DESIRE

    All of us in this world want to lead a happy and successful life; Every one of us have a goal in our life and we see life from our own perspective and make moves in such a way which would help us to lead a life the way we intend. After marriage it becomes ‘Our goals’ versus ‘my goals’ and we work as a couple to raise family and give them all the right ingredients like proper education, proper habits in order for them to lead an independent and successful life.

    At any given stage desire is something which keeps growing. This is both natural as well as forceful behavior which arises every now and then. If we earn 100K we buy Acura and say salary is not sufficient whereas if we earn 200K we buy Tesla and still end up saying salary is not sufficient; Have we ever said my salary is good enough? Maybe we felt one day until the very next day you see your counterpart buying a beautiful single family home; our mind is deceptive and looking for ways to exploit our thoughts. I see so many proverbs these days and just wonder why everyone is able to relate to them. When desire ends happiness starts to nourish and maybe flourish too. It is just how we control our desire in this materialistic world.

    Everything is based on relative scale ….rather than comparing yourself with your counterparts just look at the population who still eat one meal a day, have very few clothes and barely have a shelter. I personally feel some diseases may get cured automatically if one practices the wordings in the proverb “Pothum endra maname pon seyyum marunthu” !!!

Price tag for Home

     Home sweet home is part and parcel of our life…whether we rent/lease/own a home is always a home and close to our heart. In fact I have stored my land line number as ‘Home sweet home’. No matter which place we go on earth for vacation we always want to come back home after some point. I still remember our home back home where I played garage ticket, my study room where I burnt midnight oil, terrace upstairs where I enjoyed sunset, backyard where I used to help mom pluck drumstick and curry leaves since she always considers me tall no matter how small I am J

     If we look closer home becomes emotionally attached to our lives some point or the rather and the best thing is this happens without our conscience. We keep adding fond memories which lasts for life long. At some point we may have to spread wings and move out of the house but we always love to go back to our home. What once built with the help of cement and mortar grown tall in stature and sees us grow through different stages.

    These days some people attach a price tag to the house; I am not here to deny when the house appreciates in value we do feel great but what is that you are gaining by knowing the news? Are we realtors on a constant lookout to swap houses? Market volatility keep changing and house value may oscillate but why do we even care; Even if the economy is great, job market is too good still you are running a risk of having your house depreciated due to legal troubles your neighbors had to go through and hence they sold for a lower amount which in fact affects price of your home since it is all about comparable. For things beyond your control I personally feel no point in breaking your head. I would rather enjoy each day at my house without attaching a price tag because not everything has to be evaluated and calculated every time.

Supply Vs Demand

      What would happen when there is whole lot of competent candidates in Job market but economy is very poor or what would happen when there is whole lot of demand for water but there is hardly any rain? Supply and demand has to match or at least reach to an optimum level where one doesn’t dominate the other ….If supply and demand matches then that’s ideal and that’s the perfect world we are talking about!!!

     I am basically working in Supply chain and know the consequences when one overtakes the other; Companies are spending lots of money to have a system in place and have all controls and processes to make sure neither it carries more inventory which reduces the cash flow nor sees that demand doesn’t increase significantly which would potentially mean you may lose business to your competitors. It is a balance where companies are striving for by adopting industry best practices and also by investing in sophisticated technology.

    One bizarre thing in medical world is the supply and demand are poles apart; In India look at how many public institutions we have for medical schools, privatization is this field is dangerous too since it would overkill the market. But if there is a constant demand amongst students for medical field then the amount of public colleges has to increase. In today’s world student pays a hefty amount to get into medical school and even larger amount for a master’s degree. At the end when he/she comes out to serve public obviously one of the goals would be how to get on track with financial goals because there has already been significant amount of money involved and also the number of years since high school. All this would be taken into consideration before someone makes a move.  Al of us cannot be a Gandhi ..that is not practically possible !!! Medical students should have a choice to serve public without having the burden of the money they have spent upfront.

    
   One thing always remains true …Karma will find its way and it is way too clever to interpret our human behavior and give us the right judgment. So do your duty and leave the rest to almighty.

Productivity !!!

     I always wonder what is the relationship between number of working days and Productivity. Is number of working days directly proportional to productivity or indirectly proportional? What should be the optimum level in which one’s mind can do productive work? Several countries follow different work standards and even within countries there are several regions and several groups who follow different standards according to their needs.

     Back home we have six working days and my dad always double checks with me even after so many years that do we work only for five days in a week. But the number of working days also depends on the nature of the business – some business may not add more value by opening during weekends whereas some business thrive during weekends and holidays. But when we say working hours are 8 – 5 pm how does our brain recognize the time period and how do we prepare our mind to focus on something very intense? Sometimes during the workshop sessions my brain is completely drained where I got to watch out for every single question thrown at me and at times my mind tend to relax a bit if my role is just to be as a listener in a conference call. The way we control our mind and concentrate on stuff on our plate is definitely an art. I could control my mind for some time but for prolonged concentration I definitely need to get into something which would help me sustain my mood for an elongated period of time. Maybe I should try Yoga or some meditation.

     Sometimes work becomes pleasure where we don’t end up calculating the amount of hours we spend on our work; Sometimes we tend to work long hours simply due to obligation or even at times due to peer pressure from our counterparts. But the question is it is not the amount of hours we work but the amount of value we add to our work in a given period of time. I heard a power nap in the afternoon helps to be more productive, I saw one of the fortune 500 companies in Bay area having all sorts of activity to avoid boredom to its employees. The more productive the mind is the more relaxing it can be for yourself and more value you add for your employer. 

Thamizhan Da!!!

      Being proud of your where you come from is something we enjoy at times!! Over here in US, Sports plays a major role in making people bind together and feel proud about their place of origin. When Eagles win a game in a NFL playoff game the whole of Philadelphia erupts in joy. It is just a way of connecting towards something which is close to your heart and a sports event is just an occasion to celebrate. Back in India there are always two things that bind us – one is cricket and other is cinema. Cinema being my favorite would like to embellish on something which made all the Thamizhans across the world very proud.

      

     I want to talk about the showman of Indian cinema – Director Shankar. He is absolutely outstanding..Looking at his track record is just amazing. 20+ years but just 10+ movies. On an average he takes 2 years per movie. Every movie he takes a topic but never gets preachy in his presentation instead sugarcoats with lots of commercial ingredients – I cannot forget the scene in Endhiran where he created a scene in the screenplay where Rajini appears as Amman with several swords, scene in Mudhalvan where the entire traffic is halted with Arjun carrying the media coverage and there are people who play crosswords in Hindu newspaper etc., Just envisage if his movies bomb then two years of time goes for a toss and there is so much risk associated but he is so very confident on his product that he makes grandeur movies with so much of ease. Arnold coming onto stage and asking him to direct for his movie just speaks volume about this man. I think it is just about time that he spreads his wings and goes to Bollywood or Hollywood where his creativity is more acknowledged and he also finds producers who can meet the big budgets his movies are demanding. But wherever he goes he is from Tamil nadu and we should be proud of him….

      

    Aascar Ravichandran is another person who continues to puzzle me. Is this person epitome of modesty? He says in an interview he neither made the tune nor wrote the script so why should he boast in front of media….Man in tinsel world where every dick and harry who do so little but give hundreds of media appearances to promote their films should definitely take a leaf from this man’s book. He brought Jackie chan and Arnold to Tamil Nadu for audio launches and hence put Kollywood on the International map. His argument is if a small film called ‘Conjuring’ can release in 169 countries why can’t a good product like ‘I’ release in multiple countries. I think he has a point and in order to spread new territories we need to bring in celebrities to endorse our products worldwide and he is making right moves. He is one other person who makes us feel proud that our Tamil cinema is truly becoming global phenomenon. 

It all boils down to Quality through efficient Operations!!!

     Off late I have been traveling quite a bit and so naturally tend to eat outside quite often. I believe seven months back when I first stepped into one of my favorite restaurants in Bay area I did not realize that I will visit more often to this place. The location is in a very prime area with lots of offices around and desi population in California is like counting number of sugar molecules in sugarcane, so they got all the basics right in the first place. The place wore a decent look and nothing extraordinary and the menu is very standard with pretty much the regular south indian items. I was thinking why the menu would be so simple. Now after my ‘n’ number of visits I can say it is neither the appearance nor the menu choices that drives a successful restaurant but is the quality trough efficient operations which brings customers.

    The way they operate is very good – Idly at 9.30 P.M comes very hot and fresh because they make sure they prepare that upon taking the order, with sambar they have one for Thalis and one of tiffin items. The sambar that comes with tiffin items are maintained in a separate temperature I believe since its served pretty hot. When it comes to mint chutney restaurants more often find ways to dilute stuff since it could be expensive by that way they can bring down costs but here they make sure the authenticity is maintained. Serving food after taking the order can win customer’s goodwill for quality but on the downside customers got to wait bit longer to taste the food. But eventually customers may wait bit longer to have a nice food versus settling with mediocre food in quick time.

    Also one of the mantras for restaurant business is to keep the menu options simple. I came to know about this after reading McDonalds book. This restaurant or many such south Indian restaurants in Bay area keep the menu extraordinarily simple and they do roaring business because their model is to focus on limited items, serve fresh food, focus on quality through efficient operations and win customers appreciation which gets translated into multiple visits. Way to go these South Indian restaurants!!!

How easy modern day Television influences people’s mind

    I am just getting tired of TV shows showing something just to gain attention of audience and to boost their TRP ratings. They package the program in such a way that even a layman’s emotion is kindled. What is more disturbing is that even those who are educated are blindly believing the TV show just because it is coming from a reputed TV personality. This is neither the first time this is happening nor the last time this is going to happen.

    I am talking about a leading private Tamil TV channel where one of the shows is very popular going from strength to strength every passing year. Administrators are on a constant lookout for new ways to mint money since everything is based on TRP ratings. More the viewership more the audience and more sponsorship for their respective shows. They want to spice up their shows by either bringing in celebrities or by bringing in some topics which may very well be controversial. They say facts without proper reference, they edit the footage based on how they wanted the show to appear on screen and more importantly they tap the emotional quotient of the general audience by having their camera focus on tears rolling from one’s eyes.

    Why do they want to generalize just because few people from a certain community demean their respective profession? Current world is a cut throat world where currency bills will take precedence to honesty. But the thumb rule remains the same – only hard earned money will stick and the rest will evaporate just like a vapor.

    For most of us brought up in India we tend to have a common weakness called as emotional weakness. We tend to believe certain things at the face value - example a shabbily dressed man asking for money. It could just be an act of cheating us but we tend to believe the person and basically we are deceived. My sincere request to the educated community is not to believe these shows just like that since the motto behind these sort of shows are TRP TRP TRP!!! Remember this person hanged his brains before Shah Rukh Khan and did a jalra in an awards function because he is so loyal to his employer. 

Social Media

    Well social media has been part and parcel of everyone’s life. Unless we go to a remote area where there is no signal we tend to use the gadgets all the time – whether we eat, drive, work or even at times during nature’s call J. Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp ..the list goes on and on ….something may keep supplanting through acquisitions and new innovations but the message is loud and clear that the whole world is a victim of social media.

    Well as always there are wonderful nice things – people use social media for brand marketing, politicians use social media heavily for their campaigns, Nonprofit organizations use to their benefit to reach a message across breadth and depth of their intended audience, religious organizations use this as a communication medium and almost all of us use this medium to socialize. The amount of time spent on a single calendar day varies on individuals but all of us spend quite a chunk of time – thanks to smart phones which makes it more accessible.

    Though this may sound cliché but social media kills family time ..it absolutely kills. People who are bit old luckily has passed this modern era of social media but the current generation especially the newly weds and teenagers have fallen a prey. The amount of quality time spent is derailed and it has also become a fashion quotient to be active in social media. I really feel envy to those who do not have smart phones. Anything that happens on the spur of the moment has to be shared and people don’t have the luxury of enjoying the joy of the moment since no one has the patience to withhold their emotions.

    As always the balancing act is the best way to deal this chaos. Trying to inoculate some discipline may be the ideal way to bring back good old days. This is easily said than done but with practice everything can be possible. I hope government brings some regulations and governance towards this whole social media thing since it’s a bug pretty much bugging everyone. But that being said end of the day it is YOU who is responsible for YOUR own way of living. 

Good at Heart .....

       I often wonder two ingredients to lead a successful life are hard work and faith in god. But upon time I am realizing being good at heart is also one of the factors to lead a happy life. 'Hard work' is like a last name for most of us in this era where all of us do good justice. Temple and prayers are becoming part of everyone's social life and the amount of activities I see in temple these days makes me wonder everyone is spending good amount of time and money on temple activities. People believe in positive vibration by stepping into temple's premises and spreading love and positivity in the air by surrendering oneself to almighty and also by committing oneself to volunteer activities in temple which is growing manifold these days. But still there is something which does not make us feel happy? Thats where the third factor comes into picture.

        Being good at heart doesn't necessarily stop with one thing. There are way too many things in which one can be good at heart. Helping poor and needy, volunteering for the betterment of society and community, appreciating or even at times encouraging your peers, most importantly being thankful for what you possess all count towards being good at heart. In this cut throat world being jealous comes to you even without you realizing it, something like bed bug but we got to watch out for this and somehow convert this thought of jealousness to being competitive. At times we may have to accept defeat with our counterparts which is part and parcel of the system. Being a sport and having a positive attitude may help us on a longer run.

       World needs to be a better place. We got to spread positive fragrance to our near and dear ones. Everyone's life is different but one thing that binds all of us together is love and affection. After all no one is going to measure someone by the amount of villas and luxury cars they own at the time they bid adieu to the world but instead everyone will talk about the person's humanity. Its just one life ...lets crack some silly jokes and enjoy life to the fullest by not just making yourself happy but also surrounding you happy..as they say smile is a curve that straightens everything. 

How one bad experience can ruin your day !!!

    We live in a modern era where Time is everything and not just money. Things move at 100 MPH and at times we don’t have time to do our mundane tasks. We just run behind the clock. While we try to manage our work-life balance there are some occasions which would totally piss you off and pretty much spoil your mood and your day. This could be so very frustrating since there could very well be a need where your attention is very much needed.

   Things go especially bad if we had to deal with any of the frustrating experience in the morning – a bad commute due to horrible traffic on your way to office, a lengthy call with your customer service representative which did not add any value, badly trying to reach someone who is not picking up the call etc., The worse thing is if its not your day then anything and everything goes for a toss and you may even just want the day to end without having the energy to bear any more.

   I believe the focus has to be the bigger picture rather than worrying about small pitfalls. Rather than having your day getting ruined by petty incidents I believe we should have all our thoughts and actions aligned towards the goals we want to accomplish. This is easily said than done but that’s where we learn from our mistakes and try not to repeat the same mistake over and over again.

   May be few mind games can do the trick? Or even game of Suduko? Something intriguing for our mind to keep up our focus and ultimately making us more productive. 

Best healer of Pain !!!

        There is a saying that “When it rains it pours” – I am just trying to visualize that in my mind. On a pouring day if beltway is caught up with traffic, on top of that if it starts to snow, on top of that if there seems to be lot of mist, on top of that if roads are slippery, on top of that if there are few minor accidents, on top of that if there seems to be a big tree which fell on the highway, on top of that if there seems to be a power outage …..just imagine someone sitting in the car waiting to go home.  It is just as worse as it would get but just holding on, hanging in there with some patience can eventually get him through.

       None of us know what life is about to offer you. Astrology can predict things but as individuals we got to face the reality. There is so much more to life which unfolds at every single step. That’s the thrill as well as the anxiety which creeps in. Life teaches many things through experiences. At times we just don’t know why do things happen but the story is told at a later stage.  Going through a rough patch is a difficult thing especially when your mind is looking for every single opportunity to exploit you. But that is where strength, courage and spirit grows within you.

      Is there any medicine better than ‘Time’? Time is the best healer. It is natural way of curing something. It may be slow but it is definitely the most effective way. It teaches you so many things during the course of your tough phase which are basically lessons of life.  The best thing to do is to engage in something where your mind does not dominate you. 

    I am just wondering if everyone’s prayers are answered right away then all we got to do is to pray and wait for the result to happen right away. If this is the case then we will see more crowd on temples than in any of the busy highways. Prayers with faith and patience are always rewarded.  Just that you got to wait …wait and wait ….if things don’t click for you then the wisdom is for us to realize god has better plans for you. 

Art of Diplomacy

      I recently had a chance to serve for two years in a Non profit organization and had a chance to experience some of the best practices of human behavior. One can do Yoga either in the morning or in the evening but earlier the better since you gain more mileage out of it. So I wanted to take up the role much earlier just to make sure I learn from people regarding the various traits of human relationships. Being a guy who observes people I could have not asked for a better atmosphere to learn things.
      

     Diplomacy is one of the most powerful words in English dictionary as it is basically as ‘Art’; Cooking is an art since everyone gets the same ingredients to make a dish – what makes a great dish compared to a good dish? Well it just depends on the nuances of cooking and that what makes it an art. Same way being diplomatic is an art by itself. The way you respond/react/talk has so much to do with your individual behavior. Diplomacy at time may even be boring or tend to be cliché but do we get tired of a nice dish irrespective of the number of times we had tasted the delicious dish. It just depends on what context we use our words and actions. Observing few senior people I learnt one of the best practices to have in your kitty is to be diplomatic.

      Being diplomatic comes with experience though. Once we are exposed to real world situations and conversations that we are normally not used to accustom in our day to day lives we may tend to act in a very immature way. That’s where the learning curve starts. At times even beating round the bush may seem to be appropriate. It takes time to get into your system to acknowledge some of the ways in being diplomatic.

     Diplomacy has so many different dimensions to it – a very slight variation in a sentence may tend to be more diplomatic. How exactly you draft an email, how exactly to react to a situation, on what basis a decision was taken, how you stress something and you subtly convey something everything plays a role if you are to be considered a diplomatic person. At times you might wonder am I losing my own individuality by adjusting to things around you but later you come to know best way to handle anything is to be balanced in your approach by giving yourself enough time for dust to settle.

     Diplomacy is definitely signs of maturity – I used to dream that I wanted to pen my thoughts on any single topic and come up with a book. May be this is the topic which I should cash upon since I have so much of contents to write. I am aware this is just a wish list but nevertheless I am happy that I have gained some invaluable lessons which are much more worth than writing my own book.