That’s why J K Rowling very well said that when “you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.”

While for the few fortunate ones, who are driven by their passion and not by peer or societal acceptance, they are the ones who really reach the sky. Thats why it is said that “There is always room at the top”. But the road to reach the top is strenuous and often solitary. Because just like Steve Jobs, only the misfits, the rebels, the crazy ones, the round pegs in the square holes, are the ones who survive this arduous journey. I don’t know what evolution says, but for some mysterious reason, not everyone can be like them, or maybe we choose not to be like them. Because its hard to stay away for a long time from society approval, or even harder to face the difficulties when we try to swim against the current. Only the brave ones do it, and they end up pushing the human race forward.

Hence, its really upto us to decide what do we really want. For some, the need for social approval is high and so does their own level of achievements and ability to bear failures depends on. While for others like Richard Feynman, they really don’t care what others think about them ( he even wrote a book with the similar title…), and their own set of achievements and failures are purely their own. There is no right or wrong here, as everyone can best decide whats best for them, right!

But above all, there is one thing which matters at the end which is our own attitude to never give up. Its OK to be satisfied in any work or with any level of achievement, as not everyone can or wants to be the CEO. Also, even though there is room at the top, but it is also less crowded and isolated, which isn’t a good thing. So, what is more important is to know that we all have the ability to fight back for any cause or purpose we want. As long as we are happy and satisfied, we are good. But do not let society make us typical. Failure and success come and go, but we should never ever give up. I learnt this from my Mom, who really fought hard against cancer. She never complained, and was always positive, till the end. This attitude is our real strength. Giving up is not our attitude. Be it pandemic, losing a job, going bankrupt in business, or whatever tough time comes in our life, we can not lose our belief that we can and will successfully come out of it, someday! Maybe that’s the only way to get over any failure in life…..

The Lost Generation!

I am writing this post with a heavy heart after seeing the deep pain and agony which my fellow Indians have been going through during the 2nd wave of covid pandemic. My heart goes out to all the people who have lost their dear ones in this pandemic. This is indeed a tough time for India and the world, and the only ray of hope was the generous help offered by more than 40 countries across the globe to my country. India indeed is grateful to all who have re-ignited the hope that humanity is still alive!

But I have also been pondering over the thought of the impact of the pandemic on our life. I know we all have been living through this and it wont need any imagination or genius mind to know that our current life is not a good one. These are definitely not normal times, and however we might call the new-normal, but for me, it seems far from normal. Because my generation has never ever experienced something like this on a global unprecendented scale. And even more worrying fact is that its not in our control as well. There is no guarantee that when would all this end!

Just few days before, we all had thought that we have won over this pandemic. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, we started watching new cases spiking up to 3 lakhs, and 4 lakhs. The daily death rate rose from few hundreds to few thousands. And with this covid tsunami, our health infrastructure got hit badly. Then watching people die because of lack of medical oxygen, or even due to leakage of oxygen was devastating. Seeing the pyres burning endlessly and the widespread fear and agony in hospitals has made me cry my heart out. We did not ever want this to happen , and yet this all happened, in front of our nation, in just a matter of few days.

Now, playing the blame game or writing for some political mileage is something I do not want to do. Yet, I feel that we as a society are responsible for this situation. Now, the question remains What’s Next?

I see everything has changed in our life once again. We are back into lockdowns, shops and businesses are shutdown, workers and labourers are fleeing back to their villages ( thankfully not by walking..), and that means, more people will slide down into poverty once again. The tech guys like me will have to spend the year working from home..sorry slogging day and night from home. Schools and colleges are closed, and exams are cancelled. I wonder what will be the future of the kids who have already spent an year at home. The college students have to study online, and without any lab or practical work, it seems that the already mediocre quality of our engineers and graduates will even deteriorate further. The travel industry has already been wiped out, and sooner or later, many others will follow the same route. And apart from all this, our health infrastructure has already been over-whelmed and God forbid, it should not collapse.

I know we all are already surrounded by the ocean of negativity, and I do not want to add another drop by writing the problems faced by us everyday. Because this is something we never wanted to happen at the first place. Yet it happened, and now we all have to face it. Sometimes, it necessary that society should look into the mirror, and see the reality.

Let me go back into history, not far before, just 100 years ago. At that time, during 1918-1920, the world suffered from Spanish flu. We all have read whatsapp posts and watched Youtube videos, on how such pandemics keep on repeating after 100 years. Well, call it pure coincidence or whatever, the reality is we are facing the similar kind of pandemic after 100 years again. And if I quote Gertrude Stein, who had called the generation after world war 1 and Spanish flu, as the ‘Lost Generation‘, not because that generation was lost somewhere, but rather it meant that they did not have any positive outlook on life, after seeing the uncertainity during those times.

Many intellectuals and writers from America and Europe had became disillusioned with the uncertainity after the 1918 war and subsequent pandemic. In France, some found solace in writing and produced some of the best fiction classics, while others in Germany and England, dived deep into the world of quantum mechanics. Russians overthrowed the Romanovs and envisioned a communist world based on the principles of Karl Marx. While on the other side of the world, the Americans self-isolated themselves from the world theatre, and enjoyed themselves in the roller-coaster ride of roaring 1920’s and stock market bubble, only to be disillusioned further after the Great Depression ushered in 1929.

Today. it wont be surprising to mirror the same trends in my generation. In the last 30 years after 1991, never has the world seen a reversal of globalization. Travel has ceased between countries, and infact, more than a visa, its the vaccine which will pave the way to enter a foreign country. The global supply chains have been disrupted, and not only vaccines, but even as small as electronic chips are in acute shortage today. America has started its journey of isolation once again, with its America First policy, and the recent quote “It’s, of course, not only in our interest to see Americans vaccinated, it’s in the interests of the rest of the world to see Americans vaccinated,” as said US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, not only reflects their self-isolation, but also they no longer are interested in a leading the world as they had been doing since 1991.

My generation (born after 1990) is not only witnessing the pandemic at such a young age, but also are concerned about whats the future is going to lay ahead. This is not just about the pandemic, as we are aware that someday, this is going to end. But the well-established channels of education, jobs and prosperity are changing. The traditional method of schooling and colleges, is not helping today. The job market is changing with industry 4.0 revolution such as AI, Blockchain and Machine learning. We are not even sure what kind of jobs will be there in 2030. In India, the quest for securing a Govt job and other bureaucracy positions is becoming more difficult and redundant due to Digitization and dwindling need of human workforce. Going to America or Europe for education, jobs and getting settled there, is becoming more like an elite dream these days due to exorbitant cost of education and visa restrictions. Bollywood has lost its charm which it once had, and infact, many celebrities have cowardly running away out of India to escape the virus. Social media has become a surveillance weapon and political ground for the so called left and right intellectuals for their endless ideological fights and debates. And amidst all this, the stock market is being incredibly bullish, as if it has escaped the conscience of ground reality and trying to imitate the roaring 1920’s decade!

After seeing all this chaos, why shouldnt we feel lost? Why shouldn’t I fear that my generation might become a part of Lost Generation? Not only because we are confused, but also we are slowly and steadily losing faith in the well-established rules taught to us. Not only in India, but also in America, Europe, this generation is less certain of a stable future and even fears falling down the high standard of living which their parents lived. No one is sure what is going to happen after 10 years. We see that the perseverence and ingenuity have successfully rowed and hovered on an oxygen devoid Mars, while on the other side, we are not even able to provide oxygen to our fellow human beings on Earth. The have’s ( like Elon Musk) are aspiring for more automation, driver less cars, hyperloop, and putting a chip in the brain, while the have not’s are struggling for just two meals a day and a decent job! This is the stark contrast we are seeing today.

For some the pandemic has showed the bitter reality that life is short, and unpredictable. While for others, it is just another opportunity to reap profits and gain political mileage out of it. Some have shown the courage to push the limits to help and volunteer , while many others continue to hide in the castles and mansions. For some it is a day to day survival while for others it is a staycation in Dubai or Maldives.

I wont be surprised if history remembers these years or this generation as the ‘Lost Generation’. Only we have to carve out our own ways to get through this, and especially for India, it is a time to keep aside all the politics, caste bias, religious hatred, ideological or ‘ism’ debates, and just focus on bringing this country out of poverty, unemployment and economic recession. We got no alternative. We cannot keep preaching to the world, that once we were superpower, or British looted us, that’s why we are still poor. Because next year, it will be 75 years of independence. We keep praising how Indian-Americans have succeeded in USA, and rose up the ranks to become CEO’s. To be honest, it is okay to have pride, but at the same time, it shows the world, that an Indian, however talented or educated might be, cannot really progress in India, with few exceptions. That’s why we still are having one of the largest brain-drain in the world. This is not something to be proud of. We have to fix this system. We have to innovate, we have to stop pulling legs of anyone who is honest and working hard for the country. We need to know that patriotism is not just fighting against the terrorists on the border. Innovating for the country, entrepreneurship with Startup India, volunteering for the NGO and social cause, voting for the right candidate and party without any caste or religious bias, playing for the country (apart from IPL) and winning medals, all of this is equally patriotic as the brave soldiers’s patriotism. Only then, will India become a better India!

The business of education..

Recently, I have been seeing a lot of news and opinions posted on LinkedIn about the wrong and unethical work practices in the ed-tech companies in India. Many new age internet and social media activists have been dragged into this debate and brawl against such companies. Even these companies have been threatening with legal actions ( some have filed cases as well.) against such activists and those who had witnessed unethical work practices while working in such companies. I won’t get into the legalities and who is right or wrong as its upto courts to decide.

But I would like to add my two cents on the current picture of education in India. Infact, the picture is so gloomy that education has become business and a money minting machine these days. Because such companies know very well that in India, only two domains are such that they are never questioned about their value for money or even if they are worth paying for? Any guess what they could be? ..Well, they are Education and Religion.

The Indian family ( especially middle class) can spend millions on their kids education and never even question if its really worth paying so much. The ROI is hardly ever taken into consideration, atleast when it comes to schooling and bachelors degree. Maybe masters and even higher studies might not be favoured by the families, but basic schooling and college education is a must. One of the reasons for Indian parents/families having blind faith in spending exorbitantly on education is because, unlike USA or other western countries, where a person can progress in life even without a formal college degree or even a school dropout, provided he/she has the required skills earned through the practical lessons of life. But in India, a school and college degree is a one way ticket to the success and materialistic progress in life. It is impossible for anyone without a degree to excel in life, even if they might have the skills acquired with practical experience. Even though exceptions exists, but they are as rare as a honest politician to find.

And the real problem is even if that degree is not even worth the paper, still millions are spent on kids to get that degree with a blind hope that degree will shower on him/her a good job or even a good bride. Education in India is less for gaining skills or even less for learning, but certainly valued more for social status, internal family/neighbour jealousy, or even just as a pre-requisite for appearing for govt jobs like civil services. That’s why it only happens in India, that a young engineer also has a MBA degree but works in Civil services. Even strange, is that many doctors also try desperately for getting into police force or administrative services. Does it sound peculiar?

So, when the purpose of education as perceived by the people is just for getting a job, gaining social respect, winning a family feud, or just to qualify for the particular entrance exams, then no wonder the quality of students and learning experience degrades. And this provides a perfect environment for such ed-tech companies to mint money. In short, vultures are invited to have a feast…..

So, when we see these companies asking Indian parents to pay lakhs of rupees for a 3rd grade kid to excel in life( I wonder how that would be..) then parents do not hesitate ( most do not..). When a ‘XYZ’ ed-tech company tells the parents that they teach 6 year old kids to learn coding and thus become the future Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, then parents do not mind. When ‘ABC’ ed-tech company tells the people that they teach the best courses online, not as a teacher, but as a partner for their kids bright future, then it is hard to resist the dream of their kids becoming successful one day.

This is the background on which such ed-tech companies are rapidly becoming unicorns and their founders billionaires. They don just teach kids and students about education, but they also teach parents to dream. I am afraid if that dream might someday turn out as a mirage.

Today, when public schools in India are failing ( with the surprising exception of Delhi), when in person coaching or tuition has become a thing of the past due to Covid, where teachers teach for the sake of making ends meet, where students learn just to get a degree and go to America, and where parents are willing to spend lakhs and crores on classes, tuition fees, books and exam preps, then is there any better environment than this for the business of education to prosper in India!

We all know the answer very well!

Discussion review: What the media wont tell about the media!

Recently I watched a panel of media experts discuss about the change in the media world after Covid-19 in India. Here are the few points which formed the gist of the discussion

-> Covid has impacted the media world as never before. Print media, TV news, radio, digital media, social media platforms, OTT etc.

-> The subscriptions and readers of print media like newspapers, journals etc is decreasing for the last few years, especially since the onset of the covid. This might be due to the fear of covid, as well as the availability of digital options readily available to the reader.

-> Infact, reading has decreased nowadays. No one wants to read a long article or even a book. So, summary of the article/book is what readers prefer. This has huge consequences on the society because this shows the patience of reading and appreciating the author’s efforts is dwindling. And that’s why we see, audio books, or youtube videos showing the summary is viewed or listened more than actual reading.

-> TV is Dead! Yes, this has been the common understanding of the most of the experts. Since last few years, the audience is shifting to Over the Top (OTT) mediums as these mediums have smartly bundled the viewers choices ( for all age groups and genres), and marketed them at an affordable price. Hence, viewers now prefer to watch a movie or TV show on Netflix or Prime, rather than on traditional TV or even theatres. This has also impacted the advertising revenues which earlier television used to have the largest chunk, while in recent years, it has been consistently reducing.

-> The readers and audience of all backgrounds have access to Digital mediums today. This is because of the affordable and fast internet access provided by companies like Jio in India. Due to which, many people prefer to read news online instead of buying newspaper, prefer to watch TV shows and movies on mobile.

-> Digital is the King of the media nowadays. This is the because every medium has started its own digital platform, be it newspapers like Hindu with subscription based options, Radio channels like Radio Mirchi or All India Radio with their apps which can be installed on Iphone ( which lacks FM receiver…strangely), Digital journals, magazines, bundling of news app like InShorts etc. Everyone is using Digital space to reach out to the readers who have switched from traditional paper/TV based medium to digital-online-mobile medium.

-> Radio is still holding its ground due to its real life experience unlike songs app like Spotify, Saavn and Amazon Music which has millions of songs. Even though the subscribers are increasing but Radio remains the medium for millions who have mastered the art to tune their work with radio’s frequency at the same time. Hence, for advertisers, radio remains an important medium.

-> In India, earlier, English newspapers and channels used to be the preferred option for elite audience. But now as English is becoming more common due to spread of internet and mobiles, its audience is growing. But at the same time, vernacular remains a strong medium as the vernacular newspapers like Dainik Bhaskar, Sakaal, Ananda Bazaar Patrika etc have also started their own digital mediums and apps to retain their audience. Hence, the competition between English and vernacular unlike previous times is growing.

-> Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Koo, are becoming the channels for staying updated with the news and current affairs. Also, the option to express the comments, share the news & content, like or dislike, subscribe makes these channels more attractive than the traditional filtered and edited news channels. But it is also worth noting that the traditional news channels and papers are more trustable as compared to social media, which is also been targeted by fake news and propaganda theorists. Hence, the user has to maintain discretion while accessing such mediums.

-> Finally, the popularity of Youtube channels, podcasts and blogging as a medium to express opinions is ever increasing. Even though the revenue or advertising is yet not well matured unlike the TV, but viewers prefer to watch a favorite YT channel over traditional TV news channels for information. This has led to mass explosion of data and information on the YT and it might even lead to mis-information and hence, proper and authenticate content delivery is expected.

Thus, the media world is going through a revolution and as of now, it seems that Digital is going to be the future of media.

Twilight thoughts..

I clicked this pic today. Simply love this. It reminds me that nature is so beautiful. Even something as simple as sunset can make us go deep into thoughts and contemplation. We live with so many worries everyday, but life doesn’t value those worries. Because at the end, all worries, and stress are momentary. Just like this sunset is also for finite time, we really don’t have time to over think about our past or future either. Time just slips away, people move on, new opportunities come in, happiness and sadness eventually fade away, nothing is constant. Only change is constant, Life is just like a wave which travels, and matching the right frequency is needed to tune in to the right music. That’s when life becomes a celebration. Enjoy the simple beauties of nature, be kind to people, help someone, don’t overthink or over work as well. Because the world really doesn’t care if we have worked for 8 hours or 18 hours a day. Our success and failures are our achievements, the world often judges based on their own logic. We can’t act or live as others want, all we can do is just live the right way doing the right thing. Let truth be on our side and let’s view the world with a lens of kindness and curiosity, because if we don’t, and just rush after money, fame or power, sooner or later, it will slip away just like life. To value the important things is what matters the most.

Lockdowns are back…

Opinion on Covid second wave in India..

I am writing this article amidst the new lockdowns imposed by the govt in my state. Its been an year since we had seen the lockdowns before, and here now, we are witnessing this again. Looking at the past one year and how Covid has evolved with new waves, and changing the way of living, many of us fear now that this might be the permanent way of life here onwards.

Even though lockdowns might be one of the weapons to ‘break the chain’ of covid wave, but no one can deny the fact that lockdowns are simply brutal. Shutting down the entire state or country has tremendous consequences. We all have seen it firsthand last year. The business cannot sustain, workers lose their jobs, shopkeepers have to close their shops, tech crowd has to work from home for long hours, staying at home results in increased psychological stress, anxiety about the future, kids and college students get affected as their exams are either canceled or postponed, health care warriors have to fight everyday against this virus by often risking their life, which results in enormous physical and mental stress on them as well. Besides law enforcement has to work day and night to administer the lockdown measures, which involves a lot of efforts on their side. All this has fundamentally disrupted our way of life.

But whats the solution? Is it like we have to accept this is going to be the way of living until all get vaccinated in the world, or herd immunity sets in? This might take years. Currently whatever alternatives we are applying are temporary. Like work from home can never be a permanent solution. Because it is evident that not all can work from home, except the tech jobs. Even for them, this is becoming more and more stressful and boring. Work needs physical interaction, social exposure and real life experience. Not all professions involve coding which do not need any pre-requisites, except coding knowledge. But what about sales? or Aviation pilot? or even field technician? Can they work from home permanently? The answer is obvious No!

Sometimes, I find myself fortunate just like my colleagues who can work from home as our work demands a laptop, internet connection ( ofcourse, stable and fast..) and a working brain..thats it. Be it my tech job or my writing passion, I can manage things from home. But I feel incredibly bad for those who can earn their bread and butter only by selling stuff everyday, or whether in transportation business. I cannot imagine how they must be making both ends meet.

While on the other side, for some rich and influential groups, it is business as usual. The govt in my state is busy involved in looting , as they call ‘vasooli’ from the people. The stock market has crossed 50k mark and those with the money and power, are reaping the profits out of this bloated market. The IPL games are about to begin and even covid second wave cant stop them playing, rather entertaining as I hardly regard IPL matches as professional cricket matches. They are more or less like the assembly of rich businessmen and women who own the teams, the advertisers, the cheer leaders and the multi-crore earning mercenary players. Even film industry continues with their entertainment as usual even though Covid has done that job better. The YouTube is filled with newly educated pundits making videos with their precious commentary on politics, economics and scandals. Even elections are in full swing in five states in India, and the rallys are conducted in such a massive way as if to wonder if the people there are living in an iron curtain, with no knowledge of covid precuations. The leaders are busy bashing each other, asserting their Hindu religion and chanting name of Ram and Durga Mata. For all of such businessmen, politicians, cricketers, stock Guru’s, filmstars, covid is something which stays away from their closely guarded citadel. For them, covid is something which just affects the poor and the middle class, as if they deserve them…

As lockdowns are back and so are all the adjustments and compromises we( the common masses) have to do, I reminisce Ghalib’s famous shayari..

गुजर जायेगा ये दौर भी, जरा सा इतमिनान तो रख,

जब खुशियाँ ही नहीं ठहरी, तो गम कि क्या औकात है !

Translation:

This time will also pass, have some patience

When happy days did not last for long, how can sad days endure forever…..

What Young India wants..

What my young generation wants to do for the country..

I recently read a book written by Chetan Bhagat ( the famous engineer turned banker turned fiction writer….thats quite a change of career..) – ‘What Young India wants‘. This is his first non-fiction book in which he comments about the ground reality in India until 2012 when the book was published. I have read his other fiction books like Five point someone, and later watched a couple of movies based on his books like 2 States, One night at call center, and Half Girlfriend. But this book is quite interesting as it sheds light on what the youth of India really wants…

India is the youngest country in the world, because it has the world’s largest young population between 18 and 35 years. I proudly belong to this group. So, this book is actually a bundling of my generation ideas and dreams about what we want to achieve in life, What India do we want to live in, or even if I can kindly quote JFK, with the question of ‘what we can do for India!’

The author pinpoints quite a number of issues which the youth faced in 2012. Those were my college days and until now, some of the best days I ever had in my life personally. I was securing good grades in my engineering exams, I was hard working, sincere and very ambitious. I was also very optimistic about my life. But outside my happy go lucky life, the country was digesting quite a number of corruption scandals, Anna movement ( or Kejriwal dominated movement), and also eagerly waiting for the next leader, Narendra Modi to come to the stage and take charge of the country. We all were so tired of everyday corruption scandals, rape news and lack of governance displayed by the then UPA govt, that we all just knew one answer, that only Modi can fix this mess!….

And so it happened. Modi won in 2014 and India finally got a new govt. Since the last 7 years, things have changed in India and in my personal life to such an extent, that when I returned back to India from United States in 2020, I could not believe this is the India I lived in until mid-2015. We know longer hear of any corruption news, rather we see development and progress has become the new headline. I dont want to write what this govt has achieved in the last 7 years, and how India has changed and even unchanged in some sectors, as it isn’t congruent with the topic of the article.

What does my generation want? I think quality education and employment tops the priority. Indian bright minds still suffer from lack of good colleges, updated industry or research oriented curriculum and employment opportunities where we can learn and contribute to the country. Thats why we see many of my friends are in USA and other countries. Even I went and gained a masters degree, worked for sometime to gain the industry experience. Even though I am aware that govt cannot provide job opportunities to everyone, and the onus lies on people and industry to support startups, innovate and create more and more job opportunities.

But equal responsibility lies on govt to support the emerging startups with a conducive environment. Even family often wants their kids to become engineer and move to Silicon valley, or become a civil servant and live a comfortable life on govt perks. Because this will ensure that their kids future will be secured. I believe this myopic mentality has been the root cause of not creating enough job opportunities in the last several decades. We want this expectation from society to stop. Let us become what we want in life. Not everyone can become engineer or bureaucrat. Some of us want to dance, or paint, or even write like I am doing right now. Sometimes, I wish I had become a writer than an engineer, but the lack of prospects to earn money through writing in India and fear of losing family support, makes us persue a society demanding career. Young India wants this to stop…

Then, societal issues has always been a concerning issue for us, especially caste, religion and marriage perspective. Its been 75 years since India became independent and our founding fathers imagined a India which would be free of caste & religion based discrimination. Hardly has this happened. We see how our parents and grandparents generation continue to follow the caste system. We cant bond too much with people of other religions or lower caste. A upper caste guy cant marry a lower caste girl, and vice versa. Friends are made based on the food we eat, whether is it veg or non-veg, beef or chicken,…Ohh, Beef is banned in India now, forgot about that…If different caste or religion couples fall in love and decide to marry, then they are not only opposed but even sometimes ostracized and killed by the ultra-conservatives in the name of honor killing. I find all this to be preposterous. Is this the India we wanted in 2021? On one side we watch American TV sitcoms like Friends, and learn to become liberal, but on the other side, we are conservative enough to live in a ghetto of our own caste and religion. I do not blame this on the parents generation as they were brought up very conservatively, but I feel bad when some of my own friends and colleagues endorse such caste and religion based discrimination. This is something young India wants to stop.

Finally, my young generation is very hard working, sincere and hopeful about the future. We know we are at a remarkable time in India, when all we can do is move ahead and develop the country. As Margaret Thatcher famously said, ‘There is no Alternative’. Similarly, young India has no alternative but to work for the betterment of the country and society. Gone are the days when people used to run away to USA and other countries for better life and opportunity. I know people still are migrating abroad and causing brain-drain, but times have changed and seeing the strict immigration laws in countries like USA, reduced employment opportunity due to Covid and increasing anti-immigrant wave sweeping the world, its good that we stay or return back to India and work for it. India needs startups, India needs innovation, India needs to win in Olympic Games, India needs excellent writers, teachers, researchers, sports psychologists etc..India even needs well educated and professional politicians…and only my generation can provide this and solve all the above mentioned problems which we are facing even today. This is our responsibility and burden. But as I said, we got no alternative.

Interestingly and coincidentally,’Young India’ was the weekly paper/journal published by M K Gandhi from 1919 to 1931. It was Gandhi who inspired the then youth of India to fight for freedom until we won in 1947. Similarly, I hope this young Indian generation also works and strives for making India a strong nation by 2047 when India will mark its centenary of winning independence. I hope the history will get repeated again….

Debunking Covid myths!

This post illustrates some of the debunked myths for the past one year about Covid in India

Constitutional Validity of Lockdown Order by the Central Government - iPleaders — Credits

The 23rd, March 2021 marks the first anniversary of the Covid-19 lockdowns in India. Initially, they were laid out only for 21 days, with the intention to defeat the virus, but soon it was realized that India was not isolated or even prepared enough to end the detrimental effects of the pandemic any sooner, which the world then was already suffering with. Hence, the lockdowns got extended for several weeks and even months in many parts of the country as we know. 2020 turned out to be very much an odd year in most of our lives, something my generation will not forget for years to come. A lot has been written and discussed, and hence, I won’t get into how it affected our life, environment, jobs, economy, politics, pretty much everything as we know, hardly leaving anything untouched.

Now, as its been an year since the lockdown started, and even though India is not having nationwide lockdown, unlike few countries like UK and Brazil, but the worrying fact is that the coronavirus is spreading again. Many are calling it as second wave, or even third wave, many of us do not agree which wave it really is. But the fact that inspite of the lockdowns, and even after vaccines are available, its quite worrying that the virus is not in control yet, in many parts in India, especially in Maharashtra, which is one of the worst affected states.

Having observed the pandemic and its effects over the year, there are many questions and even myths which were brought up and even circulated using the ubiquitous social media. During the initial few days after March 23, 2020, when the number of covid cases were comparatively less in India, people willingly played the role of self-declared experts and pundits, and tried to explain the low number of cases due to a myriad reasons. Some of which include, ( with my personal experience)

Its because of our beloved PM Narendra Modi and the nationwide lockdowns which he laid down quite early in India.
Because India has a hot and dry climate unlike the cold and brutal winters in USA and Europe
Maybe, because our Indian food is the best in the world! We don’t eat meat, we eat cooked (overly-cooked) food, add spicy masala’s, avoid burgers, coke, or pizza unlike Americans who live on such foods, and hence, our immunity is high due to the healthy food consumption.
Someone even said that because India is a spiritual land, and hence, the mystic powers of meditating monks and all religious practices are protecting us from the virus.
Because India is not very clean country, with polluted air, unclean water and dirty roads, hence, Indians have developed the immunity after living for decades in such relatively unclean surroundings, as compared to America or Europe.
I even heard that India got saved because we have been practicing social distancing naturally for years, with our habits like doing ‘namaskar’ instead of shaking hands, avoiding touching, hugging, kissing or being close to each other consistently unlike western culture etc. I found this to be hilarious!
And finally, India had a milder form of covid virus, as compared to the extremely mutated and fatal ones in America, UK and other countries.

Looking at some of the above reasons, I am sure many of us might have thought them to be ludicrous. Because the fact that even if they were true, still India has the world’s third largest number of covid deaths, after USA and Brazil. Let us debunk some of the above myths or so called explanations given last year.

First of all, PM Narendra Modi and his government did take a pro-active and brave decision to lockdown the country much before the number of cases were detected. This was thought to be quite a prescient move. And it did pave off for sometime, as India did not see any rise in the number of cases for the next 2 months, after lockdowns started. But the irony is that as soon as lockdowns were lifted, the cases escalated. On one side, the Modi praisers had lauded PM’s decision to lockdown the nation, while later the opposition and Modi critics started mocking him and the government for having shown the world how a failed lockdown looks like! Well, the rise in number of cases later were inevitable considering the number of people flying back to India from abroad, high population, dense cities, and that lives of millions of Indians depend on jobs for which they cannot work from home. Also, the poor medical infrastructure in rural areas led to surge in the number of cases, which happened when the lockdown was harshly imposed over night, which led to the exodus of millions of workers and labourers from cities to villages ( walking all the way..), thereby carrying the virus to the remote areas. Many experts agree today that the way the lockdowns were imposed could have been better managed and coordinated.
Hot and Dry climate: This turned out to be a myth as we see many countries all over the world including those in hot and dry areas have covid infections. How can we explain Brazil to be the second worst affected country in the world, if it has the most hot and humid climate with the vast Amazon forest? Infact, in India, the worst affected states are Maharashtra and Kerala, which are faraway from cold winters of the north!
Indian food: Well, even though the food intake is quite different than western countries, with Indian food having a lot of varieties and being more healthy, yet none of the evidence suggests any relation between food and virus. Our food might increase the immunity, but that will be too generic reason to elucidate. Also, over the last few years, the way Indians eat food has changed a lot, especially due to the american influence.
India as a spiritual land: This is one of the most uncanny reasoning I had ever heard. Also, its very Indian in a way. Because often we Indians like to relate everything that happens in the world to some kind of astrology, mysticism and supernatural powers. However, it is true that India is a holy land, having millions of ardent religious followers, and monks living in the mountains. The family culture is exceptionally strong and Indians are very religious at heart. But that doesn’t mean that this good karma will save the nation. If it was really there, then how can some of the most horrifying cases of rapes, murders, caste based violence and corruption happen in this holy land. Metaphorically, I like to relate this to the holy Ganga which is pure where it originates (Gangotri), however it gets polluted when it reaches the ghats of Varanasi and Bengal. Why? Because the people pollute this sacred river! This habit to surrender ourselves by praying to God, sadhus and remembering ancient history, has led to the degradation of science and rationalism in this country today.
Inbuilt immunity: Well, I do agree to some extent that this might have made us stronger when it comes to immunity. Having lived in USA and India, I can relate both the worlds. I saw how safe and isolated Americans live, staying indoors, with centralized ventilation system, visiting doctor for every small illness, consistently taking medicines and pills, eating frozen & raw foods, breathing only filtered air etc. While on the other side, Indians are used to eating outside food which is never frozen, but always fresh. We are used to polluted airs and water, very few air conditioners in our houses, and avoiding visiting doctors by home treatment of minor illness using ayurveda and herbs.
Natural Social distancing: I find this to be untrue. Because even though, we usually avoid direct touching or hugging others as western culture exhibits, but considering the number of people living together in India, like joint families, and even traveling in local trains, buses and public places, its difficult to avoid contact with other people. But its a miracle that some of the worst crowded places in India, like Dharavi slum in Mumbai, for which many feared that it will be terribly affected, actually turned out to be covid-free, or less affected by covid. Hence, its hard to say, if any naturally social distancing helped India. But as per guidelines, social distancing is a must to follow, inspite of any local conditions.
Finally, India having a milder form of virus is debatable. Even though it is proved that UK and other countries have much deadlier mutant of virus, and India did a good job in shielding itself from those deadly mutants. But still the danger of those mutants entering India has not subsided yet.

Hence, looking back at one year, and having read, talked about some of the above questions and myths, this post briefly summarizes what Covid has taught us and even debunked some of the myths. But the virus has not gone yet. As per universal recommendations, we have to wash our hands, practice social distancing, avoid crowded places, get vaccinated as soon as possible, and stay at home to avoid the spread of virus.

I hope things get better soon, and lets be rational and open-minded regarding any myths and reasoning based on the local situations.

The medium of expression..

Today, we are surrounded by all the modern technology and amenities. Every aspect of life is touched by some form of technology or an intelligent machine. One of the most vital aspect in human life is communication. This is what separates us from other animals. That’s why we humans are called social animals. And we have developed all sorts of devices including telephone to mobile phones, internet to social media, news media to radio transmission to facilitate this communication.

We are all connected in this web of information and communication. There are hardly any places on earth, where any network range, be it cellular or satellite cannot be reached. The world has been brought together with this invisible links of radio waves. We can talk to anyone, anytime, anyplace on the planet within seconds. If we cannot talk, we can leave a message, send a video, update our status, tweet something, post on the wall, and so many other options are available.

Yet, amidst all this digital crowd, we seem to be lonely. It’s as if we are lost in the crowd. This is baffling because inspite of all the tech devices at our finger touch, still our network seems to be lost somewhere. And this network is from our mind, our heart. We seem to stay away from group. As if we have taken for granted that we can connect with our friends and loved ones, anytime due to all the advanced technology. Yet, we fail to do so.

I wonder how many of us really stay in touch with our good friends? I understand that due to busy work schedule and family responsibilities, its not always possible to stay in the loop. Infact, it is said that after marriage, the couple often lose contact with their oldtime friends. Only after a dozen of years pass by, kids grow up, the mid-life crisis of late 40’s hit us, and then some invitation for a school or college re-union comes up, that when we try to connect back to our friends.

Earlier, there was no Facebook. So, the friends only had a option to connect using either phone or home address, which also changed often. Now, there is no such barrier. Yet, I find that more than 95% of my friends on Facebook, who used to be my good school and college friends are just ‘Digital’ friends today. No one is in touch with each other, even though they are just a click away on the app. While, we might be living in the same city, yet it feels like we all residing on different planets. I feel like they have become something like a fixed deposit investment, which I can use(connect) only when the term is over, like only when there is some kind of re-union or alumni meet, whatsoever.

I have often believed that letters are like the mirror of human mind and expression. Because when we write an informal letter, we often put more in our emotions and expressions than we would on facebook, or whatsapp. Maybe, because we are concerned of our privacy. In older days, this form of letter writing prevailed due to this subtler form of expression. Now, even though it has been replaced by more faster and encrypted ways of communication ( after all, letters were like an open secret, with an end to end non-encrypted transmission) like emails, phone and video calls, but its hard to replace the train of thoughts and ideas which used to get expressed in letters. Thats why all the letter writing between eminent personalities like Gandhi, Tagore, Nehru, Lincoln, Franklin, Vivekananda, Marie Curie, Einstein and many more have been collected and cherished in the form of books and in museums. Because those letters reflect the personality of those great men and women.

Even love letters are considered like a sacred form of expression between the couples. I have always believed that apart from love letters, there is no other form of delicate and honest communication between lovers. Today, lovers use all form of mediums be it facebook, instagram, whatsapp, or even an email to profess their love. Video calls, or proposing directly is the standard norm yet human mind is elusive. Because the mind often misinterprets the direct communication face to face, or voice as well. Only eyes tell the truth.

This poem in hindi perfectly tells what eyes speak..

आँखे सब बोलती हैं
सारे राज़ खोलती हैं
आँखे आईना होती है मन का
आँखे बोलती है दिल की ज़ुबानी
कह देती है अनकहीं कई कहानी
इंसान कितना भी छुपा ले जज्बातो को
मन कितना भी बहला ले दिमाग़ को
चेहरा झूट बोल सकता है
मुश्कान झूठी हो सकती है
आँखे सब बोलती है
सारे राज़ खोलती है

Translation:
Eyes speak everything
they unravel all the secrets
they are the mirror of human mind
they speak from the heart
however man tries to hide his emotions
or mind tries to elude the brain
human face can be liar
or smile can also be liar
but eyes reveal everything
they unravel all the secrets...

Just like eyes, the letters are the perfect medium to convey what the eyes tell. I am sure that however innovative ways of proposing or expressing love might happen, be it like proposing near the Niagara falls, or in front of Taj Mahal, the subtle expression and emotions which letters convey cannot be emulated.

But the sad aspect is today, letters communication have become rare like a good politician. The most obvious reason is there is no need to write letters, when we have more faster and simpler tools like emails, phone calls, text, video etc etc..I agree but still I feel this form of communication ( especially informal)has to be preserved. Because letters open a new door of mind which is more mature and understanding, which a messenger text or whatsapp message cannot.

I am ending this post for now. As we becoming more and more busy and occupied, the communication channels are getting closed day by day. Its like we are experiencing solitude amidst a crowd, and that can be one of the worst evolution of humans. Because we being social animals, and all these communication technologies were meant to increase human contact, but rather, what we are seeing is we are just communicating with the machines, and not humans. Instead of getting closer, we getting drifted apart from our friends and loved ones.

Soon a day will come, where a robot will take care of all our calls, messages, filter out the important and spam ones, send a reply on our behalf. I am sure this will happen some day because of the way AI and robotics is advancing…

The hype of elite college admissions!

College Admissions Scandal: How the Elites Escape the System – The Patriot Post — Credits

Recently, I watched the Netflix documentary – Operation Varsity Blues: The college admission scandal. After watching this documentary, I am stunned with the way this scandal was carried out. I had always heard of scandals and frauds in banking ( like Wall street – Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme), government ( Watergate), and mostly in Hollywood high profile scandals.

But this one in the field of education is something rare. Maybe becuase there is already a way to enter the college which is known as ‘back door policy’ where any interested student for an elite college can gain admission after making a hefty donation to the college or university. But what Rick Singer ( who is accused of carrying out this admission scandal) did was to open a ‘side door’ by faking the students profile with fake SAT or ACT test scores, and even wrongly displaying to the admissions team about being an athletic recruit. It has been covered nicely in this documentary and it sheds light on this obsession of parents to use any illegal means to make their kids get into the elite schools, by using their money and Rick’s ponzi scheme.

But apart from such admission scandals, what bothers me more is this hype to get into elite colleges and universities. In USA, be it Harvard, or Stanford, or in India, be it IIT and IIM ( Thank God, I haven’t heard any admission scandal in IIT or IIM so far). I can understand that it is very natural for anyone to aspire to get into such top colleges, as they have proven over time and with their thousands of successful alumni, that its indeed one of the life’s changing experiences to enter and graduate from such Ivy league colleges. The right kind of networking, amenities, professors, courses, and the charisma these universities have often sets the life of those students who study and pass out of these colleges, which truely makes them a part of an elite group, even though exceptions always exists.

But the most important part is not everyone can get into such colleges. Only the competent, intelligent and deserving gets into. The admissions process is highly selective and that’s why it isn’t easy for all to get into it. But still the students and their parents are obsessed with such admissions, and hence, they try super hard to get into these elite institutions. That includes spending the entire high school years in just studying, with no other personality development, paying millions for tuition, coaching and career counselors, working hard to score maximum in test scores ( SAT, IIT entrance etc).

And after all the above copious efforts, if the student fails to get into his/her desired college, then the depression and stress the entire family goes through is very disturbing. I had tried to crack the IIT entrance exam a decade before, and couldnt do it. I remember it took me quite sometime to get rid of the depression and sadness which often comes along with such failures. Infact, it also led to a sense of loss in self-worth which is very detrimental for a 18 year old who has not even reached his legal age for almost doing anything in the world. But I was lucky to have got into a good college later, and soon came out of the sadness. But not everyone is lucky. Many students cannot bear the pressure and this loss of self-confidence compels them to take extreme steps, like suicide.

While this is the dark side behind the rat race for college admissions, but cheating and bribing( using side door) to secure an admission is even more perturbing. Because not only its illegal but also it undermines the hard work and efforts of all the good students and their parents, who have been burning the midnight oil to clear the tough exams and get admission through legal way ( also known as front door). The actions of those who had bribed and tried to undermine the credibility of the admission process is culpable and those people should be sent to jail. ( But the netflix documentary shows that Rick Singer is still a free man, while others have been sentenced to mere 4 months or even 14 days of jail sentence)

Also, it makes me wonder if the college education after all deserves so much attention? Do the graduates from such elite colleges really change the world? I know many famous engineers, businessman and politicians have studied in such elite universities. Barack Obama is a Harvard law school almuni, and so did Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg went to Harvard. Many Nobel laureates and scientists are from MIT, Stanford and Harvard. England’s most of the politicians have PPE degree from Oxford. IIT’ians are known to be the most successful professionals in India and USA. Infact, Wall Street and Silicon Valley is filled with IIT and USA Ivy league graduates. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google is both an IIT Kharagpur alumni and has M.S from Stanford, along with an M.B.A from Wharton school, University of Penn. All such famous personalities are inspirations to millions of students and young professionals like me. Even parents who themselves couldn’t get into such colleges, for reasons whatsoever,dream of their kids getting into such elite colleges, and thereby becoming the future Sundar Pichai’s or Mark Zuckerburg’s.

There is nothing wrong in this dream. But it is important to understand that this is not the only way for success in career and life. Often, we misinterpret their success to their elite colleges. We think they became successful because they graduated from those universities. This is where the real problem is. Rather it is their intelligence, their hard work and their passion to make a contribution to the world which has led them to the pinnacles of success. Their degree, and the elite Ivy league college is just a launchpad for their career. It is like a booster similar to rockets which provides them the required thrust to begin their career and enable them to work with the similar kind of people ( who also have graduated from such colleges). So, in short, apart from networking and initial boost for the career, the elite colleges dont play much role later in their life. Whatever high accomplishments these people achieve is due to their hard work and perseverence.

Also, not every successful person is from Ivy league college. Infact, many of the famous and successful people did not study in elite colleges or not even attend a four year college. Steve Jobs who actually changed the world, dropped out from a non-Ivy league college. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg dropped out of Harvard. Narendra Modi, the current PM of India does not have a four year degree, but rather gained his education from distance learning courses. Kalpana Chawla, did not have an IIT degree and still became the first Indian woman astronaut. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, does not have a degree from IIT and still could become the CEO. Many successful entrepreneurs and politicians in the world have a degree from a not so famous college. Infact, Peter Thiel even started a fellowship with a $100000 grant for anyone who would skip 4 year college and rather work on some novel startup idea. One of the famous Indian who got this fellowship is Rishabh Agarwal, who is the CEO and founder of Oyo.

While on the other side, Rahul Gandhi went to Harvard ( through back door policy indeed), and he is nothing but a laughing stock in India. Rajat Gupta, convicted for securities fraud, had gone to IIT Delhi and Harvard. Jeff Skilling, the infamous CEO of Enron, who led one of the worst scandals in American business before 2008 sub-prime crisis was a Harvard business school graduate. And the major players on Wall Street who articulated the sub-prime crisis and profited millions in bailout package bonuses, includes Hank Paulson ( Harvard Business school(HBS)), Ben Bernanke( Harvard, MIT), Tim Geithner( Dartmouth), Lloyd Blankfein( Harvard) and Jamie Dimon (HBS).

Hence, going to an elite college is not the only way to become rich, successful and famous ( or infamous). But this does not mean that 4 year college education is not needed. If we want to persue a career in science, research, medicine and govt service, then having a college degree is a paramount. To have a a stable job, be it in private firms or govt office, college education is a must. Even though online courses like coursera, udemy and distance learning have grown manifold, yet the importance and acceptability of college education is not going to subside. But whats important is that going for elite college is not needed. It is just a hype, a social thing which the world gives so much unnecessary attention. I would say, anyone, be it a simple middle class student, or even someone who cannot afford an elite college education, it is possible to become successful in life by attending a decent yet good university, and really work hard to achieve their dreams in life. No dream can remain unfulfilled if the intention is strong and efforts are 100%.

The 7 vices of Social Media..

The seven deadly sins in the world of social media and online tech.

Remedies for the 7 Deadly Sins of UX | Contentsquare — Credits

Can we relate the above 7 sins to social media/tech world?

Gluttony – Amazon
Envy – Instagram
Wrath – Twitter
Lust – Tinder and porn sites
Pride- Apple
Sloth – Facebook, Netflix
Greed – Robinhood, Bitcoin and quick investing

-> Amazon resembles the vice – gluttony. Because its not Amazon to be blamed, but our never ending desire for over buying and over consumption. And it is our unquenchable desire for over buying which has made Jeff Bezos the richest man on the earth. That’s why to counter this vice, there is virtue by the legendary Warren Buffett which says

12 Best Warren Buffett Quotes on Investment, Life and Making Money | Funny inspirational quotes, Warren buffett, Friendship quotes — Credits

Interestingly, Jeff Bezos has smartly taken care of this as well. If we run out of money to buy things on Amazon, we can also sell things on Amazon!

-> Instagram resembles the vice – Envy. There cannot be any better tool than Instagram to inculcate this vice. It infact makes us not only envious of others, but also makes us feel our world is so banal and boring.

-> Twitter resembles Wrath. How many of us have suddenly become self-proclaimed pundits on every topic, and have blurted out our anger against politicians, or anyone on twitter? I have sure many of us already have. Even I used to do that on this medium, and so did Trump. Infact. Trump took it to another level where he used Twitter to bash his opponents, critics, or media ( like CNN or Times). Indeed, even a single tweet of 140 characters is enough to do the damage!

-> Lust is best represented by Tinder and other sites, including porn/dating sites. Because such apps are designed for short term dating or even one night stand only. They are not meant to find the soulmate or even a long term relationships. Even though, they might market their app to find the best soulmate or partner, but in reality, all it does best is the spread this vice of lust. And porn is something which only serves the lustful nature of human mind.

-> There comes Apple and along with it comes pride. Yes, there cannot be any product or tool which we are super pride of. Apple is the perfect design for letting pride go into our heads. The way they market their products, the charisma of Steve Jobs, the exorbitant price of all the Apple products makes it strikingly attractive. And that’s what fills the owner of this product with pride. Its as if there cannot be any better phone than Iphone. Its as if a college student cannot graduate if he/she does not have a Mac. Its as if we all want to imitate Steve Jobs and all his larger than life quotes. This is what Pride is as per Apple standards.

We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?” ~ Steve Jobs | Steve jobs quotes, Job quotes, Steve jobs best quotes

By the way, Apple’s sports band is named ‘Pride’ which supports the LGBTQ+.

-> Sloth which means laziness, and the best way to stay Lazy is to stay Active on Facebook. I find Facebook one of the best way to ruin our life with laziness. If we are bored, just scroll the facebook posts. The Facebook videos, and our friends posts are enough to divert our attention from whats most important to whats least important. Even Netflix, Amazon Prime and YT serve as mediums for procastination and thereby become lazy. But atleast we have the control over those OTT media service. But with Facebook, its the contrary. It has the control over the levers of our mind and our productivity.

-> Finally, Greed. Greed for money, for power, for fame has always been considered one of the worst sins. And in today’s world, this greed for money is best fuelled by the quick investing apps like Robinhood. Bitcoin have had a roller-coster ride in the last few years. Several ponzi schemes and other get rich faster apps are available, and never has it been so easy for someone without any knowledge of finance or markets to invest money. It seems like such kind of fast and quick return ‘Invest-ment’ is actually ‘In-Waste’ment.

And just like to counter gluttony, Warren Buffett comes here at our rescue to counter this vice – Greed through his wisdom. Having built his fortune on sound foundations laid down by principles and good economics, I agree that the best way to counter Greed is by following Warren Buffett’s wisdom.

Top Warren Buffett Quotes Inspiring Success - | Beyond Exclamation — Credits

If you liked the post, please like, share and follow the blog. Thank you!

The simplicity of Life…

Few years back, I used to visit my grandparents who used to stay in a village in India. My grandfather was the most educated person in the village ( he was a Civil Engineer who had graduated back in 1950’s) and hence was the most respected elderly person in the village. I feel extremely sad he is no more today, and may his soul rest in peace in heaven.

But those days were different in around 2011-12, even just 8-9 years back in India. I was persuing my Engineering studies and during summer time, I used to travel with my Mom to visit my grandparents. The roads in the village were unpaved, and blackouts were frequent ( Rather, having steady supply of electricity was rare). My grandpa had retired from Govt service, after having supervised as Deputy Chief Engineer over many construction projects, including famous dams like Koyna dam, Ujni dam and Bhatsa dam in India.

He was practicing agriculture in his ancestral village, and he had quite a few cows and buffaloes. He hired few men from the village to work on the farms. There was no advanced machinery for agriculture, like tractors. The region had dry climate, and hence, most of the agriculture was dependent on the monsoon rains. Even though the govt had dig a canal, but the water in the canal often was over-used/ mismanaged and hence dried up frequently.

There was no television in our village house. As electricity was infrequent, having a television did not really matter. My grandma only had a radio which she used to listen to songs and daily news broadcast. But there was no scarcity of good and healthy food. I remember, she used to milk the cows in early morning, and then she used that fresh and healthy milk for the daily use to make tea, coffee or other dairy products like butter and ghee. The vegetables were obtained from the farms directly, either planted by my grandpa or some neighbours. Even fruits like mangoes, grapes were never purchased from outside the village, all were grown in the village itself. The lunch and dinner often had roti, or bhakri (a bread made from jowar), curd milk, peanut chatni ( grind peanuts with masala’s), raw onions, rice, daal( lentils) and vegetables. All this made a perfect lifestyle with healthy food consumption.

After all the daily chores, we used to sit in the frontyard and talk a lot about all the family affairs, or I used to tell about my college experiences, or even what’s new in the world. There was no internet, no whatsapp, no facebook, no twitter back then. Atleast it hadn’t reached the villages. Leave aside the noise of social media, many of the houses even did not have a smart phone. Recently, I heard that it is difficult to find even a single house which does not have a smartphone or even a facebook account nowadays.

Life was simple back then, and I simply loved it. Whenever I visited the village, I used to feel so relaxed from all the hustle and bustle of the city life. There seemed to be no stress, no deadlines, and no tensions in life there. After all that was not needed. Life used to be easy going, and people lived a stable life. Their needs were less, and hence, the greed was also less. The food was healthy, air was pure, and society respected that way of living. I used to woke up using the nature’s alarm of hens clucking. The house was designed in such a way that the rays of morning sunlight used to enter our bedroom through ‘zaroka’ or roof top window. Where can we find this ambience these days, especially in cities?

Later in life, I did a lot of globetrotting, like moving to USA, seeing the luxurious New York, staying in some of the finest places on earth. But never ever I could find that calm and serene environment, that stable life, those kind hearted people in any other part of the world, that which is close to my heart..

I really miss that life, that ambience, those good and simple village people. Just in the span of a decade, it seems that life has changed like never before. Those days had all the simplicity of life, and only those who have experienced it in their life, will understand the value of those gone days….

One Year After Covid-19…

It’s been a year since Covid-19 got escalated into an pandemic in 2020. If we ask anyone about how has the year been for them, I am sure no one would answer it affirmatively. Maybe with the only exception of billionaires and Tech firms whose wealth almost doubled or even grew several times more during the pandemic. After all, these businessmen have mastered the art of making profit even during crisis, be it artificial like 2007 subprime crisis in America, or natural like Covid-19.

The last year saw the world turn upside down. Hardly can we find any industry or sector which remained unaffected. The lockdowns shut down the businesses, wiped out the small startups, ended the tourism and hospitality industry, started the laborious ‘Work from Home’ culture, even ‘Study Online’ over On-campus classes, and skyrocketed the demand for online tech services, be it amazon, zomato, swiggy, facebook and many more. Enough has been written and talked about the after effects of the pandemic in our life.

And this has continued till date. Even though the vaccines have arrived and however, they might be mismanaged or delayed for rollout, the hopes amongst the people have risen that soon, things will get better. Experts are saying that things will get back to normal. But the real question remains, Is it really going to be normal again?

Let me highlight my own experience of both the worlds when I was in the United States. I like to call the two worlds, as BC and AC. That stands for ‘Before Covid’, and ‘After Covid’. Funny it may sound, but we simply cannot deny the fact that our world has indeed changed to such a large extent. I had been working for an Energy Management company before moving back to India in Sep 2020. My work involved substantial amount of traveling to customer sites, where our customers included Energy companies all over the USA. I got to travel to quite a few places like Pennsylvania, St Louis, Colorado, Minneapolis, Florida, Illinois and Georgia. Traveling for business by flights, staying in some of the finest hotels, renting posh cars, sight seeing after work, eating food in famous restaurants ( often a different restaurant or some international cuisine), all this was a part of business trip. And we also worked hard in office during office hours. All such perks which come along with such business trips, were all paid at the company’s expense. For a 25 year old guy, who had never been to America before, this is the one of the best American experience he could get, isn’t it?

But then Covid-19 happened. And everything changed overnight. Our customer site visits or business trips all were cancelled, that means no staying in nice hotels, or parties. The business continues through work from home. The networking which we used to have with the customers and guiding their tech teams for efficient deployment solutions all became virtual using Teams, or similar video conferencing calls. The field experience through such business trips, the networking with the clients, the real world experience which helped me to become matured and even business savvy, all simply disappeared. Work just became work from home, and it just ended up as ‘All work and no play’

And then as Covid-19 became worse, things also took a downward spiral. I had to come back to India for visa issues, and also having some family responsibilities. And later I joined a new company in India. But I heard from my previous company colleagues that the Covid has impacted this industry so much, that mass firings have become a common thing. The revenues have plunged, and the customers are no longer interested in signing new contracts. The work from home has become the new work standard not only to stay away from the virus, but also it serves as a cheap work option. As the business continues, no longer is the need to travel to meet customers, or even get a field experience. The companies have not only accepted the ‘work from home’ culture but also promotes it for saving expenses. This is understandable from accounting point of view, but for a business which depends on in-person trainings, networking and gaining and sharing of knowledge from field visits, this will have long term implications on the business. And this pandemic has affected this industry, such that it has changed the way I worked prior to Covid. Learning new skills, and being prepared for an uncertain work is the new norm.

I am sure not only in energy business, but many other professions like banking, movie industry, performing arts, tourism, hospitality, aviation, sales, retail and many more have seen dramatic change in work pattern. The long established rules of delivering work has been changed. Because after all, not all work can be done from home or remotely. A pilot needs in-flight experience and cannot be replaced by simulation. A tourist guide cannot perform his work through some video conferencing, and neither can a theatre artist. This is one of the biggest change in human history.

Its been one year after Covid started, and for me, its been more than 6 months, since I have returned back to India. Having seen both the pre-Covid and post-Covid world, it seems a big change in work culture, networking, travels, and in personal life as well. There are pros and cons , and it would be too early to say that this change is bad. Maybe we have to adjust to the new change, and even change the statusquo. The work from home might stay for sometime, and the future might remain uncertain for coming days. Its as if like nature is testing our patience, and we have to continue with our strengths, and keep the hope alive.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) - UNODC ROMENA Updates

Book Review: Democracy on the Road

Buy Democracy on the Road: A 25 Year Journey through India Book Online at Low Prices in India | Democracy on the Road: A 25 Year Journey through India Reviews & Ratings - Amazon.in — Credits

Recently, I completed reading the book ‘Democracy on the Road’ written by Ruchir Sharma. The book is very well elaborated by the author with his journey across India as a political landscape. The author has written a wonderful memoir of his journey for the last two decades in India with the quest to understand how democracy functions in a country like India!

The book is divided into six parts, with total forty chapters. And each chapter dives into a particular state the author and his team have toured during that state election. I find this book interesting not only because this is about India and politics ( which is one of my favorite topics to talk and debate), but also the fact that the author and his famous ‘Limousine Liberals’ tried to predict the elections outcome ( as they were a group of famous journalists, authors and psephologists)in that particular state but many times the result was completely opposite of what they thought. And this is the beauty of Indian elections, where we never know what is the going to be the outcome, until the results are out.

After reading this book, my understanding of India and its elections have increased manifold, thanks to the author. I have always been intrigued by the question of how can democracy work in a country like India which is so diverse in almost all respects? But this book has convinced me ( and the author) that miraculously, democracy works in India, and even better than many other countries in the world. Even though it might look chaotic or even noisy democracy( as being the world’s largest), but at the end, people do have the power to change the government through their vote.

We see that India had been ruled by Congress govt for a long time, from 1947 when India became independent until 1989, with the brief period of 1975-79, when the Congress suffered opposition all over India and had to lose power in 1977. But it came back in 1980 and ruled till 1989. It was only after 1989, that the decline of Congress dominance started, and this continues till date. Before 2014, when the largest opposition party, BJP came to power under the charismatic leader, Narendra Modi, India had a variety of governments which were formed by rather different parties who had been against each other for many years.

So, the political history of India is divided into these three phases, from 1947 to 1989, 1989 to 2014 and 2014 till present for a general understanding.

Yet, Indian politics is one of the most complicated theory to understand. Because there is no standard concept or even agenda of the political parties. Unlike USA, where democrats are liberals vs Republicans are conservatives, we cannot define Indian politics in a rigid way. Because there are so many parties in every state, that the agenda of one party in a particular region of India might not work in another part of India. Even more interesting is the fact that the elections are often won on basis of which candidate is in the contest, or which caste/religion he belongs to over what the party’s election agenda is stated. People will vote for a candidate if he is famous, or even belongs to particular caste. So, the way the community is polarized to vote for their own caste/religion candidate makes the party’s agenda or even ideology irrelevant.

Also, the author points out one interesting point is that often in India, good economics doesnt go well along with good politics. So, even though the country or state is performing well economically, with high GDP growth rate, low inflation, still there is no guarantee that the government might get re-elected. This happened in 1996, when Narsimha Rao and Manmohan Singh had liberalized the economy in 1991, still they got defeated in the 1996 elections. And same happened in 2003, when Vajpayee govt assumed that ‘India was really Shining’ but lost election inspite of initiating some of the good development projects across the country.

But this is also true that if corruption and inflation rises too much, then the people do get angry and topple the govt in the next elections. Rajiv Gandhi suffered with corruption charges in 1989 and lost the election, and later Manmohan Singh govt suffered from people’s wrath over rising inflation and corruption charges ( even though the PM was clean as a whistle), which resulted in losing elections in 2014.

The book shows many examples of both sides, including miracles in Indian democracy such as Mayawati , a Dalit leader ( the caste which is considered one of the most exploited in India) rose up to become the CM of a state, Uttar Pradesh which had known for its upper caste dominance of Brahmins and Thakurs, and religious rivalry with the Muslims. Her becoming CM was hailed as a miracle of democracy, and also as a sign that democracy works in India!

But on the other side, Indian democracy has also seen leaders having criminal background, religious fanatics, communal extremists, and even electing a member of Parliament, who was known as ‘Bandit Queen’ for taking revenge against a group of bandits ( by killing the entire group) who had repeatedly raped her. The Indian democracy even saw buffoons like Lalu in Bihar, who made the sacred Temple of Parliament as a Stand up comedy show. People even elected film stars and cricketers just because they were famous and loved by the people. Hence, the book covers a lot of such interesting facts of India.

Finally, I recommend reading this book to know how Indian democracy functions. Various rallys, interviews and minute details of places in India have also been covered. Actually, I think this book might even serve as a political travel guide for journalists and writers. Every state is different, votes different, elects different party and different candidates, yet the country is one, democracy resonates as one. This is the beauty of India. And just as Gandhi said, to know India, we must visit the villages of India. Similarly, the author also opines that Indian politics cannot be understood by sitting in Mumbai Cafe’s or Delhi Lutyen’s gardens, we need to visit the villages and rural areas of India. That’s where the real democracy lies!

Indeed, Ruchir has written an excellent book on Indian politics, and it is simply worth reading!

Hazards of Dry grass burning

I often visit the local hills in Pune, which are known as Vetal hill, or Tekdi. They are the most visited by nature enthusiasts, joggers, trekkers, and those who like to spend some time breathing fresh air for few hours, which is so rare in the city nowadays.

But I was shocked today to see that the dry grass has been allowed to burn inside the reserved forest or green spaces. Usually, in India, the farmers, have a practice to burn the stubble to reduce time to replace the land with a new crop. And that creates air pollution and smog in the capital of India, for which it has been notoriously infamous.

But burning the dry grass in the grassland or forest is something very dangerous for the ecology as well for the air quality of the city. Many times dry grass catch fire due to summer heat, or even due to mistaken use of cigarettes by un-responsible people. But the forest authorities have also turned a blind eye towards this, and have let the fire burn the grass to such an extent that the entire grassland is burnt as seen today in the below pics.

Due to the grass being burnt, the surrounding trees are also affected, even to the extent of being burnt completely. I saw a volunteer trying hard to stop the inside of the trunk of a neem tree from catching fire. As the hill does not have water sources, I immediately gave my water bottle to atleast wet the trunk to stop the fire. But the water was less, and hence, we had to use dry sand/mud to extinguish the fire.

Not long before, the grassland used to look green or even dry, but beautiful. It hosts many birds nests, insects, squirrels and rabbits. But now, after burning the grass, they have deprived them of their homes.

Below are the pics showing the beautiful grass before.

Hence, its high time that we should take care of nature, and not let them burn like this. Forest fires are a matter of concern not only for the environment, but also for our well being. We have to be cautious for not using cigarette or any thing that can catch fire. Also, laws should be made to avoid purposefully burning of the dry grass, whether in the fields or grassland.

Why Arrange marriages work in India?

Forced/Arranged Marriage India — Credits

I have been thinking about this for sometime. Having stayed briefly in the US, and being an Indian, it is very easy to understand the differences in both the societies. Though both have many similarities and differences, but I think when it comes to arrange marriages, US/Western and Indian society are mutually exclusive!

Well, India can be named as the heartland or even arrange marriage belt of the world. This is because of the enormous influence arrange marriages have in the Indian society. This can be extended to an Indian subcontinent which includes Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and some countries like Afghanistan and Iran. Afterall, they were a part of extended India not long before.

So, I wonder what happened in the other parts of the world, like Europe, USA and Latin America where arranged marriages are even rarely heard if not accepted. Once upon a time all the royal families in Europe had arranged marriages. The England’s Royal family had ties with the Germany ( then Prussia’s royal families) and Russia’s royal family ( The Romanov’s). Infact, they so frequently arranged marriage with each other, that the England’s royal family is actually German by heritage ( they had to change their surname from Germanic Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor after WW1). I find this one of the comical irony that England’s royal family is not even English, and once upon a time there was England who ruled like the Sun never set over its empire!

So, western societies had a history of arrange marriages. But then today, we see it doesn’t exist anymore. Men and Women have to find a partner without any family arrangements, and hardly does both of their families interfere in their kids relationship business. While on the other side, in India, this is the only business which families on both sides have in their life! That’s another level of responsibility ( often self-imposed) Indian families exhibit. It’s as if the families live their entire life for the getting their kids married according to their choice of religion, caste and social status.

So, then why do Indian arrange marriages work? This has always been a question of surprise and curiosity for Indians and westerners as well. Because inspite of arrange marriages, the divorce rate in India is very low as compared to that of western societies which prefer in love marriages. Isn’t it ironic that a love marriage is a form of relationship whose foundation is built on love and trust. Couples have the freedom to like someone and accept them as their partner in life, without any barrier like family interference, caste, religion, color and even a partner’s gender. ( I have never heard same sex marriages being arranged, so that’s in the bucket of love marriage).

But still, the divorce and separation rate is higher in love marriages. Even in India, the divorce rate is increasing as compared to the last few decades, because Indians are becoming more westernized and thereby accepting love marriage. But on the other hand, in arrange marriage, the basis of relationship is not love between the groom and bride, but its more like an agreement between families, where the caste, religion, social status, business interests, political affiliations, food, language, skin color, education, number of family members, dowry money agreement, stars and astrology, and infinite number of such irrelevant things are taken into consideration. After all this hard work, that’s when a marriage becomes arranged in India. I wonder its easy to understand rocket science or quantum mechanics, then understanding how arranged marriages become arranged in India!

But then after all this pandemonium, the most stunning fact is that such marriages last forever! Atleast until my parents generation, divorce was a rare alien thing. And many couples who did not even know each other, fell in love after the marriage. While many realized after marriage that their spouse is not someone they could ever love. But still, divorce was not an option unless some physical assault or sexual harassment happens. Well, the worst part in India is that marital rape is still legal. I find this deeply troubling. Anyways, so the couples inspite of all the problems and ups and downs, still stick with each other. Unlike in western countries, where a couple get separated for reasons like failure of spouse in business, or even husband not able to sexually satiate his wife. I have never heard any of such things lead to divorce in India. Infact, the sad part is that being a patriarchal society, Indian husbands have always been dominant on their wife. This was partly due to lack of education and employment opportunities for women back then. In villages and poor families in cities, the physical abuse by husband on wife and children is a common thing. Even rich and well educated families, suffer from clashes between married couples for variety of reasons including extra-marital affair. Still getting a divorce is something taken as a last resort.

Well, this does explain why Indian marriages last inspite of all the obstacles, but not all families suffer this. Infact, most of the Indian families value this system of arranged marriages where a couple once married has a responsibiliity towards their children and elders to setup an example and maintain this tradition. Because when a divorce happens, the biggest sufferers are not husband or wife, but the children. Afterall, what’s the mistake of those poor kids who have to suffer by staying away from one of their parents? The kids always love their biological parents, and they cannot get the same love from step-mother or step-father. This is something which makes the Indian couple continue their marriage inspite of the fights and even if the husband and wife stop loving each other. Because they love their kids, and getting separated due to irreconcilable differences will affect their kids life. Wouldn’t the kids learn the same thing from their parents? By having a divorce, the tradition of arrange marriage will get broken, as the kids will prefer to have a love marriage later in their life after seeing their parents being divorced after an arranged marriage.

I feel that we are indebted to the sacrifice of our parents and grandparents who valued their kids education, and a bright future over their personal conflicts. Especially, women suffer a lot in the patriarchal marriage dominance, and still they continue the marriage just for the love of her children. Truth be told, I don’t find this self-sacrifice and unconditional love anywhere amongst men. Its always the mother who does the toughest job in the world!

Hence, this responsibility that kids should not suffer and not get deprived of love and care from both the father and mother, is something which binds the arranged marriage couples along with the wisdom to maintain the family tradition. But, Indian society is deeply religious, status conscious and obsessed with family. Its not easy for a divorcee to get re-married again. Even today, its difficult for someone to live unmarried, or single, let alone divorced. The lack of respect from the Indian society towards a divorcee, or even a bachelor ( unless he becomes a saint or Prime Minister) is deeply troubling. Maybe this also drives the couples to continue their marriage by avoiding all the societal scuffling.

Hence, this was a small attempt to understand why arranged marriages work in India. I think western societies also had this culture few centuries before, but got lost due to the over-importance on individual freedom over family, obsession for material achievements like career, money and fame. Ofcourse, this does not mean all love marriages end up being divorced. Infact, many stand the weather, and remain lifelong committed. The Presidents of USA, except Donald Trump are excellent examples of successful love marriages. But things are changing fast, and India is becoming a global hub, with the winds of all sorts of ideas flowing across the nation. It will be hard to maintain the arrange marriage tradition in India in coming future.

Pic of the week!

I find the above picture one of the most motivating. The beautiful flower is alone surrounded by dry grass. The sun is shining brightly and it’s taken during late afternoon today. The city is seen faraway as if no one cares for this alone flower.

Our life is like this flower. We are unique in this world. We are surrounded by all the problems and just like sun’s heat, life gives us shocks and surprises. There are ups and downs in life. Just like the city is faraway from this beautiful flower, similarly many times we feel that all the good luck, all the dreams and even our loved ones are faraway from us. Many times we feel to be alone in this world where everyone is busy in his or her own world, driven by money, fame and power.

But this flower teaches a very important lesson. Just like it has blossomed, and become a beautiful flower in spite of all the dull surroundings, and harsh weather, so do we need to keep moving ahead in life in spite of all the problems in life. We might be alone, but that shouldn’t stop us from achieving our dreams, or living a good life. Just like the city doesn’t even notice this flower, similarly our hard work, our aims might not get anyone’s attention, but that should not make us lose hope in life.

We need to keep working, and helping others, and keep glowing just like the flower! I am glad to took this picture, and learnt some life lessons from a small flower.

Start-up vs Business

Understanding what makes a startup unique than business.

Startup, Start Up, Business, Start, Start-Up — Credits

Recently, read an article on the difference between a ‘Startup’ and a ‘Business’. Hence, thought to share some of my views about this.

We see that many people are intrigued with the concept of ‘Startup’. It has almost become a buzz word, or a so called trend these days. Legends of the startup world include famous names like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and many more in the world of Tech and Silicon valley. Many people get inspired by such famous success stories, and decide to start a startup and thus, venture out into the world of entrepreneurship ( which involves venturing out to the Venture capitalists (VC firms) to ask for funding.)

But not all succeed in this brutal competition and survival race in the startup world. Its said that almost 90% startups fail in their first few years, and many even never make a profit. Which in other words, leads to loss of money invested by the investors or VC’s. And the founders lose the credibility for any future startup funding, and many worse things might follow up. So, its important to know what exactly is a startup and how does it differentiate from a business?

Startup can be defined in simple words, as a project undertaken with an innovative idea to scale a business model ( which might be new or existing) driven by technology ( which mostly includes new age tools like internet, AI etc) and thereby create a disruption in the market and gain considerable market share. So, the overall aim of the startup is not only to make a profit, but also disrupt the existing models of business or market. It might take years to develop the technology, and even penetrate into the market. Which means it is possible that the startup wont make any money for initial few years, will have to render its services for free to the customers ( like Facebook and WhatsApp does) and will be dependent on the investor funding fro VC’s.

But a business on the other side, is a project undertaken with an aim to make profit immediately by giving services or selling the product manufactured, using industry defined technologies, and thus paving the way to capture the market share. A business has a model, which is often designed such that the business will start making money as soon as possible. It does not disrupt the market, but often earns enormous profits in a well stabilized market. Also, a business can be small or big, and unlike startup, which always aims to bring in innovation, a business might not promote much innovation and can rely on the well established processes and methods. So, in short, a business might not disrupt or not even change the market which startup often aims to achieve.

Lets see this with a simple analogy. It is often said, that when life gives you lemons, better make a lemonade!

Well, does making a lemonade and selling to the customers can be considered a startup?

The answer is No. It comes under business, because its a standard way to provide service to the customer, which here is making lemonades. Now, if we make really good lemonade, then people will appreciate it and our revenues will skyrocket with the fame. So, business will grow, and we might even open our business in different locations in the city and across the country. Still, its a business. Afterall, no one calls a McDonald, or Starbucks or even Papa Johns a startup! Even though it does dominate the market share, but it doesn’t disrupt the market as there are many lemonade makers in the city( just like many pizza or burger makers) and they can also follow the same path.

But if someone design an app or any service to find the lemonade businesses in the city/country, connect them to the customers, and even make it like a home delivery ( like Zomato, Swiggy, Grubhub etc does) then its a startup. Why? Because now they can easily disrupt the whole market by rapidly scaling, and connecting with the local lemonade businesses, and using technology, its faster, better, easier and even more feasible to expand and scale. That’s why we see so many startups have risen in almost everyday businesses, like food industry, tourism( Make my trip), entertainment( Netflix), cab services (Ola, Uber), education (Byju, Unacademy), Online courses (Coursera, Udemy), accomodation (Airbnb, Oyo) and many more.

These Stories About How Famous Startups Started Prove That Nothing Is Impossible - Marketing Mind — Credits

But just like any one can make a lemonade and start his/her own business, similarly anyone can make an app or website and enter this space. So, the competition is fierce in the startup world. Many times, those startups which have a lead, or a better funding VC, and even those who expand rapidly have a chance to survive in this brutal race. In the initial years, many players emerge and compete with each other, But then eventually, many die out and finally, only one or two succeeds to stay alive. We see this happening in social media world, where Facebook had competitors like Orkut, Google had Yahoo, Amazon had Ebay. But today, they are the only remaining monopolies.

Infact, the startup world is so uncertain and risky that it is difficult to know which company will survive and expand, or which might even die out. Many experts never thought that a social media friends chat wall like Facebook will become so big someday. While Tesla and SpaceX also have surprised everyone considering the huge cost and meagre success rate it had in its early years. But at the same time, did anyone predict that an extremely good looking entrepreneur like Elizabeth Holmes would start a medical startup Theranos on a fake idea and it would result in a complete disaster for the VC’s and even the entire health industry. Even WeWork had once given a hope of becoming the next billion dollar company, but it also eventually fell apart. So, this world is full of uncharted territory!

Below pic shows the failed startups like Theranos and WeWork

Is WeWork the next Theranos? - Company News - 1024 BBS — Credits

While below are some of the most successful startups in the world

Citron's Left covered Facebook short, still bearish on Netflix | Reuters — Credits

Why Did So Many Successful Startups Come Out of PayPal? | Web Resources | WebAppers — Credits

Finally, its always a good thing to start a startup because it promotes innovation. It uses tech and that whats makes it much easy and efficient. We all have been using Amazon, Uber, Zomato, Ola, Netflix. All these startups had an idea, which later became the billion dollar idea. They helped people by providing better service, better technology. Our life has changed by this startups enormously, where today, it is possible for a person to connect with his old school friend after a long time using Facebook, calling him/her using Messenger or WhatsApp without any distance barrier, meeting him/her in a new city by booking an Uber or Ola and using Google Maps/Navigation to reach the location, ordering some gifts from Amazon on the way, enjoying food delivered by Swiggy or Zomato at the doorsteps, then having a good time watching movies on Netflix and finally posting the nice selfies and GetTogether pics on the same Facebook or Instagram Wall. The world is Round, indeed!

The missing part in life..

Sunset Boat Tour Naples - Sweet Naples Tours — Credits

Well, I very frequently answer questions on Quora. And even though Q&A platform hosts a plethora of topics, I find many questions coming from teenagers or young college going folks about life. They seem to ask very depressing questions about having lost interest in life? Or have failed in life at the age of 19? ( which stunned me for a while..) or having failed in exams repeatedly and so lost interest in life? And even few of them write about having no girlfriend, and so depressed in life and even going to the extent of being prepared to commit suicide?

I find that many of the questions and worries arise at that time are due to over-expectations from life. At that age, we feel the world is perfect, because we are taught so at school. We think we should never fail, because we have always been good at school. We think if we fail, that’s the end of life, because our friends will move on to the next class or some good college, and we have lost the race. So, we have lost the chance in life to rise.

When I read these questions, I feel very sad at the thinking of these teenagers or young folks. Ofcourse, I am not very old either, but atleast I have crossed the stormy waters of teenage and even to certain extent the good old college days. All these questions come from over-expectation from life. Because the canvas of our understanding of life is very narrow at that time. And due to which, it is very easy to get entangled in the negative thoughts and ideas. So, whenever I see such questions, I feel it as an obligation to write answers to their questions to try to convince them with the reality of the world, and so they can start thinking positively about life. Here are some of the questions which asked.

https://www.quora.com/I-failed-in-life-I-used-to-be-a-topper-but-left-with-nothing-I-ruined-my-life-I-am-19-now-I-have-no-hope-in-life-and-waiting-for-the-end-Can-you-motivate-me-with-some-examples/answer/Abhishek-Karadkar-5

https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-way-in-life-to-lose-gracefuly-Im-30-I-havent-had-a-gf-in-10-years-Im-a-college-drop-out-Im-autistic-I-live-with-my-mom-I-work-for-minumum-wage-I-want-to-die-every-day-Why-am-I-still-alive/answer/Abhishek-Karadkar-5

The above is a classic case of over-expectation from life. I find the problem is until school, we are being raised up in an almost ideal world, enclosed within the school premises and safe home environment. We are being guided by school teachers and even college mentors about the career decisions we need to take in life, or what subjects should we choose etc. But no one teaches the most important subject which is life itself! We hardly fail until we get into college, and even in university, we always strive to be A-grade student throughout. We have stable relationships until we reach college, where our parents support us, financially and emotionally, our school or college buddies are with us, and everyone is nice with us. But things change when we leave the secure home or college gates, and venture out into the world of job or business. We get hit with new deadlines, with work pressure, and no one seems to be trust worthy. Suddenly, we see we are failing at our work or even our relationships start to crumble, and then due to being raised in a near perfect world of a nice and goody environment, we suddenly lose interest in life. One breakup, or one failure shatters us completely. And slowly and steadily, people start losing interest in life, many blame of being tricked until school that the world is a good place, and they blame everyone in this world, except themselves. And then people ask the above questions when things totally go wrong or in a bad direction..

So, I wish we were taught in school or college itself that this world is not a perfect place. It is not fair either. When we are taught about physical education and science of how the world works, we are just taught the principles of how it works ideally! Rather, we need to be made aware of how imperfect this is and it is our moral obligation to make it perfect. We are lauded for our grades, and achievements, and special care is taken that no one fails, just to be politically correct. Rather, we should be allowed to fail and experience what failure is. Because it is better to fail at an early age, than to fail later in life. We are being conditioned to concentrate more on exams and preparation for cracking the tough exams, but the real puzzle is life itself, and no one even dares to crack this puzzle. People expect that we will learn as we grow up and get the experiences as time passes. But we are not taught that a set of bad experiences can shake our self belief and crumble us down. Because we are set to sail the boat in the stormy life, all alone. Its almost like sailing the boat without even knowing how to steer the boat in the right direction. Then when the storm of emotions due to some bad experience like failure in exams or getting a job, or even losing a loved one like parents or girlfriend hits us, how can we expect to sail this boat safely?

Hence, I feel this part is what is missing in life. That’s why people ask such depressing questions on such platforms, and many even take the worst steps which inevitably decides the fate of their life. I feel this over ideal, over safe, over secure, over caring life in school or college is something a obstacle to know the reality of life. Even though many of us, like me, learn it the hard way sooner or later. But isn’t it nice to know it before? Like for example exams like IIT entrance, SAT, CAT or GMAT for MBA entrance, or even UPSC for Indian Civil service are just entrance to a career stream. But when we are in school or college, we are taught that if we crack these exams, then life is SET. Then Life is the best with no money issues or job security problem. Its like a safety net for life. I was also eluded into this WEB of LIES… To my 28 year old self, I want to ask now that was it really worth preparing so hard for those exams? Has life been so good for me? Has it provided me a safety net?

My answer is a big NO! Infact, I faced some of the toughest problems in my life even after I had secured admission in one of the finest universities in the USA, or even after I landed a well paying job. The exam preparation didn’t help me to solve my life problems. It just handed over me to the gates of a career which I didn’t know whether it was right for me or not. It did not make me happy. Even after passing the exams, or getting a degree, I wasn’t happy. Why? Because they were never my life goals or something I deeply wanted in life. They were the tasks which were assigned to me due to the influence of peers in school or college. Everyone was persuing them, and so we do not want to fall behind. So,we also enter the rat race, and slog hard to pass them. And then we get blacked out! So,the problem is even if we pass or fail them, life doesn’t change much. Still people give so much over importance to them, that they get depressed when they fail in such exams.

So, this is the missing lesson of life. I learnt it through a hard way that above all such school or entrance exams, it is the life’s exam that matters the most. And the bad part is there is no syllabus, no particular exam dates, no graders and no evaluation of it. We have to give this exam everyday, any time, with surprises and shocks, and we ourself have to evaluate whether we passed or failed….

So,till then, lets keep filling these missing part of wisdom in our life, which act as a wheel to steer our boat in the right direction…

The cost of Fair skin!

Beauty is one of the remarkable gifts endowed to humans by nature. Women are gifted with beautiful looks, while men are bestowed with handsome features. Even though the definition of beauty might change from people to people, or even region to region like in western countries, women might love to be like Marilyn Monroe or Julia Roberts, while in India, women would like to have looks like Aishwarya Rai or Katrina Kaif. Same goes for men. It would be difficult to find any man who would not like Brad Pitt or even Arnold Schwarzenegger. Because after all, they are considered epitomes of feminine and masculine beauty, isn’t it?

Yet there is something which plays a very very big role in defining the standards of beauty. And that is color. As we all are aware that humans come in all varieties of color. Be it white, brown or black, there are endless similarities and differences amongst us. Yet, for some unknown reason, our society has somehow elevated the fair white skin color as being the highest form of beauty. I do not know how this happened, but the world considered as being fair skinned is the most acceptable form of beauty standard. And due to which, there came generations after generations in movies industry, advertising, fashion, modeling, and even in marriages, where being fair became the most preferred parameter for achieving success and fame. Women and men having blonde hair, blue eyes and fair skin became the poster symbol of pure beauty to such an extent that even Nazis tried to define their race based on these attributes. All this led to the rise of racism and as we had seen few months before, how the racism took an ugly route in one of the most advanced countries in the world. Books have been written, movies have been made and endless debates and discussions have been done on this topic, and yet our society continues with this myopic attitude of judging people and giving undue advantage by the color of the skin. I don’t want to write about racism and its atrocious effects on the society, as the world has seen enough of it for the last several centuries. But I want to write about this fascination for fair skin in India and even other parts of the world as I have observed so far.

India is land of diversity. Yet with all the diversity, there are many similarities as well which makes Indians recognizable easily when they travel in other parts of the world, or as observed by foreigners who visit India. Some of those include our culture, strong accent, quintessential sari or even kurta-pyjama/salwar-kameez worn by most Indians. But along with that, we are easily recognized by our skin color, which is brown skinned. Very very few Indians are fair skinned, and even they don’t match the light skin tone of Europeans. But having a fair skin has always been a top priority for Indians. Women cherish the dream of having light skin and hence rely heavily on makeup and beauty products. Infact, so much is this desire of fair skin inoculated in the minds of Indians, that the skin lightening cosmetic product ‘Fair and Lovely‘ is one of the most popular beauty product in India with a market cap of 80% of the lightening cream market in India. The company even started marketing ‘Fair and Handsome’ for males and it has also been a success. This shows how much craving we Indians have to possess a fair skin tone. (However, recently the company changed its name ‘Glow and Lovely’ in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter #BLM protests. I appreciate this company’s stand which have won many accolades).

But still, the majority Indians continue to remain bias towards fair skin. I am sure this happens in other parts of the world as well. But from an Indian perspective, I find this very depressing. Because in a relatively conservative society in India, the marriages are arranged by family. And the worst form of prejudice against women is done in this process. The expectation of grooms for a bride is to be fair, and slim and beautiful. While on the other side, groom are often dark skinned, but the bride’s family does not mind it. There are so many cases when the girl who is highly educated, and earning well, is simply rejected because of her dark complexion. All men, fair and dark skinned, educated and illiterates, earning and not earning, all want a fair skinned girl as their wife or girlfriend. This is one of the biggest problem in India. So no wonder, the products like ‘Fair and Lovely’ will always remain in demand as long as this unjust expectation remains in Indian society.

Even Bollywood is no exception to this. If we just ponder upon some of the famous songs in Bollywood, like

‘These black black eyes, these fair fair cheeks….’

Don’t be arrogant over your fair skin, it will go away in two days..’ ( assuming she had put on a skin lightening product)

Black Black goggles on fair skinned face.

and even this latest remake of a famous old song,

Image result for goriya churana mera jiya — Oh fair skinned beauty, take away my heart

And many other songs and movies often promote heroine with fair skin. And nowadays, Bollywood has even started importing dancers from western countries ( Eastern Europe and other parts of western world having blonde hair and light skin) who are often seen in songs dancing behind the comparatively brown skinned Indian hero and heroine as seen below.

Image result for foreign dancers in bollywood — Ref

This is even being copied in events like Cricket matches (Indian Premier League or just IPL) which used to be known as a Gentlemen’s Game not long ago. Now, just to satiate this fair-ish or rather feverish desire of Indians, IPL started bringing cheer leaders ( again fair skinned to attract attention and ofcourse money) from Indian audience.

Image result for foreign dancers in ipl — Source

And even worse is that this mentality of Indians doesnt stop in India, but continues to be carried abroad as well. When I was in the USA, I remember my friends back in India gossiping about me having a white girlfriend. Even Indians who go to the USA or Europe, will try to have a white girlfriend only. I didn’t find many Indians who were willing to accept any African-American or Latino American, even though however successful or nice they might be. Even worst experience is in Strip clubs, where my friends who used to frequently visit, always had a white stripper. I find this all to be utterly preposterous!

Hence, I find this over obsession with fair skin as extremely annoying. Because I wonder what does difference does skin color make? I mean really, if we think it from a practical perspective, it really doesn’t matter. The skin color doesn’t make any life better. It might give those people some unfair advantage in jobs or professions like modeling or fashion, but life remains same irrespective of skin color. We all have to eat, and sleep, and do all the chores. Skin color does not help there. A dark or brown skinned girl can be an expert in any profession just like a fair skinned girl. Our confidence, our nature , our habits, our likes, our dislikes, our attitude, our achievements are never dependent on the skin color.

Lets imagine if a brown skinned Indian guy likes a good natured, well educated, well earning but a decent looking dark skinned Indian girl ( she likes him as well), but he rejects her and rather marries a not so educated, not well earning and very arrogant but fair skinned good looking girl, due to buckling under family pressure as per arrange marriage norms. But then after few days, he realizes that his wife is very arrogant, very selfish and also very narcissist. And they had frequent fights and soon they had to file for a divorce. So, what was gained and lost in this process. Did anyone win? No right. Did anyone lose? Yes, all of them. Wouldn’t it be better if he had chosen his love, by ignoring the stupid skin color part, and rather would have focused on her good nature and true love for him, they both would have made a good and happy family, isn’t it?

I find the above story being repeated countless time in many families in India. When will we Indians realize this basic concept of acceptance to all forms of color. Actually, this is ironic because we, Indians had been ruled by fair skinned British colonizers for a long time. Our forefathers have suffered immensely the atrocities committed by British rulers. How can we forget the hatred from the colonizers with respect to our skin and even comparing us to animals. Has our memory been so volatile that we have forgotten all this? We threw out the British from our land but we are still having the narrow racist approach in our minds and actions just like the British rulers did back then.

So, we really need to erase this skin color biase from our mind. Because in today’s world, the paths to success are not dependent on color or race. It just depends on our attitude and hard work. Else, it wouldn’t have been impossible for Barack Obama to be the President, or Kamala Harris to be the vice president. I don’t have any examples here in India and this is the sad part of the story. We haven’t yet accepted this, and as long as we keep praising racist Bollywood songs which eulogizes the fair skin, as long as a fair skinned woman is chosen as bride, things are not going to improve. But the day when we become unbiased to skin color, and accept this diversity, from that day women won’t need to spend loads of money on beauty products to make their skin lighter. Women won’t need to use filter on Instagram or Facebook to post pictures with lighter skin. Men will be respecting and accepting women as they are, and there won’t be sexual harrassment as rampant in India today. I don’t have any much hopes from my generation ( having closely seen and being a part of it), but I hope the coming generations become more acceptable and kind. But as of now, this is the cost of obsession for fair skin, we have to pay.

The Truman Show!

A short review on how ‘Trumanized’ the world has become

I recently watched ‘The Truman Show’ movie after a long time. Even though it has been more than 2 decades since this movie was released, but after seeing this movie, I can relate the world resembles much like ‘The Truman Show’ more than ever!

This movie was way ahead of its times! I am simply enamoured by the depth this movie has. This movie depicts the life of reality show which happens to portray reality in an abstract manner. Because, unlike the usual daily soaps or reality shows, this movie actually shows the real world itself. Because, I find not much difference between the world we live in today, and that of the world presented to Truman in his name show! Today, we are surrounded by hundreds of gadgets and devices on which our life is dependent on. Everything is tracked, and surveillance has become the oxygen of this world. Just like the intricate network of 5000 cameras captured every minute details of Truman, so does all the ‘Internet of Things’ does for us. The information we Google, the friends we make on Facebook, the messages we send on WhatsApp, the pictures we like on Instagram, the videos we watch on YouTube, the mail we send on Gmail, the apps we downloaded from AppStore, the online shopping we make on Amazon, the places we travel to on Google Maps, the restaurants we visit on Yelp, the jobs we apply for on LinkedIn, the hotels we stay in, the people we date on Dating Apps, the car we drive, the books we read, or the credit card we use for purchases…OMG, doesn’t it sound like ‘The Truman Show’?

And the worst part is that we have become used to all this. We have indirectly accepted all this by our own consent. As Christof rightly said in this movie,

We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented. It’s as simple as that.
Christof, the creator of ‘The Truman Show’

Today, we accept the world presented by news media, entertainment movies, TV shows, podcasts, talk shows, internet and social media as being the real one. It is like we have become a part of crowd psychology. The way of eating, shopping, dating, travelling all being inadvertently influenced and standardised. Monopoly is the real rule book these days. If all the information networks decided to make a villain out of some person, then there is no way the world can oppose it. That person is bound to get victimised. And ironically, all the media pride themselves on free speech, freedom and liberal values. In reality, it is their imposition of information and opinions on the world which thwarts the freedom of all the people. But unfortunately, we all have become like ‘Truman Burbank’. We simply don’t even know that we are stuck up in a world of ‘sea-haven island’ owned by tech billionaires, media moguls, oil barons and business conglomerates which have turned this world into a studio to make us accept the reality as they want us to see.

Image result for truman show studio from space — Image Credits

And this show did one marvelous thing. It predicted the future of the world. After its release in 1998 ( the same year when Google started), most of the today’s giant social media( FB, Insta, Twitter, YT, WhatsApp) and government surveillance program( PRISM), all happened in the last 22 years. Even the Iraq invasion was imposed by the Bush administration under the false pretext of Iraq having WMD. And you know, the world accepted it. Because we all were ‘Trumanized’. Had it not been the audacious whistleblowers like Ed Snowden, Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, we would not even have realized about such clandestine programs. Had it not been Chris Wylie, then Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal would never have become known. All this has been beautifully depicted in the TV show “The Social Dilemma” in which Tristan Harris sheds light on the dark reality behind the glittering social media world. All these people refused to accept the world as it was presented to them. After all this is the basis of scientific mindset isn’t it? We owe our progress of the world to the curiosity, scientific mindset and the brave men and women who refused to be a part of this show, and who rather challenged the existing stereotype.

So, finally, as said in the movie by Christof, ‘If he was absolutely determined to discover the truth, there’s no way we could prevent him“. Similarly, we have the freedom to choose our own opinions, our ideas and our thoughts. We have the right to accept and reject what is bombarded at us by the world. There is no need for everything to be standardized or even labeled under some ideology. This world is diverse, and beautiful. Even we humans come in all forms of color, race, languages, tradition, culture and behavior. We don’t need to embrace what the media tells us always. We don’t need to eat a particular burger or a soft drink just because the marketing team desperately tries to convince us. We don’t need to buy a tech gadget just because the media tells its a cool thing! We don’t need to embrace the life of Page 3 models and actors, assuming it be charming. We can and must maintain the freedom to live as per our conscience. Ofcourse, it isn’t that easy to sail upstream. But as said, if we are absolutely determined to not become like Truman, then no technology, no media propaganda, or surveillance can stop us from living a free life. We can live a life which does not allow our opinions to be influenced by what trends in social media. Just like Truman stepped out of his studio exit, so can we exit all the hatred, wrong bias, narrow opinions from our mind.

A Fine Dining Experience!

How a part time on-campus job experience taught me some finest lessons about work and life.

In 2015, I had arrived in NC State University, USA to gain a M.S in Electrical Engineering. But just like everyone knows how high the tuition and living expenses are in the USA, I decided to find some kind of an on-campus job to atleast pay my monthly bills like food, utilities and house rent. So, my job hunting begun and I actually ended up finding quite a few jobs, which included working with the University newspaper & media ( known as ‘Technician”), University Disability services and University Dining. As I was very keen to take up a job, so I decided to work at the media and disability services office. Soon, I realized that Disability services job was just once or twice a week, and paid very less. And the ‘Technician’ job was of a correspondent for which I had to write 10 opinion articles ( one per week), after which I will be accepted as a staff writer with pay. So, I was not going to earn much in these two jobs, as both hardly covered my monthly expenses. But I still continued with the Disability services, as it was a noble work, and I also liked helping students. And the Media job was something I always wanted, after having discovered a new passion which is writing! If I hadn’t taken up that job, it is quite likely that this blog might not have existed!

But then still I had to pay my bills, and so I took the University Dining job at Fountain Dining Hall. This is the work which paid just enough ( not too much) to cover my monthly expenses. And I was happy because not only I didn’t need to ask my parents for money, but also had gained a confidence in earning, and control over my financial expenses. And the job was pretty simple. All I had to do was stand behind the buffet counter, and help the students in food service. Well, simple isn’t it? But actually, it had much more to it. I not only had to just stand near the buffet counter, but had to stand for almost 3-4 hours per shift. And during that, I had to keep replacing the hot serving food containers, once they were empty. I had to make sure the food didn’t get wasted, by looking if any food wastage happened in any of the serving locations. Then, after the buffet was over, I had to be a part of the team to clean the area near the containers, including the floors and glasses which was followed by moping the floor and cleaning the window pane overlooking the food counter. Now, does it sound simple? I guess not….

But yes, this was pretty much the job. For an engineering student studying in a grad school, this kind of work certainly doesn’t ring any bell? Many of my class colleagues even loathed such kind of work. Their reasoning was why should a grad student need to do physical work, just for the sake of making some more money to pay the bills? Shouldn’t this time be invested in either studying or even learning some skills which might actually be useful in the job after grad school? Yes, this is true. This kind of work certainly does not resonate in the technical field in which I was studying.But then why did I give it a ‘GO’ for doing such a job, which demanded hard work, long hours and even a certain degree of banal routine?

Well, the answer is partly money even though I could have easily asked my parents to send me money, and they would happily obliged to it. But I wanted to earn myself, and stand up on my own legs. I was a 23 year old guy, and the very thought that I will have to ask money for paying my basic food expenses, and rent was unbearable. Also, my tuition was anyways being paid with the loan and parents funding. To add my living expenses to it sounded too much for me. So, I decided to take this job. But also the fact, I wanted to experience something different which I had never experienced before. Because in India, there is no culture of students working part time while studying ( its mostly confined to either IT or BPO). I have never seen an engineering student working in McDonald’s, or even Cafe Coffee Day ( which is India’s Starbucks) while studying. And before coming to USA, I had always been enthused with the American culture which promotes earning while studying, and gives ample opportunities to work part-time and attend classes. Unfortunately, India still does not have that culture ( mainly due to lack of such opportunities for students, surplus of mainstream workforce available to do such kind of work, and family/parents/peers disapproval)

But as I started doing this job, I started seeing a whole new world of catering and food service industry. This is because, usually I had never cared about how much efforts it takes to prepare the food, and to even serve them. But only when I started doing this job, I got to know about the real hard work involved as a team to deliver a fine dining experience. The minute details in food preparation including high standards of cleanliness were to be taken care of. Even standing behind the food counter for long hours, with a smile on my face and responding to students/visitors questions with courtesy wasn’t an easy thing to do. Even more needed was the strong control over desire of eating the good and delicious food which was being kept in front of us at the buffet counter. Ofcourse, we were given the opportunity to eat one meal per every shift, during the break for 15 mins. But still, I remember many of my colleagues discussed how the chicken smelled good, or even the pizza would be tasty to grab on! Maybe, I can write another post on the different foods served and how we wondered what might be prepared the next day!

What did I learn from this job? I would say a lot of things which might not be experienced at a regular desk or IT job. Surely, the first thing is the lots of hard work being put into this job. In this job, I found that helping people is a good thing. When freshman’s used to enter the dining hall, they used to ask so many questions, whether the food had peanuts ( fearing they might be allergic to peanuts), or even what was the name of a particular non-american cuisine, which were offered sometimes, including Indian curry. It is here where I met people from all backgrounds, be it rich or poor, black or white, urban or rural for the first time. I met some of the full time employees, who had been migrated from other countries as refugees such as Egypt, Latin American countries, Vietnam and even Pakistan. I met this old Pakistani couple who worked with the dishes, and who had fled Pakistan and arrived in USA. They talked to me in Hindi, and I was glad to meet someone who spoke Hindi. One of the migrants from Egypt told me that he was a big fan of Amitabh Bachchan, fondly called as ‘Big B’ in Bollywood. I also met an old lady who worked as a cook, and was known for her jokes and hearty laughs. Her witty jokes and laughs used to make all of us laugh and get back to work with cheerful moods. I remember her asking me if I had a girlfriend, for which I had no answer, as I was not dating anyone at that time. I even met many students from other departments in the university, who all worked along with me during morning or evening shifts. Many of them worked just like me to pay their bills, while few of them were actually quite rich, but still preferred to work, to get some work experience. One of the girl ( who was stunningly beautiful) came from a well to do family, yet preferred working in the dining as she was pursuing bachelor’s in food science. Working alongside with a beautiful girl in front of some of the best cuisines, I guess what else do you need in life? Life is beautiful, isn’t it? ….Just kidding…

In this job, I had two managers, one of them was an old white Irishman from upstate New York. He was one of the most calm and compassionate man I met there. He hired me directly without even asking much questions, and never ever criticized me even if I had made some mistakes in the first few weeks. Infact, I had to leave this job after few months, when my coursework became too much too handle. But then after the semester, I went back and asked him if there was any chance he could take me back on the job. And to my surprise, he accepted me immediately. After my graduation, I met him and told that I was leaving the university town. He wished me good luck, and even went ahead to provide me any referral if needed. I never met such a kind-hearted man as my supervisor before. May God bless him good health! The other supervisor was an African-American lady, who also liked me just like the old man. She couldn’t spell my name, and so she used to call me ‘Aby’. After coming to USA, I had abbreviated my name from ‘Abhishek’ to ‘Abhi’. But in this job, it got even further shortened to just ‘Aby’!. Anyways, I liked working with her too, though she was very particular about cleanliness and coming on time to work. But I don’t remember her being ever angry at me during my stint at the job.

Working with both of them taught me a very important lesson, that in this world, all the differences drop if we are kind with each other, and also good at work. I never felt even for a moment any experience of racism, or even hatred being an outsider to the country. They welcomed me, and treated me just like them, but also expected me to do my job well. After all this is what is America is known for. It really doesn’t matter from where you come from, as long as you can work, follow the rules and become a part of it. This diversity in working with different people helped me immensely in my later jobs and career.

Finally, the most important lesson I learnt is that of ‘Dignity of Labor’. That work is work, and no work is small or big. I found that people working in the dining were proud of their work. They never felt anything low about it. Rather, they considered it as an opportunity to provide the best service to the students and visitors coming to the University. I understood the importance of having pride in whatever we do. If we do not take pride in our job or work, how can we expect others to respect us, or even praise us, right? Even though it might not make us earn loads of money, or might not make a great impact on the world ( in Steve Jobs words ‘to make a dent in the universe’ or ‘to change the world’), but surely all work, be it small or big, does contribute to the betterment of the society.

Take pride in our work! And keep learning and doing better at work!

Remembering Gandhi!

Today, Jan 30th was the day when the father of India, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a communal fanatic. Since, then India remembers our beloved Gandhi, who was fondly called as ‘Mahatma’ or great soul. A lot has been written and filmed with several movies and documentaries on Gandhi. But it is sad to see that India and even the world has failed to learn from his life. And even worse, the current generation has even forgotten much about him, except that fact that his picture is on the Indian currency note ‘Rupee’. I have always been fascinated by the life and teachings of Gandhi, and hence, I would like to pen down few words on this day of remembrance.

The life and teachings of Gandhi have always been easy and complicated, both at the same time. This is because they seem to be simple from theory, but only when put to action, can we realize how intricate they are to follow. Many of his teachings have even been colluded by political affiliations by us, and this really pains the heart of those who are avid followers of Gandhi. I am not a Gandhian ( atleast not as of now) as I am still learning about him, and haven’t inculcated his teachings in my life entirely yet. But the important aspect is that as more the years are passing by, more I am realizing how much important they are in this world.

For example, Gandhi once said ,

An eye for an eye ends up making the whole world blind
Mahatma Gandhi

when we look at how the world has been tormented by violence, be it domestic or at the international level with the constant threat of another world war, arms race, possibility of nuclear weapons falling in the hands of dictators or terrorists, and even biological warfare, I cannot emphasize the relevance of Gandhi’s message in these turbulent times. Unfortunately, many people misinterpret this quote as to stay devoid of weapons or just be nice and weak. They question and criticize Gandhi for being naive when it comes to how the world works in reality. Even India after Gandhi’s death did not stop its piling of weapons, and even becoming a nuclear power, however for peaceful purposes. So, Why is Gandhi’s quote relevant then?

This is because Gandhi was not only a pious but also a very pragmatic man. He was once asked by a journalist regarding the relevance of his teaching – “non-violence ” to fight against someone like Hitler. He had answered that even though it initially seems impractical to fight using non-violence as our weapon, against a dictator who is in a pursuit of world domination with sheer force. But if we look it as a big picture, we will realize that it is possible to fight against even the worst dictator with our weapons of non-violence and peace. Because even though the allies defeated Nazis with much bigger force and violence, but what happened at the end. Both sides lost several men and entire countries were destroyed. Germany, Japan, Italy, Soviet Union, England and France were almost destroyed with few exceptions of cities, universities and religious places. Only USA survived this devastation because of being separated by distance, which could not be targeted by then weapon technology. But today, if another world war happens, USA or any other country, however distant would not be that fortunate.

Violence has never helped to bring peace. Just like hate breeds hate, so does violence. If violence and weapon power would have been the game changer, then USA would not have suffered defeat in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Similarly, Soviet Union also could neither control Afghanistan nor East Germany, however strong the Berlin Wall was built. Even Israelis have not been able to crush Palestinians and Arab resentment inspite of all the suppression done by them in the last 6 decades. Force and repression always gets defeated by non-violence and peace at the end. I can give several examples to prove this. Take India in this scenario. India had been a colony of British for almost 2 centuries. India tried to resist British control over India by all means possible, including wars, killing of British officers, bombing public places and many more. But the British with only a few thousand officers and who were advanced in weapons technology and even more united than Indians were at that time, always over-powered and controlled 400 million Indians!

But Gandhi was the visionary who realized the importance of non-violence during those times, when wars were played like games, and games were played like wars. He united the Indians and preached them to fight against British with non-violence.When all the freedom fighters started using non-violent means like protests, satyagraha, ban of using foreign goods, promoting of swadeshi or local goods etc, the British were surprised. They tried to suppress the protests by sheer force, but they were stunned to see innocent, harmless Indians who were ready to die for the cause of freedom. Many died, but their death hurt the pride of British rulers. They simply could not believe that their rule had descended to become barbaric, against the so called civilized pride they used to exhibit. They did not know how to respond to someone who is harmless and at the same time willing to suffer all the physical pains. This was unprecedented! The British had fought in so many wars, and won most of them. But this war was something the British could never win. Because the actions of non-violent protesters and freedom fighters, pricked the little leftover humanity in the hearts and minds of British rulers. Many realized how can they become so cruel against fellow humans, who just happened to be brown or black skinned. After all, there was no difference between Hitler and Churchill, or Nazis and British colonizers. Both used violence to achieve their aims. And this realization is the ultimate goal of non-violence which only Gandhi envisioned. And he proved it to the whole world, when India became the first country in the world to free itself from centuries old British rule in 1947 completely through non-violent means.

Later, we see many revolutions and protests took inspiration from Gandhi. Be it Martin Luther King’s protest for Civil Rights movement in America, or Nelson Mandela in South Africa. We cannot imagine Obama becoming US President, had Martin Luther King used violent means to obtain equal rights for his people. The white men would have simply crushed it with all the brute force and advanced technology. But Dr.King was prudent enough to know this, and that’s why we see the African-American community has been accepted and assimilated by most of the white Americans, barring few racist minded people.

But it is important to note that Gandhi said that non-violence is something only the strong person can act on. The word ‘strong’ here means who is morally strong. He/she who can face the outcomes with a strong heart. He/she who never fears, who never gives in and who never gives up. He/she who has infinite patience, and who is not carried away by short term gains. That person is capable to fight against injustice and violence using non-violence. But unfortunately, not all of us are that strong, and hence we end up discarding the importance of non-violence. A weak or coward cannot follow this brave path. That’s why when asked, Gandhi wrote, as follows

So, the important part is even Gandhi advised that “when there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.” Hence, his message is to become strong morally, and physically as well. A weak cannot survive in this world. This aligns with the Darwin’s law “survival of the fittest”. But violence should not be practiced by the strong. True strength is attained when one is responsible for the consequences of his/her actions. That’s why even Spiderman said ” With true power comes true responsibility”, isnt’ it? A strong country or person is one who has all the capability of displaying strength, but does not use it against the weak. Rather that power is used to enable the weak to empower them and strengthen the bond of humanity. This action is considered non-violent, and even the most cruel opponent’s heart should melt down after seeing this true strength.

This is my understanding of Gandhi’s message, and that’s why I love Gandhi. I wish all the world leaders follow Gandhi, and then hopefully we won’t have to fear the risk of another world war or nuclear holocaust which might wipe out humanity. Then Elon Musk won’t have to work so hard to go to Mars! I would love to write more on Gandhi, and hence, would pen down my admiration for Gandhi in the upcoming posts. Till then, lets remember him today, and try to inculcate his message in our life and actions.

Mahatma Gandhi : My Life is My Message – Press Information Bureau

https://pibindia.wordpress.com/2016/09/29/mahatma-gandhi-my-life-is-my-message/

Working (From or Forever) Home!

With the unexpected shock of Coronavirus in 2020, the world went into lockdown and quarantine mode. And with it, many offices, businesses also went online or as it popularly called ‘Working from home’ or just WFH. Now, it will be almost a year since lockdowns and working from home started. And it seems its going to stay for a while.

There are many reasons WFH might be staying for sometime. Initially, it seems that WFH is convenient for employees only. It not only avoids the daily commute to office, but also gives ample space and time for employees to stay near to their family or loved ones. Employees can manage to give sometime to their personal life amidst all the busy work schedule. Besides the money savings are piling up with gas/petrol savings, living away from city in outskirts to skip the high rent, avoiding eating outside or even visiting starbucks/coffee shops for many of us. Not only that, we dont even need to follow the office protocol anymore, which used to be a big list which included washing and ironing clothes, shaving for men, makeup for women, packing food in lunch boxes, polishing shoes, and even a bit of extra efforts to impress the boss, or someone whom we have a secret crush in office, isnt it? But all this has been like a part of history now. Many don’t even shave for months, and wear shorts during online meetings. So, in a way, this has changed our life quite a lot.

Also, many have been able to even pursue some hobbies or learning new skills like cooking, reading books, blogging. Infact I started this blog last year during the lockdown, and so far, I have re-discovered myself that I really enjoy writing. I always had plans to start my own blog, but never could find the motivation or even time due to my work, and frequent business trips. But only when I started working from home, I could find a renewed inspiration to write. Similarly, many people with this flexibility have found new hobbies and interests worth pursuing.

But, this is not just good for employees. Rather it is even better for companies for many reasons. Like basic reasons include they dont need to take risk by allowing employees to come and work in office, which could lead to mass spread of the virus. As the offices are closed, so are the savings in maintenance cost, utility bills and security personnel. A lot of company money which used to get spent in everyday cleaning & maintenance is reduced drastically as hardly anyone enters the company building now. But even more better, is the fact that now due to WFH, it has become easier for the companies to make their employees to work harder and compel them to spend long hours at work! How? The answer is Digitization. With all the video conferencing apps like Zoom, Teams and Cisco Webex, messaging apps like Teams, Whatsapp and Signal, Outlook and Gmails, it has become like a 24×7 work schedule. Because earlier the office was considered more than a work place. It was also a place to network with colleagues and managers, share ideas and thoughts, brainstorm and solve problems, drink a lot of coffee during frequent coffee breaks, and thereby try to get away for sometime from the boring work, or manager!

But now, its just work, work and work! The employees cannot do any of the activities mentioned above. Of course, they can still drink coffee at their leisure, and even talk during meetings or calls with colleagues. But the real life human factor is missing. Using the company secured VPN, and assuming the possibility of meetings being recorded, there is almost no way for the employees to gossip or talk about his/her manager behind their back. I usually do not endorse such gossips or talks, but afterall we all are social human beings. Infact, many happily married couples in this world have known each other for the first time in the office. So, I feel this WFH has removed the human factor and actually made us machines. We work day and night by sitting in front of computer. And this Digitization has even made our analog life, (which used to have all the natural human elements ) into a digital life, of 1’s and 0’s. I guess the software coders or IT folks can easily identify themselves in this dire situation.

And the worse part is many companies and tech firms might keep this WFH policy for a while. Even though it is good for safety and well being of employees from the virus, but what about the mental well being of the employees? I can say that many employees are already bored while WFH, including me. Because wise people had advised to maintain a work-life balance. It is necessary to keep work and home separate. To have a good health, mental well being and family happiness, it is good habit to keep work at work, and never bring at home. But with this WFH, this is impossible as we have made our home itself as a workplace. Thats why it is inevitable that our social and family life is mired with all the deadlines and work pressures. Not only do we all get bored sitting all day working from home, but also it affects the relations with our family members. Infact, during the meetings, I have heard so many background crosstalk from family members etc. This is expected when WFH, but isn’t it affecting our ability to concentrate at work? Also, WFH affects our productivity and discipline. Because earlier we used to only work 9 to 5 in office, and complete the work before leaving for the day. But now, there is no such schedule. I can work even late at night and finish the work, to give the update next day. This is affecting our normal work-life balance.

But companies are happy and they won’t give up on this WFH culture soon. That’s why many people like me are fearing if this is Working from Home, or Forever from Home! I hope the latter never comes true!

The office ‘Michael Scott’

I wish I had known before..Part 1

I wish I had known somethings early in life such as …….

Today, I am writing about few things in life which I wish I had known before….But I think most of us get to know this only through experience, or maybe few of the lucky ones might get this wisdom early in life as well. But here’s my first wisdom I wish I had known before…..

Early success in life is not really a big thing

Yes, this is because when we are in school and university, we often are very disciplined and studious. We take our study and academic life very seriously ( atleast many of us, and I took it pretty seriously). So, with that hard work, we get the good grades and marks. And we think that is success. Because, after all, in school and college life, marks or GPA is the only yardstick to judge if we are progressing or failing, isn’t it? But that early success is really not a big achievement. Why?

Firstly with that continued success ( I say this because I used to be either a topper, or always amongst the top five in class), we become complacent, and even limit ourselves to our studies only. We form a fortress around ourself, with what is called as comfort zone, and then we are happy with that success inside that comfort zone. We make friends who are just like us, either toppers, nerds, or achievers. That’s when groupism starts, as we limit ourselves from getting to know the other things in the world. Now, I know studying is one of the important parts of school and college life, as it imparts the future perks like good college, scholarships, good job and lots of nice things in life. And I agree with that, as my life would not have been as comfortable ( atleast to a certain extent) had I not studied and got good grades.

But the problem is we often sink ourselves into that world of success early in life. And in that process, we miss out a lot. Because schooling, teenage and early 20’s life never ever come back again, once its gone. And once we are adults, we have to work, there is no escape except if you are born in a Kardashian or Paris Hilton family. And the adulthood brings with it all its own set of perks like responsibility, stress, work pressure, deadlines, financial obligation, relationship commitment, marriage, kids etc etc. So, failing in adulthood is not a good option. We have to work and achieve some degree of success, depending on our ambitions and goals.

So, only childhood and teenage life has that advantage when we really don’t need to work so hard. Because as I had seen in my generation, and it continues till today, that kids, teenagers and collegiates are so much stressed out regarding their grades, homework, assignments, exams, projects and what not. The coaching classes have created even more mess into their life, by having 6 to 8 hours of classes. They not only have to study in school, but also at home, almost till they go to bed. And with the ed-tech companies and digital apps, now, there is no longer any restriction to study for x number of hours only. With apps and online education, 24×7 classes and coaching is ON…. Even kids as small as 6 to 8 years old are introduced and forced to do coding by a startup in India. The rat race for IIT coaching was there at that time, and now it has worsened. These poor kids and teenagers have to spend their 5-6 precious years just to get the early success in life, by cracking a particular exam, or getting 5.0 GPA to get into MIT, harvard or even become like mark zuckerburg.

Hence, I think that early success and working until getting exhausted is really over-rated. There is no need for all this. Because later in life, they have to work until they get retired. There is simply no escape. And I think that if they work too much in their early life, then the possibility to get burned out and hence, lose interest in life is more. This happens, and I am also a part of it. Sometimes, I just dont want to work anymore, even though I like to work. Why? Because I have been doing that since my school or college days, and so I am not only bored to do that again and again, but also I miss my old days for not having done few things which were easily possible. Like playing a particular sport, video games with friends, going out for trekking or cycling with school buddies, dating a girl whom I liked ( but not possible now as she is either married or dating someone else or away living in some other country), or even reading books of famous authors like Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, or Isaac Asimov.

And I miss doing those activities, as I was just busy at that time in persuing that early success which no one cares today. That success made me miss other things which could have made my life more enriched with experiences. That early success made me live in a bubble, where I felt academic or college accomplishments is all that mattered. Oh Boy, I was so wrong! That early success even made me lose the opportunity to spend quality time with my family, friends or even the girl which I liked. And most important of all, that success made me unaware of what failure is. Because as said by J K Rowling and many successful people, that it is failure that teaches the lessons which enable us to grow in life, and not success. As J K Rowling said.”…that I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers.” But even she realized later that her early success could not prevent her from spinning down into poverty, committing some mistakes and getting depressed. Because she admits that she had been avoiding failure, and had been in an illusion that her early success will enable her to ride the journey of life. But later did she understand the importance of failure, and how it teaches the vital lessons of life.

That’s why it is said that “Failures are stepping stones to success”. Hence, I wish I had known earlier that it is OK to fail early in life as life is always simpler when you are living with your parents, and you are not bombarded with colossal responsibilities. And you have time, and space to fail, and rise again, again fail at something else, and learn from it to rise again, when you are 16 or 20 years old. But once we enter the field of adulthood, I do not believe the world opens its arms to embrace you with your failures. So, the room for improvement is highest when we are very young. Ofcourse, it does not mean we cannot fail at later age. Yes, we can but just that the efforts to climb up amidst all the paraphernalia is not very welcoming.

Hence, I would say that just as we were taught the poem “Early to Bed, Early to Rise…..when we were kids, I think we can tweak that a little bit, such as “Early to Fail, Early to Rise, makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise!”

Happy Republic Day, India!

Happy Republic Day 2021 Wishes: इन देशभक्ति भरे मैसेज से दें गणतंत्र दिवस की शुभकामनाएं - 72nd republic day 2021 whatsapp wishes images cards quotes Republic Day wishes status in hindi lbs - AajTak

Every year on 26th January, Indians celebrate the Republic Day to commemorate the day the Constitution of India came into effect. In addition to it, Jan 26th is also the day when the Indian National Congress revealed ‘Purna Swaraj’ (Total Independence), the declaration of India’s independence from the British colonial rule on Jan 26th, 1930. Hence, this day signifies the right spirit of Independent India.

I remember, when I was a kid, I used to wake up early in the morning to go to school and hoist out beloved tricolor with school friends. We used to carry the tricolor flag in our hands, and run across the streets together, singing ‘Vande Mataram’ just like A R Rehman’s historic composition. Even today, when I listen this song, goosebumps rise and tears often roll down through my eyes. I bet this song touches that one nerve in the 1.35 billion people which unites us as ‘Indians’

A R Rehman, ‘Vande Mataram’

So, much pride and love for my country was displayed through those actions. Ofcourse, I and we all of us still love and will keep loving our beloved motherland. But those days were innocent as a kid, as the love or country was simply pure. There was no politics, no political or religious affiliation, all we knew that we are born in this great land, and we are so much fortunate for this honor. I do miss that innocence!

Anyways, then I used to come home, and watch the national parade in Delhi which was live telecasted all over India. The marvelous stunts performed by our jawans, the heart throbbing aviation performance by Indian AirForce, the display of culture, tradition and diversity of different states with posters and presentations, the different forms of dance, the parade of military personnel with their laser sharp accuracy in every move they make is so enthralling! Then, the programme used to end with the nostalgic yet pride tune of the following song dedicated for the great Indian leader and freedom fighter, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

‘Qadam qadam baṛhāye jā Keep stepping forward
khushī ke gīt gāye jā singing songs of happiness
ye zindagī hai qaum kī this life belongs to our nation
tū qaum pe lutāye jā keep laying it down for her

Republic Day parade, 2020

A lot can be written about India, its republic day, how it got independence from British, and what makes India so unique inspite of all the diversity and chaos as well. As I later went to United States for my higher studies, and having proudly returned back to India, I got to see both sides of the world. But as said in the movie Pardes,

London dekha, Paris dekha
London dekha, Paris dekha, aur dekha Japan
Michael dekha, Elvis dekha, sab dekha meri jaan
Saare jag mein kahin nahin hai dusra Hindustan
Dusra Hindustan, dusra Hindustan

There is no country like India on this planet. And I say this with complete humility without any fake pride. Because, I know India is not like America, or Japan. All countries have their own culture, and history. But if we take a look at the world history, most of the countries are either a part of culture, or block. The world has been grouped into those blocks, like Western, Asian, African, Eurasia etc. America has always been a part of western nations, while China, Japan form the Eastern part. But India has always been unique with its location, its culture, its way of living. Though it had British influence, which is still felt today, even including this blog which is written in English! But rest all has been born and bred in this soil. The diversity, the unity being subtly imbibed into it. all is sweetly intertwined with each other. This makes India so different, so incredible!

On this occasion of Republic day, here are some of the previous republic day parades, especially for the non-Indian readers.

Happy Republic Day 2021! May India and the world be at peace, and heal from the havoc caused by Coronavirus,

Republic Day 2021: Images, wishes and quotes to share with loved ones | Hindustan Times — Ref

The law of karma..

The word, ‘Karma’ means a person’s actions in this life, and even in the previous life. I am not quite a believer of the existence of the impact of previous life, even though there is a lot of literature which tries to explain it. But I being a pragmatist and realist, often limit myself to this life itself when it comes to karma. Actually, even though this word is used quite a lot in Hinduism and Buddhism, but recently it has been wide spread in the western countries as well. Many people from corporate world, media & music industry, writers try to use this word, and explain their point of view.

This law of karma is actually the equivalent to the English idiom ‘As you sow, so you reap’. And we all have read this in school. It even relates to the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In plain English, you should treat others the same way as you would like others to treat you. Simple, isnt it? But the question is do we really follow this?

The law of karma is very much universal. I mean no one can simply escape it. Because the evidence backing it is enormous. We all must have experienced this law even in small things, like when we hurt someone, we don’t realize it at that time. But we grasp it immediately when someone else hurts us in the same way. If we cheat in exams, we get caught and suffer the consequence. If we eat wrong food, we fall sick. If we spend too much money in shopping, or even bad vices like drinking, we soon run out of our savings. This law is very much practical.

Even if someone tries to run away from the effects of that karma, they simply cannot. We can see many famous examples in history, and day to day life as well. Some of the Nazis who had committed horrendous atrocities on innocent jews tried to run away from getting jailed or hanged to South America, but years later, many of them like Adolf Eichmann did get caught and were later hanged. Many serial killers, terrorists, rapists who commit horrible acts end up being killed or caught someday or the later. Osama Bin Laden, Pablo Escobar, Ted Bundy all got caught & killed. Even those who committed frauds like Jordan Belfort, Bernie Madoff, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Ketan Parekh, Harshad Mehta all got either caught or exposed sooner or later. Karma circles and hits back!

But then I wonder why people still forget this, and act as if they will never get punished for their actions. This is something of a moral question, for which there is no easy answer. But I do think there are two reasons for this. Well, first is the uncertain time delay between action and result. Just like a mango tree does not give mangoes immediately after the sapling is planted, similarly it takes time for the action to fructify. It could be years, or even decades. Meanwhile, the person who committed those acts mistakenly gets convinced that his/her actions won’t hit back, or as if they are immune to it. This usually happens when power corrupts. Somehow, those people who are extremely rich, famous and powerful, start believing that they are above the law.

But even though they might tweak the social laws, but they cannot change the effect of nature’s law of karma. And this is best seen in the recent example of Donald Trump, who had vehemently denied the existence of coronavirus, and profusely refused to wear or endorse wearing masks in public places. But then after few months, he got the virus, and the faith in this law of karma or cosmic justice being done was revitalized. Even his defeat in 2020 election is a proof of his actions for years, for which he had assumed that he would never get suffered. But as we know, even he could not escape the law of karma.

But the second reason I wonder is the bizare uncertainity in nature’s justice. We often see good people getting suffered for no mistakes of their own, and bad people getting away from their outcomes. As mentioned before, the bad people do get suffered, someday or the other, and that cannot be denied. Just, that it takes a lot of time, sometimes. But I have no answer or even any reason for why good and innocent people get suffered. We see innocent girls and women getting raped, people suffering from racism or caste discrimination, Jews had to suffer from anti-semitism and in concentration camps, India and many countries had to suffer from British and other European brutal coloniazation, innocent people dying in civil wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, people getting repressed in dictatorial regimes like N.Korea, people dying from earthquakes, tsunami, forest fires, riots, floods, draughts, famines, and even innocent people dying due to cancer, and now, covid-19! I wonder what was the fault of these people?

Religious preachers point to their karma in previous life. But for a practical mind, it does not convince. After all, who has really seen if we really had a previous life? Were we humans or some other animal creature? And why would it take so much time, almost a new birth, just to suffer the consequences of previous life’s mistakes? Why not just make it suffer in that life itself? Why to drag it till next life? I mean these are weird questions, which might not have any relevant answers. Those who have, might not convince us. This is the similar to the classic clash between free-will vs deterministic life! Sometimes, I relate this to astrology, or numerology, which fraudulently claims about people’s future or even a particular number as a good sign! For those fake and corrupt astrologers, I wonder if they themselves know what their future is going to be? I am pretty sure, most of them would not have a damn idea!

I think the quest for answers for the above questions will remain for quite sometime. But the good thing is we humans have come a long way in understanding this world, and nature as well. Not long before, we were trepidated by events like tsunami, cyclones and earthquakes. Our ancestors blamed it on other humans for doing immoral acts and because of which nature had taught us a lesson. Even a pious man like Gandhi, had blamed the Bihar earthquake in 1934 as a ‘divine chastisement for the great sin’ people there had committed against the untouchables. Seeing this absurd belief in superstition, the Nobel Laureate in Literature, Ravindranath Tagore, could not resist himself in responding to Gandhi with a letter of reprimand against this absurd belief.

So, today, atleast we have come a long way with all the modern technology and advancement in sciences. We atleast do not blame floods or forest fires for the sins committed by few men and women. I wish sciences get advanced even further to throw some light on this karmic aspect of life, which involves questions asked before. Maybe, a better understanding of life, will enable us to get the wisdom to know why some people suffer more than others? Is it their karma, or fate, or something beyond our present human cognizance.

The monopoly of social media!

During the 2008 sub-prime crisis, I had seen an interview of an independent stock trader who famously said, “governments don’t rule the world, Goldman Sachs rules the world”. 12 years later, I think the time has come to say that “governments don’t rule the world, Social Media rules the world”.

Yes, watching the recent events in the social media world, it seems that the genie has left the bottle. The social media has become stronger and dangerous than ever. Two events which happened during the start of this year signify an alarm for the world. They are the recent change in WhatsApp Terms and Conditions policy, and the banning of Trump on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter. Even though the latter event might have made most people happy or even they have applauded for this action by social media giants, but many of us have become alarmed over this action.

First of all, the change in Whatsapp policies was something many industry experts saw it coming. After all, Mark Zuckerburg paid $19B for the acquisition of WhatsApp. This wasn’t a philanthropy thing for Facebook. They thought well enough before making that deal. WhatsApp over the years have grown to be the world’s most popular and most downloaded/used app in the world. In India, WhatsApp has partnered with Reliance, which is India’s richest company, to provide payment and retail services. So, when WhatsApp made the changes in its policy, which says that all the data from WhatsApp will be shared to Facebook, which will help their business. How?

When asked by the senator, Mark answered….So, running ads makes Facebook earns the dollars required to sustain its so big social media platform ( and ofcourse to earn profit, which makes Mark the 5th richest person in the world). But our personal data on Facebook ( which we have selflessly rendered over to Facebook under the silly disguise to make friends and connect with the world) and catering to which relevant ads shown is the main business model of this company. This platform needs data just like cars need fuel to run. Because only with that data, can Facebook show us the relevant ads. That’s why it is said, “Data is the new oil”

Now, with this new policy, our WhatsApp data will also shared to Facebook. And what kind of data will be shared? ( or has already been shared for quite sometime) As per Wired story, The company says it collects user information “to operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services.”In practice, this means that WhatsApp shares a lot of intel with Facebook, including account information like your phone number, logs of how long and how often you use WhatsApp, information about how you interact with other users, device identifiers, and other device details like IP address, operating system, browser details, battery health information, app version, mobile network, language and time zone. Transaction and payment data, cookies, and location information are also all fair game to share with Facebook depending on the permissions you grant WhatsApp in the first place.

But its not about the amount of data that these companies are getting access to, but the security of that data is a real concern. The world already knows about the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and one of the famous documentary, ‘The Social Dilemma’ on Netflix sheds light on why companies like Facebook and WhatsApp do not charge the users. This is because if the product is free, then we are the product being sold! And by this they mean the data of users which they desperately need to run ads and make money. The more the data, the more is the revenue. Simple it is!

But even more worrying than data sharing or data privacy is the concern of how dangerously powerful that these companies have become. Just few days before, they banned the President of United States of America from their platform, indefinitely! This is not some random guy who posted some thing against their rules, but it is the most powerful person in USA, and even in the world to a certain extent. When such an action happens, it shows how powerful these companies have become. Ofcourse, I am not saying that these companies are above law or US president’s power. They took that action only after the President was accused of causing an insurrection and posting messages and videos supporting violent coup against the law. Also, its worth noting that they took this stringent step after Joe Biden was officially confirmed to be the incoming US President.

But what many of us are worrying is the active levers of communication in the hands of these companies. As we see, unlike few years before, when the world got news from newspapers, radio and television, which was edited to make it politically correct. But in today’s world, people get the news and information mostly from social media, which is not edited neither filtered, atleast to some extent. This is the reason why Trump could convince many Americans to elect him. Whatever he tweeted or communicated was never politically correct. But still due to the freedom of speech, his message used to reach his followers.

But now these handful companies have completely cut him off from his fan base. This is interesting because even though its good for the world that Trump has been banned for sometime, which would filter out the noise and chaos created by him, and restore peace in the world for sometime. But this isn’t just about Trump. What if these companies ban some other leader or a person belonging to a certain ideology like communism, socialism or pacifism? The real question is who has given this moral authority to these companies to ban certain people or ideology? Ofcourse, this does not mean that hate speech or violence should be allowed. Definitely not. But the real threat these companies possess is whom do they allow or whom they do not! What if they decide to support a particular ideology which fits their business model? What if they remove content from their platform which favors their competitors or which challenges their business? As mentioned about the perils of social media monopoly in this beautiful article, https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/at-the-mercy-of-big-tech-billionaires-101610547387559.html which questions the readers, “Imagine if Mark Zuckerberg decided that he did not like Narendra Modi’s farm laws or Shashi Tharoor’s tirades against the East India Company — and shut them off.” Or even going ahead, what if these companies try to influence the voters in countries by favoring a particular candidate who falls into ‘friendly category’ to these social media giants?

This is something these companies have to make clear. When it comes to hate speech , racism or violence, its their moral obligation to curtail it from spreading. But it is also equal responsibility to allow all form of ideologies, ideas, thoughts to flow. These companies are expected to be impartial. But unfortunately, they are not. So, after seeing this, I installed Signal which is almost an replica of WhatsApp ( infact its co-founder is the same Brian Acton for both these companies). But Signal is designed with a non-profit, open source model, and hence just like Wiki, it will not be sold to some private company( hopefully) and will not run Ads as well. I am slowly moving towards uninstalling WhatsApp, but due to over-dependence and majority user base ( all of my family and friends use WhatsApp), its going to take some time for everyone to switch over to Signal. Till then, I could not allow my WhatsApp to share my data to my Facebook a/c. So, I took the step (which I wish should have taken before) to delete Facebook and Instagram accounts. This would disable my WhatsApp data to be shared due to non-existence of Facebook account. I hope many of us become aware of this to keep their data safe and secure. Goodbye Facebook! Goodbye Instagram! And Goodbye to WhatsApp soon!

As Evan Greer, deputy director of the digital rights group ‘Fight for the Future’ said “Their business model is surveillance. Never forget that.”

A Millennial’s Inspiration!

Elon Musk: Rocketeer and Patent Critic - Campbell Law Observer — Elon Musk

Recently, I read the news about Elon Musk who became the richest person on the planet. Usually, Forbes, Fortune and many other reputed magazines publish the richest people’s list every year, or even month. But this one’s quite special. Because not only that Elon Musk is one of the biggest inspiration, but also he has achieved this feat by wearing many hats which very few have done in the human history.

Yes, Elon Musk, as we know is the founder of several successful companies/startups such as Electric car manufacturer Tesla, Space exploration SpaceX, solar panels services company Solarcity ( which is now a part of Tesla Energy), AI R&D startup OpenAI, neurotech company Neuralink, and infrastructure and tunnel construction company The Boring Company. Besides, he has proposed the idea of Hyperloop (an ultra-fast intercity travel), had started Zip2 after dropping out of Stanford Ph.D program, and was a part of the legendary PayPal Mafia, which had started PayPal, which was later acquired by eBay. Though he is famously known for two of his most famous companies, Tesla and SpaceX, but this entrepreneur has been the founder and owner of eight companies so far. And the best thing is he started most of the companies from scratch ( with the sole exception of Tesla which he acquired and turned it into the brand for which it is known worldwide today). Isn’t this amazing?

The fact that Elon Musk has achieved this feat to become the richest person on the planet is truely remarkable in many ways. First of all, unlike the previous richest people ,Elon Musk is quite different. This is because all the previous richest were either business magnates who had earned their wealth through some form of commodity like oil & gas, steel (John D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, J.Paul Getty), or had earned their fortune through banking & investment (Rothschilds, Warren Buffett) or had become rich by being a monopoly in their one business such as (Bill Gates -software, Henry Ford – cars, Vanderbilts – railways, Jeff Bezos – ecommerce ). But Elon Musk has been unique by having started several companies, neither of which are monopolies, as electric cars, space exploration, solar energy etc has been ventured out by several other competitors as well. But navigating through the competing sharks, and coming out as a winner is what makes Elon a unique one!

Secondly, he is a self-made man. Ofcourse, there have been many rich people who had humble beginnings, and Elon is one amongst them. But his credentials are further enhanced by being a self-made man who is also an immigrant to USA. This had happened a more than 100 years back with Andrew Carnegie( who had emigrated from Scotland to America), when he surpassed John D Rockefeller to become the richest man on the planet. Since then, most of them have been born and brought up in America itself. Elon Musk’s success proves that the American Dream is still alive!

Then, of all his achievements, I admire the most in Elon Musk is his love for reading and passion for science & technology. He is a voracious reader, just like Bill Gates ( both share this common attribute). He is known to have mastered Rocket Science by reading books. And he is a nerd, and extremely passionate about the progress of science and future of humanity. That’s why he famously said about his dreams and goals in life as

“In the case of Tesla, SpaceX, SolarCity, and PayPal… it really stemmed from when I was in college and trying to think: what would affect the future most likely in a positive way? So the three areas I was quite sure would be positive were sustainable energy, the internet, and making life multi-planetary.”
“you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization, minimize the probability of a dark age and reduce the length of a dark age if there is one”
Elon Musk

He is so passionate about science & technology, and to make this planet have a better future, that he started all his companies in the field of advancement of sustainable energy, internet, space exploration to make life multi-planetary, faster & carbon free transportation, neurotech and artificial intelligence! Which entrepreneur or businessman has done so much in the field of technology? Maybe Edison might be the nearest one in this list. But having the courage to venture out in a field which was never explored much before, and even with the least expectation to have any success or earning profit is a sign of true passion and bravado. This makes Elon Musk one of my biggest inspiration. His pinned tweet says a lot about his commitment for science & tech, and to save human race if in case apocalypse ( in the form of nuclear destruction or even far deadly virus than Coronavirus) happens in near future…

History In Pictures on Twitter: ". @elonmusk becomes the richest person in the world today with a net worth of $190 billion dollars. I've had the honor of meeting him. He's definitely

Had he failed (which had almost happened in 2008), it would not only be a loss for Musk, but also a huge loss for science & humanity. Because there are many other software, internet & social media giants, oil & gas barons, Wall street financers, venture capitalists, automotive manufacturers (petrol based) and entertainment media moguls in this world, but there is none like Elon Musk. This is because even if others fail, there are others who can run those companies. For ex: Yahoo failed, but we have Google. Kodak failed, but we have Sony, Nokia failed, but we have Samsung, Apple etc. But in case of Elon Musk, if Tesla, SpaceX, Hyperloop, Neuralink fails, then it is difficult for someone to take the position of Elon Musk and re-invent the wheel. He has set an example in the silicon valley through his companies that its high time to look beyond starting companies in internet or using 140 characters only. Atleast we can say with Elon’s companies and efforts, we have a chance to make this future for humanity different. That’s why the success of Elon Musk with his off the beat, innovative and humanity transforming companies is so essential for the progress of humanity.

His becoming of richest man on the planet is simply a reward for his years of hard work and dedication,which he truely deserves. But I think that Elon Musk’s success through his companies and becoming the richest man will stand as an inspiration for my millennial generation, as well coming generations to come. This is because today, we have a man who is rich because of his work for science and tech, and not because of his greed for money or desire to become a monopoly. His example stands as a testimony to the fact that it is possible for someone like a nerd, a bibliophile, a science lover, a tech passionate to become richest man on the planet. No longer is that position reserved for the bankers, monopolists, investors, commodity traders, or similar money hungry people. Infact, Elon Musk doesn’t even care to become the richest person in the world, and this can be easily noticed from his recent tweet.

lastBORN on Twitter: "Elon Musk, “how strange”, “well, back to work” This is the energy we giving out the whole of 2021.… "

This shows the character and detachment of Elon regarding money, fame, success etc. That’s why he is my inspiration after Steve Jobs. Both did not care for these worldly vices. All they cared for is their work, and devotion for a just cause, with technology companies as their medium to achieve this. Steve Jobs wanted to change the world and he did through Iphone and Mac, while Elon Musk wants to make the future better, and he is relentlessly persuing it through his several companies. These are Men of Honor!

Finally, his attitude in life is something worth learning. Elon Musk is someone who never quits. And this was tested during the 2008 crisis, when all of his companies were struggling financially as well as technologically. He was left with enough money just to have one last launch of his beloved space exploration, and when left with that final choice, he remarked “When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor.” And he did it. That fourth launch was a success, and since then, he never looked back.

One of my favorite quotes of Elon Musk is

“There have to be reasons that you get up in the morning and you want to live. Why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? If the future does not include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planet species, I find that incredibly depressing.”
Elon Musk

And this is one of the personal motivations as well. Infact, I had read about his biography book written by Ashley Vance, and that time was a tough one in my life. I was going through some of the hardest experiences, and was almost on the verge of losing hope in life. But after reading his biography, I contemplated, that if Elon Musk can dare to lose everything ( which he had earned through hard work) to achieve his aim, then why was I having the fear to fail when I hadn’t even achieved anything like him? His biography taught me a very important lesson that we should never quit our goals, however tough they might be, as long as we know they are important enough. The world out there will always laugh or ridicule us, but that should not stop from trying. In case of Elon Musk, his fight was against the powerful oil lobby which had supported the traditional automotive industry which had been using fossil fuels and had led to global warming. They had tried all possible ways to make Tesla a failure! Even in case of Space, it was the NASA and Russian Space agencies which did not want a private company to enter the space race. Many astronauts and rocket scientists had laughed at Elon Musk for his idea of reusable rocket.

But today, we see he has surpassed all of them. And he truely deserves this. For me, he is like a nerd entrepreneur cum scientist, who being brought up during the 1980’s generation when Sci-Fi was the trend, and kids in that era dreamed of the world where humans would colonize the space through multi-planetary space missions, driverless electric cars, renewable energy, hyperloop for fastest transportation, artificial intelligence driven robots and advanced genomics. It seems that Elon Musk will soon turn that fiction into reality. That’s why Elon Musk is the greatest living inspiration for me, and my Millennial Generation!

I’ll end this post by this amazing video which gave me goosebumps, especially his quote at the end of the video!

© Abhishek Karadkar and abhiknotes.com, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Abhishek Karadkar and abhiknotes.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Welcome 2021!

Never before has the world so eagerly awaited for a new year to commence!

Today, while writing this post on Dec 31st, 2020, I am contemplating all the events that have happened in 2020. And there is no denial of the fact that the world got changed in 2020. It looks like after Steve Job’s legendary launch of Iphone in 2007 which changed the world, Covid-19 became the next thing which turned our life upside down. And today, we all are eagerly awaiting for 2021 to usher in. We are sincerely praying that 2021 turns out to be a better year,which will restore peace, happiness and stability back in our life. I do hope the same!

But at the same time, as Gurudev Ravishankar said in his talk today, that this pandemic showed the other side of life. We all crave for good, and happy times. We forget the difficulties and problems in life when everything is stable, and under our control. But this pandemic showed us how things can go out of human control rapidly. This year showed us how important and short life is. It made us realize the simple joys of life such as staying with family, having a stable job, and even going out for a walk. The world saw how difficult it is to live under lockdown. We all usually read or watch movies of the soldiers and freedom fighters who suffered enormous hardships in fighting against the enemy, be it against the Nazis in Europe, or against British rule in India. Only when we all underwent the hardships of living under lockdown, we came to value the importance of true freedom. Until the pandemic occurred, we all had taken the freedom imparted to us lightly, but now we atleast have got a glimpse of life without freedom. That is why, people have even started thinking about the cruelty to deprive poor animals of their freedom by keeping them in zoos and amusement parks for our entertainment!

Having suffered the dark side of life after pandemic, we have started realizing how few things we really need to live a good life. We understood that we can live without eating outside or even buying expensive clothes or gadgets. Because these fancy clothes, makeup or gadgets won’t save our life, but our good health, good food, calm mind and having loved ones staying together will save us. Due to this pandemic having engulfed the whole mother earth, never in history did it happen that we all (humans) became united. Until 2020, we had always biased each other, and made every attempt to separate each others by building either physical walls ( be it Berlin Wall or Trump’s wall), or virtual walls ( made of racism, casteism, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation bias etc). But 2020 made us realize that events like pandemic does not differentiate between us on any artificial grounds. So, in a way, we can also say that 2020 brought humanity together, atleast for fighting against pandemic!

Besides, in 2020, many of us saw how beautiful this earth is! This is because one of the sideeffects of pandemic turned out to be fresh air, with zero air pollution. For ex: This led to viewing of Himalayas from hundreds of miles in India, which was not seen due to high pollution in air for the last several decades. Hence, even though 2020 was a dreaded year for most of us, however this year turned out to be very special for nature observers and climate watchers, due to huge change in climate and nature pattern which had been severely altered for all these years due to human activity.

Himalayas visible from India as nature 'heals' during coronavirus shutdown - National | Globalnews.ca — Ref

Similarly, due to no traffic and thereby zero sound pollution, it made wild animals curious to sneek in the cities to find out where did 7 billion people disappear? Here are some pictures which captured this once in a century nature’s phenomenon.

A civet cat has been spotted roaming on the streets of Kozhikode in the State of Kerala, India on 27 March, 2020. — Ref

A kangaroo hops through empty streets during the lockdown restrictions in Adelaide, Australia, April 19, 2020. South Australia Police/via REUTERS — Kangaroo running on the streets in Australia

A fox is seen in Downing Street, London, April 29, 2020.
REUTERS/Toby Melville — A fox seen walking on the streets in London https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/nature-reclaims-public-spaces-during-loc-idUSRTX7EJ1H

Hence, finally, as I complete this post, 2020 ended and 2021 has begun. Many of us are praying for 2021 to bring happiness and stability in life. Indeed, 2020 was a rough year, which will never be forgotten by my generation. Historians love to find patterns in historic events, and I being a history buff, consider 2020 to be a year which changed our way of living, just like the historic years of 1989 ( when Berlin Wall fell which marked the beginning of the end of communism), or 1945 ( when WW2 was won after the fall of Nazi and Imperial Japanese). As US President elect Joe Biden said in his victory speech, “This is a time to heal in America”. I feel this is a time to heal for the entire world. May 2021 give us enough room for us to heal, come together for humanity, collaborate for just causes, break the barriers of racism, gender bias etc, and work towards achieving global peace. I know this might sound grandiose, but atleast we can start taking one step ahead….

I am ending this post with this realization, that afterall, we did won(successfully survive) in 2020, and have entered a new year, with new hopes and new surprises as well……

Why is depression on the rise? part 2

Continuing with this topic, there are some common causes for people to often get depressed in life. This includes consistent failures/setbacks, losing a dear one in family ( parents/wife or children), health issues such as incurable diseases, financial problems/debt, and even hereditary from family. There is no perfect one stop solution to address the effects arising from varied sources. But to understand why this generation suffers more than previous can be studied and discussed.

One of the main understanding is the way my generation lives. My generation has been dependent on technology more than all the generations combined. I have already mentioned about the facebook effect, and other social media exposure. But along with that, the lifestyle itself is enormously altered by today’s technology. The way we eat junk/fast food leads to health effects such as obesity and which thereby leads to a bad physique. No wonder then guys and girls feel terrible about their looks, and this acts as a domino effect to trigger their moods. Not being in shape makes them feel jealous of those who are in good shape, and thus the mental trauma starts. People then step into gyms and fitness programs, but not everyone can manage to get in ideal photogenic shape. This all adds up in depressing thoughts and lack of self worth. So, as simple as eating habits can even lead to increase in depressive thoughts.

Failure in achieving a goal or aim in life is one of the most common causes to get depressed or even commit suicide. Failing in competitive exams like IIT entrance or going bankrupt in business, failing to fulfill parents wishes, or even failing to become famous actor or actresses are some of the most common failure driven depression. I have seen one of the friends commit suicide due to low grades in grad school. We all know the infamous Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case. I was shocked to read that India has the highest suicide rates in South-East Asia. And the fact that there is an infamous forest in Japan called ‘Aokigahara’ known as ‘Suicide forest’. All this shows how serious depression can get. But unfortunately, the society always blames the one who does the act. But what conditions made him do the act is hardly questioned. There is one famous movie ‘The Social Network’, based on Mark Zuckerberg’s life. In one of the scenes, Sean Parker tells Mark about the story of Roy Raymond. The case of Roy Raymond is a perfect example of what can failure and depression do. But the movie scene also conveys the underlying message that if we don’t want to end up like Roy Raymond, we need to keep working hard, and never quit. It seems like Mark took Sean’s advice pretty seriously, and that’s why Facebook has become one of the richest companies in the world. But I do feel that not everyone can become Mark, and blaming Roy ( which the movie scene unfortunately does) is not the solution to get away from depression. It was obviously Roy’s mistake to give up, but the situation that made him do so is also equally culpable.

Then, this generation is also living in a nuclear family unlike my parents or grandparents generation, which used to live together. Adding to that, is the nation’s family planning policy ( China’s One child policy or India’s ‘Hum do, humare do’ Two parents and two children policy). Many couples today cannot even afford to raise two children, and hence, many of my generation are raised alone. Due to rising cost of living, it is increasingly becoming difficult to a make both ends meet with a single earning. More ever, we see that the kids and teenagers often spend their time in playing video games, on social media and watching movies. Things even go worse when friends get together and get involved in wrong habits including smoking, social drinking, or even violence. Unlike previous generations, today’s teenagers and young adults often find themselves alone without support from family. Hence, they try to find like minded groups or even to pass time online, by making friends with unknown people in online chat rooms, or on dating sites. This always does not work, and can lead to addiction, or even sexual harassment, which further leads to depression.

Relationships have never been so fragile before as seen today. Just like the hire and fire corporate culture ( better known as Trump’s culture), breakups and patchups have become the current norm in romantic relationships. The options to find a partner have increased through dating apps like Tinder, OkCupid, Aisle etc. Many of them provide a platform for speed dating or even casual dating, with no stings attached. Many of the couples who want to date casually find this convenient, and they carry on a ‘Friends with Benefits’ type relationship. But the problem is human mind does not comprehend such type of relations. Things can speedily go from casual to serious for one of the partners, but the other one might not accept this. And so this leads to breakup, but emotional attachment is something cannot be erased overnight like swiping on such apps. So, such type of online dating and casual relationships often leads to heartbreaks and headaches, and soon they find themselves depressed and undergoing therapy.

Then, I find a sense of serenity missing in my generation. I have seen my grandfather and even parents having a feeling of serenity towards life and its problems. ‘Come what may‘ was the attitude they had towards problems which came in life. They did not get depressed when things did not work out, or when they had to walk on the path filled with thorns. Maybe because the previous few generations had seen some of the toughest time in human history, be it wars, fight for independence from colonialism, fight against poverty & inequality etc. But inspite of all the problems, they were mentally strong. They did not give up easily. But this generation is exceptionally blessed with all the comforts and leisures. This is also the fruit of the hardwork which our parents and grandparents did back then. That’s why we are living a good life, with abundance of resources like food, clothes and tech gadgets. The kids today get whatever they want, many times they don’t even have to ask for it. This lifestyle has led to a loss of value in achieving things. Ofcourse, there are many teenagers and young adults out there who do value what their parents have given them. But the attitude to face problems of life with serenity cannot be taught in richness or through books. Only life’s tough experiences can teach it, and hence, the excessive luxury with which my generation has been living has made them more vulnerable to lose faith or get depressed easily in life when things go on a rough side.

Thats why, we are seeing more and more people getting depressed in life. As discussed, there are many reasons and we do not have one perfect solution to solve it. The combination of modern technology, food habits, family structure, affluent lifestyle, social pressure, boundless aspirations etc have lead to rising cases of depression and even worst in suicides. I do believe that inspite of all the education or technological prowess, my generation should learn about mind and act like social humans. Today’s capitalist and market driven competition makes us run towards more education, better jobs, higher salary, hefty bonuses, enormous profits in business, getting the job done, make and break relationships, fast food and drink culture, and many more vices. As mentioned before about the example of Roy Raymond, it can be said that he was a perfect victim of a capitalist driven system where one mistake can end up losing confidence, hope and life at the end. Ofcourse, there is nothing wrong to work for a better standard of living, which can certainly be obtained with good education, better job prospects and good salary/business only. But only achieving these things is not life. As J K Rowling wisely said in her harvard commencement address,

personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life..
J K Rowling

However, There is No Alternative to go back towards old living like our grandfather’s generation did. We have to progress ahead and we cannot go back. But we can know our mind, and take things calmly. Meditation can be of great help here. Spiritual practices are known for making us calmer, and peaceful inside. But more than anything, the first thing to cater this problem is the awareness and acceptance towards this issue of depression, and thereby suicides with an open mind is extremely important. Only then can we solve this problem, and save lives. This post should not end here, but rather make the readers think and act to do something to help those who need a ray of hope in their life!

Why is depression on the rise?

To find out why are we getting depressed more…

For a long time I have been thinking to write about this topic. 2020 has been a very unfortunate year. Not only due to Covid-19, but also due to large number of suicides in bollywood, and other parts of the world. Most of these deaths are due to either anxiety about uncertainity of future, or relationship issues which also leads to stress. Also, the pandemic has certainly exacerbated the stress levels in most of us. I have been in Art of Living for a while, and one of the main initiatives of the organization is working towards reducing the stress and anxiety amongst the people, as stress often leads to depression. As per WHO, more than 264 million people of all ages suffer from depression. And even more disturbing fact is that every 40 sec, one person in the world commits suicide. Most of us are either not aware of this, or very often we overlook these facts, assuming it will never happen in our life. Only, when this hits in our life like a brick in the head, that’s when we realize how serious this problem is.

Stress, anxiety, and thereby depression is not something of a recent change in our life. Even our forefathers, and ancestors have had some element of stress in life. It could be due to poverty, wars, epidemic, or even oppression from colonial masters ( like British did back in India and other parts of the world). I could not imagine how much stress the jews in the concentration camp might have underwent with the constant threat of getting gased, alive! So, I do not say that stress is a modern age issue, or I am not being a luddite to blame technology for this as well.

But what we all are seeing ( especially the medical professionals, mental health experts and even spiritual advisors) is the significant rise in stress and anxiety levels in the last few years. So, I am wondering why would this be, when today, if for a moment we keep aside the dangers of nuclear holocaust, or even avoid getting into the politics of poverty, war or pandemic, we see that human life has reached quite an advanced level when we no longer have to worry about food shortage, staying warm in winter, or cold in summer, communicating with our dear ones over long distance, or fast and reliable transportation etc. Our life has never been so better, simpler, fast and comfortable in the history of human civilization.

Then, the question still lingers is why are we suffering from depression inspite of all the modern technologies and gadgets at our service? This seems like it has to do something with human nature itself. I do not say this is an endemic human trait. Rather, it is more so linked to our habits ( which could be technologically influenced, like for example, getting depressed after seeing goody-goody posts from a friend on facebook or instagram.) or even forgetting about our purpose in life ( which happens when we are too much involved in the joy ride which life offers).

One of the peculiar expectation which we often have is we should never have problems in life. This expectation itself is flawed. We wish all we had is only good times, and bad times should never occur in our life. No one wants to struggle, or witness failure. Though there is nothing wrong to be hopeful of good times, but expecting that we should never see problems is one of the reasons for being anxious, which leads to depression. When we become rich, or successful, we all wish it never goes away. But this leads to consistent fear of losing what we have achieved, and then we do not even enjoy what we have. Rather, we just keep working or worrying to not lose this. If we keep doing this everyday, then I won’t be surprised to see depression knocking at our door!

Similar thing happens when we compare with others. As I mentioned about the facebook effect before, comparison with others is an excellent way to get depressed. And this explains the rise in depression in the last few years. Because we have developed all the perfect tools to compare and thereby get depressed on a large scale. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Youtube are some of the best mediums to express our ideas and thoughts, but at the same time there are also perfect destination to harness the vices of jealousy, envy, comparison and narcissism. Yes, because we just do not look at our posts on the wall, or see our uploaded content. We see others, and we start comparing. Though this can also be looked from the prism of learning, and making us better. But more often, we take it in a negative way, which leads to consistent thinking, worrying, and being obsessed about others. Getting more likes, comments, views, shares, emoticons, followers becomes our obsession and sooner or later, we find our mind occupied with only becoming more famous or good looking than others. Isn’t this a perfect receipe for making stress in our mind?

Gurudev Sri Sri RaviShankar, the founder of Art of Living says, that one of the main causes of depression is thinking ‘Just me, what will happen to me, me, me?’ When we overthink about me, it is the easiest way to become stressed and depressed. And I agree that this has increased enormously in modern age. Why? Because the very fact that we no longer have any urgent problems which will affect our life on a daily basis. Few centuries before, people died from starvation, disease, epidemics, adverse weather conditions, exertion due to physical work etc. Then, We, the Intelligent Sapien developed technology to solve these problems. Today, we do not die from malnutrition as we have produced enough food on the planet ( still people are dying from malnutrition in poorer countries has to do with bad distribution, poverty and politics, but atleast there is no dearth of supply). We no longer suffer from cold in winter, or die from polio. Currently people are dying from covid-19, but then we are rapidly developing the vaccine as well. Hence, we can say that we have solved all the problems atleast for a comfortable living such food, clothing, shelter, education, communication and transportation.

So, what has happened is we do not have any incentive to work for betterment of others. Rather, all we do is just work to get more rich, and famous. The companies and factories which used to produce innovative solutions to make life better, are now either involved in just earning profits, buying back shares, or giving hefty bonuses to shareholders. Ofcourse there are exceptions like Elon Musk, but the bigger pie is simply occupied in looking after themselves. Few decades before, when all the above problems were not solved, the scientists, doctors and engineers used to work day and night to find a solution. Even common people used to find solutions to make things better and help others to uplift them as well. After all, the scientists and innovators did not come from any royal family, or rich business background. They were simple, poor people who just had a passion to solve a problem which bothered humanity, be it darkness, which was eradicated by invention of electric bulb, or a vaccine for polio.

But today, we see most of us have all the basic facilities needed to live life comfortably, and so we are slowly forgetting to help others, and solve problems. We have forgotten that the real purpose of humans is to be in service of humanity. Be it inventing something, or even as basic as volunteering for the weak and old, service keeps us busy and makes our life purposeful. That’s why those who are involved in serving humanity, never get depressed. Iconic personaliities like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Nikola Tesla, Henry Ford, Charles Goodyear, Robert Goddard, and many more worked and served for making human life better. They never got depressed ( atleast not due to self obsession). So, lack of service and increase of narcissism has been one of the key factors in the rise of depression.

More to be continued….

Financial literacy and Digitization!

It was December 2016. I had been visiting my family here in India for a short trip from USA. The shock of the year, ‘Demonetization’ had just happened back in November 2016. We had planned to go to Andaman islands, and so I was quite excited as we had never been to those beautiful islands. Few days before our planned trip, I had to visit the local bank in my locality for some banking transactions. While I was writing a check, suddenly a middle aged woman, who was wearing a traditional sari and a ‘kumkum’ on her forehead, came and asked me if I could help her in filling out the deposit slip. I was surprised, as why would some unknown person ask me for filling their payment deposits. I looked at her, and she seemed to be from a family with limited means. So, I said yes to her, and took the deposit slip and passbook from her, to fill her details. While filling the details, she told me that she did not understand how to fill the deposit slip, and that’s why she asked me. I said okay to her, and gave her the filled deposit slip for her to sign.

As per the old saying, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” I thought it would be better if I can teach her how to fill the form, so that she can do it herself. As I started telling her about the details, she suddenly replied, that she would not be able to learn, and she went away. I was stunned! I felt bad as she was not even ready to uplift herself, and rather was willing to depend on others.

Anyways, fast forward to December 2020….

I recently moved back to India, and had to visit the same bank on multiple occasions. One afternoon, a man who might be in his late 40’s approached me, and asked me if I could fill the details for him to write a check! I looked at him, and he seemed to be from a rural background. I could not say no, and started writing his check. Suddenly, I could recollect the similar experience with that middle aged woman in 2016. I thought to lets give a try to teach him how to write a check. So, while writing the check, I started explaining him the details to be filled. After listening patiently, he told me that if he could know how to read and write, he would have never asked me to write for him. I was stunned, again!

I got the same experience, in the same bank, just 4 years after.

After coming home, I could not stop the train of thoughts which had started coming in my mind. Since 2016, there had been some of the biggest changes in the financial and political landscape in India. Be it demonetization, or digitization using UPI, apps like BHIM, PhonePe, PayTm etc. Quite a few banking corruptions were exposed, and the culprits like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya even fled the country. The ruling party won another election in 2019, and finally, Covid-19 happened this year.

But it seems the financial literacy of quite a few people, more so especially in the rural regions seems to be the same. Its very perplexing to comprehend the fact that if many people are not comfortable with depositing money, or writing physical checks, how are they going to adapt to the emerging and fast moving digitization in the financial sector? How will these people learn about internet banking, cashless wallet, or UPI?

The need for digitization has never been so high before as seen today, mostly due to covid-19. India has rapidly deployed its fintech industry with a wave of online payment apps and digital wallets. The urban areas have seen a massive usage of online and digital payments, and this is a good news for India to become a cashless economy. Our PM Narendra Modi has been a strong proponent of digital economy, as per his motto ‘Say, Yes to digital payment, no to cash!’

But I am afraid that as long as there are people like I met in the above two incidences, who are not only financially literate, but also their mindset to adopt to new technologies is negative, it is going to take a while for India to become a truely cashless economy. The need to teach the rural people about financial awareness, and make them comfortable for adapting digitization seems to be the need of the hour. I observed that even senior citizens are not yet comfortable in adapting to these new technologies, and hence the transition from a cash economy to cashless digital economy will happen only when awareness and education about these technologies is widely spread. Especially, I feel youngsters of my generation should come forward and try to guide senior citizens, and rural people in order to make them a part of this new economy.

The test of love!

Why diversity in love matters!

Many poets, writers and philosophers ( even those who are madly submerged in love) have written that love is not a give and take relationship, it is not a business transaction, but it is something that just happens. But today, we see our society has institutionalized love, just like marriage. While I agree that marriage is a necessary practice or custom for a civilized society to organize and live in harmony together, but unfortunately, love is something which has been defined by this society in a certain way. For ex: we see the enormous influence of religion on marriages and love. A guy belonging to a certain religion cannot marry a girl belonging to a certain religion, and vice versa. This is a perfect example of institutionalizing love. Love is something which just happens, and cannot be explained logically ( no scientist has been able to decipher why a certain guy loves a specific girl more than others).

Now, if such barriers of religion, caste, color, social status are applied to this beautiful relationship, there is no way that love will endure between them. I always felt that such an institutionalization of love is nothing but an uncomfortable adjustment, which never makes couples/partners happy and satisfied in their married lives. I find it impossible to comprehend the fact that people fall in love with only a specific group of people, who are just like them, who eat the same food, have the same social status, education, job, wear similar clothes, speak the same language etc. Of Course, there is nothing wrong for someone to stay and be comfortable around like minded people, culture,or religion. But this barrier is something which does not work in today’s life.

Because decades before, the world was separated physically, and people lived independently without even coming into much contact with each other. Today, on the contrary, the world is flat, connected, inter-dependent and a global hub. Someone in India has to collaborate with an American, who then has to work with a German or a Japanese on the same project/work. And so, as the world is coming into daily contact with different people of different color, race, gender, religion, caste, it is simply unavoidable to like or fall in love with someone who is not like us. An African guy would like an Italian girl, or an Indian girl might fall in love with a Filipino guy, etc… If we apply the centuries old rules of institutionalizing love and relationships, that ain’t gonna work now. It will be an absurd adjustment which has no justification.

Rather, the society should become open to accept that people are going to like what they want, and no longer society can impose its rules on it. In India, where I currently live, things have become so institutionalized, that new rules are popping up to stop these inter-marriages, and due to which, people are fearing to even talk or respond to someone, who is of different religion or community. Even in high profile elite circles, we see people marrying amongst their own elite group. The richest Indian businesses are family owned, and they are zealous enough to keep their elite lineage and wealth within their own group, to preserve the control and wealth. Even Bollywood and cricket ( another two careers to become rich and enter the elite status in India) are no exception. The bollywood families are not only notoriously famous for nepotism, but also for inter-marriages among themselves. And now, with the fame and wealth attained by cricketers, bollywood personalities are marrying cricketers ( Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Hazel Keech, Hardik Pandya and Natasa Stankovic are some famous examples)

So, with the ever growing trend of arranged marriages, groupism, elite marriages as a way to keep power and wealth within the family etc, slowly people are forgetting how to love or even what is actually love! Gone are the days, when a Hindu girl from a conservative Brahmin family ( Gauri Chibber) dared to fall in love with a Muslim guy, who was an orphan, and struggling actor ( Shahrukh Khan). On the other side, we see a Muslim woman ( Fatima Ghadially) married a Hindu Brahmin cricketer (Ajit Agarkar). Both of them have been successful marriages. Gone are the days when a girl from a rich family, and who is studying medicine ( Anjali Mehta) could fall in love with a shy, simple cricketer ( Sachin Tendulkar) after seeing him at the airport, and in spite of being five years senior to Sachin. Gone are the days when a Muslim actor ( Naseeruddin Shah) can dare to marry a Hindu actress ( Ratna Pathak Shah) and not be charged under any law. Both happily continued to practice their respective religions. Gone are the days when an urban princess can fall for a guy who lived in a poor chawl (house). She married him and moved out of her palace to live with her husband in that poor chawl. Later, that guy became known as Jackie Shroff, and that brave woman is Ayesha Shroff. Can this happen in today’s world? I don’t see this happening anywhere. It is worth noting that even the legendary singer Asha Bhosle ( from the elite family of Lata Mangeshkar) had eloped with a rickshaw driver (Ganpatrao Bhosle), when she was barely 16!

I can give countless brave examples of such open-minded and inter-faith, inter-social status relationships which have happened in the past. But this rarely happens today. This has nothing to do with any particular government in power, but it is the mentality of our society which has changed to a large extent. So, the real problem I find is we have become immune to accepting diversity. It is as if we all are been consciously vaccinated by society and its rules to never break the rules, to never accept diversity, to stay within our own community, caste, religion etc. This institutionalization has led to deprivation of love and harmony among us. We live in fear with each other. We talk with other people like having a business transaction. We think before falling in love. We fear what people will say if we like someone who is not like us. This suppression of our freedom is like a virus which inhibits us to love whomever we want, to become whatever we like, or even to come out with our own identity ( be it straight, gay, lesbian or trans). We need to accept diversity of thoughts, identities, and even diversity in loving. Because as it is said, love has no barriers, it just happens. So, we should let it happen freely, this is the test of love…..

International Men’s Day!

Why International Men’s Day needs to be accepted by the society!

The day of Nov 19th, is declared as International Men’s Day! Unlike Women’s day, this day is not much known or celebrated either. Even Google ignores this day by not making doodles which it regularly makes for celebrating women’s day. To be honest, I was also not aware of this day until I read a LinkedIn post from a female connection!

International Men's Day 2020 Quotes & Wishes: Check This Year's Theme

The first question which came in my mind is that why is there a need to celebrate Men’s day? Just because the tradition to celebrate women’s day exists? Well, historically, we see that women have undergone generations of inequality, injustice and impartiality as compared to men. That’s why as per https://www.internationalwomensday.com/About ,March 8th is the day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.

Men on the other side, has always dominated the world in all spheres of life, be it scientific, political, social or economic. The world has honored and revered men from all backgrounds, religions, culture in all parts of the world, at all times. Infact if we checkout the list of 100 most influential people of all time, we find only two women in the entire list, which are Queen Isabella ( Rank 65), and Queen Elizabeth I ( Rank 94). It is said that behind every successful man, there is women. She could be his mother, or wife, or sister. No man can ever be successful without the women’s support. But unfortunately, the world has always treated men far superior than women, and hence, the list stands as a proof.

Ofcourse, this is no way means that men in the list are not great or influential. What I am trying to convey is that history has always biased between men and women ( maybe because that history is mostly written by men!), and hence, the need to celebrate women’s day garnered the credit to honor the unsung heroines of the world. But then why men’ day needs to be celebrated?

This is because, the world has changed a lot in last few centuries, especially in the last 100 or so years. Due to scientific revolutions and advancement in communication technologies, the world is closer and connected than ever before. Thanks to spread of common education curriculum, democracy & voting rights, trade & commerce across the world, and acceptance of law and order required for a civilization to function, the world is no longer fighting wars to grab lands, resources, or even enslave people ( atleast not like Mongol invaders or British imperialists, though Taliban and few fringe elements do exist in the world) which used to happen before.

All this has led to a more civilized world, which has brought in more equality between men and women. Atleast the law says to treat men and women as equal. Thus, we see more women being educated & working along side men in business, military, politics and even in space! And I think this is one of the greatest achievement in human social history ( however late it might be)

Today we see women’s problems being recognized and accepted openly in most parts of the world. Be it the taboo associated with menstruation, or opposition to abortion, or even cases of domestic violence, sexual exploitation & marital rape. All this is being given attention and justice in today’s world. The society has accepted women’s importance as the other equal half, and this has been the greatest success of celebrating women’s day.

But at the same time, the world is also becoming more aware of the problems of men. Just as history saw women as weak, emotional and inferior for centuries, in the same way, men were always viewed from the prism of masculinity, bravery, machoism, unemotional, and dominant. The fact that men can also be emotional, and face stress or mental issues was never accepted by the world. Men were molded by the society to become stiff, aggressive, to never cry, never give up, never show emotions, stay dominant over women, earn more & be more educated than women. This was the way the world functioned for centuries. Scholars and intellectuals propounded this theory to compare it with evolution, and the way our ancestors lived, where men used to hunt and gather food, while women used to be at home to cook and raise children. ( there are some backward people like Taliban or ISIS who still believe in this theory)

But, as the world has changed enormously in the last few centuries, this concept no longer holds true. Times have changed, and even though men continue to dominate the world in most spheres of life, but the stress, anxiety, and work pressure they have to undergo to perform and stay at the top is excruciating. For example, we see that if a women voluntarily decides not to work & become a housewife, it is easily accepted by the society. But men unfortunately do not have that luxury. Men are never accepted to take gaps in education or work. Infact, going further, men are even not accepted to work under a women ( this might be due to peer pressure or male ego), but this stress to dominate, affects mental health enormously. And to make matter worse, men are not even expected to express their emotions, concerns in front of others ( especially in front of women as this is considered to be inferior and servile for a man’s macho status)

That’s why we see men’s health being severely affected, which results in some severe health issues like cardiac attack, high blood pressure etc. The below statistics shows the severity of this mindset.

Happy International Men's Day! 2019 Theme and All you You Need to Know - WorthvieW — source

Hence, International Men’s Day is celebrated to show this other side of male personality. Even though physically or through evolution, men are stronger than women, or are more evolved to work in strenuous physical activities such as farming, construction, or fighting wars etc. But that does not mean they are emotional stronger than women as well. Infact, women are better at managing their stress, mental health and work pressure than men. This might be because women express their concerns and issues more easily with other women or even with husband/father. But men are known to never express their concerns or emotions to anyone.

Hence, this day should get more accepted by the world to create awareness about men’s mental health. The emphasis on male machoism, or ego should be discarded. Men should not feel a shame to work under women, and neither should they take stress to stay dominant at the top of the social ladder. In order to make men and women truely equal with each other, it is necessary to accept the fact that after all, men are also humans! Just like a mother, wife or sister plays a vital role in man’s life, so does a father, husband or brother in a woman’s life! The ground needs to be leveled and so Men’s day needs to get the same support as Women’s day!

Rushing through Life!

How technology has created a rush in our life!

The world has changed immensely in the last few years. Everything happens quickly, instantly nowadays. If we want some information, just Google! If we want to connect with someone, just WhatsApp or connect on Facebook with them. If we need something, Amazon is at our service. The physical boundaries on the planet have been surpassed, and no longer any obstacle or any iron curtain can prevent us from connecting with someone.

On one side, when we can have anything at our finger tips, but on the other side, this change has created quite a few problems for us. First, this fast and instant result oriented world has created a deficiency of patience in us. We are slowly losing our power to be patient. Our forefathers had an impeccable sense of patience. They used to wait for years for results to come, or even to get any information. They had to work hard to find that info, and hence, this tested their patience. But we on the contrary, can get that info within seconds, and so we are forgetting the value of patience. This generation seems to live a life where waiting is like waste of time, and when having patience is looked down upon. We want everything to be happened instantly, and hence, we rush our life to get what we want.

But in our natural lifetime, nothing can happen without having patience. We cannot grow up from childhood to adulthood instantly. We cannot get all the education or knowledge in the world immediately. Relationships and bonding cannot form within seconds. All this takes time, and that’s where the importance of patience comes in. But unfortunately, Google, Facebook and Instagram cannot teach us the importance of patience, as they thrive upon the need for urgency, rush hour and fast communication. For them patience is like a deadend!

Then, the next problem we are having is Fear. Yes, I am right. We are becoming more fearful than ever. Because when we rush things out, we tend to lose them quickly as well. As we are getting things instantly, we are no longer enjoying the fruit of the hard work to attain it. Because technology has made it possible for us to keep us away from actually being involved in the process.

Let me give an example. Before mobile phone technology came in, the only way we could reach out to our loved ones were the telephone, or letters. Unlike mobile phones or social media, it was not possible for real time tracking or connecting with them anytime ( 24/7). But our foretathers and generations before used to travel across continents, countries, fight in wars, explore forests and mountains, and still were brave and patient enough to remain away from their family and relatives for a long period of time. But in this generation, we see that we hardly can stay away from calling or texting our loved ones, if they are not at home or away without leaving any message. We can’t even stay away from our phone for more than few hours. Ofcourse, people say that technology was not available in old times, and hence, they had no option but to wait. I agree that we are very fortunate to have all the latest communication modes at our hand, but the side effect of urgent and fast communication has led to a form of conditioning of our mind, that we are losing patience, and becoming fearful if we are not able to reach out to our loved one instantly. That is a problem we are seeing in modern times.

And finally, I see the most concerning problem brought in by technology rush is the instant self-gratification. Its like a genie which has escaped out of the bottle! We make friends within seconds just by sending a friend request. We don’t even know about the other person whom we are sharing our messages and pictures. We see something on Amazon or Flipkart, and we instantly want to buy it. And the best thing is it gets delivered overnight. Google has made our life so simple that we don’t need to remember any facts, or birthdays, or even road maps.

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are the universities of self-gratification. We spend a lot of our valuable time in studying in these universities, and we then learn to master the art of self-gratification. It leads us to becoming narcissistic, self-concerned, devoid of patience, fearful of what society thinks of us, and status conscious.

All these attributes are of no use in life. Infact, they are the vices which our forefathers avoided, and which our parents & teachers taught us in school to be careful of.

Hence, even though the modern technology and social media applications have made our life better, simpler & smarter, but this rush and fast paced world impacted by the technology has brought in its own vicissitudes. Even though many things can be done instantly today, but life itself has its own pace. As mentioned before, we cannot change the way our body grows, or how relationships mature. We cannot alter the time it takes for the seasons to change, or even for the human reproduction. Everything takes its own time. We cannot get instant peace of mind using some app, or neither can we attain mastery over a subject by googling over. It needs time, and patience, and hard work. And that is the only way to become proficient at something. Be it becoming an athlete, writer, doctor or even becoming a mother!

Technology has created an illusion that if we go slow, then we stagnate. But this is not true. Everything has its own pace. There is no need to rush or hurry for anything. Its okay if it takes time to learn or get a job or make friends. The technology and apps are designed to work faster, and give instant results. Because they are machines made of circuits. We are not. We are humans, and lets evolve at our own pace. Lets not rush over life, else sooner or later, life will rush away from us!

Nerds, Big Bang and the silicon valley!

How nerds and geeks changed the world!

Recently I have been watching the famous ‘The Big Bang Theory’ TV series. I must say that it is one of the best comedy series I have ever watched. Even ‘Friends’, of which I used to be a die hard fan of seems to be less funny as compared to TBBT. Anyways, this post is not intended for any sort of comparison between comedy sitcoms. Rather, I would like to write about the importance of nerds/geeks in the world.

Just like the fictional weirdo, nerdy, intelligent, genius physicist Sheldon Cooper character is elegantly portrayed by real life actor Jim Parsons, the world always have had many similar nerdy folks. However to the large extent these nerds might be laughed at, ignored or even ridiculed by the so called pragmatic self-concerned society, but they cannot deny that these bunch of folks have changed the world. If we just look at the history in science, technology, economics or arts, we see most of the inventions and breakthroughs done by the nerd scientists and engineers. Sir Issac Newton must have been a nerd in the 17th century England. The genius physicist Albert Einstein must have been a nerd in his college days who delved into the wonders of physics, and opened the universe of relativity for us.

Silicon valley is famously known as a valley of nerds. It was started and later expanded by a bunch of young minds like the trio Bill Gates, Bill Joy & Bill Atkinson. Bill Gates, as we all know became the richest nerd in the world after he co-founded Microsoft along with his friend Paul Allen, another nerd. Bill Joy who is lesser known as a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, is more of a prodigy in programming. This post from Berkeley praises this genius as “Dubbed the “Edison of the Internet” by Fortune Magazine, Bill Joy is one of luminaries of tech. Years before personal computers were being widely used, he created software that would enable the rise of the modern internet…”. And Bill Atkinson is the gifted programmer who along with Steve Wozniak( the geeky genius behind Apple) gave Apple the recognition of being more than just a fruit.

Then, we have the Google founders, Sergei and Larry, who envisioned a world with a web of internet. And adding to that, comes Mark Zuckerberg, another prodigy in programming, who revolutionized the way we live in social life. It is interesting to see that a nerd like Mark, who struggled to be social in his school or college days, came up with the idea of Facebook, a social networking platform. I guess an online social networking platform idea was the least expected from a nerd, but we know, nerds have always surprised the world!

Then, we have the famous ‘PayPal Mafia’ gang which comprised of a bunch of nerds such as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, Jawed Karim etc. Elon as we all know went on to start world famous companies like Tesla & Space X, while Peter Thiel became the angel investor in Facebook. And the trio ( Steve, Chad and Jawed) went on to start YouTube which was later acquired by Google. This is the power of a group of people who are intelligent, hard working and visionary.

I think the most famous nerd in the world would be Steve Jobs, who was not only a geeky visionary who rode on his imagination ride to change the world with Mac and Iphone, but also garnered the respect, admiration and cult following which nerds usually despise or avoid. Many nerds before Steve Jobs used to either confine themselves to innovating in their labs, or teaching & researching in University like MIT, Harvard or Berkeley. But it was Steve who broke the well accepted image of a nerd, which is generally introverted, shy, and not going after money or fame. But Steve Jobs was the exact opposite. He changed the way the world used to look or treat nerds. He proved that nerds can become famous, rich, and immensely powerful. And we see, Apple is the best example of innovation, and being different!

Independent Thinking - the Maverick Mind — Source

History shows that whenever a bunch of visionary minds have come together, they have often succeeded to change the world. Silicon valley is the world’s largest group of nerds, geeks and tech enthusiasts. Atleast it started off like this, and maybe things have become more profit oriented today, when Wall Street executives and corporate raiders have invaded the innovative silicon valley into a profit churning machine. But still, the spirit of innovation and passion to change the world runs high among the geeks and techies. Starting from the “Traitorous Eight” to “Paypal Mafia”, the nerds and techies made silicon valley the most famous and revered place on the earth.

Thus, lets hope this spirit of innovation continues in the valley. Even though the companies which were started by young minds who were called nerds in school days, who revered books, technology, comics, video games more than dating girls, or body building, who were mocked as being weirdos by the social world, today we see the entire world is dependent on the technologies and innovations these geeks had started, be it Iphone, Google, Tesla, or Facebook. Hence, I remember some wall street trader had said during the 2008 crisis that “Goldman Sachs rules the world” But he was wrong. Today, its the “Silicon Valley that rules the world!”. And in Steve Jobs words…

Hope is a good thing!

How to be aware of the power within us!

The heading of this post might remind few of the readers about the epic movie “The Shawshank Redemption”. That movie is one of my favorites! In that movie, Andy Dufresne tells Red, that “Hope is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies!”. I find this quote to be so much valuable in our life.

Because everything changes in life. Just like day and night, young and old, summer and winter, so does our situations, our successes, our failures all change with time. Similarly in life, we see events happening, and some events are so deep, that their effect remain with us for a long time. We feel that this will never change. We start losing hope, and then suddenly, out of utter darkness, there comes a ray of light which makes darkness disappear. That ray of light is the hope. A small good event can change the entire situation. We ought to keep faith in that ray of hope.

I particularly like the Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl’s book “Man’s Search for Meaning”. It is one of the splendid books ever written. For me, that book is something which charges my battery with renewed hope and faith, whenever failures or setbacks bombard me. That book is like a charging station of positivity and synergy. The book is very simple yet heart touching. The author had to undergo the worst experiences in Auschwitz, yet he managed to not only survive but also find hope and faith in such a hell. He even helped several of his colleagues to overcome depression and losing hope in life. The author simply argued that “Life can have meaning even in the most miserable of circumstances and that the motivation for living comes from finding that meaning. That we humans have a power to choose our response to situations, however gruesome they might be, And in our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

I find this to be so true even in our daily life. Thank God we are in much better situation as compared to the infernal concentration camps. And we have the same power to respond to the situations we face in our life. Stephen Covey quoted ” Look at the word responsibility—“response-ability”—the ability to choose your response. Highly proactive people recognize that responsibility. They do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for their behavior. Their behavior is a product of their own conscious choice, based on values, rather than a product of their conditions, based on feeling”. Isn’t the message by Viktor Frankl and Stephen Covey resonate on the same note?

The Peter Parker principle says “With more power, comes more responsibility”. I would add on to that, No power does not mean no responsibility. Because, whether the situation is good or bad, we all are “Response-Able”. Our response does not depend on the power. Rather, I find with positive or pro-active response to any situation, comes more power to beat the problem!

We all have the power and freedom to choose the response. We can either give positive or negative response. Everyone has the ability to respond. And this power to respond is a hope for us, that every situation can be changed. If some of us remember the movie Cast Away, we can relate how Tom Hanks desperately tried hard to get away from the island to reach civilization, but the stormy ocean waves destroyed all of his attempts. Until one day, he finds the same storm delivers a metal enclosure, and suddenly Tom receives a brainwave! He finds hope that he can escape using that part, and finally he builds a much stronger boat that can withstand the waves, and sails across the mighty ocean to get noticed by civilization! That’s hope and faith, my friend!

So, never lose hope, never lose your response, however dark the night may be!

Its the mindset, bro!

Why do some friends never change?

As few of the regular readers of my blog might be aware of the fact that I recently returned back to India. And so far, it’s been a very pleasant experience. Afterall, who does not love his/her country or staying with family. I know few might not, but I have always loved staying in India, in my hometown, with family and friends.

For Friends – Tagged "best friend" – Ru&Chai — Friends

So, I met some of my school friends recently. The school buddies are like the oldest friends, we know in our life. Unlike college or office friends, they know our other side which we try to hide from the world. They know the stuff we did before we grew up to become nice, good looking adults, isn’t it? In India, we have a funny word for such friendship, which in Hindi we call “Langotiya yaar or Chaddi buddies!”. I can sense that the Indian reading crowd might be laughing out loud for this, but if I allowed myself to try my best to explain this to non-Hindi speaking or foreign readers, then it comes down to “Friends who have been together since they started wearing underpants!” In other words, friends since kindergarten or even before that.

Okay, so I met these friends ( not many, just 3-4 good old guys). In my childhood days, it was difficult to make friendships with girls due to separation of schools and groups of boys and girls. I bet things have changed a lot now. Anyways, I met them and it was very nice to spend time with them. We usually end up talking about all the topics in the world, be it girls, relationships, money, my US experience, politics, sex etc. In such a close group of guys ( just like gals have their own close knitted group), there is nothing to hide. I mean ofcourse, I do not mean we can talk everything with intricate details, but still it is far better to at least share some things with the old buddies which we usually will never discuss with our family, or colleagues.

But one thing I did observe, that things change in our life. We change over time. But somehow, these friends’ mindset who know us for so long, never changes. They will never forget the mistakes we did back in school, or some pranks which we had done to tease each other. I mean it’s okay to share those fond memories sometimes, but I sometimes feel the friends keep judging us from the old lens of those archaic memories. I mean it’s kind of funny, but some people don’t change their viewpoint. Even if we achieve anything in life, for these friends, we will always remain the same old buddy. That’s good to a certain extent, but then we know life is not the same for everyone, and life doesn’t stop at school also. We all move on, and try out different things in life. Someone becomes more rich, or more educated, or more famous in life or career. And in spite of all this, it should not affect the friendship.

But I guess sometimes, with old timers/buddies, it does get affected. Because they keep on seeing us from the old prism of being in school together or played together. And suddenly, the topic changes to “You have changed bro!” And my answer is Yes, because life changes everyone man!. I have no complaints against them, because after all they are my friends. But what I feel is in spite of good old school friendship, the conversation topics should change and become more mature with time. Some sort of privacy, or even freedom to have certain opinions must be welcomed. It is not necessary to talk about old pranks or funny incidents everytime we meet. Neither is it necessary to compare each other’s life. Because, in true friendship, it does not matter. All that matters is just being together in times of need, being there to share joy and sorrow, in short someone who’s there to say “I’ve got your back!”.

Updated 2020} Whatsapp Group Names List for Friends, Cool, Funny, Family, Cousins | Art contest, Whatsapp group, Fun — Old school friends

I think in India, where the culture is more informal, this problem persists more. Ofcourse, it might be there in other culture’s as well. But in my case, my school friends hardly leave any chance to bring out the old topics, pranks, or anything to tease each other. Then comparisons and gossip do follow. The only thing sometimes binds us all together is the long duration we know each other, and due to which, it’s really hard to break off with them. It’s not very easy to get away from someone who knows us for so long. So, then I also have to jump in the pool and throw their pranks, or mischiefs they did in school back on them. Even though I do not like to behave that way, I have to just to ensure I am not the only one left out in the group. You can call it a way of peer pressure. I guess yes it’s peer pressure, but this pressure seems to never end.

Finally, what am I trying to convey in this post? Frankly I don’t know, but maybe the best thing would be to tell them ” Hey, look, you are my best school buddies, and I know we have known for so long. And we are going to remain the same, but just do one favor, and that is For heaven sake, GROW UP IN LIFE and THE SCHOOL’s OVER!”

Professor and the boatman!

How an interesting story can tell us a lot about life!

Boatman vs Professor – RonelDamian — Source

There is one beautiful story of a professor and the boatman. I assume many of us might have read about this in school. But I guess with time, we often forget the good things we learnt before. So, let’s start this post with this interesting story.

The story begins with the professor, a very erudite and learned man, who decides to cross the river to reach his destination. He sees a boatman, and asks him if he could cross the river. The boatman agrees and thus begins the journey of the professor across the river. The river is huge, and due to recent rains, it is flooded across its breadth. The professor soon gets bored, and starts talking with the boatman to pass the time. He asks the boatman ,”Do you know about science and engineering?”. The boatman is confused, and tells the professor, he does not know anything about it. The professor tells the boatman,”Your 25% life is wasted as you do not know about science and engineering which is so important in today’s technological revolution”.

Steem Cartoon : The Professor and The Boatman — Steemit — Source

Then, the professor asks the boatman, “Okay, then tell me, have you read about geography, climate, and environment which is necessary to understand the earth and its wonderful seasons”. The boatman is again confused and just nods his head. The professor laments on the boatman, and says “Oh no, you have wasted 50% of your life. Anyways, let’s keep this aside. Just tell me, do you know anything about economics, how money works, and about banking, finance etc. anything?” The boatman by then is extremely sad and says, “Sir, I do not know anything about this either”. The professor sees the boatman’s situation as pitiful, and tells him, ” My dear, you have wasted 75% of your life!”

During this conversation, the boat has crossed halfway. Then, suddenly, the boatman sees something and asks the professor” Sir, do you know how to swim?”. The professor laughs and says, “No, I never got the time to learn it, as I was busy studying the world, science, politics, philosophy and economics”. The boatman tells the professor “Sorry sir, we have a hole in the boat, and the boat is going to sink!”.And then before jumping to save his own life, the boatman says to the professor” I think you have wasted 100% of your life!”.

Now, what’s the moral of the story? Well, this is a very interesting story, and it’s one of my favorites. I find this extremely relevant in our modern day life. We all are to a certain extent living the life of the professor. We study in school and college about the wonders of the world, about history, about science, but then do we even apply them in later life. We slog and work hard the whole life in earning money or making a living, but we forget that money is made for us, and we are not made for money. We have harnessed the power of science to solve physical problems which has reduced efforts, in other words made us lazy and dependent. But we have not harnessed the power of our mind and brain to the fullest. That’s why we worry too much for small issues, get nervous or depressed easily, stress out our life over petty relationships or serve our big ego. We forget that we are social animals, who are expected to care for others and live together. But we just maintain our animalistic instincts which can roughly be scaled down to eating, sleeping and mating.

So, what has happened, in short, is we are wasting 100% of our life, in spite of all the learning, earning, fighting, gossiping. Because, like the boatman, we are not learning how to swim, which means understanding what life is about, and how to live it beautifully. Books can be written ( or are already written by famous philosophers and writers). So, “Not learning how to swim means not learning how to live”. That, we are not living our life to the fullest. That we are working on those things like money, house, or car which ain’t going to save our life, on our deathbed, or even save our life, when we are depressed. Only by understanding the importance of life which means having a disease free, strong body, a stress free mind, a social and caring personality, by loving nature, family and country is going to help us swim the vast ocean of life, which is filled with enemies like sharks, ups and downs like surface waves and encompasses a depth of uncertainty and problems which needs to be overcomed to keep ourselves afloat! That’s the moral of the story!

Cuba and the Cameraman

How one American journalist visited Cuba for over 40 years, and showed the world the other side of Cuba.

Recently I watched a documentary movie named ‘Cuba and the Cameraman’ filmed, written and co-produced by an American journalist Jon Alpert. The film can be watched on Netflix.

I really enjoyed watching the documentary. It shows both the positives and negatives of life in Cuba, and how Cuba transformed through its revolution in 1959 led by Fidel Castro till the death of Fidel Castro in 2016. The movie depicts the lives of common people in Cuba, especially the three farmer brothers, Cristobal, Angel and Gregario. Many people were filmed and asked questions about their life in Cuba. The people came from all spectrums of life. They included farmers like the three Borrego brothers, shopkeepers, factory workers, construction laborers, doctors, teachers and students.

Jon even went ahead to interview the most famous man in Cuba, which is none other than Fidel Castro himself. He shows how he managed to interview him multiple times, inspite of being an American. He was the only journalist who was allowed to accompany Fidel during his visit to New York for the United Nations speech which Fidel was scheduled to give. The movie shows the lighter and humorous side of Fidel, who enjoyed smoking famous Cuban cigars, and happily answered all the questions asked by Jon.

Cuba and the Cameramen — Jon interviewing Fidel

The most interesting part of the documentary is its informal interaction with the Cubans. Unlike other documentaries, which usually has some underlying message or theme for a particular cause, I find this movie to be purely an interaction of an American with the Cubans. It has no political intentions, neither does it try to relate the adversity of Cuba to socialism or advocating America’s capitalism. The movie shows Jon visiting the same people for almost 40 years. It starts from the mid 1970’s till 2016. During this time, Cuba underwent a number of transformations, including being a successful socialist country in mid 1970’s ( though heavily subsidized by Soviet Union) to a struggling economy in early 1990’s when Soviet Union fell apart and Cuba got severely affected, which led to mass shortage of goods. Then the movie shows again the revival of good times for Cuba in the late 2000’s and 2010’s decade, when Cuba started attracting tourists from all over the world to revitalize its economy.

The best part I liked in the movie is when Jon interacts with the Borrego brothers. I simply love the way those three brothers lived their life. They were simple, poor farmers, who toiled hard throughout the day, yet never complained of the troubles, or hardships they faced. They did not have any tractors, or electricity yet managed to carry on their work diligently. Things changed in Cuba to a large extent, but the life of these three brothers did not change much. They never complained even when things got worse in Cuba. They truely believed in the socialist idea, and hence volunteered for the country without any pay or perks. When Jon asked, “What’s the secret to your happiness, Cristobal?” He replied, “We’re always working and walking, exercising. That’s the secret to being healthy and strong”.When Jon met them, the brothers were very old. Yet Cristobal who was 80 years old could beat in an arm wrestle against Jon, who was 40 years old at that time!

Jon Alpert Talks 'Cuba and the Cameraman': "In terms of romantic heroism, Fidel and his story are pretty astonishing!" | HuffPost

Jon Alpert with the Borrego brothers Huff Post

What I learnt from this documentary and Cubans, is that life is not easy at all. but also life is always changing. Good and bad times are a part of life. As taught to me in the Art of Living course, Opposite values are complementary to each other. Cubans saw some of the worst days in the 1990’s but today, we see they are a booming economy. Even though the economy busted or boomed, leaders like Fidel came and went, but what never changed for people like Borrego brothers is the happiness, or satisfaction about life. They never got depressed or even commit suicide, but they faced the adversity with a smile on their face. Afterall, this is what life is all about!

And finally, I appreciate Jon’s tireless efforts to travel to Cuba for over 40 years, and keep track of the people he met to understand about their life and their problems. I liked his generosity to give an electrolarynx to Cristobal who had lost his voice later. I wish I could make an impact on someone’s life. After all, life is all about caring for others, to build relationships, and this movie indeed has a touch of humanity, benevolence and simplicity.

Book review: The Accidental Prime Minister

This book review briefly explains why Dr.Manmohan Singh became the known as the Accidental Prime Minister.

I recently read the book ‘The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh‘ written by Mr.Sanjaya Baru, who was Prime Minister (PM) Dr. Manmohan Singh’s media advisor from May 2004 to Aug 2008. This blog post is only about my personal opinion after reading this book, and to make it clear, I have not seen the movie being released based on this book. It’s been more than 6 years since this book was published back in 2014, and this book had been on my ‘To Read’ list for a while. Finally, I got the time to read this recently and I completed it in a few days.

Due to my interest in history and world politics, I found this book very interesting. It covers the political happenings during UPA 1 from 2004 to 2008, when the author, Mr.Sanjaya Baru worked for Dr.Manmohan Singh ( and not for UPA government or certainly not for Sonia Gandhi as he clarifies in the book) as his media advisor. Well, the book highlights how Dr.Singh was chosen accidentally to be India’s PM during UPA 1 ( United Progressive Alliance) tenure, when Sonia Gandhi could not find anyone else deserving enough to serve as PM in her cabinet. Dr.Singh himself never thought of becoming PM, but destiny showered on him the blessings for his past hard work, his patriotism and dedication for serving the nation.

During UPA 1, even though Dr.Singh was the head of the government, everything was not however in total control of the PM. The portfolio allocations for ministers were done by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, but finance and foreign ministry remained in the hands of Dr.Singh, and hence, the UPA 1 became a success due to the exceptional performance of Indian economy with a 9% GDP growth for continuous 5 years, and achieving India’s victory in foreign affairs by signing the India-US Civil Nuclear Agreement. Thanks to Dr.Singh, India could achieve this feat.

But during the UPA 2 tenure, the government was maligned due to its involvement in a number of corruption scandals especially the 2G scam, Commonwealth Games scandal, Coal scam etc. But the author clarifies that Dr.Singh was not involved in any of this, because of the fact that Dr.Singh was not at all in control of the UPA 2 government. Not only were all the cabinet portfolios including finance and foreign ministries decided by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, but also Dr.Singh was not consulted for any decisions taken during that tenure. As per Dr.Singh words as quoted by Mr.Baru in the book, “You see, you must understand one thing. I have come to terms with this. There cannot be two centres of power. That creates confusion. I have to accept that the party president is the centre of power. The government is answerable to the party,” This complacency became the main problem for Dr.Singh during UPA 2.

As the author explains in the book, Dr.Singh yielded his space during his second term against his own advice given to the author before. Dr.Singh always considered himself being a teacher, or economist first, and hardly saw himself as a politician. That’s why he was the accidental prime minister. His shy, introverted nature, his humble background, his studious and excellent academic accomplishments all made him an ideal reformer or expert in economics. And this was proved right in 1991 when the world saw how this gentleman along with the then PM Narsimha Rao bravely ushered in new reforms to liberalize the economy and pull India out of bankruptcy!

But when it came to politics, it was quite a challenge. His naiveness towards playing politics within the party, his lack of oratorical skills and his lack of intention to command power over his ministers all turned out to be detrimental to the position of Prime Minister. But his qualities turned out to be useful for the Congress high command who came to dominate and consolidate power behind the curtains, especially during UPA 2 tenure. Similar to the author, I too feel that Dr.Singh should have taken a strong stand against any ministers who did not respect him, or who rather just followed the orders of Congress high command over him. He should have contested Lok Sabha elections in 2009 and should have avoided running for the Rajya Sabha seat similar to the one he did back in 2004. Dr.Singh should have taken the credit for UPA’s victory in 2009 as he truly deserved it because after all, it was due to his economic and foreign affairs policies that had led to rise in India’s stature on the world platform.

Unfortunately, as the author has illustrated in the book, the opposition and the common public misunderstood his silence, or his shyness as submission to the Congress high command. His cardinal mistake of accepting Congress party high command as the leader of the country against his own position of PM, led to a series of events including corruption scandals, India Against Corruption rallies, and finally, set the stage for Narendra Modi, who was seen to be strong, decisive, articulate orator, all of these qualities being exact opposite of Dr.Singh’s personality.

I quite agree with the author’s views that Dr.Singh should have avoided becoming PM during UPA 2. It would have been terribly strenuous for the Congress high command to find someone like Dr.Singh, who is equally competent and compliant. As legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar rightly quoted “You must retire when people ask ‘why’ and not ‘why not”. I think Dr.Singh should have followed Gavaskar’s advice in 2009. But looking at the past 6 years of Modi government, it can be said that destiny wanted to lay the groundwork for the emergence of a new leader on stage, in the form of Narendra Modi, and hence, the chaos, and corruption became the face of UPA 2 government which resulted in the collapse of Congress dynasty in 2014.

But the book does shed light on the fact that it was not entirely the mistake of Dr.Singh. He did an excellent job in UPA 1 when he was given the freedom to work. But in UPA 2 he simply did not have any freedom nor support of his own party. The Congress mistook the victory after UPA 1 as eternal, and foolishly assumed to continue the ‘business as usual’ policy. They even handed over the credit of Dr.Singh to Rahul Gandhi in 2009. But as we know, karma hits back, and this abrasive and denigrating behavior of Congress party ( especially Sonia & Rahul Gandhi) towards Dr.Singh led to their reversal of their fortune in 2014, and it even plummeted further in 2019 elections. After all, Nature is never unfair!

After seeing all this, in spite of serving 10 years diligently, Dr.Singh had to express his legacy as “history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media, or for that matter, the Opposition parties in Parliament.” This is indeed true. India will always be indebted to Dr.Singh for making India liberal and globalized because of his 1991 economic reform, and later during UPA 1 tenure in making India a strong nation by signing the historic nuclear deal with USA. Dr.Singh will always be known as one of the finest prime minister India had after PM Nehru, who like Pandit Nehru was educated in England, close to Lutyens media, liberal in nature, and being respected globally. However, the only difference between both of them is that the former was the PM by destiny, while latter was by an accident!

The other facets of American education

On-campus work is a charming part of American education, unlike the education system in India.

Recently, read an opinion article on ET about “The charm of American education is over“. The author expresses her opinion on how the American education is embroiled in issues such as restriction of student visa extension, reduced employment opportunities after graduation and Trump administration’s myopic approach towards limiting scholars and students from other countries like India and China. I do agree that a lot has changed since 2015, when I started my grad studies, and I can compare how difficult it has become to pursue education in US especially for international students.

Even though the charm of American education might be over considering the enormous employment opportunities students used to have after completing their education. But still, there are many things which stand unique in American education as compared to education in other countries like India. Some of which are obvious such as high quality of education, huge funding opportunities for pursuing a Ph.D, or even the high-tech campus with all the latest infrastructure, lab facilities, digitized library etc.

But I find something more interesting in American education which simply does not exist in India yet. And that is the on-campus work opportunities. Yes, this might sound trivial for a student life, where parents or society in India generally expects students to just study hard, excel in exams and find a job. On-campus jobs or work is not yet a culture in India. But in USA, this is considered a part of education curriculum. Everyone works or atleast prefers to work on-campus for few hours in a week to pay off their rents, food expenses or other living costs. Though international students have no option but to work to reduce the financial load over their family, but even wealthy American kids do work on campus even though there is no real need for them to work just to earn money. This is because working on-campus is considered a part of student life, as a process to become independent, to grow out of school life and transition to a college life. For them, its also a way to become more adjusted to real life, where we need to earn our own bread and butter. I find this very interesting and hence, I became appreciative of this part of American education.

So, when I landed on the university campus, I immediately started looking for on-campus work. I did end up working on couple of things in my two years, and I consider this to be one of the best part of my American education experience. While working as a writer and correspondent for University newspaper, I discovered that I liked writing. I could see how a bunch of college kids were running a newspaper, a radio station on campus and whatever they did was amazing! Later, when I started working for University Dining, I learnt the importance of hard work, because the work in food industry was really strenuous. Serving students with food menu, slicing pizzas, scrubbing floors or washing utensils, certainly demanded a lot of physical work. But all of the people working in the Dining were students and I felt a part of team. Usually, I never would have done such work alone, but when we are with a team of fellow students, it becomes a great team work. After doing that work, I became aware of the food industry, and how much efforts it take to run the dining/catering service.

In this process, I made a lot of friends and contacts. In India, I used to be a shy introvert guy, but after experiencing this work, I became more and more social. I realized that all the differences between people, be it color, gender or race are superficial. I could see girls doing the same physical work as I used to do, which shattered any notion that physical work is only for guys! When working as a note taker for Disability services, I could feel the hardships of ‘specially abled‘ people, and I became more empathized. I also realized how fortunate I am that God has given me a normal physique.

I even had all types of managers, including a young girl studying bachelors ( I was a Masters student) while working in newspaper, and a military vet who was specially abled while working in Disability Services. Then, I had a very humble African American woman as well as an kind old White dude as my managers while working in Dining. All this led to acceptance of all kinds of people. I dropped any artificial ego, or concepts which I had in my mind regarding working under a certain group of people. I had excellent relations with all of them, and they all liked me so much, even though I was neither an American, nor a white or black guy. I was just a brown Indian guy but this never became any obstacle to find the work, or even do my work gracefully. I performed well, and I understood this hidden aspect of universal acceptance for hard work, and impartiality towards any race, color or gender, which exists amongst common Americans, unlike what is portrayed by Trump or his supporters. I came to understand that while working with common Americans, the American Dream still exists and it is only due to selfish governmental policies on visa, or immigration that has corrupted and destroyed the path of American Dream for the non-Americans.

Anyways, hence, on campus work is one of the nicest part of American education, which still does not exist in India. I hope this culture to work while studying, to reduce financial load over parents, and to drop any superficial concepts of lowering of prestige/image while working on-campus starts in India as well in coming future. Because apart from earning money, it really makes us professional in a student life. It makes us become more social as compared to being hidden behind a pile of books. It makes us value time, as both work and study go hand in hand. It makes us understand the importance of hard work, and that no work is small. All work deserves equal dignity and with that we even start appreciating those working in restaurants, or cleaning services etc. In short, on-campus makes us a better person.

Hence, the charm of American education is not over, but just has become difficult to achieve for non-Americans.

Creativity and education system..part 2

I remember my school days when rote memory was valued in high esteem. The teachers and tuition/coaching class teachers used to tell us to memorize all the answers, and to write in the exam as it is. I am sure everyone must have experienced this in their school days. To such a high extent was this system promoting to memorize and rote memory at the expense of creativity and original thinking, that if we wrote answers in our own words in the exam, we were scared that we might get failed or get less marks. In short, this scene from the movie “3 Idiots” well explains the over emphasis on rote memory in schools and college.

Movie – 3 Idiots

All this results in utter destruction of creativity. In fact not just creativity, but the student even loses interest in studying or passing exams. The over dependence on theoretical contents without any discussion, debate, or application of those concepts, over -reliance on marks and passing the exam, studying from a particular author’s book or reference notes, displaying of marks or grades on the public display board, outdated syllabus, competition between students to come first( which makes no sense) are some of the inherent flaws in today’s education system.

In India, the students are forced to study for clearing IIT entrance, since a young age ( from 5th or 6th std). It scary how would a 10 year boy or girl stay motivated or even interested to study for IIT entrance which happens at the age of 18. The age 10-16 are the age group when creativity blossoms at the peak level due to more understanding of the world along with physical changes in them. They normally become curious to know the world, how things work, why people behave in such a way etc. And in that delicate age, if they are burdened with preparation for entrance exams, or to do programming to become future Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerburg, then that is not only destroying the creativity in them but also is an injustice against them.

In an age when the students should be allowed to play, make new friends, read books or paint, they are taught to compete with their fellow classmates. They are told to look down upon failures, and even a sense of fear is instilled in them to avoid failing in any exams. They are given false promises of a bright future ahead, if they study now. I had even heard some teachers saying to students that if they study till age 22, then the next 40 years after that will be full of comforts and luxury. And the kids are so innocent and obedient in that age, that with the only hope that life will be easy after 22, they decide to compromise their playing time, or health during teen and early adult years. Later do they realize, how were they tricked into this game and after having lost the teen years in just work and study, they regret later in life, which results in loss of faith in hard work and in teachers/elders as well.

A lot can be said about the flaws in today’s education system, and we simply cannot ignore that its a need of the hour to reform the education system. Finally, I just want to add Pink Floyd’s classic song with lyrics

Pink Floyd

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey, teachers, leave them kids alone
All in all it's just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave those kids alone
Hey teachers, leave those kids alone
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in…

Creativity and education system?

Has the time arrived to think why education system should be allowed to continue, if it doesn’t produce creative minds?

Recently watched this TED Talk and thought to share my views about this.

Do schools kill creativity? | Sir Ken Robinson

First of all, this talk is incredibly humorous. The speaker is exceptionally adept at making people laugh, and at the same time, conveyed his views about schooling and creativity quite eloquently. While watching TED talks, I suffer from lack of patience, and if I find speaker or the topic boring, I have the habit to stop watching the talk within 2-3 minutes. But this talk made me glued to the speaker, and I simply admire the way he cracked jokes and expressed his views.

After listening the talk, I agree that the schooling or even the entire education system seems to have lost its real purpose with time. The education system which is still being implemented all over the world was started with the purpose to provide skilled workforce during the industrial revolution. During first industrial revolution, it was the need of civil, mechanical engineers who would build ships, railways, bridges, canals etc. Especially for the European and later American colonialism it was the need of the hour. They need to build ships to go to India, Africa and East Asia, and bring the looted resources back to their country. The requirement of not just engineers but also managers grew during second industrial revolution with the introduction of assembly line in manufacturing, to increase productivity by managing workers, and thereby reaping profits. All this needed the right kind of people who had a habit to listen, to obey, to fear failure in real life because that’s what is needed in factories, and companies.

Later, during the third industrial revolution, the same pattern followed except the techno savvy minds needed to be created, and hence, we see kids being taught to learn programming. Going to B School became a fashion, as it not only paid well, but it also allowed only those people to excel who were obedient, hard working, servile to the company and boss, and did not think out of box. Ironic it may be, but the third industrial revolution which introduced computers, telecom, social media, Iphone to the world, was started by those guys who either did not graduate from grad school or college. The list consists of giants like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and many more. They all were creative and yet dropped out. Why? May be because they did not feel that going to school or college will enhance their knowledge or boost their creativity. That’s why, Peter Thiel has started the “The Thiel Fellowship” which grants $100000 to those young people who would not go to a 4 year college, and instead build something innovative!

In India, we see creativity and schooling are in mutually exclusive zone. The system seldom encourages students to think out of the box, or work on some innovative projects, though there are always few exceptions. More than building something, its the mindset of students which needs to be worked on. We see students are compelled to follow the standard routes of education, which is primarily engineering or medical. Only in rare cases, where the family owns a business, are the kids allowed to study commerce/business. The subject “Arts” doesn’t exist in the dictionary of parents. And that’s why only those students who get less grades( or those who graduate at the bottom of the class) are sent to study Arts. How would a creative artist be born if he/she is convinced that the only reason to study arts was because of their failure to get good grades in high school. Why wouldn’t they consider studying arts as a punishment which in J K Rowling words “that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage, or secure a pension”. That’s why India hasn’t produced any excellent painters, writers( not many still), poets and philosophers, and neither has India won any Nobel prize for literature after Tagore won last time in 1913.

To be continued…

Life is real short..

Steve Jobs once said in his commencement speech address that “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” If we keep the humor aside, then it does convey a deep aspect in our life.

Our life is real short, and we keep thinking that life is a long journey. We get involved in petty conflicts, we keep working for the job we hate, we keep talking nonsense things about others the entire day and listening the same from them. We often fail to realize that the end of life can happen anytime.

We need to spend our time on those things which we want to do in our life. We keep scheduling them ahead and ahead in life, but who knows what will be there ahead. We save money for a rainy day in future, but miss out the present joy by worrying about the future. Though there is nothing wrong to save money or invest for a better life ahead, but sacrificing the present joy, and happy moments for some bright sunny day is not always the wise choice. As we do not know how long we are gonna live, hence it is better to keep enjoying everyday life has given us, and also make sure we can enjoy the future similarly.

We need to be very mindful of how we talk, behave with people around us, especially within our family and friends. We often forget how our parents, family and friends are incredibly vital in our lives. Rather, we fight with them, keep some distance from relatives due to certain conflicts, compete with friends due to jealousy or envy, and even drag our family to courts for property or familial matters. I am not saying everything should be goody goody relations with family and relatives. That is not always possible, but the problem is often we spend so much time of our life in fighting with them on some issues, and we realize how petty that thing was when they suddenly die or pass away. We then feel guilty of how we behaved with them, then blame ourselves for the mistakes committed, and for not giving them few nice moments which they surely deserved.

Hence, we should always keep in mind that life is short not only for us, but for others as well, and there is no point in fighting over small petty issues with them. If we can’t live together with them, then atleast we can get separated amicably without fights or quarrels. Often divorce filing is one of the worst experience in a couple’s life, and by keeping in mind, that life is small and too valuable for not getting involved in such fights, then we realize in the long run, such legal procedures are just a waste of time. Also they make our life more miserable. It is better to live together or get separated without wasting time in long, costly legal fights.

Concluding, we need to just be aware that each day given to us is a gift by life, and it is important that we do some good work before the day ends. We never know what’s going to happen the next day. Everyday, even if we do a tiny amount of good work for others or add some value to the world, then our day has been worth lived……

Moving back to India..

Since moving back to India, it has been quite a different experience. After all, I had stayed in India for more than 20 years, and it was only 5 years back, that I had moved to the United States. That was a big cultural and financial shock for me, and few months back, when I decided to move back to my country, I was expecting another shock ( not cultural or financial, but habitual).

Yes, by habitual I mean I had become quite used to certain things which developed nations like United States have. They include amenities like clean and pollution free air, zero blackouts or incessant supply of electricity and water, exceedingly high speed internet, corruption free bureaucracy, less traffic, less people or crowd on the roads ( sometimes even deserted roads as I had seen only homeless people walk on the roads in USA), automated and fast self-checkout process in banks, stores, or gas stations, display of courteous speech along with good manners with greeting “Good Morning”, or “How’s it going” to everyone we met, and almost every conversation ending with either “Nice to meet you” or “Have a good day”. Even holding the doors for the next person, carefully following the traffic rules, and taking super extra care in the parking lot. I had become used to these basic rules in America( which are not so basic in other parts of the world yet). I was amazed by how fast I had become “Americanized” in just 5 years, even to the extent of becoming comfortable using toilet paper, as we Indians prefer using water ( which is more hygenic, medically proven, cost-saving and environmental friendly)

But after returning to India, I feared how am I going to manage in a country which was known for polluted air, huge crowds, frequent blackouts and shortage of running water, traffic jams, almost reckless display of ingratitude, or lack of manners or greeting in public places, red-tapism in bureaucracy and internet speed which had not passed beyond 2G yet. But after coming to India, its been a wonderful and pleasant surprise on many occasions. First of all, India is still a developing country, and a lot of developments are still in progres. But when compared to the 2010’s India to the current 2020 India, I see a lot of positive changes in India, thanks for the Narendra Modi government.

Apart from politics, as we all know how the current ruling party has sweeped in reforms and changed the way the world looked towards India. But to gauge the real change, we need to see how things are going in public life, by traveling, visiting places, govt offices etc. Hence, after moving back to India, first thing I had to do was reach home safely amidst the burgeoning Covid crisis, just like United States has. Hence, I quarantined myself for 15 days, and it was a good experience to stay in hotel for 7 days for which I had paid quite a hefty amount. The reader might refer my post to know about this travel experience during corona times.

Then, after coming back to my house, I had to make arrangements of some basic things which are needed in a civilized world. So, first I had to take a local simcard, and currently in the Indian market, Jio is the most preferred provider. Hence, I went to Jio shop,within few minutes, I got the Jio simcard, which offers 4G internet speed with 2GB/day bandwidth at the lowest cost in the world ( Rs.600 for 84 days, which comes around $2.8 per month). Even a Starbucks coffee is more expensive than that!

Then I started searching for WiFi connection at home so that I can connect all the smart devices in the house such as Smart TV, Alexa Assistant etc. Based on my past experience few years back, I did not expect great service, speed or even was worried about how much time it might take to start the service. And after reading some reviews in Pune region, I decided to select You Broadband. I contacted them to start a new connection, and within few hours, their representative reached out to me regarding my request. Then he asked to submit the specified docs through Whatsapp, and after sending them, my account was activated. Next day morning, the technician visited my house to setup the fiber connection. I purchased a router and was assisted through video calling for router setup. By the end of the day, my WiFi connection was started. I was surprised with the fast installation, video calling assistance and Whatsapp based docs verification system they are using to assist the customers. And against my presumption, the speed is very good ( I had selected the 50 Mbps unlimited package) and at a very low cost of just Rs.1024/month ( $14/month). In USA, I used to pay around $50-60. Hence, I was satisfied with this experience.

Then, I had to take care of groceries, and I visited the local Indian Walmart in my region, which is the More retail store, owned by Aditya Birla group. Though it isn’t as big as Walmart stores are in USA, but it had all the groceries and food available. I compared the price of food items and found out to be way cheaper than what I used to pay in the States. But some items like toilet paper rolls, kellogg cereals were more expensive, maybe due to the fact that in India, we have more options for breakfast, and not many eat cereals during breakfast. And I was not surprised why toilet paper rolls are expensive in India.

The most surprising thing was use of paper bags instead of plastic bags which are commonly used in Walmart and other stores in the States.

@Walmart @Target @kroger instead of using plastics bags as I had seen in the stores in USA, here is a nice way to use paper bags which are environmental friendly. Picture taken from @moreretailltd Pune, India. @PlasticFreeJuly pic.twitter.com/AY8cBhFCOv
— Abhishek Karadkar 🇮🇳 (@Abhiknotes) September 4, 2020

Then, I had heard of ‘twitter diplomacy’, and about it’s use in India for reporting social issues etc. So, I decided to give a try. I updated my twitter profile, and started sending tweets about bank account issues, electricity wire being fallen on the road etc. I was amazed by the immediate response from the respective authorities. I had never used twitter for reporting issues and had relied on traditional ways like calling, or emailing. But the transformative use of social media like twitter in India has made easier for the common man to report issues or any hurdles in the process.

Then, I had to open a bank account as my previous Indian bank accounts were no longer operational. With the demonetization, and digitization wave ushered in India since 2016, I found out many banks in India like Kotak Mahindra Bank, DBS India, SBI, Axis Bank etc are providing online bank account opening, with multiple options like zero balance account, instant account opening feature, all online using their apps. All the verification is done online except the finger print verification, for which we have to go to the bank. But in case of DBS bank, they even visit our house, and take fingerprint, which saves our time. Then, India has started the Unified Payments Interface system for bank transactions using mobile apps such as BHIM, PhonePe etc and its a lot easier than credit or debit cards. I don’t need to carry any cash or even cards ( in a nutshell, no physical wallet) and I can do all the purchase at the stores using BHIM UPI app. This is great for a country which heavily relied on cash till few years back.

Then, even in the food industry, just like DoorDash and GrubHub in USA, we have Swiggy and Zomato which are provide door to door food delivery service. I ordered some food to checkout their service, and as promised I got the best service just like I used to get in the States. The delivery person wears a uniform company, and due to covid, they provide contactless delivery as well. Even in transportation arena, India has Ola to compete with Uber. I found the Ola drivers very cordial, helpful and had taken all the necessary provisions to provide a contactless, and safe ride.

I also happened to travel to Baroda to visit my relatives. Though the travel experience using Gujarat Travels was not at the best, but the booking system by RedBus, GPS tracking of the bus, active social media monitoring done by RedBus, and immediate responding to feedback posted conveyed the message that things are improving in this sector as well. I have a separate post written about this experience. Gone are the days when we used to wait for the bus, and the bus used to come delayed hours later, and there was no way our feedback or grievances could be communicated to the authorities. But now the customer has the voice to raise opinions, post feedback on social media etc.

After relocation, I had to take care of some government provided documents, and even though there hasn’t been much improvement here like banking, telecom, or retail services has, but the process has been partially digitized and many payments are done online. This reduces the corruption in bureaucracy which until few years back had plagued Indian system horribly. Thanks for digitization and active social media platforms, its getting better with time.

Though as mentioned above are some of the new changes which I have seen recently after coming to India, but still many things need to be ameliorated. The customer service is not like what I had seen in the United States. Except Apple, I never faced any trouble reaching out to the other customer service in USA for problem resolution. But in India, it still takes considerable effort to get it resolved, which could be attributed to the fact of India having a huge population and due to which the load on the customer service is relatively higher than United States. Then, we do have pollution ( though it has reduced due to lockdown measures), there are blackouts sometimes, traffic rules are violated sometimes, honking is considered a normal practice, the roads are still small, or dirty, with digging work being done in few places. People are too busy and hence no one cares to greet each other with any American manners. Usually, it boils down to get to the point and get the work done when talking with any one in the stores, or banks.

But as compared to my American habit of not walking out at night alone due to the fear of being mugged, or having the fear of being assaulted by some homeless, or sociopath with a gun, I do not have those fears in India. I had traveled to places like St.Louis ( which has one of the highest crimes rates in the country), New York, downtown Atlanta etc which are known for some violent neighbourhood and shady places. Looking at the current riots, protests, and anti-immigration stand, being an Indian, who is brown skinned made me concerned about my safety whenever I traveled alone at night in US. Atleast I feel a sigh of relief that I no longer have to worry about it while in India. I am not saying that it was unsafe in USA everywhere. There are many good places where everyone is welcomed, and I really liked them. But still, a feeling of being alone in a group remained. After coming to India, and being a part of the society, I atleast do not hesitate to go out at night, and come back safe though I cannot say the same to girls as still their safety is always a concern during night time.

Finally, this isn’t to compare the pros and cons of India and America. There are many on both sides. I was fortunate to have stayed in the United States for 5 years, and it was a great learning experience. I saw the good side as well the not so good side of America. But for India, it has been a time of big changes, and more needs to be done in coming years. Many of us want to make India a developed nation like America. I am not sure when this is going to be, but however developed we might become in future, or however we might try to emulate the American habits such as eating in McDonalds, Pizza, Burger King, drinking Coke, using Iphone, Facebook, Instagram, even buying Tesla, etc but there are some Indian traditions and culture which will always inspire the world, especially Americans and Indians who are staying in America for years, to come to visit India or even come back to India as I have done so. Be it Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerburg, Larry Brilliant, Ram Das, Krishna Das who visited India and which inspired them to change the world, or be it the diversity, food, religion, spirituality which is unique for India, however Americanized or Westernized we might become.

I miss America, but I am also glad to be back to my motherland!

Digital Frankensteins!

Today, I watched the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma”. Its a terrific and also quite alarming documentary. It reminds us as Tristan Harris said, “The social media are becoming ‘Digital Frankensteins!’, steering billions of people’s attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors”.

It is quite true. We see the young generation not only prone to the venomous effects of social media, but also becoming more and more separated from reality. They are becoming slowly a part of virtual reality, in which whatever is seen, heard or read on social media is believed to be for real by the young generation, especially the Gen Z. We see that the Gen Z were born after 1996, and when the kids born in this generation started going to school, that’s when the social media erupted and expanded enormously, and started galloping our social world.

In the last 10 years, the world has changed a lot. Most of the apps and technologies we have become addicted to during the previous decade had been started only a few years back. Like Facebook in 2004, Youtube in 2005, Twitter in 2006, Tumblr in 2007, Whatsapp and Pinterest in 2009, Instagram in 2010 and Snapchat in 2011. We see every year there has been some new entry of social media app, except the 2008 year, ( due to the Great Recession effect, maybe). And soon these apps started dominating our social and personal space as well. The most latest entry is of TikTok in 2016, and which has gained considerable notoriety under the Trump Presidency, due to its sophisticated and super-addictive AI. The last decade was the breeding ground of new fan base for these apps, and now they all have become somewhat “Digital Frankensteins!”. This is because we are so much used to them, and our life is entwined with them on such a massive scale, that if the government decides to shut them down( which would never happen in near future at least), they cannot do it. Just like the big Wall Street banks which had failed in the 2007 recession due to sub-prime mortgage crisis, and the government had to bail them out under the label of “Too Big To Fail”( and the banks made sure that the bail out money went to pay their exiting CEO’s and board members some really hefty severance packages!). Similarly, we can see that these social media giants have become “Too Big To Fail” and their continued dominance will stay undisputed in the near future.

But unlike economy and banks, where our money and thereby livelihood is dependent on the savings we put in bank, or loans we take for our businesses, hence we are dependent on the banking institutions just like they rely on the customers. But in case of social media, atleast we have a remote chance that our lives can still be managed and survived without the social media. This is because there are still some old and credible sources of information and connectivity tools existing. For ex: Radio and Ham had been one of the most reliable info sources before TV and internet ushered in. People used to stay connected to each other besides use of telephone for connectivity.For news, we have the all weather print media, journals, magazines and books which often convey the most authentic and reliable information. We don’t need Facebook to stay in touch with friends. We can do that over the phone, or messaging service. After all, we all have hundreds of Facebook friends, but how many of us really connect with all of them? Do we even care of who is in our list, and do we make some serious effort to stay connected with all of them. The fact is we simply do not have time to spend to stay connected to all of them. We are used to a small group of like minded friends, and we tend to stay socially connected with them.

Same goes with instagram. Do we really care for the likes of our photos and videos we upload on the wall? After initial curiosity, it simply vanishes. Infact, human nature does not care for the repeated likes from our friends, but we slowly start looking at the comments and those friends who have not liked the pic!. Though there have been many positives brought by social media such as YouTube where one can share any video and become famous overnight. Justin Bieber is known to have gained his reputation via YT. Its a great medium for sharing knowledge and talks as well. Even Twitter was a new revolution for those who have amassed millions of followers, and any tweet would create sensation in the world. Trump has been using Twitter as a official tool for his Presidency, and many of his orders and declarations have been communicated to the world via Twitter. All this is terrific, and has changed the mainstream media world.

But slowly, we see that it has made us addictive, and lose sight of the relevant information. As I mentioned, earlier, there used to be only few ( and reliable) sources of info such as Radio, Television and Print media. Later, the new channels replaced the print media, and now we see the social media is replacing all of them. The most important concern on the social media is the complete lack of accountability of the content posted by anyone. Unlike radio or print, which is verified and edited, social media is rarely verified, and so the new world of fake news has emerged. Though the content can be reported, and the owners do take appropriate actions against them, but often it is too late and the content by then has reached millions of people all over the world. There is no way a tool can verify if the information is accurate and up to date. We do not have intelligent machines yet, and hence anything posted on the social media cannot be entirely trusted. Then comes the question, if the content is not verified, not trusted then why do we spend our precious time in scrolling through them?

Infact, there has been so much information ( tons and tons of bytes) created and uploaded everyday that it becomes nearly impossible for humans to decipher and absorb this information, let alone analyze and understand it. When there is too much information, its nothing but chaos!. But this continues because of the very basic fundamental of social media, which is everyone has the liberty to express their opinion or add content on grounds of personal freedom of expression. Yes, and this cannot be denied. I am writing this post due to this freedom and I agree that this is needed for the fresh influx of new ideas and opinions to be injested into the world. Hence, the real challenge is to know the difference between whats right and whats wrong. If we do not allow the social media to share all the content freely, then it will be a world of communsitic media, where everything is censored and restricted, just like it happens in China and erstwhile USSR. We do not want to live in that iron-curtain world again.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with the social media, and its usage in our daily lives as long they remain tools just like radio and TV, to share information, to connect with friends, to get the most recent information, or even to express our opinion about some injustice, or grievance. It is one of the most wonderful mediums we have today. But if that tool becomes complicated enough to intrude in our personal life by making us addicted with incessant notifications , updates, fake news and viral videos, then that’s a problem. If the social media like Facebook, as mentioned in the documentary is creating a digital footprint of our activity, and without our consent selling the data ( or selling us indirectly) to third party companies for advertisements or trying to change our opinion about political endorsements, then that’s a big problem. As its seen that all the social media tools have become powerful enough to predict our life, our decisions, our interests and our future as well. This is where the real problem lies. As long as we have the levers of control, we are okay. But if the levers lie in the hands of few social media giants, then we are in a big mess. This awareness is the true message this documentary has courageously conveyed. We all should appreciate the valor and genuine concern of all the people who left their secure and well-paying jobs in Google, Facebook, Twitter etc to come out and speak about this to the world. It is because of these few brave men and women, that the world is still a humane place to live.

The social dilemma..

Nowadays, the definition of being social is someone who is active on social media. The basic nature of social gathering which makes humans as social animals, have changed from the open, outward social world to a closed, inward social media world. As it normally happens, that with every change, there are unintended outcomes. So does, the world of social media has changed the world of human bonding, particularly love…

Yes, today we see that people are more keen on finding their love, or soulmates online, through social media. Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram have become the defacto rulers of social media world. And several apps like Tinder, Bumble, OkCupid have become the preferred dating apps for the young generation. Gone are the days when people used to look around their friend circles, or family connections for a life partner. Today, the options are plenty and so are its after effects. I personally find these tools to be useful for everyone who wants to make friends, find dates or just hangout/socialize for fun. But these tools have changed the way dating or falling in love used to be before.

As I mentioned, earlier, it used to be a lot different in finding the right partner. The relationship world was much divided based on their culture, religion, work or even ethnic preferences. People from a particular religion or culture could not easily find someone from a completely different religion or culture to date, lest fall in love. Even if they did, it was not easy for them to carry on the relation due to the way society worked back then. For ex: In India, where the marriages are primarily decided by family and hence, love marriages are looked down upon, it wasn’t easy at all to date or even meet someone from different group. But today, fortunately, this does not exist. These tools have revolutionized the world of dating, and marriage as well. Though still, the matrimony sites and dating apps continue to put on filters based on religion, caste, ethnicity etc. But today, we have the choice to discard these non-pragmatic barriers which society imposes, and select the choice of person, from any background as we wish for.

This is a good change brought out by the social media. But what I feel more concerned is the fundamental change of the way we date or even build a relationship. I mean what is happening on the apps is we often try to know about the person based on his social media profile. We tend to believe that whatever he/she has displayed on their walls is the real life. We forget that the pics which are uploaded are edited with numerous fancy filters. We mistaken for the happy pics uploaded on the photo gallery to be of a successful life. We check how many friends they have in their friends list, and based on that number, we define the social quotient of that person. We see how many countries they have visited, where do they eat, and hangout, or which movies and books are their favorites. All this info is easily available on all the social media apps ( this is what makes them attractive for their user base).

Now, the problem is if all this is already known to the person who is looking for dating or making friends, won’t this influence the person’s choice? For ex: If someone has less friends on his friends list, but he is a really nice guy and good at heart. Now these apps doesn’t tell the world about his good nature ( as good qualities cannot be quantified by some algorithm to be converted to some number). Hence, the world will look at him as a socially shy person just because he has less friends as compared to his peers. Further, the girl who might be looking for partner, might even ignore him, based on this pre-condition.

On the other side, if people meet him personally, then there is much higher chance that they might like him, and they can become good friends with him ( which does not mean they have to officially exhibit their friendship status on facebook). Same goes for matchmaking or dating. We tend to fall for the filtered pics, or first class travel destination videos, or even a toned/muscled physique, and wish to make them our life partner. But later do we find after couple of dates, that they are not the right choice for our life.

I remember one scene from the movie “The Terminal” which many of you might have seen. Tom Hanks who performed the role of Viktor Navorski, helps his friend Enrique in exchange of food to get information about the female officer Dolores. Enrique likes Dolores, and is desperate to know what she likes, where does she hangout, whom did she date etc. Victor helps to get this info from Dolores to Enrique, just like facebook does. But the difference is Dolores did not know who is asking about her, and why is someone taking so much interest in her. This is the real secret of relationship. The true beauty in any relationship is that intimacy, bonding and even to some extent uncertainity about the next step. True relationship blossoms when both of them are longing for each other, to know, understand, and even act to share this bonding. It requires a certain degree of social contact.

Like the one in the famous movie “Taxi Driver” when Travis confidently walks in to talk to Betsy. Betsy doesn’t know anything about Travis, and still Travis manages wonderfully to convince her to take her out for a date. This is the real social skill, which comes by real contact. I wonder if facebook would have been there at that time, and if some Travis who is just a taxi driver sends a friend request to Betsy, how much is the probability that Betsy would go out with Travis for a coffee, based on the online request? You know the answer I bet.

Taxi Driver – Travis and Betsy meet

To know the person in real life, by observing their actions, how they behave, how they take decisions,how they react to certain situations is what glues the thread of affection together between them. This cannot happen through an app or website. And this cannot happen, if both of them already know a lot of info about each other from their facebook profile. The ironical coincidence is the movie “The Terminal” was released in 2004, and it was the same year when facebook was launched. It was as if the days of innocent thrill to go after the person, that desperate desire to know about them, and impress them are a part of history now. Today all the information is at the fingertips, and handy but at the cost of lack of innocence, intimacy and curiosity for each other. And Covid has made even difficult for us, when moving out of the house is avoided by most, and so the only way for relationship to build or maintain are through these apps. Facebook, Snap are getting richer but the quality of relationships and bonding is getting poorer.

Thus, I feel our parents or grandparents generations were a lot happier than ours, as they did enjoy the thrill, the excitement to meet someone, to demonstrate the social skills to socialize and even impress the one they loved. Now, what remains is the fast paced like, share, comment, subscribe based networking, facebook wall dependent profiling, and painstakingly time consuming filtered selfies and pictures to share our happy go lucky faces to the world. I hope that the good old days of meeting in person, sharing the joys and sorrows of life ( and not pics and chats) with each other, and then falling in love to remain life long partners still remain in my generation ( Millennial and Gen Z). Lets end this post just like the happy ending between Enrique and Dolores…..

The Terminal – Enrique proposes Dolores

Stay at home, folks!

Recently, I happened to travel from Pune, Maharashtra to Vadodara/Baroda, Gujarat by bus to look at some urgent family affairs. Though I was afraid to travel out during this corona times, but the urgency of the situation urged me to go out and visit my family. Based on the experience I had during travel to and fro, I decided to write a post to request people to #StayAtHome. Please!

During lockdown, we all were compelled to stay at home. The fear and uncertainity along with enormous escalation of infections and deaths in some of the most advanced countries like USA, Italy and Spain had convinced us to stay safe indoors. But as soon as the lockdown was lifted, and in India, where the unlocking phase began, we started moving out of our homes. Ofcourse, people eventually got bored staying inside home, and for a developing economy like India, where the WFH culture is not yet accepted, and not even feasible, it was inevitable for us to move out for work or daily necessities. Also, looking at the rising number of new Covid infections inspite of the lockdown, it looks like the lockdown did not work, and on the other side, severely hampered the developing economy. Hence, nowadays, when the media or medical experts advise us to stay at home, we somehow ignore them.

So, I decided to travel inspite of the new zenith gained everyday looking at the number of Covid infections and deaths. I booked the bus – Gujarat travels from Pune to Vadodara, with return ticket as well. My journey from Pune to Vadodara was overnight travel, in a sleeper coach. With a naive intention to save some money ( as we all are in that saving mode nowadays due to the possible fear of upcoming recession), I booked the Non-AC bus. This turned out to be a colossal mistake as I would realize later. Luckily, I booked the return from Vadodara to Pune an Air Conditioned one, but it was a day travel, and it had its own version of problems as I would experience soon.

Thus, I packed my bags, and boarded the bus. The booking was done through RedBus, and it was told that the bus operator will allow only the passengers who had worn mask. The thermal checks will be done before boarding, and everyone will be given hand sanitizer. Besides, social distancing (6 ft) will be maintained inside the bus. But when I boarded the bus, neither was I checked for mask, nor was the thermal check conducted. Even hand sanitizer was not provided. But I had worn mask, and carried enough hand sanitizer with me. This was just the beginning of the violation of Covid rules by the bus operators.

Then, I saw that the compartments were just separated by a thin curtain, and the distance between each compartment was surely less than 6 ft. They should have made alternate seating, but they did not. I was still safe because I had booked the single compartment with one bed on the left isle. But on the right isle of the bus, there were a large compartment with two beds near to each other. I assumed this must be reserved only for the family. But it was not. They had allowed anyone to sit near each other. This was really a gross violation of the social distancing rules.

Then, the bus conductor took the Aadhar details from everyone, and worst, was that he had worn mask beneath the nose. Afterall, the mask is meant to be put on the nose and mouth to cover. Why would anyone on the earth wear mask below the nose and mouth? I had no answer for this. He had not worn any hand gloves, and the pen and paper used to write the details, were common. In India, when the government boasts of the “Digital revolution” brought about, but the bus operators were still using the traditional way of pen and paper. Rather, they should have taken the pics of Aadhar card for verification, or the RedBus should have allowed the passengers to provide these details in the app itself. How would the pen and paper which was shared with all the passengers be more safe and better during a pandemic than the app? This showed the lack of seriousness in the bus authorities.

As I mentioned about my mistake to book a non-AC bus, so I suffered from lack of ventilation, and due to small compartments, closed by curtains, I had to open the window during the night to allow some fresh air. But being an overnight journey, coupled with monsoon rains and traffic jam in the Mumbai area, I must have inhaled more pollutants than fresh air. Also, I feared for the sneezing and coughing from any passengers, which would make the closed, non-ventilated environment inside the bus an ideal breeding ground for Covid infection. Due to all this, I could not sleep much and thus, the night journey turned out to be quite a disaster.

Finally, after the hustle and bustle, I reached Vadodara. After visiting my relatives, and spending a good weekend with them, I started my journey back to Pune. I was comforted with the thought that this journey might be a lot better than the previous one due to the availability of AC as well as an upper deck. But barely did I knew at that time what experiences would soon lay before me!

First of all, the bus got excruciatingly delayed by more than 2 hours. I was assuming I will board the bus around 7:45 AM, and reach my home by 8 PM. But with this delay, I boarded the bus at 10:20 AM. I did the math again, and now, I would reach home by atleast 10:30 PM. But I had no option but to bite the bullet. The waiting at the bus stop was an awful experience. It was early morning time, and so I happened to be the only passenger at the stop. Also, the Gujarat travels authorities seemed to lack the most basic sense of civility in every possible way. They not only displayed the behavior potraying of the complete lack of responsibility, but also did not seemed to convey any information about this delay. I remembered my days in U.S, when any delay in flight or bus, would be conveyed immediately with sincere apologies by the responsible authorities. I compared both, and could not deny the fact that however India might have progressed as an IT giant, and risen under the strong leadership of PM Modi, but its gonna take a long way to go as the basic mannerism and civility are yet to be imbibed in the common Indian masses. Ofcourse, it would be ridiculous to extrapolate one experience or incidence to all the Indians, but as we know, every small thing matters, and after all, nations are made by people!

Soon, my bus came, and I immediately boarded the bus with a desperation to leave that bus stop ASAP. Again, I saw the same environment inside the bus as I had seen while traveling from my home. No thermal checks were conducted, and no social distancing. But the bus was more comfortable due to AC, and having secured an upper deck, I felt to be on the top of the world!

After few hours, I witnessed an amazing experience. It was afternoon, and the bus had reached the Gujarat-Maharashtra border. The bus stopped at a local restaurant. We all stepped down for restroom, and to sip some tea. But after sometime, the bus operator told the passengers on the right isle ( which had two seats adjacent to each other) to step down, and get into the car. I was on the left isle with a single seat, so I did not step down. Around 10-12 people from the right isle stepped down. It didn’t take me long to realize what the real matter was. The bus operators had clandestinely allowed 34-36 passengers to board the bus, when only 24 were allowed ( 12 on the left isle and 12 on the right isle). Hence, now at the border to enter Maharashtra, police officials were going to check, and so to hide this, they let go the extra passengers into another car.

Then, we crossed the border, and the police checked that the total number of passengers in the bus. After looking at the excellent observation of social distancing rules (??) inside the bus, they let us go. Ofcourse the police were not naive, and they did know things were staged. But then the bus operators also knew how to handle them, and so, things went smoothly.

Then after entering Maharashtra, the bus stopped after some time, and those 10-12 passengers boarded back again. I was stunned and no wonder why Covid cases are rising in India. When on one side, the govt is unlocking everything, and on the other side, the Covid virus is also getting unlocked. Adding fuel to the fire are incidences like this, when the utter disgusting actions by the bus authorities to earn more money has made things go out of hand. For them it is always business as usual, even amidst the pandemic. The pressure to stay in business, and make money becomes more important than the fear of getting infected, and even death. For them, the losses incurred during lockdown need to be recovered, and hence, no matter how many rules are broken, or how many human lives are put in danger, everything is secondary in front of surviving in the job or business. Period.

So, after reaching home late at night ( I reached at midnight), I contemplated over these thoughts, and decided to write a post about this. And so I urge everyone to Stay at Home, unless something is absolutely necessary to be done. Things are real bad out there, and many people do not care for life anymore. All they care is business or getting the job done. We cannot blame them entirely, as the fear to die from hunger is more than Covid. The fear of losing job or getting bankrupt in business is more than getting ill by infection. Hence, it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves. These are not normal times, and hence, the luxury of travel for leisure are a thing of the past ( atleast for few years!). Today, we need to stay safe and healthy, and then only we will be able to travel for leisure in future when things become more safer.

Next day, I tweeted about this experience to RedBus, and they reached out to me immediately. Then, I was told that they had taken this very seriously, and reprimanded the bus operators with a strong feedback. I do not say that this will stop immediately as old habits seldom die. But I also hope that things will ameliorate as more people share their experiences on social media, and act as aware citizens. We cannot depend on any organization to tackle this pandemic, but its a collective responsibility now. This pandemic is a test of human patience, and unity as well. The more we collaborate and support together, the weaker the virus will become.

As Steve Jobs famously used to say – Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. Now I think the time has changed, and the more relevant message for us will be – Stay Home, Stay Safe.

Travel during corona times!

Finally, the day came for which I had been contemplating. I started my journey from US to India on Aug 18th, and landed in Mumbai on Aug 19th. Traveling during corona times is indeed dreaded by most of us. And so did I. But I had taken the decision to return back and so I kept my decision firm. It wasn’t an easy move, but some changes are never easy and also, I believe that sometimes, it becomes necessary to bite the bullet.

The travel by Vande Bharat mission was not the best one, but still considering the pandemic situation, I would say the airline authorities did a very good job. I had been quite used to air travels for business in the last 2 years, but this air travel during pandemic was unprecedented in itself. Earlier, the only three things we need to do at the airport were check in, baggage dropoff and security inspection ( with immigration as another for international travels), that’s it. But now the list has few more add-ons such as temperature checking, 6 ft social distancing, frequent hand washing and sanitizing, and thermal screening. This is like the new normal for air travels now.

Even inside the flight, the job of cabin attendant has been reduced to just escorting the travelers to their respective seats, and keep the food/water on the seat beforehand. The always cherished hospitality by the cabin attendants and air hostess ( in particular) has become a part of history now. No longer are any drinks served, not even hot tea/coffee. Known for their elegant uniform, hospitality and courtesy, today, the stewardess have to wear the nurse uniform with dress, apron and cap. Ofcourse, this is the need of the hour, and in no way, does this demote the role of flight attendants. But the charm and sophistication which used to associated with air travel has been replaced by seriousness and fear of safeguarding ourselves. I hate to write this but nowadays flight journey feels like a flying ambulance!

The Vande Bharat mission has been doing an incredible job of bringing back Indians who are stranded abroad, or want to return back to their country. After my registration and booking on the website, I was told to sign an undertaking which stated that the decision to fly is my responsibility. When I reached the New York airport ( which was quite empty), I underwent temperature check, and they noted down my temperature on the undertaking document. After the usual formalities, I was again thermal screened at the gate before boarding the flight. Inside the flight, as I mentioned before, we were already provided food, water, masks, hand sanitizer and face shield. Everyone was seated with alternating seating inside the flight. The flight was non-stop due to the restriction to not land in any other country. Hence, the journey was long – 14 hours and hence everyone knew that it was not going to be very comfortable. Moreever, no in-flight entertainment was provided which made the journey somewhat monotonous.

Thus, after 14 hours of arduous journey, I landed in Mumbai. Again, we were thermal screened and then began a long and slow process to reach home. It took me 8 days to reach home after I landed at the airport. Meanwhile, a lot of things had to be taken care of, which included successful exiting of airport after immigration, travel arrangements and quarantine accommodation details to be given to the officials. Even at the airport, all the airport authorities and govt officials were inspecting and watching us so that we do not leave the airport before competing all the required formalities. I had to book a taxi/cab to go to Pune ( my hometown, which is 3 hours drive from Mumbai) after I got an e-pass with the police verification completed. Luckily, my father had already acquired the permit for this travel, and so this saved me some time of hassle at the airport. But at the exit gate of the airport, I was again asked about the taxi details, and the officer requested me not to exit the airport until the taxi driver arrives. Then, he took the taxi driver details from me, and contacted him over the phone. When the taxi arrived, he personally escorted me till the taxi, to ensure I did not meet anyone apart from the designated driver.

It was raining, and the monsoon season had ushered in. While traveling to Pune, I saw some of the most beautiful scenic beauty in the Ghats, especially in the Lonavala-Khandala region. Then after reaching Pune, I had to meet the Govt officials again to check the availability of hotels for my 7 day quarantine stay, which were designated as isolation centers. I selected one of the good hotels in Pune, and stayed there for the next 7 days. I had to carry all the bags with me to the hotel as I was not even allowed to drop my bags at home, which was not faraway from the hotel. The most important thing is that I was not tested for Covid during or after my 7 days stay. When I inquired about the Covid test, I was told that it was optional and I had to pay out of my own pocket. Even the isolation centers were quite expensive, and the bill was charged to my name. I wish they allowed Covid testing at the isolation centers ( as they were supposed to be meant for). No wonder why India is seeing the highest Covid infection rates in the world, and the nexus between govt officials and hotel/isolation center authorities cannot be hidden!

Finally, after this once in a lifetime pandemic overseas evacuation travel experience, I came back home. I was nervous about a lot of things as I had witnessed during and after the travel, but on the other side, I was delighted to be at home, in my country, with my family. Fortunately, I was not showing any symptoms related to Covid and after completing another 7 days home quarantine restriction, I was free. I did learn a lot during this travel. After seeing two countries which are equally affected by this virus, and seeing the troubles people are taking to reach and stay close to their family, or loved ones, I started realizing with mixed emotions, that however this pandemic might have changed our life, but the virus is a lot weaker in front of human strength, determination and courage. Kudos to the brave, hardworking pilots who are working so hard to fly tirelessly day and night to reach us safely to our destinations. Hats off to the flight attendants, airport authorities, taxi/lyft/ola drivers who inspite of the risk of virus infection, are working hard to keep the daily operations running smoothly.

The virus might have locked us down in our homes, but it hasn’t locked down the humanity within us. We will surely overcome this pandemic, and we can hope again, that the travel in future won’t be driven by fear or for evacuation purposes, but with happiness, joy and leisure. Good times are not faraway!

Do what you love? or Love what you do?

I have always been perplexed by the pandemonium created by the thought: What should one do in life- Should we like what we are doing, or should we do only what we like? Hence, the tagline- Do what you love? or Love what you do?

Our mind never stays in the present. It has a tendency to either flock to the past or to the future. That’s why it is said our mind is flickering. The idea that we like or dislike something also is reflected in our mind. Our mind is not something which just resides in some corner of the body. We often confuse ourselves that mind is our head, or forehead. No, it isn’t. In fact, our body resides in our mind. Strange isn’t it? Bhishmaraj Bam, famous sports psychologist said ‘our body is an instrument of our mind‘. What we think we are is what is reflected by the mind. Everything first gets created in mind, then it reflects in reality. That is why Steven Covey said in his book, ‘The 7 habits of highly effective people’ that all things are created twice. We also call it consciousness. In simple words, it is what we are conscious/aware about. Like for example, if it happens that we see a snake in front of us, we feel threatened. This is because of the consciousness imbibed within us which brings us emotion of fear in order to save our life. And the interesting thing is this consciousness is also subtle.

Now, when it comes to a particular interest or inclination towards something, it is also because of our mind. Our mind plays games with us. We erroneously believe that we can do something only if we like doing it. We think that we cannot give our best if we don’t like it. We read or listen to famous speeches by Steve Jobs, which tell us to simply follow our passion. And by passion, it means what we like doing. There isn’t anything wrong in it. It’s good if we know what we enjoy doing. But the problem is that it also gives a message that if we fail at something, then we easily blame that we did not like it, and so we failed. We think that it wasn’t my passion and so I failed. Then, we search for another interest or passion, and then another, and keep doing this. We give aptitude tests and the test results tells us something. But our mind tells us that it might not be what it likes. We look for the right job, right partner, right environment, and we rarely find it. As Steve Jobs reminds us in his speech, that he was incredibly lucky, but all may not be fortunate as he was. Then we get confused, and we waste our time in life. This attitude is a real problem.

The idea of ‘Do what do love‘ depends a lot on our mind. And the fact is mind never stays in the present. The mind easily gets influenced by past experiences or future outcomes. Like for example, if someone tells us that by learning a particular skill, we can become rich quickly, then we start liking it. But if that same skill becomes outdated or doesn’t make us rich, then we lose interest in it. Hence, our passion, our liking, our interests depends on a lot of factors such as social status, past experiences, peer pressure and future gains.

‘Do what you love‘ represents a rebellious attitude as well. Maybe, that’s why it suited Steve Jobs and his charisma. This is because we then tend to select only those things which we think we like, and discard the rest to be unworthy of our talent. Though this might make us focused on a specific skill, but often the parameters to choose the subject of our interest are based on our limited understanding of the world. As mentioned, if social status or money makes us select a particular profession as our passion, then it certainly won’t be our true passion. Also, the age to become aware of our passion is usually either during teenage or early adulthood. And the problem lies in the fact that our experiences about life, our knowledge about self is usually very limited until that age. It is more common for peer pressure or career aspirations as conveyed by society to act as a catalyst to influence our decision making.

On the other side, ‘love what you do’ is more accepting and not rebellious. It makes us start liking things that we do. It does not depend on the rewards or end result to be gained from the action. If we simply love what we do, then we do not care about the final result. Because it is the action which give us joy, and not the fruit which happens in case of ‘Do what you love’. Though both seems to convey similar idea, but the approach of looking towards it is different. We are more free when we love what we do. We do not depend on the societal expectation or peer pressure. We have more options and many times, in the world, it is not always a luxury to select the kind of work we might have to perform. When we have a ‘Love what you do’ attitude, it gives the confidence that we can do anything in this world. Nothing can stop us. We have the capability to achieve anything. We come to an understanding that in this world, everything can be achieved, and to do that, we need to put efforts. And efforts can only be put once we have to aptitude to like it. And the most important thing is this aptitude can be developed by this principle of ‘love what you do’.

For example, during the war, no one likes violence. But the soldiers are made motivated to fight and kill the enemy. They are inspired to love to fight and kill, even if they won’t like doing it. Because that is the need of the hour. Similarly, anything can be done, if we convince our mind about the importance of doing it, and why doing that work matters. That’s all is needed to make things work, and with this attitude, anyone can move mountains!

Hence, it is better to ‘love what we do’ which will keep us inspired to keep working, and with consistent efforts, we will get what we want.

Finally, even Steve Jobs came to this understanding as expressed through his 2005 Stanford commencement address, “And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Just do it!

Taking decisions has always been one of the most complex actions. When we take certain decisions, we hope that change will turn out to be a good one. But in reality, we also fear that this doesn’t happen always. We hope for the best things to happen, and try to avoid the obvious risks and difficulties. But still, even the best thought decisions sometimes take us on the other side of the course.

However, we should not fear taking decisions. It is said that just like public speaking is the most dreaded action for most of us, similarly taking decisions and facing its aftermath is equally feared by many. Naturally, human tendency is to stay safe, not take risks and be stable in life. This comes out of concern for the family, societal expectations and the uncertainty in future. Generally, any changes impacts the state of our family. It might even bring certain vicissitudes in life. But with the supportive family, this can be overcome. I feel the more pressing inhibitor in taking decisions and embracing future challenges are the societal expectations. In Hindi, we call it “Log kya kahenge”, which translates to “What will people say”. Yes, even though we prefer individual freedom and liberty, but this societal impact has not vanished from our life. Maybe our social genes still play a role to cater this need, or it is not in the best interest to stay on the barren grass, when our friends and colleagues are on the greener side!

So, what happens is we prohibit ourselves in taking the decisions which might alter our lives ( good or bad), and try to stay on the regular path which the whole world is following. Only few risk to break the society created shell and venture out on their own path. One of the famous examples is Elon Musk, who inspite of earning millions in the dot.com bubble during 1990’s, bravely decided to start companies in automotive, solar and space, where no one was investing, and these paths were considered more so a failure. But Elon was stubborn and he not only withstood the 2007 recession but also had to live in basement for a while when he was unable to pay his rent. As it is said that the fortune favors the brave, so did Elon soon climbed the ladder of success with his world famous companies, Tesla and SpaceX. He certainly must not have thought about societal expectations, or family comfort as well. But he only truely believed in his passion and determination to make his companies successful. That’s the true spirit of an entrepreneur!

Hence, it would be unwise to be afraid to take decisions out of uncertainty about future as well. As no one knows what the future is going to be, and the only thing in our hands are our efforts and perseverence to stay firm on our decision. Ofcourse, sometimes it is prudent as well to modify certain decisions if we cannot see any worth in it. And so it is generally advised that a lot of thinking needs to be done before taking any decisions. But once well thought, then we should not hesitate in taking those decisions. Also, it is not good to modify it often. Because the fruits of our efforts takes time to ripe. Patience is a virtue in this arena. But more than patience, it is the commitment and belief in our efforts that matters. Whatever the decision may be, our efforts and belief that it’s gonna happen eventually does make it happen. Ratan Tata famously says

and Bhagavad Gita guides us with the verse“कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥” The meaning of the verse is—You have the right to work only but never to its fruits. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction. Hence, it is the law of nature what “As we sow, so shall we reap”. If we truely believe in our passion, and in our efforts, then we need not worry of its consequences. Hard work never gets squandered. Also, with that iron-willed determination, the result will always come, as we intend. That is why Edison mentioned that the harder he worked, the more luckier he got. Hence, taking decisions should not be feared. Even famous industrialist Neelkanth Kalyani remarked that risk taking is the most important skill in business. The problem is not in risk taking, but associating risks with failures. Also, taking uncalculated risks is foolishness. Infact the famous investors often take risks in which they have insight and confidence of its outcome in future. Either, we can have the vision of that field with our years of experience and knowledge, and then taking decisions yields greater percentage of success. Or if we lack the insight, and still decide to take the risk, then we ought to firmly believe in our strength, efforts and stay on the path, let whatever be the outcome.

Hence, if we find ourselves in a situation where the metamorphosis of events and situations happens beyond our understanding, then with the belief that things will work out all OK at the end, we should simply “Just do it”

Life is what we make it..

I recently read Peter Buffett’s book “Life is what you make it” . After reading the book, I found it to be a very interesting and insightful book. First of all, I was not aware who Peter Buffett was. This is because he introduces himself as being a musician, composer and author. Later did I find out that he is also the youngest son of the legendary investor Warren Buffett. This not only raised my eyebrows but also surprised me of the humble attitude and unconventional career selected by Peter, considering his father’s legacy. Ofcourse, this is perfectly fine as everyone has his/her freedom to choose and to practice any profession. But we live in a world where nepotism has become the abiding law( especially in India) and only few people like Peter dare to venture out of their own inspite of the riches laid before them.

I found the book to be somewhat a mixture of Peter’s experiences in life and based on this, he has expressed his philosophy of life. He certainly credits a large share of this wisdom to his parents, and his cultured, mid-western upbringing. He has shared how his mother and father instilled in him a sense of self-respect, work ethic and independence since childhood. The kids were given a fair share of money after they turned 18, and were told not to expect anymore! Peter mentions how he foolishly spent the entire money and shares ( which today might have been worth of millions). But he does not regret about this, and has learned about value of money and life from these experiences.

Peter further adds his understanding of life, and how one should be committed in life to achieve anything. He has illustrated multiple examples of his father’s achievements and the way he achieved them. Even though he comes from a distinguished family, but his life does not reflect any thing even close to a spoiled rich kid. Rather, his simple living coupled with hardships he had to endure to gain recognition as a musician and composer is very exemplary.

He mentions commitment in life as a vital ingredient for tasting the food of success. In his book, Peter writes “Commitment moves the world. It both powers and heals us; its a fuel and medicine together. It’s the antidote to regret to apathy, to lack of self-belief. Commitment batters down closed doors and levels bumpy roads. Commitment begets confidence and also justifies confidence. Commitment enlarges our efforts by drawing on those deep down resources that lie fallow until we determine to discover them and use them.”

I really liked his emphasis on commitment, because it is indeed one of the most lacking aspect in life. Today, we see excess of goals and desires, but lack of commitment and consistency to achieve them. Surely, Peter has seen his father’s commitment in life, and this must have inspired him to accept the importance of commitment.

Adding further, Peter writes “Until one is committed there is tendency, the chance to draw back. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now”

The gist of the book can be summarized in Peter’s words “Life is what we make it, and part of succeeding lies in breaking through to a clear understanding of what our own success should look like. No one else can tell us how to measure or describe it. No one else can judge whether we’ve reached our goals or fallen short. The world can throw rewards at us, or can withhold them. That’s the world’s business. But the world can’t judge the fundamental value and legitimacy of what we are trying to achieve. That’s our business. The success we define for ourselves is the measure that cannot be tarnished or taken away”

We are stronger than we think we are, We have courage that we do not recognize until we need it. We are equal to challenges that we haven’t even imagined yet.
Peter Buffett

Thus, I would recommend reading this book as it not only conveys the philosophy of life, but also makes an educative read. Peter’s life stands as an inspiration for us to stay committed in life, and inspite of being privileged to live a fairly secure life without any dearth of money, he chose to carve out his own path in life, and has been living a dignified and satisfied life. He did not chose to simply follow his father’s footsteps, but with his courage, and self-realization, he has stood aside from all the glory and fame, and found his true passion in life, which is music. Men like Peter Buffett are rare, and even rare are such books of wisdom!

Peter ends his book by the following words “So, in closing, I will say to you the same thing that I have said to myself a thousand times. Your life is yours to create. Be grateful for the opportunity, seize it with passion and boldness. Whatever you decide to do, commit to it with all your strength…..and begin it now. What are you waiting for?”

Flower in the forest!

It is said that flowers are one of the nature’s most wonderful creation, just like women. As women have the most unique characteristic to give birth and become mother, so does flowers play a vital role in our life too. They are not only beautiful but they also make the world beautiful with their fragrance and beauty, in abundance! We often give flowers to our loved ones as a gift, be it during valentine’s day or when a husband ties the jasmine garland in his wife’s hair. The feeling of love and trust exuberated by the flowers has no parallel with any expensive gifts or jewelry.

Flowers show simplicity, and that makes it valuable. Though they are not that expensive ( depending on the flower though, but most of them are not), but the message of bonding they bring along cannot be denied. It does not matter what of kind of color the flower may be, red, yellow or white. That’s why even in all religions, we have the tradition to shower God with flowers, be it in temples, or in Dargah’s or in church as well.

Beyond this practical wisdom, flowers do have a lot more to express. It is said by some philosopher that if he had some money in his pocket, then he will spend the half of it to buy food, and spend the half of it to buy flowers! Because the food will keep him alive and the flowers will tell him why to stay alive! Indeed, flowers do share this wisdom for why life is important and what is important in it. We all are aware of the life’s never ending problems, and everyday is new one. We are often bombarded by the media and internet of the wrong happenings in this world. We very much get bored with the same kind of work we do and find ourselves stuck in a perpetual cycle of worries and conflicts.

But, a flower blossoms from its bud everyday, and never stops. It’s blossoming does not depend on the viewer’s appreciation. It simply does its work. Doesn’t it guide us with the wonderful principle of working without any expectation of fruit or outcomes. We often work with the end result expectation, and if we know our work is not going to get appreciated, then it becomes difficult for us to continue with the same momentum. But the flower performs beyond expectations!

People plant flowers in their gardens, and then know and appreciate the beauty of flowers. Usually, the famous flowers which are used everyday such as roses garner the admiration. But what about that rose which blossoms in the forest? As rare as hen’s teeth, it will be difficult for anyone to even know its existence. But still there are several beautiful flowers out in the wild forest, and they still blossom without any of our praise. Similarly, this is analogous to the fact that there are so many people in the world who work hard silently, but do not get any praise. There are many people who work quite inconspicuously, and due to which the show goes on! Be it the hard working doctors and nurses who are fighting against Covid to treat the patients, or be it the delivery men and women who handle millions of deliveries all over the world, when people like us simply order online. Even our mother always works hard for her kids to grow up and become successful. She does not even take any pay for the house work such as cooking, cleaning which she has to do 7 days a week for the whole year. In these modern days when a single paycheck isn’t enough, she even has to do her job for supporting the family. Our mother and all the people who work on the background to keep the world moving, are truely “the flowers in the forest!”

Also, a flower in the forest can also be related to the usual tendency of men and women to ignore/take granted for the loved ones and go after the unloved ones. Yes, this is ironic but don’t we assume people and relationships where we are 100% sure of them, and start taking them for granted. One of the legendary Marathi author P L Deshpande humorously said that “Prathamdarshani premala Dvitiyadarshani utara asto”. It means that after love at first sight, it starts reducing from the second glance! This is unfortunately true, because the people who love us often end up last on our list. We take their trust for granted and assume that this will continue forever. And so they become like the flowers in the forest, who are blossomed with their display of love and trust for us, but we are lost in the forest of our worries and pleasing other people (who in reality are not worth the attention and praise), and we tend to forget our loved ones at the end. Hence, it is written by a famous historian Will Durant in his biography that “What villains we are, that only the forbidden or withheld is sweet to us, and the most generous woman is soonest left unloved.”

Of course, it goes along fairly well on both sides. Will had written it back in 1920’s from the perspective of the male dominated world. But today, with equality, we see that this becomes gender irrelevant. Even few men & women become like the flower in the forest, and wonder what went wrong in their relationship, when he/she had all the talents and worldly accomplishments like education, wealth etc but still his/her river of love could not meet the ocean! Sometimes, it become agonizing for few of them due to breakups, and they even end up committing certain acts which was least expected from them. After all, they just wanted to get a recognition and acceptance of being a beautiful flower in the forest by the other equally beautiful flowers in the garden, isn’t it?

Well, As John Lennon said through his song “Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.” We need to grow beyond the limitations put by the world, and ought to blossom in our own way. Just as a lotus grows in the mud, and still cherishes its own significance, so does we need to act on the problems in our life, and grow out of it. We cannot let the hidden lotus within us to submerge in the mud of problems. To grow out of it is its true dharma!

Stay connected to my blog, more to come soon!

© Abhishek Karadkar and abhiknotes.wordpress.com, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Abhishek Karadkar and abhiknotes.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Recycling: The need of the hour!

As rightly said by Jeff Sanderson, “If you care about the environment and how it will affect the mankind, then recycling shouldn’t take a second thought“.

I have been working for over more 2 years in the field of energy management. Having realized the importance of energy management and how it affects the environment, I decided to start a section to cover “Energy and Environment” in this blog. Hence, this is the first post regarding environment, and after I got to know about the wonderful initiative NC State (my almamater) has taken in the field of recycling from my friend, I decided to throw some light in this respect.

We all have been reading and listening about the buzz word “Recycle”. It often goes along with two other words “Reduce” and “Reuse”. As per Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) definition “Recycling is the process of collecting and processing materials that would otherwise be thrown away as trash and turning them into new products“.

Benefits of Recycling

-> Recycling prevents pollution

Recycling conserves natural resources such as forests, water and minerals. As these are finite resources, we really need to preserve them for the next several generations to make use of them. When we recycle paper, we save lots of trees. When we recycle plastic, we reduce the demand for new plastic which is made using fossil fuels hydrocarbons. Due to less plastic production, we help the environment by reducing the carbon footprint and global warming. Recycling metals helps the environment by less extraction of new mineral ores and thereby less land pollution. Even recycling glass helps in less use of sand, which is often extracted from the river beds, and which affects the river flows, by not only causing water pollution, or drying up of rivers sources, but also tremendously affects aquatic life.

Recycling also plays a very important role in preserving the marine life in oceans and seas. If the items especially e-waste, are dumped in the oceans, then it affects the marine life. As per Planet Green Recycle, each year across the world, anywhere from 20 to 50 million tons of electronics becomes e-waste, and only 11-14% of e-waste is sent to recyclers in the United States. Much of our e-waste ends up traveling to countries with less regulation, so they can dispose of the e-waste either by burning or dumping in oceans. One reason for this is that the United States is the only developed country in the world to never ratify the Basel Convention, which at first controlled, and then outright banned, exporting hazardous waste to poorer countries. Today, the Pacific Ocean has become one of the largest dumping ocean on the planet. There’s a floating, moving trash pile, alternately known as the Pacific Trash Vortex or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that’s literally Texas-sized. That’s the negative impact we’re having on our environment right now. Hence recycling will help in reducing this adverse impact on the oceans.

-> Recycling saves energy

Making products from recycled materials requires less energy than making them from new raw materials. As per Friends of the Earth,

Producing new aluminium from old products (including recycled cans and foil) uses 95% less energy than making it from scratch. For steel it’s about a 70% energy saving.
Making paper from pulped recycled paper uses 40% less energy than making it from virgin wood fibres.
The amount of energy saved from recycling one glass bottle could power an old 100-watt light bulb for 4 hours and a new low-energy LED equivalent for a lot longer.

Along with reducing use of energy, it produces lower carbon emissions. It also keeps potentially methane-releasing waste out of landfill sites. As per ecocycle, making copy paper from 100% recycled content fiber instead of 100% virgin forest fibers reduces total energy consumption by 44%, net greenhouse gas emissions by 38%, particulate emissions by 41%, wastewater by 50%, solid waste by 49% and wood use by 100%.

Recycling helps in increasing the efficiency of manufacturing as it is cheaper to produce from recycled items, as compared to new raw materials. The cost related to processing, procurement and polishing the final product significantly reduces if recycled goods are used. Some of the common products you can find that can be made with recycled content include the following: Aluminum cans, Car bumpers, Cereal boxes, Egg cartons, Glass containers, Paper towels and Trash bags. Hence, with recycling, glass bottles become new glass bottles, steel cans are used in car parts and construction materials, and so on.

-> Recycling Creates Jobs

Recycling helps in creating large number of jobs. For every one job at a landfill, there are ten jobs in recycling processing and 25 jobs in recycling-based manufacturing. The recycling industry employs more workers than the auto industry. EPA released significant findings on the economic benefits of the recycling industry with an update to the national Recycling Economic Information (REI) Study in 2016. The study found that in a single year, recycling and reuse activities in the United States accounted for: 757,000 jobs, $36.6 billion in wages; and $6.7 billion in tax revenues.

NC State Recycling is involved in recycling the waste since 2001. The list of accepted materials includes plastics, metal, glass and paper.

While the below items are not accepted for recycling.

Thus, for preserving the environment by reducing water, land and air pollution, saving energy, increasing efficiency of the manufacturing processes, creating jobs and saving money, we need to encourage everyone to recycle as much as possible, instead of throwing them away after first use. With this, we conclude with Wendell Berry’s quote “The earth is what we all have in common“

India and Engineering..

This post is about the question which is usually asked by Americans is why are so many Indians into engineering, as compared to the low ratio of Americans in this field? Yes, Indians are largely represented in the field of engineering ( along with Chinese as well) There are many reasons for why and how this happened.

To begin with, I am too an engineering graduate ( and Indian!). After my bachelors in engineering in India, I hoped on to board a flight to America ( just as many Indians do.) to complete my M.S in U.S. As soon as I came in US, I could see hundreds of Indians in my university ( Infact, in some of our classes, Indians comprised of 70-80% of student population, while the rest consisted of Chinese, Bangladeshis or Americans) Indians are famously known to study their MS in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or Information Technology. Ofcourse, there are other streams of engineering such as Mechanical, Civil or Biomedical, which many Indians do pursue. But a major chunk of the student population usually enrolls in these three field of engineering. Why? The simple answer is the high demand of graduate engineers required in these domains. Silicon valley companies like Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon prefer masters students who are graduate in these fields, and the high salary package, coupled with the elevated status to work and live in Silicon valley comes with a lots of perks such as good prospects to get married to a rich guy/girl, and presence of lots of Indians since the last few decades in the San Francisco Bay area. It isn’t wonder that due to the huge influx of Indians in IT and Tech companies in silicon valley for the last few decades, today we have Indian-American CEO’s of Google, Microsoft and IBM.

Hence, we see that Indians come to pursue their masters in US in large numbers, and most of them end up in silicon valley. But the real question is why do Indians study engineering in huge numbers, for MS in US and for Bachelor’s in India? For US, the reason is related to monetary returns and social status. For an engineer in India, it is quite worth to come to US ( even by taking considerable student loans) and pursue a Masters in engineering, as US provides excellent opportunities to work under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) and work visa (H1-B) programme. Many Indians have taken advantage of this programme and have successfully worked and even become resident ( though it needs nerve wracking patience to get a Green Card!).

Most Indians are very concerned of the currency conversion rate between Dollar(USD) to Indian Rupee(INR). While pursuing MS, it is natural for students to feel the pressure to reduce the costs and payoff the students loans. But once he/she graduates, and starts working in a MNC, the strength of the Dollar makes is easy to payoff the loans quickly and then earn, save and invest as much as they can. Hence, as compared to India, an Engineer in US earns quite a lot for the same work often!

Besides, the status of living in US is an additional bonus for Indians who are in the business of arranged marriage. Isn’t it strange that for a person who is just staying abroad, after having earned his masters, and settled in a MNC job in silicon valley, his value in the game of marriage increases several fold, not to mention about the dowry business…

Anyways, but it is worth noting that all Indians who come to US for masters, and then work in large numbers in IT and tech companies have already gained their Bachelor’s in Engineering in India, itself. Though there are some rich Indians who do pursue their Bachelor’s in engineering in US, but their population is very less as compared to the Americans (including Indian-Americans) pursuing Bachelor’s in engineering. So, the question is why do Indians study Engineering in India so much?

Aamir Khan's 3 Idiots last film played at Japan theatre ...

This question was very humorously touched by the movie “3 Idiots”. I would say all most every Indian ( especially who is an engineer or wants to study engineering) must have watched this movie, several times. This movie reflected the dark reality of an education system where only marks are valued, and the engineer’s quality is assessed by his performance in exams, and how much salary package does he/she acquires at the placement rounds.

Adding to that, there are many social aspects which pressures students to pursue engineering more in India. First, this comes from family. Few decades before, when India had just become independent, there was a large need of Engineers to construct dams, roads, bridges, to electrify cities, power stations etc. The country was poor and needed quality engineers in large numbers for the industrial development of the country. But there were only few engineering institutions ( which the British had started ). Hence, PM Nehru started seven IIT’s (Indian Institute of Technology) to bridge the gap between demand and supply. This turned out to be an excellent and visionary decision for India and also for the world (especially silicon valley and Wall street!) This is because the engineers who were selected in these institutions to study engineering, had to crack one of the world’s toughest entrance exams. And even after having enrolled in the engineering programme, they had to work hard for four years and due to which, the smartest and most hard working engineers were produced by these institutions. Later, most of them came to US to either pursue their MS/Ph.D or MBA, and ended up working in Silicon Valley or Wall Street respectively. They were not only praised for their talent, but also today, as we see most of the famous CEO’s and businessmen in US are IIT graduates. Some of the famous ones are Sundar Pichai (CEO of Google, IIT Kharagpur batch 1989-1993), Raghuram Rajan ( Former RBI Governor & Distinguished Prof of Finance, Chicago Booth school of Business, IIT Delhi batch 1981-1985), Arvind Krishna (CEO of IBM, IIT Kanpur batch 1981-1985) and many more.

The success stories of the above IITian’s ( engineering graduates of IIT) stand as an inspiration for the many Indian parents who also wish their sons/daughters to study engineering and then move to USA to achieve the American dream. Due to this, many Indian students dream of getting into IIT and then USA, and hence decide to become engineer to attain this. But the seats in IIT’s are limited, and hence, everyone could not get into IIT. Also, the demand for engineers did not get fulfilled by IIT’s either, as most of the IIT graduates usually go to USA, and this brain-drain berefts India of good, talented engineers. However, this does not mean that the decision of IIT graduates to settle in USA and not work for India (inspite of gaining their prestigious IIT degree) is wrong or cynical. There are many reasons for IIT graduates to choose to go to USA over work in India such as high salary package, excellent work opportunity, advanced education, good life, lack of corruption & reservation etc.

Hence, to again bridge the requirement gap of engineers, and to cater the increasing needs of the students desire to study engineering who could not secure an admission in IIT, the politicians in India decided to allow private institutions to start engineering colleges on a large scale. Thus, what happened is as the number of engineering colleges increased, so did the number of students who wanted to pursue engineering. Due to which, more and more students started studying engineering, with a hope that they will fulfill their parents wish to become an engineer, and also some day might land in USA, just like the IIT graduates did.

At the same time, the IT wave hit India, along with Indian economy got opened after 1991.This resulted in huge demand of IT and computer engineers in India and abroad as well. Many Indian IT companies like Infosys, Wipro, TCS etc started hiring IT professionals and later sent them onsite (to USA). Thus, began a trend of Indian engineers, who were not IIT graduates, to get a chance to work in USA and pursue their american dream. This motivated even more parents and families all over India to push their sons/daughters to study engineering, and this is how the number of Indians in engineering skyrocketed! Today, we see that in big cities like Mumbai, Pune or Bangalore, every family or home has either their son/daughter or some distant relative settled/working in IT in USA.

Besides, another thing I noticed from Americans is that American students in high school are especially scared of maths and engineering. And this is one of the reasons why they don’t study engineering. Ofcourse, Americans are fortunate to have a lot of freedom and options to choose their desired field of study, besides engineering. Usually, American girls are less motivated to pursue engineering (they prefer writing, arts or nursing more as told to me by several Americans), and even American guys often think of studying business, law or medical more than engineering/STEM. The public school system in US is not at its best, and is often derided by several Americans. Hence, the basics of maths are not taught well enough in school to motivate the students. Also, students are well aware of the other options like business or law, which are not only more lucrative but also relatively easy as compared to Engineering.

Also, the large influx of international students in the STEM/engineering has been reflected in the mindset of Americans in someway. The usual assumption that Asians are good at math or Indians are good at programming makes american kids less interested in engineering. Also, as the international crowd usually does not study law or business or arts in USA (atleast not in large numbers), this makes these fields less competitive and hence, more preferred. Another reason which does affect is the relatively less family/societal pressure among Americans to study engineering. American kids have more freedom, and the parents rarely pressure their kids to pursue any particular field of study. As most of the American families are either well-off and educated, the motivation to pursue American dream of good and luxurious life only after engineering/working in IT does not hold true. Americans can pursue any career, and still maintain their high standard of living as the other fields like business, law, sports or even writing yield rich dividends( depending on the level of education and experience they attain in those fields). But the point is that due to availability of multiple lucrative career options ( apart from engineering), it is natural for many Americans to take the less difficult path.

For Indians, however, this is not the scenario. First of all, even though math is feared by Indians as well, but the fear of being deprived of a good life in America is more dreaded than the fear of maths. In simple words, it is “Do or Die” situation. Indian kids simply have to bite the bullet, under the family/societal pressure to study difficult subjects like maths and engineering, even though they might not like them. Also, unlike Americans, there are not many other career options available which are as lucrative as Engineering ( except few like medicine or cricket or bollywood, but the chances to succeed in them is very very less). Better not to mention about arts or writing or law as a career, which is not only looked down upon, but might also turn out to be a financial disaster, unless the pursuer is wealthy enough.

Hence, due to all these conditions, it is imperative for Indians to go for engineering over other careers. But it is worth noting that, not all Engineers in India end up doing engineering. Many decide to pursue MBA, some aspire to become a civil servant while few brave ones venture out in the field of bollywood, cricket or even writing. Funny as it may sound, but India might be one of those few countries where bachelor’s in engineering is considered as a “basic degree”, and several movie actors/actresses and sportsmen are engineering graduates. To name a few movie stars who are engineers such as R Madhavan, Vicky Kaushal, Kartik Aryan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Kriti Sanon, Tapasee Pannu. There are even few cricketers like Anil Kumble, K Srikanth, R Ashwin, Javagal Srinath who are engineers (All are South Indians, and no wonder, South India has more engineering colleges). This happens only in India!

Finally, on a similar note as conveyed by the movie 3 Idiots, it is of increasing concern that this trend of Indians studying more and more engineering only is no good in the long run. This is because the other fields like arts, design or basic sciences(physics, biology or astronomy) gets deprived of the talent which is instead sucked by the engineering colleges. As everyone does not like engineering, and so it is an injustice to push someone to pursue engineering ( on an assumption that it might reap rich benefits in future) if he/she does not like it or does not have an aptitude for it. If compelled to study engineering against his/her wish, then they would make no good quality engineers, and due to which the skillset level of the entire field would come down. Today, it is unfortunate to see that many engineers are not skilled as expected by the industry. Though this might be accounted for the lack of good colleges or resources provided, but it does relate to the few students lack of interest as well, which definitely should be given a priority. Besides, the brain-drain happening since 1960’s to USA is no good for India, and in order to restore the balance in all the fields of study, it would be beneficial to work for the country, and develop all fields of work lucratively which will motivate the next coming generations to study as per their aptitudes and talents.

As time goes by…

“As time goes by”, is the song, written by Herman Hupfeld, and filmed in the iconic movie “Casablanca”, which is one of my most beloved movies. We simply cannot expect another movie based on this theme to be featured again. Our lives are altered in a such way, that we neither have the time or the patience to go deep and remake such a rare classic, which exemplifies the vicissitudes and immutability of human emotions. Hence, a small effort to appreciate this masterpiece and share few observations about this.

The movie goes back to the times of world war 2. Those were incredible times when living itself was like a gamble. If anyone could live without fear, they would be considered to be enlightened. How Rick came to Casablanca after Ilsa separated away from him in Paris, how their chemistry of never ending love for each other got mixed up, and restricted by Ilsa’s marriage to Victor, Ilsa’s desperate attempts to hide her emotions for Rick from Victor, then her distressed efforts to convince Rick to give those letters of transit to Victor, and finally the unexpected decision taken by Rick to send both Ilsa and Victor to America, all are beyond comprehension.

The movie though has a very simple theme, but conveys a very complex message. I would say everyone might infer the movie in their own way. The unconditional love shown by Rick towards Ilsa is very envious. I wonder how this is even possible in today’s world. The movie reminds me of the Shakespeare’s quote from A Midsummer’s Night Dream, “The course of true love never did run smooth…” Indeed, the path of Rick and Ilsa’s love story was strenuous. And this happens in every true love. It never runs smooth, and never gets finished. But the idea of happy ending only exists in a chimerical world. The expected outcome is often eluded.

There are few similar life stories based on the real life Rick and Ilsa, like Sahir and Amrita Pritam, or even French existentialists Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Their paths also crossed on several occasions, love blossomed, but the story remained incomplete. We usually want a happy ending. Most movies show a happy ending story ( though for commerical reasons), as it gives everyone hope that things work out nicely at the end. But in a parallel bonding, there is never an ending, and rather what ends is also a continuation. Its strange to assess it logically as our left brain won’t comprehend it. But if emotions can be expressed logically, scientists would have invented a chemical to trigger the neural circuit in the brain or could have come up with a mathematical equation to predict the course. It would be highly incongruous to even ackowledge this. But fortunately it has escaped the paradigm of logic.

At the ending scene in the movie, Rick does the thinking for all of them, and bravely decides to let go Ilsa and Victor to America. This potrays a strong message to us. We often presume that in relationships, victory is the ultimate ending, and in order to win, we must gain. Rather, on the contrary, to let go is winning. Because just like Rick let go Ilsa, because he knew that even though she loved him, but she would never be happy without Victor. Even though Victor and Rick both were against the evil Nazis, but Victor desperately needed to reach America to escape the Nazis, and she knew only Rick could help them. Though she did not mean to take advantage of Rick in this situation, and Rick inspite of knowing this, decided to let her go. This shows an extremely rare quality exhibited by Rick, and that is dispassion. By letting her go, he gained her respect and love, forever. What a way to conclude!!

This reminds me of Mazhar Imam’s Urdu couplet

Muhabbaton ki parakh ka yahi toh rasta hai
Teri talaash mein nikloon, tujhe na paaoon main

(The best criterion to judge the intensity of love is never to get the person who one loves)

In modern times, we are conditioned to think that gaining is victory at the end. But the chemistry of love and emotions are complex. The movie tells us to introspect on this, and remains as one of the top rated classics. Sahir and Amrita were the quintessential intellectuals in this respect. We cannot find such examples today, as rare they are like a honest politician. Our way of life has been contrived in predefined fashion and even love, emotions, relationships are scathed in today’s world. As time goes by resembles the divergent realism of the society and we can still hope affirmatively that even though as time goes by, there will always be stories of rare acceptance and letting go for the sake of humanity and love itself.

Lastly, to quote Sahir from his collection, Talkhiyaan: Muhabbat jo anjaam tak pahunchi nahin/Wahi muhabbat hai, baaqi kuchh nahin (Love that remains unfulfilled/Is the true love, the rest doesn’t matter). Ref

Diversity matters!

Yes, Diversity matters! Recently this has been a major issue in US and also in other parts of the world. We often hear or read about racial, color, caste, religion, gender, ideology based discrimination. Everyone seems to be wanting to live, and work and surround themselves by like minded people of same color, race, caste or religion. I find this to be so unnatural behavior.

Let me elaborate on this. We find diversity in nature everywhere. Imagine a world where there are only one species of trees, or animals, or birds. How boring it would be to live in such a world. Imagine if we have to wear same clothes everyday, won’t it be boring for us ( especially girls who are so much into buying new clothes, always!) Imagine, if we have to eat the same food everyday. I can go on repeating more and more examples, but the context is how in the world can we dislike diversity among people in our lives? Isn’t that strange?

I know there are many reasons for us to avoid embracing people from any particular affiliation ( like color, race etc). They include mostly societal rules, familial expectations, or any prior experiences about them we might have had. But let’s look at this from the prism of transparency. Do we really care about what other people tell us to do? Do we really listen to any of our family members when they tell us to act in a particular way? No, we do not listen. That’s what majority of us will do. Then why should we hate or avoid other people who are not like us, just under the assumption that our family or friends told us to or they might be doing so. Why should we lose the friendship of anyone just on the grounds that he/she doesn’t look like us, or doesn’t eat the same food?

Let us think what we miss when we stay within the same group of people. Just like a pond of water stinks after sometime when there is no inflow/outflow of fresh stream, similarly we not only get bored in the same group of people, thoughts, ideas, but also start missing out the opportunity to learn, know, share new ideas/opportunities from/with new people. Isn’t that sad that we miss learning a new skill or music or even food, just because the other person is not like us.

In India ( from where I come from), even though the country is diverse, with hundreds of languages, cuisine, cultures etc, but the society is complex enough to propel us to stick with our own people, culture etc. For a south Indian to be friendly or even get married with a north Indian, is very difficult. People have written books and made movies out of this (For ex:Two States) complexity. We Indians, are so much obsessed with our tradition that we simply abhor or ignore that there are other people in this world. Not only in marriages, but people from few communities do not allow people from other communities to live in the same apartment or even locality. This is way absurd!

I won’t get into the realm of caste based discrimination ( especially India) as this is too complex and too political to deal with. Similar can be said of color or race based discrimination in USA, Australia or some European countries. And similar discrimination happens in middle eastern countries on the basis of religion. We all know this is so wrong, yet these things keep on happening even in the 21st century. Just like Black lives matter, we need to widen the horizon to diversity matters!

Recent studies have shown that companies or groups with diversity progress more quickly. This might be attributed to the fact that diversity welcomes new ideas & allows everyone to learn and adopt. As we know, adaptability is one of the key skillset needed to survive in this world. If we try to hide ourselves in our own comfort zones, we might never develop the skill of adaptability. Also, diversity with transparency in leadership is motivational for the team, and that company which embraces this lasts long as well. This is because everyone in the group will have fair chance to climb the ladder of leadership and will stay inspired to work and contribute to the organization. On the contrary, nepotism or discrimination based organizations ( favoring only a particular group to excel) doesn’t last long. We all know what happened to Nazi Germany, who relied on the false notion of Aryan superiority. While, those countries which do not have any familial tradition in politics or business, have prospered and developed more ( Scandinavian countries like Norway, Sweden and Denmark fare the best in this respect).

After all, just like a bunch of flowers makes a beautiful bouquet. Just like a delicious “thali” (ask an Indian what a Thali is) is made up of different kind of foods ( sweet, salty, spicy etc), so as the world comes with different colors, body structures and nature. Even a rainbow is made of 7 colors! We are conditioned to assess the beauty by fairness, fitness by six packs or slim figure, status by family, community or religion. We are forced to believe some people from a particular community are good at math or business or acting. All this is false, period! We are all same, unique, equal. Maybe we might not be born with the same financial resources, or in an educated family, or in a developed country, but we all come with the same inner strength, confidence, and motivation to achieve whatever we want in life. Nature does not differentiate us on basis of any external differences. We just need to remember this.

People call America as the melting pot, while some call India as a bowl of salad. Whatever it may be, a pot or a bowl, the key factor which makes a good dish is the proper mixing of ingredients with each other. The different ingredients should nicely mix & blend with each other to make the dish delicious. On a similar note, all of us with our unique diversity should mix and blend for the progress of humanity.

I hope the world becomes more acceptable for diversity& inclusion. #BlackLivesMatter #AllLivesMatter #DiversityMatters #Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ( The world is one family)

The seven most Iconic legends of modern India

India is blessed with many heroes, martyrs, freedom fighters, spiritual masters, leaders and patriots. To name out only a few of the legends will be very unfair for the whole history of India and the immense contribution of all the men and women. But this list of 7 icons defines India in a true sense, without them India would not have been what it is today. They have not only devoted their whole life to the service of nation but they also stand unique among all by their path followed, their love for the nation, without getting labeled by any political or religious views. They were perfect professionals in their field of contribution and even their opponents admired them for their honesty, sincerity and dedication. I think these 7 icons stand tall in the history and making of modern India.

The Tata’s (Jamshedji, J R D and Ratan)
Rabindranath Tagore (Thakur)
Swami Vivekananda
Mahatma Gandhi
Babasaheb Ambedkar
Sam Manekshaw
A P J Abdul Kalam

The Tata family has been among the finest industrial families in India. Jamshedji, JRD and Ratan Tata, all have been the true architects of modern India. Without their exemplary service and dedication to build some of the finest institutions, India would never have been the one which is today. They not only brought India on the world map in industries and business through Tata & Sons group of companies, but also revolutionized India’s industrial revolution. When Jamshedji Tata got introduced to steel, he immediately decided to setup a steel factory in India to make India self-reliant. Similar story goes regarding Hotels, when after being insulted by British for the lack of world class hotel in India, he setup the Taj hotel in Mumbai. On similar front, JRD ventured into Aviation ( today known as Air India), chemicals, auto-industry and many more. And the legacy of J R D was carried ahead by Ratan Tata, and his vision to empower India, and venturing into new projects such as Tata Nano to make a affordable car for middle class Indians has made Tata a household name. Also, Tata’s have been leaders in philanthropy as well, with most recently, Ratan Tata donated 500 crores of rupees to fight against Covid-19.

India Today: Jamshedji, J R D and Ratan Tata

One interesting fact to note is inspite of being the oldest industrial powerhouse of India, Today, Tata’s are not the richest family, but Ambani’s are. And because of this, it is famously said Ambani’s are true businessmen, while Tata’s are true industrialists. Tata’s never cared about making money, but cared about creating wealth for the nation. Tata’s have mentored so many industrialists and entrepreneurs such as Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji and so on, who are successfully carrying this legacy ahead in the form of Wipro, Infosys etc.

Besides, industries, Tata’s took the noble initiative in establishing world class institutes such as Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Tata institute of Social Sciences(TISS), Indian Institute of Science(IISc), National Center for Performing Arts, Tata Memorial Hospital, The Energy and Research Institute(TERI) etc. These institutions have shaped the minds of millions of Indians, and have progressed India towards self-reliance.

Swami Vivekananda was a well-known spiritual personality of India. He not only introduced the Indian spirituality to the west for the first time in 1892, but also re-ignited the hidden patriotism and energy within Indians to rise up and build up the country again. The current prime minister, Narendra Modi is a follower of Swami Vivekananda, and with his Ramakrishna mission started a journey of the spread of universal brotherhood, spirituality, Ayurveda, Yoga and meditation to all parts of the world. Some of the famous organizations which followed Vivekananda’s footsteps include Sri Sri’s Art of Living, SadhGuru’s Isha Foundation, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental meditation, Swami Prabhupada’s ISKCON, Yogananada Paramhansa’s “The Autbiography of a Yogi” and spreading the kriya yoga taught by Mahavatar Babaji, S N Goenka’s Vipassanna meditation and Neem Karoli Baba’s influence on Beatles, Steve Jobs, Julia Roberts and Mark Zuckerburg. This image of India being the spiritual holyland emerged after the historic visit of Swami Vivekananda to United States.

Also, it is said that Swami Vivekananda had met Jamshedji Tata on a ship to Japan, and they had discussed about the future of India. It isn’t a surprise that Vivekananda’s presence tremendously influenced Jamshedji’s life and his future contributions to the country.

The Better India: Swami Vivekananda and Jamshedji Tata

Rabindranath Tagore( just like Swami Vivekananda, both came from Bengal) will always be remembered as the poet and writer who envisioned the idea of India. He received the Nobel prize for literature in 1913, and was the first Indian to receive the prize. What makes him one of the seven iconic personality is the love and devotion to the motherland. Rabindra Sangeet has achieved the versatile recognition all over the world, and his poems conveyed the need for sacrifice and dedication to free the country from foreign rule. Even today, it is equally applicable, when we see Indians moving abroad to USA for better opportunities, resulting in brain drain, and on the other side, the huge influx of cheap Chinese goods are destroying the small businesses and livelihood of millions of fellow Indians. I remember this Tagore’s poem after seeing the current situation of India and Indians..

Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Mahatma Gandhi is another icon of India, without which the book about India will never get finished. Revered as the “Father of India” and known for his non-violence movement against the British, “Satyagraha”, and his insistence on local goods “Swadeshi” & Hindu-Muslim unity, his contributions led to India becoming independent in 1947. Historians and some self-recognized experts debate on Gandhi’s involvement in India’s independence, and how several problems which India still suffers today such as India-Pakistan conflict, legacy of Nehru and his family rule over India, secularism etc have been linked to Gandhi. We might need another post to elaborate on them, but whatever people might think, Gandhi did create the India we have today, and based on the current world scenario, its the best we have got. The roots of secularism, however might be shaken today, but it still is deep enough and have strengthened the very foundations of modern India.

India achieved freedom by non-violent means, and no country in the world had done this before. Looking at the terror and war stricken world today, Indians were indeed very fortunate to have been led by a spiritual leader, who believed in non-violence and truth. Also, Gandhi and Tagore were very good friends, and often interacted with each other. They both visited each other’s Ashram ( Tagore’s Shantiniketan and Gandhi’s Sabarmati and Wardha ashram), and shared the common idea of the unity and freedom struggle of India. J R D Tata also was tremendously influenced by Gandhi and believed in the self-reliance (Swadeshi) idea for a post-independence India. Gandhi was against communism, and so was J R D Tata ( though the reasons were different, for Gandhi it was the communism’s lack of belief in God, while for Tata was the unsuitability of communism for an Indian economy)

Brain Pickings: Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi

I haven’t included Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel in this list (not to avoid a political debate, but to remain apolitical, and because of the huge influence of Gandhi on Nehru and Patel). Barring few things like military, foreign affairs etc, Nehru truely believed and followed the Gandhian way to build a free India. Insistence on self-reliancy, secularism, education, farming, healthcare etc were somewhat influenced by Gandhian ideals, and Patel united India on grounds of Gandhi’s secularism.

Babasaheb Ambedkar is the next icon of modern day India. Known as the chief architect of the Constitution of India, his ascendency from an untouchable community to become one of the nation’s prominent lawyer, jurist and economist is no less than a miracle. He was the most educated lawyer in India at that time. He inspired millions of Indians ( especially from the backward classes) and his role model has enabled them to destroy the prison of casteism, religious hatred and climb the ladder of success. Though his policy of reservation has raised frequent debates in the society, but his life, message and actions have indeed strengthened the foundations of secularism and unified India. Ambedkar and his team’s vision to embrace democracy has been one of the best decisions ever taken, and even though the democracy is not yet the most perfect form in India today, but it was indeed a visionary decision to accept this for a complex and diverse country like India.I cannot imagine how any other form of government would have impacted the country. Dr.Ambedkar even today, remains a hope and guiding light for many Indians, with his message that hard work and fighting against injustice leads to success. After all, all the Warkari community, Buddha, Basaveshwara, Kabir, and even the French and American revolution have proclaimed the same principles of universal brotherhood, tolerance and equality. This is the best gift India has received from Dr.Ambedkar to destroy the age old archaic theories which promoted casteism and created a rift between communities which had weakened India, and due to which India had become a British colony and a poor nation. Let we stay united together, drop all the caste barriers and accept the “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” principle.

Sam Manekshaw is another legend in the Indian history. His military prowess, dedicated service to the nation, discipline and way of life have influenced us enormously. He is well known for leading India to win the 1971 war against Pakistan, and thereby creating the state of Bangladesh. He not only rejuvenated the morale of Indian forces after the 1962 debacle with China, but also proudly raised the Indian flag in the world, by demonstrating an example of how a military should win the war and how to treat an enemy. I am personally greatly enamoured by Sam Manekshaw’s personality and myself being from a defense background, I can certainly say that Indian military has been one of the finest and secular forces in the world. That’s why, he was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal of India. He was the military architect of India, and remains an inspiration for all Indians ( me included)

Defense Lover: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw

A P J Abdul Kalam is the most recent icon to have served the nation with his love, devotion and dedication. Popularly known as the “Missile Man of India”, he was the chief of DRDO during the successful nuclear tests in Pokhran, 1998. If it was not Dr.Kalam, then we would not have the ISRO and DRDO as we have today. He developed these institutions into one of the finest and best in the world. Later, during his Presidency, he is so far the best President and most liked by all. His success exemplifies the secular power of India. His contribution stands as a testament for a middle class, humble person to rise up and attain the highest position.

Thus, these seven icons of India are what represents India. Though there are many other legends as well, and they have devoted their life for the service of nation as well, but these 7 icons are the true spirit of India. They were and are not being viewed through the narrow prism of politics, ideology or religion. All of them were born before India became free, and with few exceptions, many lived after India became independent. They knew the essence of India, and understood about the future of India as well. Even during the troubled times when the whole world was lost into World Wars, Great Depression, or got entangled into communism, these leaders did not drift away from their path. They did not support any foreign theory like communism, or capitalism. But thought only what was best for India. All of them had excellent education, many went abroad for higher studies, yet all came back to India to serve the motherland. It would not have been difficult for Gandhi, or Ambedkar or Kalam, to get settled abroad in England or America, for better opportunity or money (In fact, for Dr.Ambedkar , that would have been the best chance to escape the tyranny of the upper caste people in India). But they did not do that. They came back, struggled, fought against the system and finally succeeded. This conveys a strong message for our generations who want to move out of India at the very first chance, just for dollars or because of being fed up by politics or reservations in jobs. Of course its completely fine to go abroad for higher studies and get some experience but I feel the time has come to return back to India and re-build India once again. India needs good people and its become very vital to free India from the clutches of cheap Chinese goods, and internal dirty politics.

As the current situation has entailed many Indians abroad to return back to their country, I thought this post would be helpful to raise the awareness about our country’s past, and to realize the hidden potential within us. May this article guide us to cross the bridge of inequality, to rise the ladder of success, to remove the dust of just serving foreign companies for few dollars or pounds from our mind, and motivate us to start our own venture and adventure to promote this wonderful Indian tradition, knowledge, culture we have endured from our ancestors. Lets say no to Chinese goods, and make and buy in India. Lets #Make locally & Think Globally

As Tagore wrote in his poem, …let my country awake…

Small things add up…

Nowadays, when we are staying or working from home, and this being considered the new normal, it is natural to remember the old days ( not very old, but just few months or years back), and it seems that things have come up a a long way. Today, when we find ourselves stuck up in the virtual world of social media, Netflix and work from home, but we forget there used to be those days when we cherished the small walks in garden or in nature, drinking the hot chai during the rains, going for trek in nearby mountains or hills ( my hometown is blessed with many surrounding hills, and I have very fond memories of it), meeting friends in the evening and talking about out of the box topics, or even roaming around the city by car or bike, just for the sake of passing the time.

When these things were easily done by everyone, everyday ( without even being aware of it), we somehow did not value them. But even those small things add up. We often know and understand more by discussing with friends, rather than internet or books. We make good friends in real life by actual meeting, sharing, with all those fun and random gossip, and not over social media, or accepting follow up request. There was a time when people did not need daily motivation quotes or inspirational videos to stay motivated, but just looking at the real life problems and striving hard to solve them, kept them inspired. There was a time when people did not join weight reducing program to stay fit, but just doing the daily work, traveling by bus, walking, cycling, climbing the stairs, doing housework kept them fit. Gone are the days when every kid had to suffer the punishment at the hands of their parents and teachers, and that punishment somehow got engraved in their memory, which reminded them of not committing that mistake again. But today, on the contrary, we hear that the parents and teachers are punished if they do the same. But even those small things added up in life. We discarded them on the grounds of modernity, freedom and independence, but somehow, we see the need of those things.

After all, we are not meant to be confined to a virtual life or digital image on some online website. We are not meant to be just working to survive the competition or to stay ahead in the success race with family members or friends. As J K Rowling famously said that many people confuse between life and qualifications. We see that in old days, the reasons of stress were poverty or famine or floods or any natural disaster which would destroy the crops or house. But today,we are much much ahead of them, and still our generation has more stress then ever in human history, for what? To beat the competition, to keep social status, to maintain the relationships?? We are stressed out in our work not to make life better or find solutions ( there are exceptions like Elon Musk though), but just with the fear of public opinion, or to avoid breakup in marriage or relationship etc. Today, the equations of life are altered to such an extent where the good old ways of living is simply out of fashion. In this quest to carve out our digital identity in a virtual, encrypted world, we no longer find time for simple, random acts, or loving nature, or even just finding time to be with ourselves.

For the Indian audience who grew up watching the movies during 70’s and 80’s, there were some unique set of movies which glorified simplicity, honesty and innocence. They used to be called parallel cinema. After hearing the sad demise of Basu Chatterjee, many of us were reminded of that era. Particularly were Choti si Baat, or Rajnigandha, or Baton Baton Mein. Today, do we find the satisfied life, or happiness in simple things as depicted in those movies? Even though they were movies, but still those characters and the story touch common man’s life even today. Why? Because they showed reality, they showed the day to day life problems, and also showed the way to live happily amidst all those problems. That tolerance level, capacity to accept the hardships in life, patience to wait and let evolve the beauty of relationships is what we miss today. In many ways, that life was much much akin to nature.

More to write on the beauty of parallel cinema..

Why Globalization is so controversial nowadays?

I think this is due to the shallow foundations on which this concept was built up. Looking into history, it all started with Milton Friedman and similar school of economists who were more right winged politically, favored capitalism over FDR’s new deal type social welfare, and promoted the idea of tickle down theory in economics. Their underlying assumption was that if the corporations are given freedom to operate and carry out business without any government interference, then they will become rich, but in this process they will make their employees rich and in that way the riches will trickle down the hierarchy. After the 2007 sub-prime crisis, this theory got shaken and people started doubting it.

So, globalization is very much based on this theory. Due to the large corporation’s greed for getting rich, and dominating business throughout the world ( especially US businesses), they started finding out ways to reduce cost in production and labor. Until early 1970’s, all the manufacturing was done in US itself. But to compete soviet based communism, US politicians started reaching out to other third world countries to bring them to capitalism and with this, China was approached by Nixon in 1972, and later other nations like South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and India become a part of outsourcing US company operations in those countries to reduce cost and labor. This was especially escalated during the Reagan era, when he removed many regulations in the economy and the financialization of US industries began.

Also, that was an era when computer, semiconductor companies and stock market was at high, and much of the software was outsourced to India and the semiconductor companies started operating from Taiwan, China and Vietnam. Even core manufacturing companies like GE went from electrical to GE Capital, under the leadership of Jack Welch. Also, Japanese competition had driven US auto companies to either close down or outsource to other countries to cut down costs. Thus, globalization was widely accepted by all american corporates as a way to stay at the top of the business and drive out other competitors.

But as the corporate CEO’s became rich and richer over the years, US employees started losing their jobs to skilled labor force from China and India. Soon, many companies closed their operations in US and the rust belt became completely rusted as Japan and Germany leaded the auto-industry. But US took lead in computer, e-commerce and wireless industry, with many leading companies like Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Cisco, Facebook, Google and Amazon. But, even though the founders and management of the company were Americans, but to stay ahead in the competition ( to reduce cost and increase the business), they had to hire immigrants from India and China, and this way the H1-B employment programme gained momentum to cater these companies growing requirement of engineers. This resented many local people and due to which silicon valley soon became the hub of immigrants.

Also, its worth noting that to gain funding from these tech companies and Wall street, US politicians (both sides) kept supporting immigrants to come in US and work. Until Trump started opposing this policy, it was business as usual for the companies. So, this is when globalization started becoming controversial. For the last 4 years, Trump has reversed many policies and decisions taken by US presidents ( both parties) and infact, his election is also based on his stand against globalization and immigrants.

But though globalization has led to many changes as mentioned above, but it has also made US companies lead the world. If they had not been provided all the labor force needed with the growing business, then they won’t have become giants as seen today. Also, I think with the disappearance of Soviet Union and its communism from global stage in 1991, it was imperative for US to lead the world after that, and with this the flow of US products and industries to other nations as well. We need to understand that even though manufacturing and services jobs might have migrated to China and India respectively, but then that vacuum was filled by growing entrepreneurship among Americans ( Facebook, Tesla, Google, Snapchat, Twitter, Whatsapp all were founded after 1991). Startups has become a new fashion for the young Americans in last 30 years and not working in a factory or doing a regular desk job. So, in a way, this has benefited all.

But globalization has its cons too. It has created China as a new economic superpower which is competing with USA. It has led to immense income inequality between the rich and the poor. Never in history was the wealth gap between rich and the poor so wide as seen today. Then, globalization has led many developed countries to depend on the other countries and so the supply chain economics has been affected. Especially, since the start of coronavirus pandemic, USA’s over dependence on China (which is a outcome of globalization) has strongly raised public opinion against globalization. Besides, globalization has enormously affected the environment, as the rapid industrialization of many countries has led to ecological imbalance and has contributed to global warming. Globalization has led to enormous consumerism and this has resulted in a society where the demand is ever growing and the supply is dwindling due to limited resources. So, to keep the supply in demand with the growing world population, more urbanization, industrialization and deforestation is being done today. All this is not sustainable in the long run and many intellectuals and environmentalists have raised up this issue on global platforms.

So, due to all this, globalization has become controversial.

To be continued…..

The tree and the mountain

I clicked this picture in the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado. It was a pleasant evening, and when I saw this little tree in front of the giant mountain, many thoughts started coming to my philosophical mind. After all, philosophy is one of my hobbies and I have always loved debating on several philosophical topics with my friends.

So, I find this picture to be very interesting. First of all, its very beautiful. The scenic beauty with the red rocks forming a barren mountain and this tree being the only green vegetation in the whole picture. Wow! I know we can find this in many places around Arizona or Nevada or even Utah. But this Colorado pic clicked my philosophical mind somehow.

I feel this tree represents the human life and the barren mountain represents life’s problems, responsibilities and burdens. Human life is short just like this little tree, and is surrounded by the giant mountain of work stress and societal pressures. As the mountain is completely barren, so are the problems and stress in life. There is greenness in the tree, but not on the mountain. Similarly, it is our life which is good, enriching in itself and not the work or societal expectations.

Just as the tiny tree is standing straight in front of the tall mountain, similarly, we have to stand up and face the mountains of problems in life. This tree resembles the hope and faith in life. I remember the famous quote from the movie “Shawshank Redemption” that “faith is a good thing, and no good thing ever dies”, on the same grounds, this tree stands as an example to grow up in this barren land, in front of the mountain, proudly. So we have to stand up in life and even though there might be huge problems and anxieties,we got to have faith in our own abilities, that we can and we will face them successfully.

This tree also sets a living example that inspite of being the lonely tree in the whole area, so is human life. We come alone in this world and we have to leave this world, alone! Sorry to be so dramatic, but this is hard truth, and we have to bite the bullet eventually. Just as the tree has its short life, so do we. In today’s rat race to achieve so called success, fame, power, love and money, we often forget why are we working so hard and what are we running after. Because all the power, money, fame and human life is short lived, just like this tree. But unlike this tree,we forget to grow and blossom, and by not allowing ourselves to understand the basic purpose in life, we simply keep beating around the bush, and get involved in acquiring temporary pleasures in life. It is sad to say that we waste half of our health to gain the wealth, and then we spend half of that earned wealth to get back the lost health!

We need to find our true purpose in life, our genuine interests and live the life that will help us live the fullest, just like this tree does. It does not care of anyone’s opinions and neither does it stop growing or giving shade to the travelers, due to fear of being alone in front of the huge mountain.Then, why do we forget our work, our responsibilities towards society or humanity and why do we waste our life brooding about the past, worrying about the current problems and being anxious about the coming future?

Just as the tree doesn’t care of the depressing barrenness surrounding it, so should we not overthink or get too much involved in work stress or problems. After all, work or problems in life keep coming and going. We need to remember the famous commencement speech address given by Steve Jobs in Stanford in 2005. He did remind us that “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”

Today, we are seeing the impact of covid-19 and fearing the possible recession, but similar fear had mounted up during 2007 crisis, but it did eventually subside. Similar was during 9/11 when the whole world was afraid of terrorism, but eventually, it got over. And same has been repeated so many times back in history, yet we fear, doubt our potential and forget the fundamental truth that “this too shall pass!”.

Hence, I conclude my philosophical thoughts and I am glad to have caught this picture during my travel in Colorado. It reminds me of my life purpose, my potential and gives us a message that no matter, how tall the mountains of fear, stress or problems might be in this barren cynical world, there is a hope and faith in the form of this tree which stands straight with pride to face all those anxieties and fears, grows and blossoms amidst all the problems and performs its duty/work without worrying about the surroundings (past or future).

American Diaries: Trip to Denver and Colorado Springs

In Jan 2020, I got the opportunity to travel to Denver and Colorado Springs for business work. But along with business, we decided to roam around and as I had never been to Colorado, so I was quite excited for this new trip. Also, one of my colleague from my company was going to accompany in this trip.

January is one of the peak winter seasons in USA and Colorado lies at the foothills of Rocky mountains. So, I was quite concerned about the cold and the possibility to fall ill due to flu. ( on a sidenote, at that time, Coronavirus was not still known in USA, though it had been in China. )

So, this was going to be a week trip. We were going to travel on Monday morning to Denver and then fly back to Atlanta on Friday morning, and besides our work from 8 to 4 during the day, we planned to visit few places after work. So, I packed my bags and headed to the airport by Uber. Then, I boarded the Delta flight to Denver and after two and half hours journey, I landed in Denver. Denver airport is not big like Atlanta, but its roof is designed like the rocky mountains ( I realized after a while). Then, I met my colleague ( she had taken a different flight), we rented a car and started to roam around Denver. First stop was at the Colorado State Capitol building.

Top view from the Colorado State Capitol building. Also, seen are the snow capped Rocky mountains.

The Capitol is a large government building, and showcased an image of a typical bureaucratic environment. But, we wanted to see the mountains from a height, and so we joined one group which was touring the capitol building. The lady who was the lead of that group was gracious enough to let both of us enter the terrace of the building and so we captured the above pic from the top.

Then, after seeing the state capitol building, we decided to go to Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre which is famous for hoisting many rock concerts and also had seen The Beetles perform in 1964. The place is huge surrounded by red mountains as the name says. It was very surprising to have a amphitheatre built at such a high altitude location. The place indeed was very beautiful. But unfortunately,we had been in winter evening and it was chilling cold. Somehow, the beauty of the location made us bear the cold and we took tons of pics as well as selfies.

In the giant amphitheatre surrounded by tall rocks.

Then, we decided to head towards Colorado Springs which is an hour away drive from Denver. Ignoring the traffic due to ongoing road widening, we reached Colorado Springs safely and ended our day. We had booked Double Tree by Hilton near Cheyenne mountain blvd, and we were very happy with the selection of this hotel.

The next day, started with starbucks coffee and breakfast at the restaurant near hotel lobby. We could see many US Air Force officers in the hotel due to the Air Force Academy presence in Colorado Springs. We decided that after work we will go to Garden of the Gods, which is one of the most beautiful places in Colorado. It comprises of about 1300 acres of vast sandstone formations and is designated as National Natural Landmark. Also, it is one of the most visited spots in Colorado. So, with excitement, we started our journey to the Garden of the Gods, and within 20 mins, we reached our destination. The valley is simply beautiful. It’s no surprise why this is called as God’s Garden!

We started walking in the park ( the name is garden, but it is called as park!) We saw many, huge sandstone rock formations and some of them were indeed favorites for rock climbers and boulders. We saw many signs showing to preserve the natural beauty of the park by not stepping outside the walking fence, and were also warned by the possible hiding spot of rattle snake, whoa! Besides fearing to see rattle snake ( which we did not see), we saw other animals like deers, rabbits and squirrels in large numbers, roaming freely in the park. The park has neat pavements for walking and provides directions every now and then.

Soon, we saw a distant tall snow capped peak. We wondered what was that and then after reading the information board, we found that to be Pikes Peak, which is the highest summit of the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, with an elevation of about 14000 ft.

The info board overlooking the distant Pikes Peak

Finally, it started getting dark and cold, and so we decided to return to our hotel in Colorado Springs.

Later during the week, we roamed around the city in downtown, visiting new restaurants. Some of the good restaurants we visited were Rabbit Hole, Red Gravy, Colorado Craft ( the veg burgers were really good), Denver Biscuit Co and Odyssey Gastropub. I would recommend to try them if you happen to visit Colorado Springs/Denver area.

Finally, we completed our business work and headed back to Denver. Though there were many places to visit such as Air Force Academy, Cave of the Winds mountain park etc, but we ran out of time and the latter was closed due to snow. Hence, we both were happy to have visited Colorado Springs and Denver, we both had a good time and it was indeed a very memorable trip!

Now, looking at the covid-19 impact, I feel that we were fortunate to have traveled to Colorado just before the Coronavirus started mass lockdowns. I wish this virus subsides down soon and everyone gets to travel again to their favorite places. Till then, stay at home and take care!

The impact of social media on student life

This was my first opinion column published in Technician, student newspaper of North Carolina State University in 2015. I have added the link below. http://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/article_d1142b70-5a92-11e5-86b4-cb7c98a6e45f.html

Today’s world is a global village. Everyone is connected to one another in this vast network generated by the Internet. As said by Marshall McLuhan, a philosopher of communication theory, “The new electronic independence re-creates the world in the image of a global village.” This electronic independence is inherently dependent upon the Internet. It illuminates the lives of thousands of people by spreading knowledge internationally, thereby making us global citizens.

In the past, the communicating and free sharing of thoughts among people were restricted by long distance, nationality and/or religion. But now, even these barriers cannot stop the flow of information and knowledge. The new world of social networking allows free sharing of thoughts. Online social networks are created by websites such as Facebook, which has emerged as a giant in this social world. So how do these networks affect our education? How do they influence the lives of students?

Humans are social animals. We always like to remain in some group or another, and we prefer to follow what this group does. All of our traditions and cultures are the product of this group-oriented facet of human nature. A well-known American psychologist, Abraham Maslow, stated in his “Theory of Motivation” that the social need of human beings is the third most important requirement after our physical and safety needs — the third tier in his hierarchy of needs. Even our self-esteem comes after this social dependence. This is the main reason billions of people use social networking to stay connected, make friends and satisfy their social needs.

As of 2020 the world’s largest social networking company, Facebook, has 2.6 billion active users, and the number of users is increasing every year. One of the most interesting things to look at is the increasing number of student users on such social networking sites. As per the survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 72 percent of high school and 78 percent of college students spend time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These numbers indicate how much the student community is involved in this virtual world of social networking.

Actually, many reasons exist that explain why students love to spend time socializing. Firstly, social networks provide them the freedom to do whatever they want — to upload what they want and talk to whom they want. They like to make new friends and comment on the lives of different people. Students can create other online identities that the real world does not allow. The freedom it gives them to act just by sitting in front of a computer enthralls them, and they then demand for more freedom.

Never before has it been so easy for young minds to create a digital image of their actions through such a spontaneous medium.

But this has a darker side that has gained the attention of many parents, and even of many eminent psychologists, all over the world. One of the biggest problems is the identity crisis this social networking produces. As said by Professor S. Shyam Sunder, a renowned researcher at Penn State, “The types of actions users take and the kinds of information they are adding to their profiles are a reflection of their identities.”

Many psychologists are worried about the identity crisis that our present generation may face today. The lives of people, especially students, are largely influenced by what is posted by other people on their profiles. The habits that students learn are decided more by what their friends do and less by the teachings of parents or professors.

Our students have become prone to frequent fluctuations in mood and self-control. If one of a student’s friends posted about his or her present relationship with someone, then other friends are pressed to do the same thing. Actions that attract more public attention hold more value, even despite some of them being immoral or illegal. We even see that many students are worried about their looks, and so they always try to upload nicer pictures than their friends. A recent survey has stated that whenever someone uploads a profile picture, it immediately affects the moods of friends. It often produces stress, anxiety or fear about their identities as people. Consistently thinking in this way can sometimes lead to depression.

The most important things in a student’s life are studying, learning good habits and gaining knowledge to become a person with moral character. But today, as we see in various studies, this optimal learning process is seriously jeopardized by students becoming entrapped by the ploys of social networking. Students neglect their studies by spending time on social networking sites rather than studying or interacting with people in person. Active and frequent participating in social networking can negatively affect their grades or hamper their journeys to their future careers.

Getting too much involved in social media can lead to an addiction that inculcates bad habits. Students prefer to chat with friends for hours, and this leads to a waste of time that could have been used for studying, playing or learning new skills. It is often said that a long-term friendship or relationship is developed when people meet each other, spend time and share their experiences. But this virtual way of communicating with each other does not lead to a natural, friendly experience and hence cannot produce a healthy relationship with those friends. Also, these relationships tend to terminate easily due to a lack of personal contact.

The system generates a competition to make as many new friends as possible and the so-called “social quotient” of a person is decided by how many friends they have and not on how good natured and congenial the person really is. Often, students who are not old enough to accurately analyze the world “like” or comment on social or political issues, and this leads sometimes to serious controversies.

Picture credits: https://www.teacherboards.co.uk/community/the-effects-of-social-media-in-student-teens/

Considering all of the above pros and cons, it is necessary to develop certain regulations over the use of such social networking sites, especially for high school and college students. But still, students should get the choice to spend time socializing in an effective way. It should not hamper their school or college performance, and it should be kept in mind that social networking sites create virtual worlds that drastically differ from reality. Students should develop the cognitive and intuitive ability to analyze how much time they want to spend on social media. It is left up to the students to decide what really matters in their life and how much of this virtual life translates into their real life.

Coronavirus: The Pandemic

The silver lining is that this pandemic has united the world separated not just by geographic boundaries, but also by man-made differences of race, color, gender, caste and religion. This has proved that the virus does not distinct between any of these fictitious differences. The virus also does not differentiate between rich and the poor, the weak and the powerful.

Even the most powerful nation on this planet can be affected is a testament to the nature’s power and strength. This also makes humans enfeebled in front of nature’s force however powerful weapons we have developed. Thus, this could be a message for us to unite, drop all the barriers, live and let live peacefully.