Beliefs!

Hi Guys,

‘Do you believe in God?’ is the question that many people have asked me. I have asked the same question to myself. After lot of debates, I have sort of reached a conclusion. Before, I reveal what my belief is, I would like to write more about beliefs.

My dad often used to say, ‘It is very important to have an unquestionable belief on something. That something maybe God, Astrology, a person, a thought or even self’ It is because, we would always have someone to shoulder upon. If something wrong happens, we can always go back to our belief system and question. You feel comfortable at the end of the day.

More often than not, people try to force their belief systems into you. You might hear comments like, ‘This astrologer is very good and can predict your future’, ‘That temple is very powerful and all your wishes would be granted’, ‘Go and see that Doctor. He is so good’. More often than not, it is based on Psychology. If I don’t believe in something, I don’t. You can’t force me to change in a moment.

To come back to the first question, whether I believe in God, the answer is that ‘I Do’. When I look around the universe, the complicated network of suns, stars, planets and way organisms have evolved, I think God is there. There is something mysterious around all this. But, then it doesn’t mean that I believe in praying. I find so many contradictions. If God is omnipotent and present all around, I don’t find meaning in going to a temple or a religious place. If you believe that it was God you created you, then don’t you believe that God would know what you want. Paradoxes, aren’t they?

Anyway, I like going to temples for I often find some peace of mind. The most important thing is that the temple should be quiet. There are a few temples where you go and the next thing you want to do is come out, for the place would be completely chaotic. If people believe that it is where they can find solutions, then it is good for them.

Sentiments are also part of our belief system. Many people might have some crazy sentiments. But it is so important for them. If they don’t do it and they fail, the failed act often comes back to haunt them. You know, ‘You would be very rational when it comes to others, but when it comes to you….’ Think about it.

There are lot of other belief systems like Astrology, Numerology, Horoscope, signs and zodiacs. People go to an expert and if it happens right, then they develop deep beliefs. But then, I don’t think any of these experts would be 100% right. For if they are right, they would be Gods who can predict the future.

Beliefs are Psychological in nature. They create a system for you to survive in. You feel there is something beyond you and you can follow some footpaths.

Respecting others beliefs is more important. Don’t hurt them, just because you don’t believe in that belief. Going to temple for the sake of love is not going to cost you anything. Obliging to some sentiments doesn’t affect you. When people force you to go beyond a certain limit, stop. I have often seen people doing things for sake of doing and ending up having a firm belief on something. It gives them a strong grip on life.

My belief is a thought. I always believe in the thought that ‘Whatever happens, happens for a reason’. You might believe in anything – God, Devil, Person, Sentiment, Thought. But, do remember that other people believe in something different and that is important for them. Don’t hurt their beliefs.

When I was working for an assignment, I found these beautiful lines by Fritz Perls. It is known as ‘Gestalt Prayer’

I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations,
And you are not in this world to live up to mine.
You are you, and I am I,
and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful.
If not, it can't be helped.

Happy Reading!

P.S: This post has evolved from conversations I had with my friends, parents and even myself. 

Interesting Behaviors!

Hi Guys,

Are people inherently Good? Are people inherently bad? Well, I don’t know. I believe that there is a bit of good in every bad and vice versa. But, I do believe that people are inherently interesting. The way people do things, behave or act can be very intriguing. Everyone has got some individuality in them and I don’t judge people based on their behavior, though I can’t avoid observing. This is a post on some of the people I have seen and known.

This incident happened when I was studying Engineering (I guess third year). I happened to be in my friend’s room one evening. A few other friends were there too and we were just having some random conversations. We decided to watch a movie and the movie was ‘Paranormal Activity 3’. One of my friends was dead scared and he said he wanted to go as he was staying alone in his room. Two of my friends forced him to stay. They started the movie, switched off the lights. And we started watching the movie. The scared friend asked, ‘Whether the movie was real?’ And actually in the title card, the director would have thanked the police department for giving records and this added to his nightmare. The movie was not that scary. But, thanks to the extra efforts made, he was so afraid to go to his room, by the end of the movie. I’m not sure how peacefully he slept that night. People who are not afraid of ghosts are actually stimulated to scare others.

This incident also happened around the same time and in the same place. It was another day and I happened to be there. My friend asked me if I am free. I said, ‘Yes’. Till date, I’m wondering why I said yes. He said he was planning to take some short films and he wanted to know my opinions on the story. He called me to the terrace. He went on to say three stories – one romance, one drama and one unconventional story. From the way he said, it was like he was nearly ready and he was going to start shooting next week. I spent 2-3 hours suggesting and arguing with him. Till date, he has not started the shooting. I’m wondering why I was the chosen candidate to say the stories.

Imagine, you are a professor. What would you do, if you ask students to solve a problem and they say the answer in order to confirm? Refer the book or refer your notes. Isn’t it? We had an interesting professor during my Engineering. She would ask us to solve problems. As usual, there would be some who would start solving immediately, some who would never even touch and some like me who would solve now and then. After some time, she would ask for answer. There used to be lot of responses. And you know, how answers would be confirmed? It would be by means of majority. Or sometimes average of different answers that arise. Sometimes, it would be more interesting when most people don’t answer. She would ask some students (4-5) and if 3 students get the same value that would be the answer. I’m still wondering how our answer papers were evaluated.

And there are lot of interesting people who we meet every day. Sometimes, we would be the interesting people for many other people. There is a friend of mine who is confused as to where he belongs to. He used to say that he was from Bhutan and now he says he is from Bhopal. When I traveled in train last time, there was passenger who kept on asking to every other passenger whether Chennai Egmore was the last stop or the train continued. He was afraid of oversleeping. A few days back, there was a passenger in a bus who refused to pay for his luggage (a sack) and headed the bus to a police station (I got in between and changed). We live in an interesting world!

Happy Reading!

P.S:

1. I was one of the two friends who forced the scared friend to stay. A self-noted interesting behavior.
2. This post in just an observation of behaviors. There are a few exaggerations in order to make the narrative interesting. If anything hurts anyone, I am sorry.

Jack: Straight from the Gut - Jack Welch - Book Review

Hi Guys,

I have always found it difficult to start an Autobiography and even more difficult to finish it. For the first time, I found an autobiography interesting and finished it very quickly. It all started with a case study for Strategic Management class. I was very impressed, borrowed the book from library and finished it in 3 days in my term break.

The book is more than a history of personal life. It provides a larger view on General Electric and how Jack Welch transformed GE with his leadership. He goes deep into many events and how he acted upon them and how he enabled people to perform better.

The book starts from his younger age and how his mother was his role model. He says his mother taught him an important lesson that if you can’t lose, you can’t win. Then he goes on into this education and how he joined GE in its Chemical Department in 1960s. The interesting fact is that Jack disliked GE and wanted to get out of it due to the bureaucracy. But, he stayed on selling himself to go into higher positions and went into the corporate office pretty soon.

He gives the full account of how the race to CEO was and how difficult it was for the candidates and how he made it. After becoming the CEO, he wants to move GE from the position of a ‘Giant Tank’ to ‘Agile Speed boat’. He describes about his Neutron Jack years, where he sacked many employees, sold many businesses and acquired many.

Then he moves on to how he improved the people side of the firm with Crotonville centre, stock options and so on. He moves on to describe how he continued to learn and introduced ‘Boundaryless’ term in the firm that enabled ideas to flow across. He continues to describe the main strategies that GE took in his years – Globalization, Services, Six Sigma and E-business. He says as a firm they have only 4 major transformation in the 20 years.

He says that it was people who did things, not strategy or machines. He writes, ‘In Manufacturing, we try to stamp out variance. With people, variance is everything’ He writes how he made good people stay back and poor people get out before worsening the system.

From the book, we know that Jack Welch is a guy who you won’t come across very often. He knew what he was doing. He didn’t wait, plan and do. He acted swiftly and he says that in the end he felt he waited a lot before getting into it. He understood business, he understood people and he enabled them. He is a great inspiration to all those people who want to run companies.

Many of the people focus on improving processes, reducing costs, building brands. But Jack says that it is people who matters most and it is an important lesson to all the young management grads. He writes in the end, ‘Great people, not great strategies, are what made it all work’

Happy Reading!

'I will be there in 5 Minutes'

Hi Guys,

How many times have you heard the dialogue in the title? Probably a lot many times. What has been the outcome? I’m definite it would have been a long wait most of the times. If it is the opposite, I would say you are lucky.

A few days back, there was a status message in Facebook from one of my professors. He had visited Paris and one of his former students said he would meet him in 8 minutes and he was there exactly in 8 minutes. He attributed this to the proper traffic system they have. In India, even if we have proper systems, I doubt whether people would turn in the time they promise.

Often on Facebook, you would have received this message when you are chatting with your friend – ‘BRB (Be right Back) in 5 minutes’. And a lot of times, I have waited eternally and the friend would never appear back.

A few years back, one of my cousins had noted the different time frames, his driver would say. This is how it went. If he says he is very nearby, it would take two minutes. If he says he is nearby, it would take 5 minutes. If he says he will be there in 2 minutes, it would take at least 5 minutes and if he says he would be there in 5 minutes, it would take a minimum of 20 minutes.

These days, you get the phone numbers of Auto Drivers and call them whenever you need. Sometimes, the result could be frustrating. The auto driver might be busy with another ride, but in order to not miss this ride, he would say an approximate time. And most of the times, he would say he is nearby and we would never know where he is. It becomes a big trouble when you want to go out immediately.

Being on time or sticking to time has been a big problem with most of the people in our country. As one of my professors says it, being on time is nothing but respecting the other person. It is the basic courtesy you can show to the person.

Most of the times, I don’t mind waiting for a longer period, but be true about the time. Don’t make the other person guessing things like whether he would turn up, how long I would have to wait more and such other things. Informing the right time would clear things.

I try to be that way and it has not been difficult. And trust me, being on time is not the toughest job on earth. It requires a certain amount of planning and execution.

Hope the people who read this stick to their promised time.

Happy Reading!!!

Hyderabad Blasts and the Social Media Ethics!

Hi Guys,

Yesterday was an unfortunate night for Hyderabad with two bomb blasts killing at least m

ore than 10 people. It was a very sad incident, that too after coming to know about the earlier alerts from Intelligence agencies in India and US.

I first came to know about the news around 7. 30 pm. The first thing I did was to keep track of the search results of ‘Hyderabad’ in Twitter. I thought I would come to know more about the blasts and the aftermath of the blasts.  What happened was really annoying and it raised a lot of questions in me. Here are my Observations from yesterday’s event.

• The main purpose of Media is to bring the truth and help the people. But what happened was completely disgusting. One channel was tweeting that there were just 7 deaths. Another was saying there were five serial blasts. Yet another channel claimed that more than 20 people have died. Some went on to say that there are two blasts and there is a possibility of a third blast. If you guys are not aware of what is happening, why publish it and create fear amongst people?

• There were few geniuses out there, who thought they would increase their TRP ratings by publishing photos and videos from the site. But, the fear that another TV channel might go out and capture it before them was high. So, they called out publicly for photographs. NDTV and Zee News were two channels (there might be more) which publicly tweeted that viewers are welcome to contribute photos. At least our People are not in that level. I guess the only response these people got for the tweets were angry responses. One Person went on to say that ‘What happened is a bomb blast, not a few friends blasting to send the pictures’

• As people were suffering out there, there was another set of extremists in Twitter. Their main debate was on whether the blast was created by Saffron Terrorism or Green Terrorism. There were few national leaders too who made use of this opportunity to make sure their name was all around the place. Each one came out with their own analysis and logic of the blast. Whoever did it, it was Terrorism and it has to be stopped. What difference does it make finding out the religion behind it?

• There was a big group of people, who retweeted anything that came across their eye. They never bothered to think about it. They never thought the rumours would create a panic among people. If you had been searching Hyderabad in twitter yesterday, you would have found out at least 10 different stories hovering all around.

Among all this the good thing was there were a set of good people (and a few good media too). They were suggesting people to be calm and help those in need. A few people said they were in Hyderabad with a particular Blood Group and would be ready to help if needed. A few people circulated the Hotline numbers and asked people to use the phones only if needed so as to help reduce congestion in Phone lines. They advised people not to come out with their own analysis and the Government will take care of it. It was glad to see that a few people were responsible.

It is high time our people start using Social Media responsibly. Tweeter has the power of making news hot in a few minutes. But, it is the users who must tweet sensibly.

Hope the situation improves!

Interesting People - 2

Hi Guys,

After the good response I received for the post Interesting People, I felt that I should revive back many such moments. So, here I again present of the moments when I had come across Interesting People.

Who are the important persons for running a Public Transport Corporation Bus? Of course, Driver and Conductor. Have you ever travelled in a Public Transport bus without a conductor? I have. This interesting incident happened just two months back. I and my cousin started to Express Avenue Mall. We got into a bus at Koyambedu. The bus started in 5 minutes. There were only 10 people in the bus and we were only people sitting in the back end.

After the bus started, my cousin asked me, ‘Where is the conductor?’ I said he must be somewhere in the front. Only after some 2 minutes, everyone started looking back and forth. We realized there was no conductor in the bus. The driver was alarmed and he stopped the bus. I thought that the driver might take a turn to the bus stand and got down. The driver was not even bothered about the incident. After some five minutes, the conductor arrived in another bus. As soon as he got down, a big fight started between the driver and conductor. The driver was abusing the conductor that he missed the time and conductor was blaming the driver for his irresponsible behaviour.

Whenever I see the ICICI Bank nearby Koyambedu Bus stand, this incident comes to my mind. This is where the incident took place. Isn’t it the driver’s responsibility to start the bus only after verifying with conductor?

Sometimes, you come across people who ask you genuine questions unexpectedly and you stand still not knowing what to answer. I and two of my friends were doing a project in a Manufacturing Industry a few months back. During the initial few days we were getting to know the working of the unit. There was a friendly worker in the furnace division. He was a contract labour and he was working there for the past two years. After explaining the working of the furnace, he asked us what we were doing.

 When we said we were doing Mechanical Engineering, he said that we people had a very high education. We said its nothing like that. Before we could say anything, he came up with the next question, ‘Your job is to remove our job. Isn’t it? You people automate things and decrease the Human work force’ He asked it directly in a soft tone and we were paralyzed not knowing what to answer. It seems that they were automating a process and hence from the next month they required only one worker instead of three. Whose mistake is that? Management? Mechanical Engineer? Worker? I don’t know.

That’s it for now.

Happy Reading!!!

Interesting People!

Hi guys,

Long time since I wrote. It is interesting how life turns out. When you are free, you don’t get any ideas to write about and when you are busy with loads of works piled on you, lot of ideas generate in your brain. I am experiencing it now and I have experienced it before too.

I don’t know why, but I was thinking about people and I started wondering how people are so different from each other. If you start observing you can get so much experience of how people react to situations.

A few days ago, I met a young boy who was 5-6 years old. There was a big cut in his face nearly like a line in between. I asked him what happened. In all my imaginations I didn’t expect the answer. He told me that he tried to take the eggs of a crow from its nest and the crow attacked him. After answering he ran away. I was wondering how a 5 year old boy was able to reach a crow’s nest and take its egg.

Sleep is one thing that always amuses me. The reason is quite simple that I can’t sleep for a very long time and I can’t sleep for a very short time too. So, when I find someone who sleeps always or a person who doesn’t sleep at all, I wonder how they do that. During my Engineering college days, there was this friend of mine who used to sleep often. He used to get into the college bus. Everyone will start conversing and he will start sleeping. I used to go to his house now and then. He will be sleeping and his mother will wake him up. If you ask him what you are going to do after going home, he will answer in one word ‘Sleep’. I don’t know how he manages to sleep so long.

And then there are few people who are so interested in calling others and enquiring. Again a friend of mine in my Engineering college days. Whenever exam comes he used to start calling us. He used to call some 4-5 friends and speak with each of us for at least half an hour. He will ask what to study, what not to study. He will discuss how idiotic the syllabus is, how poorly the subject was taken or how complex the things are. He will keep the phone, study for some time, then repeat the process. I used to feel that he should better become a professor and then analyze everything. The good thing he is already in the first step towards that.

And then there are few people who can’t stop giving suggestions. Once I had to travel from Nagercoil to Chennai in Train and then there was this guy travelling along. He was working in a leading newspaper and every minute he wanted to show off that he works in a newspaper. Whenever anyone started some topic, he used to jump in and say ‘You know, when we did survey we found out this’ or ‘there is lot of scope in this area. People don’t work’ It was turning unbearable.

And then there was an old man in the same compartment and he was going on talking with press guy. I was wondering how he managed to do that. At the end the old man asked ‘Can you give me your phone number?’ I knew why the whole conversation took place. The press guy gave his number and said, ‘If you have any problem call me. I know this person here, this person there……. I can sort out anything in the city’ I just wanted to ask him, ‘Then why the hell are there so many problems in the city, if you can sort out anything’ Anyway the best thing to do with these sort of people is to be unfocussed.

Looking back at what I have written, everything looks negative. Am I pessimistic? No, I won’t say so. But anyway these sort of things register quickly in your mind. I will follow this with a set of optimistic people whom I have met.

To be continued…

Happy Reading!!!

Different People!

Hi Guys,

It’s already 10.40 pm and I’m in a very energetic state, thanks to the powerful nap in the afternoon. In this post I’m going to write about two interesting conversations I had in the recent weeks.

Customer Satisfaction

2-3 weeks back, I went to a nearby Hair Salon to trim my hair. The barber is a friendly person and since I had become one of his regular customers he used to speak with me now and then. Last time, I noticed that there were some 5-6 newspapers in the waiting bench. I asked him whether they were old papers and he said that all were the current day’s newspapers.

Regularly people used to keep just 1 paper and I was surprised. I asked him the same question and his answer was interesting. He said that on a busy day, when lot of customers wait, if there is only one paper, then few customers might be feeling frustrated and they will leave the salon and it will result in losing of customers.

So, he regularly buys 3 English and 3 Tamil Dailies. So even if there are six customers they will wait patiently. It also boosts the value for the Salon, as customers feel happy that there will be lot of dailies and the barber feels proud. He said all the six dailies might cost around Rs. 15 or 20 and even if it results in one extra customer it is profit for him.

We speak about Customer Satisfaction for big value products and here a small salon owner has implemented it. His motive is simple – Spend some money on satisfying customers and you will get more money in return.

A Rare act of Honesty

A few days back, when I was going to a nearby industry for my project work I used to catch a bus around 7.15 am. The crowd will be very less in the morning, that too in this winter season. So, most of the seats will be empty. The first bus journey will take around 20 minutes.

I will meet by friends at a bus terminus and from there we need to travel another 25 km in bus. So, I will take a Rs. 50 pass using which you can travel within the city any number of times for that particular day. Generally conductors ask for an ID card.

On that particular day, I just showed my ID card and the conductor said it was not necessary to show it during the first time. As usual the bus was empty and he started to converse with me. He said that per day around 25-50% of the users misuse the pass. They take the daily pass and just pass it on to someone else. So, that is why the conductors ask for ID cards.

Next he asked who I am and what I’m doing. He was so interested in speaking about education. He has chosen a vocational group in his higher secondary schooling and hence Maths is tough for him. As he had studied in Tamil Medium, understanding English is also tough.

After that, he has studied all the computer languages and he said that he is well versed in C, C++, Java, VB and Oracle. He has taught students in a school for around 9 years. He has finished BCA in correspondence.

Then somehow he has come into the conductor line (might have joined as it’s a permanent job). In an effort to join Government school as teacher, he has registered for doing MCA in correspondence. He said that he went into the Exam Hall and he was not able to attend questions in Operations Research, Computer Graphics and some other paper. He said that he was not even able to interpret the question. Not knowing English and Maths has made it tough for him.

These days people say about giving money and getting pass marks in correspondence exams. I thought of asking the same and then left the idea. After a while he said that, 'I can give money and pass the exam, but what is the use? I am not even able to understand the questions. I’m in such a poor state and what is the use of clearing the paper by giving money?'

It was just refreshing to hear this type of words from people. A few days later I was saying this to mom and she said that just 10% of people are like him and others think of doing anything for themselves with the help of money and power. True, but people like them do exist.

Meeting people like the above two creates a new perception and makes us understand life better.

Life is Beautiful!

Happy Reading!!!