Friday, October 3, 2014

Back

The most devastating thing happening right now in this world is that the ones who love are not being loved back the way they should be. Love kindles love while apathy should be a dead end. I have this feeling that the world has turned upside down.

Go home. Kiss your mom. Hug your brother. Ask advice from your dad. Tell a friend he is the best. Then, maybe, we can start thinking how to turn up this toppled planet.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Mothers: Entry 2

Last time I got a raise, I shared with Ma and she was delighted. It took me a moment to realise that she was not happy over my salary hike. She was happy because I was happy. I am her natural extension - just like her legs or her eyes. The chord was cut at birth and allowed me to move away but for a mother it is impossible to think of her child as a separate entity. She lives multiple lives in one lifetime in this way. Its a curse and bliss at the same time.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Recharge

The future generations will remember contemporary age as the Age of Recharge. We recharge our laptops, our cameras, our smart phones. We recharge our day with a pint. We recharge our life with those quick trips to a hill station or a beach resort. Its all good except that every discharge - recharge cycle eats a part of us, just like a rechargeable lithium - ion battery. Shared from Google Keep

Thursday, June 26, 2014

life/wife

In the venn diagram of life,
happiness of husband is 
a subset of happiness of wife.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Pooh...

I now know what Winnie the Pooh meant when he said those words. All he desired was a life-long companionship.

Friday, June 6, 2014

... and no good thing ever dies

... and no good thing ever dies.

Why not? Why won't a good thing die? Good things die every day - good people, good views, good acts. Yes, their memory never dies. Everyone likes to cherish a good moment and tries to forget a bad one. Maybe good things live forever in those moments. Maybe all that they need to be immortal is a good memory.

Mothers: Entry 1

That is the trouble with Moms. They are all awesome. Their service level to their child across the world is spectacularly equal so instead of being considered a POD (point of differentiation), their effort is treated as a POP (point of parity) !

Thursday, May 29, 2014

thought ...

Shaw once said 'Get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.' It was a strong statement and resided in my mind for quite a while before I thought over and over and questioned 'Can I get all that I like?' Not even Lord Krishna can claim that. When he preached Arjun about Dharma in Gita, the most quoted expression was 'Do your duty without bothering about the outcome.' There was a sense of helplessness when he said this. Neither circumstance nor outcome is in your complete control. Why bother? It is karma and only karma that is truly yours. Hence it is karma that should occupy you in entirety. Shaw's statement was just reduced to a hard truth about life in my mind.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

the first night hero

It was my first week on floor. News came that the night shift manager met with an accident. I had to fill his shoes. I took up the challenge although reluctantly. There was a big lot of 100K meters running on the continuous mercerizer and the saying was 'bigger the lot, easier the life'.

At around 3 AM, an operator pointed out to me that stains were visible on the fabric at regular interval and casually suggested we stop the machine. I was of two minds. I had heard that operators will find minor reasons to stop the machine and then go to sleep. On the other hand if he was right I was wasting 60 meters of fabric per minute. At Rs. 300 / meter, each minute wasted was equal to my two months salary then !

Just the moment before I was going to say 'lets continue', an old worker pulled my sleeve, took me to the corner and said 'aa naa chaale saab, ye fabric white che'. I looked at him, saw genuine concern in his eyes and immediately asked the operator to shut down the machine.

Next day 'my' decision was applauded and I was declared 'the first night hero'. The name of this old worker was Adil. He became a trusted assistant and a friend. He taught me my first lesson on people management at Arvind Mills.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Performance targets

Some performance targets are achieved by strategizing and some by keeping your fingers crossed. Prashant Kumar

Freedom of choice ?

Some days ago I had an interesting discussion with Ankush. I was of the opinion that people of older generation were less happy because they did not have much choices to recreate. Choices for me have represented freedom and consequently happiness. Choices generate a sense of freedom or empowerment over what is going to happen. It was a long standing thought process in my mind which was questioned that day.

Ankush had another theory. Having more choices bring more disharmony and restlessness according to him. Consider the choice of spending time with smartphone vis a vis sharing days events with wife, he said. Disharmony is guaranteed. Jokes apart I agreed to his point to some extent. Choices make you rue for chosen one over the other.