Day 14313 - Detours of Life

Clicking the "Inspire me" (to blog) today landed up with this question -  

What was the one incident/experience that completely changed your life? What happened? How did it change your life?

So here I am trying to describe the so called "detours" of my life. None of them were ever "designed" by me! 

 In fact there are many experiences/incidents that somehow now connect perfectly to where I am today. 

So let me list them all down along with how it made the difference

• July of 1992 - When results of my 12th std were out and having "successfully" not securing seats in any of the IITs and other prestigious institutes. I was partly devastated, not knowing what I should do next. My very close 3:00 AM buddy had chosen University of Pune and specifically Computer Science as specialization. Heavily influenced by him, on "one fateful day", I chose the same - University of Pune and Computer Science with no "reason" other than hope of staying in hostel and spending a few more years with my buddy. Little did I know that IT would become my career and a game-changer in years to come.
• December of 1996 - After graduating from University of Pune, once again my "hunger" for bigger institute and more qualification didn't subside. I had just given CAT (to get into IIM) a week before and had a week more before NM and other management school entrance were scheduled. A friend of mine  was working in an IT firm and he had asked me to come and drop my resume. Though I was really hoping I would get through one of these management school, I chose to go and meet him with resume. For safety reasons, I had carried one additional copy of my resume as well. So after meeting him on my way back, I just thought that why carry that extra resume back home and turned left to the main gate of another organization just near the main gate (of a place called SEEPZ in Mumbai, India). Little did I know that the same organization (TCS, Tata Unisys then) would become my first employer. Later it would also become my launching pad for a career in Data Warehousing which then will take me to a totally different land. It also brought some really wonderful professionals in my life, notably my supervisor who had (and still has) a great influence in my entire professional demeanor and personality.
•  December of 1999 - Two and a half year into IT industry, I realized all my peer "freshers"/colleagues were no longer in India. they all left for US/UK/Australia. Year 2000 was round the corner and suddenly Indian IT professionals had the entire world opening their arms to embrace them. Embrace them into a life of elevated affluence. And then the "bug" bit me too. I also wanted to explore the world but was very choosy on kind of organization I would want to go for. So while I was not making drastic effort to get "that" opportunity, a friend of mine wanted to attend a walk-in in a nearby organization for a placement in their US office. I accompanied him and also appeared for the selection process. As fate would have it, they were looking for "Data warehousing professionals" and I magically had just the right profile. The rounds were done really quickly and in about 4 hours from when I started, I had an offer in my hand.Little did I know that this same organization would ship me to US for their special client who later would become my employer (and they still are) and change the course of my life once again
• February of 2001 - My first visit back to India after I had left for US. I was at my sister's house in Jamnagar, Gujrat when a friend of hers came by (accidentally in fact). We were having our superficial talks around everything in the world, how my life was in US etc. The she mentioned that she is investing in a property in a city called Bangalore and that she was excited since this was a "Villa" with the advantage of a gated community. I was single and earning handsome pay in dollars those days and living in a country where inflation was less than 1%. I had no plans of settling in Bangalore or didn't even know if and when I will ever come back to India but for some reason, I liked the city and the property she was talking of. With absolutely no knowledge of the topography or geography of the city called Bangalore and no intentions of staying there, I also signed the dotted line to invest there.Little did I know that this property in the then-outskirt of the city would become one of the most admired affluent property of the country. Little did I know that my employer would later offer an incredible package and a role to shift my base to India for their offshore center. And lastly even little did I know that the city chosen would be Bangalore while the distance chosen would be 10.6 km from my home-to-be.
• July of 2009 - Yes this one indeed is life changing in a very different way. I met a young man in the park who was perhaps in his early 30s. He was the son of one of our neighbors and was working in UK and had come to spend a little vacation in India. So he talked about how things were going great for him and that he had just completed a management school in HongKong and was at his professional "high". Had offers from McKinsey and other top-notch firms, had a nice investments that had inflated in its value by over 20 times and everything including his health was great. He was damn excited about the new life he was about to embark. I felt very happy for him and appreciated his financial and professional prudence and how things were so good for him. I next met him in October of 2009.Little did I know that life can spin in any direction it wishes to. Later the same young man had a small gastric trouble while he was in Hong Kong and when he went to see the doctor, they detected a "cancer/tumor" in his stomach and that too in advanced stages. He came back to India after leaving everything behind in August of the same year. By September, his situation worsened and it took less than 12 weeks from that "gastric" disorder for him to completely leave the "gross-world" or ours. Little did I know that from that day onward, my views on life (and its futility) would change for ever. These days nothing disturbs me. I have no particular affinity or hatred towards anything. I guess in many ways I have started living each moment to its fullest....

Like Mr Steve Job said, in retrospect - I think connecting the Dots in reverse is always possible and easy. But you perhaps cannot ever connect them forward! So corollary of this is - You have no clue that all the incidents, events, people you meet RIGHT NOW, may have a life-changing impact in the FUTURE.

Little did I know that Life is a mystery full of detours...who knows where one is heading towards...  

 Do you agree?

 

 

Day 14310 - The mystic 108 number

Yes – Today I want to write about the mystical, magical number 108. 

 

Hinduism and specifically Vedic literature and practices have always laid an extremely high importance to this number called 108. Be it the number of times “Gayatri manta” has to be recited or be in an “japam” you do , the number has always been 108.  Though I was remotely aware that this number cannot be a mere ordinary number, I didn’t have much details on its significance.

 

Yesterday I was reading my current book called “The Krishna Key” by Ashwin Sanghi , when the answer decided to appear before me.

 

So here we go

• The distance between Earth and Sun is 108 times the Sun’s diameter
• The distance between Earth and Moon is also 108 times Moon’s diameter

And if this didn’t strike a bell, listen to this..

• The ratio of Sun’s diameter to that of Earth is also 108

 

Okay I know even now you are not amused….So let me add more till I can “feel” the “awe” in you….

• According to Marma Adi and Ayurveda, there are 108 pressure points in the body, where consciousness and flesh intersect to give life to the living being
• An official Major League Baseball baseball has 108 stitches
• In some schools of Buddhism it is believed that there are 108 feelings. According to Bhante Gunaratana this number is reached by multiplying the senses smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight, and consciousness by whether they are painful, pleasant or neutral, and then again by whether these are internally generated or externally occurring, and yet again by past, present and future, finally we get 108 feelings. 6 × 3 × 2 × 3 = 108.
• Astrology: There are 12 constellations, and 9 arc segments called namshas or chandrakalas. 9 times 12 equals 108. Chandra is moon, and kalas are the divisions within a whole.
• Planets and Houses: In astrology, there are 12 houses and 9 planets. 12 times 9 equals 108.
• Pentagon: The angle formed by two adjacent lines in a pentagon equals 108 degrees.

 

Enough to believe its not mere coincidence…. (or is it the work of our beautiful mind….) I let you decide…

 

-Me

 

 

Day 14306 - The Citizens day

Today is citizens day for Republic of India. 

The entire nation is in the process of electing its next prime minister. So I too did my part of "exercising" the most important "right" as well as "fulfilling" the most important "duty". Yes I cast my VOTE.

Ironically though its been more than 20 years since I earned the right of voting, yet as fate would have it, its my second time ever.

Now I don't really have a strong view or even knowledge on the political aspects of  running a country, but yes I do have a few perspective around the subject.

I believe that running a country is no joke. It takes enormous amount of selflessness to really even attempt that. All of us have a choice of leading a "citizens" life - with money, family, a nice cozy corporate job, easy weekends and so on. Its perhaps a much easy way of making money than being in politics and governance business! Although our politicians are always blamed of corruption, power play and what-nots, but then surely if it was just money, its much easier in corporate sector. (As any IT or those startup folks of how "hard" they have to work for a living)

Its of course not easy to be 24 hours on vigil - watching every statement that you ever utter, being weary of anyone you meet, keeping your accounts as clean as possible, watching for any "enemy" attack and on top of that expecting to get everything in this system , "corrected" for its citizens.

Hence I sincerely and truly salute all the politicians (Good one, Bad Ones or the Ugly ones) and I really think, I have no "real" right to complain or blame them for everything that goes bad in this country. I am as much responsible as they are.

Yes, If possible I would want to help them by sometimes raising a few pertinent questions, providing a few suggestions and may be volunteering for anything that I may be of service. But then I personally draw my line there!

So as far as India is concerned, my only prayer is that let it have a Government that wins (and it can be any one) have a clear majority so it can take decisions without trying to compromise too many things. We have seen enough of these coalitions and a democratic setup where no decision (good or bad) ever sees the light of the day. For once, I wish and pray that we have a Government that can run on its own! 

So I cast my VOTE this morning and want to wish the future prime minister (who ever it can be) , the very best. May God bless you with "Good" intents and may the "citizens" of this nation give you enough "support" so you can successfully make those intents come true for the betterment of everyone (including you if need be)

Day 14305

No - Today's topic is not about me or anything philosophical or anything factual. It's pure 100% nonsense. ( It happens to me every time a day before the election)

Today's theme for me is one of the most abused phrase that I picked up by means of my random-phrase-search-generator.

It's called "Making mountains out of molehill". And it is usually used to indicate that someone is exaggerating a SMALL thing into BIG. It's basically directly implying that "Mountain" means BIG and "Molehill" means SMALL. And that's where I take the offence.

Didn't Shakespeare say "SIZE lies in the eyes of the beholder" (Or something like that).

Now everyone in their life would have used this phrase or its regional vernacular variant! But how many of us really know about "moles" and "molehills".

I have done extensive research on this subject (thanks to Wikipedia) and I can confidently say that for a decent family of two working moles, a baby mole, and a child mole , the "molehill" is actually quiet spacious! In fact it can even host the in-laws (one at a time) in case required but then like Humans, in-laws are not welcome too many times in a year.

...So then in what way is it small!! Well , Yes SMALL for HUMANS but nor for MOLES!

Okay - I know what you are thinking. You must be thinking that do we really need this discussion when Bangalore faces a real, and I really mean a Real-estate issues. I don't deny that there is indeed shortage of space on roads, shortage of water supply, shortage of money to pay back to Credit Card Banks, shortage of iPhones and especially iPAD Air and many more essential commodities like that. But then we (as Human) need to be sensitive to our environment. "Moles" are an integral part of our nature (I mean not the moles on the human body, but the real ones...You know what I am talking about) and we need to care about them.

Okay I got carried away. My intent was to share my profound knowledge on "Mole Hill". So Mole Hills (like Beverly Hills) come in three variants. They are sometime stacked one on top of another with a neat basement under the ground. They are called "Molartments" . Then there are individual dwelling with a decent back and front yard. They are not called anything.
And there are those gated communities called "Millaments" where you get the best of both - A independent house called "Millas" (like Villas) and the benefit of community which then appoints a "association". The association then takes care of all email chains, General purposeless meetings etc.

These days they even have "theme" based Millaments and Molartments like the one on "Disney".

According to economic statistical Institute, it is expected that with increase in Apartments and Villa complexes throughout the country, Moles and Molehills are posed at a growth of 22.34% CAGR annually (21.73% Y-on-Y) . If you take into account the mortality rate of only 3% in that species, we are looking at a Billion dollar industry out there!!

So I am sure by now, you understand where I am leading you towards. Yes - you are right. Throughout history it has been a wrong connotation of usage of the word "Molehill". It's not SMALL anymore. On behalf of All India Mole association, we condemn the usage of that phrase anymore.

In fact CK Prahlad realized this long before any of us. He even wrote a few 500 page book called "Fortune at the bottom of Molehill" ( Yes - He meant that, but one of his Egyptian descendent Publisher changed that to "Pyramid")

That's all. I rest my case.

PS: Who said you can' write if you don't have a content. I just managed in proving that if required one can even make "sentences and blogs" out of molehill!!

Day 14304

Today is Vishu - A new year in a customary way. And  NO, I am not going to talk of any resolution or the sorts…

 

The time has started going really slow these days. Not sure but maybe it’s a side effect of bachelorhood after a 10 year of non-bachelor life that I am going through. You see, suddenly there is a void of activities at home.

 

Election is round the corner. Still not made up my mind on whom to vote. Should it be for the party or should it be for individual or should it be for a “leader” (albeit from a different party) who can potentially become the new PM of India.

 

IPL is also round the corner. Starts on April 17^th in Dubai or Abu Dhabi or Sharjah (I could never make out the difference between these three congenial triplet cities).

 

That’s all.

 

-Me

 

 

 

Day 14302

So today was as boring as yesterday. The only worthy things that happened were

• Violin class in the morning
• Watched the movie "Memento" (Christopher Nolan) - and loved its narration. Its a story that goes backward each time the protagonist recollects the story! Maybe I will use it for my next book
• Scheduled everyday routine to write something, just about anything everyday in the morning
• Plan to have early dinner and then read a book before dozing off

- Me

Day 14301

It's a weekend, summer and vacation time. What it means in plain English for a 39+ year old married man is that his spouse and kids are away on vacation, it's too hot to go anywhere out and there is no one at workplace to kill time with!

So here I am sitting in front of a TV and a laptop trying to write something…just something to kill both time and boredom.

 

So how was my day…Well this morning,  went to school to collect the fee book and books for my kids. The afternoon was spent in paying off all my creditors (that includes the school, the municipality, the credit card company and my broadband provider). I am sure I must have made their day!

 

Then I thought I would get some sleep. But as life would have it, didn't have an iota of sleepiness or drowsiness in my system so decided to just do random things - like blogging for instance. And that's all that has happened today till now

 

So you may ask, where are we heading with this post. Well frankly - nowhere. But maybe if I articulate what's going on in my head it may help to make some sense of this writing.  So let me start…

 

For the sake of clarity, I have assigned percentages to the items listed below to indicate how much of my mind share its occupying at this very moment

• Renovation of my "palace" - 10%
• Upcoming financial liabilities - 10%
• Movie that I want to watch tonight - 15%
• Writing as a serious hobby/occupation - 35% ( My resolve to write at least 1000 words everyday - 15% and my next book and what should it be - 20%)
• Blankness - 30% (Yeah I am serious, I am really blank….and that's making me wonder if a third of my mind is already blank, can I assume I am just two-third away from complete "moksha")

 

Well not bad, This blog successfully killed around half an hour of my everlasting day‼

 

-Me