Boundary conditions...

Philosophy has always been my forte. Recently, I am adding to my interest by reading some stuff that is commonly known as Inspirational Literature. Happy that whatever I already believe in is widely accepted in corporate world - only problem, its written by people twice my age ... :(
So one of these philosophies is that our limitations are our own biases. A person can be totally free of these biases/fears and can achieve almost impossible things.
After reading, assimilating and starting to practice this, I found that while a person's capabilities might be limitless, some well-known 'proverbs' have clear boundaries. Some given below -

• The biggest fear in any corporate is about how we shouldn't re-invent the wheel. I strongly feel that this has geographical/relational limit. Otherwise we wouldn't award an American and a European scientist the same Nobel prize.
  
• Innovation is born out of a free mind. One cannot restrict it by limiting it via processes. Another perspective is Google that has well laid out hiring process and culture that takes care that Innovation is happening.
  
• Operational modeling is based on historical data. Ever heard about disruptive technology?
• Customers are always right. I bet they didn't ever ask for an iphone.

And the list goes on... :)

Hope to bust some more myths as I live my life in 'freer' way... of course with no boundaries... :)

Many Lives...

"Many Lives, Many Masters" by Dr. Brian Weiss.. Read it, re-read it and re-re-read it... I think I am spiritually inclined and this book gives me, what can be loosely called as 'kick' ... :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Many-Lives-Masters-Prominent-Psychiatrist/dp/0671657860

Some browsers...

Have been using Firefox 3.0.2, IE 8 and Chrome for some days now... Here is some dope...

Ranked 3 - IE8 ... I know its beta but so are Gmail, Orkut, and Chrome... :) .. Anyways, the point being (a) takes time to load ( I have a dual core processor, 2 Gigs ram) ... (b) the address bar drop down has some psychological issues... it takes time to open up ... :)  they tried to copy firefox but have failed in several ways... 

Something that are good (a) best for intranets (b) color codes tabs opened from inside of one tab 

Ranked 2 - Chrome ... Some people would go all the way to say its the fastest... to me memory consumption and CPU share matters... features are awesome (stretchable text boxes, tab sliders, task manager, default google search, tab crash) but keep it open for an hour and you will see the CPU share go up!! which is why #2

Ranked 1 - Firefox ... hands down the best browser... esp after they introduced this address bar thing on which it additionally autocompletes on the basis of metadata.... very useful feature... e.g. if you have visited sites www.linkedin.com and also went through a university site having linked lists when you start typing linked... it will show both these URLs... tab crashing yet to come but its low on my priority... should have feature right now.... opens up fast, tabs are easy to work with... 

PS: BTW posting the blog from chrome... giving it benefit of doubt maybe... 

N96 vs iPod...

I just read that nokia n96 is up against ipod...
i will keep myself posted on how?

A world of roles and job descriptions....

In my company, every now and then we all get into what we call as "Cross functional meetings".. a bunch from US, some from France, some India, some Israel... and lot of discussion... dialects, "pardon me"s ...

My first time-s:
1. Work with a person and NOT see him/her AT ALL and is a non-Indian
2. Work to plan a release with people who can easily say "I don't care a damn" .. :)
3. Extensively discuss some intricate strategies with someone who is a matrixed manager to me .. and again not seen him AT ALL..

I get uncomfortable at time to live in world of roles and JDs, but the good part is I have nothing to judge the person on other than his thoughts! I guess that creates an intellectual relationship... But then sometimes talking to a phone can become slightly non-interesting...

All knowledge is within oneself - 2

This post will be a continuation of what I started pondering over while I was in ISB. I sometimes feel this need to write things down at my whim and as they occur to me. So this will be one that sort of post.

The driving factor
What is the driving factor behind the working of anything including humans? Its a set of parameters that exist in our environment, that our brain processes based on its property to absorb or grasp those parameters which drive our actions. To extrapolate, everything in universe ultimately is driven by some parameters. Heating always increases energy level of electrons, hot air always rises up, cells in our body repair themselves etc are some basic laws that are never violated or are not dependent on ability. But as things become more complex with interaction of the basic building blocks, only dominating property rules. This is exemplified in almost every sphere. Fire can either overcome water or vice versa depending on which has more mass. But this is straight forward or logical. Let us add some twist to the already very abstract tale, the gene angle!
My mom loves to talk, my dad loves to be silent. Coincidentally, I 'like' to be silent, but don't want to be left out of a crowd! Ultimately, though I remain silent and let it become my nature. So what is this showing? That when things become complex like emotions our brain becomes the basic building block of what property our body shows. A mob running with stones in hand makes (a) a common man run for refuge (b) a policeman more aggressive to hit anyone in the mob with lathi. How does this happen? That's the miracle of this "property" thing in our brain. A couple of highly charged atoms switching on some chemical reaction that creates an emotion termed as "outrage" or "fear" depending on which one you allow yourself to take over.
So if we abstract ourselves out of this situation, its just this brain, our thinking machine in combination with our genome that is deciding what route we take in our life. Can't we master these folks? Yes we can! and how?
Think of 2 basic properties in yourself -One that allows you to observe with total silence, and one that makes you react. Now think of them as 2 kinds of atoms that are kept on a heater. One of them depending on where he is in the space above heater will get charged and will probably become vapor or something before the other. Similarly depending on your genome you will choose either. But just imagine if you don't have the heater below! then the choice isn't essentially a choice. then the parameters no longer bother you. then there is no domination or recession.

This state is bliss. I am not saying that you won't get burnt if you touch the hot vessel, I am saying understand that its the nature of your skin to burn, the nerves to trasmit pain signal, the brain to process it, the genes to decide how tolerant you are to pain and then your mouth to give out the sigh. Once this is clear, you will realize that you are not master of you, but something else is. Because when you will be the master of your own, you will realize all this equations and just enjoy the fun that is this universe. :-)

Good night!!

Start of something interesting

I ve heard it somewhere that whenever you are not sure whether to say "Nice" or "Ughh" you can always say "Interesting". So this will be that topic which to some is nice and to others 'not their cup of tea'.

It all began with a discussion with my father who nowadays is writing about Patanjali Yoga Sutra. Wiki has more of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali

Being an avid reader and now a budding writer, I poke my Dad a lot on the foundation of Hindu philosophy and way of thinking etc. Its been one of my favorite topics since childhood, since I always thought that there is more to me than I think there is. And so the discussion begun which I will try to detail out as far as possible.

The topic started with why Hindus do all the rituals when someone passes away. The easy answer and one that appeals to masses is that we need to pacify the dead person's soul and for him to get Moksha, which is like this ultimate resting place. An entirely different discussion started on the Vedic hymns that are chanted in this ritual. By a research done, it was said that the hymns have sound notes that create vibration causing purification of atmosphere. So is there a soul angle to these rites or scientific angle?
So I wondered what exactly does Veda says, which is what I asked my father. Here is what he said: "The Universe is filled with Chaitanya. We have some Chaitanya in us, which is our true self (not our body). This is Vivek. Once we realize this we attain Mukti/Moksha."
Heavy!!

Let's break it. First thing is to realize that our body is not us. Our body is just a medium for us to understand the ultimate truth, mentioned in Vedas. It is difficult to comprehend because we are how we grow up and how we are nurtured. But there is an something in our nature that leads to the ultimate truth.
Secondly, its an evolutionary process, since if as humans we don't realize this, we need to take another birth.
Lastly, its a process defined by you, but driven by surroundings. The one who detaches is the one to understands and attains the final truth.

The scientific angle? The concept of energy.

Vague? Yes. But more to come as I tread my path on the journey to understand Chaitanya.

A theory...

Almost every HR theory says that motivation works better than incentives. Well I guess if I had to write about marriage, this would be the right time... :-)

Ok getting to the point. We have all this len den going on in the wedding, you know like the guy's side gives out whole lot of gifts to whole lot of people. Then something struck me. If the wedding rituals of Hindu system are so relevant, and simple why all this paraphernalia?

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Time: long long time ago, lets say when people used to follow rituals as they were meant to be.
Its a small village, very typical of those times. The groom's father is a popular person owing to his following his Dharma in proper way and earned his righteous place in the society. He arranges for a Brahmin to get the wedding ceremony done. Obviously he invites people from the village too to see the function. These people will bless the couple. Everything is smooth. There is no elaborate dinner/lunch, no gift giving, no camera flashes and other blah. Just plain smooth and pure wedding that took a little more that couple of hours to finish. The couple took vows and took to their own livelihood from thereon.

In the same village, there is another groom's father. He does the same thing. Though unlike our earlier described father, this person is not that popular. The reason is left to one's own imagination. Now he realizes that just by inviting, he won't get a lot of people to the wedding. Somehow being a human and still an integral part of society, he has to get as much people as he saw in that other wedding. So he calls for all the people of the village and gives them gifts a day prior to the wedding. Though he sugarcoats the entire thing as something else, the motive is the same. Now this wedding, almost everyone comes!

Do you see what this second person is doing?

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Years later, here I am. Probably cursing that "other" person. The guy, who thought that giving gifts more important than building reputation by fairer means. And here I am, managing the entire bandwagon that surrounds wedding.

Ultimately, what is important? That I give a lavish party to a 500 people ensemble or that I say that I want to spend the rest of my life with someone keeping 500 people as witnesses? What is giving me more accountability? What is keeping me in the true fabric of society? What is giving me a better purpose of life?