LINKAGE

Some mails I have received in the recent past bear strong linkages with my engineering days….new news pouring in from my old friends….So much has changed in the lives of the bunch of teenagers who shared a common wing in the hostel.

A is the new dad in the group.
M got married to an American classmate with whom he shared common PhD courses.
B is busy scanning girls from Orissa. Finally completed his post doc and is ready for marriage
D is still single and probably plans to remain the same for some more time.
C, after a long stay in US, plans to return back to India and is evaluating MBA options in India.

Nice little mails….cann’t help a smile while reading them…

CONSTRAINTS AND IMMATURITY

What is happening to people in this city? Is it the space and time constraints and the severe lack of resources and amenities which are responsible in driving the so called “gentlemen” and “ladies” to such frenzied levels? In the co-operative societies or in the local trains or while driving on the roads, I have witnessed instances when people display a frenzied sense of zero tolerance. People in their apartments are almost on the warfront because of some minor parking issue. Boxing, judo and karate activities are quite common in the local trains. Belligerence is the pervasive attitude on the roads with every vehicle driver assuming that everyone/everything in the world except him/her is stationary. And these are the people who look well educated and well groomed.

The number of local trains is not enough to cater to the needs of ever-soaring influx of people into the city. Apartment builders, in their aspirations to suck out the maximum from the buyers, have raised disastrous structures wherein the occupants staying in these buildings will have perennial and eternal sources of problems to deal with. Roads are not enough to accommodate the rising number of vehicles registered in the city. Government is doing something… but that doesn’t seem to be enough. To add to the woes, time is such a rare commodity.

I am not complaining against certain people or rather against how people behave under certain situations, nor am I a cynic. I am just wondering how living under extreme pressure makes sophisticated and well educated people behave with such degraded levels of immaturity.

(I admire this city…for all the excitement it provides. I respect the people in this city for what they go through to survive here….I have myself experienced unmatched human kindness and support in this city but yet certain experiences are not so pleasant and today’s post mirrors this frustration.)

SILENT ACHIEVEMENTS

Some silent achievements of my childhood which never got their due:

….when I learned to ride a cycle…and finally fell into a rain water filled pit along with the cycle
….when I stood before the whole school and delivered a speech….on children’s day
….when I won my first prize in school....in a fancy dress competition
….when I made my first real friendship
….when I read my first story and enjoyed the experience
….when I motivated other kids to complain against a particular teacher to the principal

PERCEPTIONS

Does somebody’s perception about me really help in infusing additional contentment into my life?

I like to dispute with myself the validity and effectiveness of this question, delinking myself from the views of others. Yet to find an answer…

EXPERIENCE

Experience is such a wonderful thing….makes one what one is. Every experience adds a streak to the canvass of life. How a person behaves bears a strong correlation with his collective experiences.

The other day while I was driving back home the traffic restricted my progress and I had to halt waiting for the green light to flicker. Typical Mumbai, the road was flanked with slums. Just then, I saw a little kid from the slums with an iron rod like thing in his hand. He was making his way through the vacant space between the impatient vehicles. I did not take his presence seriously until I felt a screeching sound that emanates out when metals rub against each other. It was not before this that I realized that this little kid has deliberately rubbed his iron rod against my car. Without seeing, I could estimate the size and the shape of the mark on the car. I looked at the kid and he looked at me…with no regrets…no fear…and then he threw a smile, which was beyond his age and moved ahead through the space between the vehicles. Probably he did the same thing with other cars too.

I felt an instant rage with what happened. Came back home and thought about the incident. A little kid from a devastating slum….his origin…the live he has lived so far….the life he will live in future…his frustrations when he must be seeing the tall towers where the people with cars live…his perception of affluence…no wonder he derives a strange pleasure in making those marks on the cars when he walks through them….

This little kid has experienced the harshness of life too early. Not that my car deserved a mark, but certainly I cannot blame the kid for what he did…I will rather blame his experience…of life he has lived so far.

WHOLENESS

The day before yesterday I hated the new apartment in the heart of Mumbai where we have recently moved into. Yesterday, I loved the same apartment.

Periodic or instantaneous liking or disliking for someone or something is a complicated function of lot of variables. Imagine the flow of a fluid through a conduit….old time physics…any momentary feeling we have about someone or something is like the instantaneous flow of the fluid through a cross-section of this conduit. It can be associated with the properties of the flow at that particular instant. For instance it depends on instantaneous temperature, slope, steepness, boundary conditions of the conduit, pressure, viscosity and many more...

Our complete connection with the same person or the same thing is like the full volume of the fluid in the conduit. It’s beyond instantaneous moments….beyond the cross sections of the conduit….it’s the wholeness of the concept that never stops amazing me.

FEEL LIKE REVISITING THEM

BACK TO DESK

Life immediately after a remarkable vacation is associated with an uneasy feeling. After experiencing the dreamy version of life, I am yet to tune myself to the ubiquitous phenomenon which is experienced differentially by those under the sun. Some call it the daily routine….others love to get challenged by it….some mock at it…..others admire it….for some it’s the means and for others it’s the end….in short…life at work place.

THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST

Authored by Mohsin Hamid, this book is in the form of a monologue by a US educated Pakistani youth with an undisclosed American in a Lahore restaurant where he recounts his experience of immigrant life in New York. At 21, Changez was an Ivy league graduate, working as an analyst with one of the most revered of valuation firms. He was in love with an appealing and elegant Greek classmate Erika, who did not mind welcoming him into her thoughts. Accolades after accolades, Changez proved himself to be the smartest among his batchmates. He loved his newfound status that his business card unfolded for him. He loved the social life that Erika introduced him into. Personal life could not have been better for a successful Princeton educated Pakistani youth who was beginning to consider New York his home.

Then 9/11 followed and the identity of Changez turned upside down. Elements like suspicion and confusion challenged his American identity and he seemed to plunge into an abyss of despair. To make things worse, the past of Erika started haunting her. She had lost her childhood sweetheart when she was a student and the trauma she had survived then returned to haunt her to almost schizophrenic levels. Further the mounting political turmoil between India and Pakistan that threatened to blow into a full scale war added to the trauma of Changez and he desperately wanted to move close to his family in Lahore.

Soon, Changez’s admiration for America transformed into antipathy towards the political role she plays in world diplomacy. He began to identify America as a regime which was destroying the fabric of Asia. He left his valuation job in New York and headed towards Lahore. In his new role as a university lecturer, he endeavored to influence the mindset of young Pakistani students against, what he considered, the political dictatorship of America.

This book was a nominated for 2007 bookers and is widely read in American universities to shape cultural perspectives. In the contemporary global political scenario, this book is a wonderful read about how personal lives are shaped by political decisions. Nothing innovative in this novel with respect to the theme (piles of reads and movies are already based on the 9/11 impacts), yet the tone of the book is what makes this book different from the herd.

THE MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

Soaked with free flow of electrified emotions and the beauty of the Japanese culture during the early decades of the last century, this book “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden, is a fictional depiction of the life of a “geisha” based out of Kyoto during the pre/post Second World War.

“Geisha”, in Japanese, means a woman whose job is to entertain as dancers and singers and sometimes more depending on the situation. The story is revealed through the voice of Sayuri Natta, the female protagonist of the story. The medium of depiction is a systematic flash back commencing with a tragic and difficult childhood of a young girl whose destiny transformed her into one of the most famous “geishas” of Japan. The world war followed and once again transformed the life of Sayuri.

During these cycles of transformations, the book reveals several instances revolving around the life of Sayuri set amid the Japanese canvas. Her tragic childhood, early admiration for a man which transformed into passionate love with age, her tutelage with a senior geisha, her outperformance of her rivals and elevation to the ranks of the most successful geishas, her survival means during the world war and other themes are very sensitively lineated.

I loved this book for its sheer eloquence and more so because I have spent reasonable time in the oriental world. In 2005, this book was translated into an Oscar winning movie, directed by Rob Marshall. No wonder, the richness of the book which was aptly pictured in the movie won Oscars for art direction, cinematography and costume design.

But latter realization that the author of this book was sued by a retired geisha (Mineko Iwasaki) whom he had interviewed for the purpose of the novel was disappointing. It seems Arthur Golden had broken the traditional vow of silence by acknowledging Mineko Iwasaki as a source of the novel. Things that transpired were never pleasant.

I HATE LAW, BUT....

My current profile has decent exposure to legal aspects of business. Every contract is in itself a legal document. Law, I feel is the most open ended topics where interpretation of a single phrase or line can run into pages and in some instant into books. People into law have invented wonderful phrases which can completely turn the meaning of something upside down. For instance, consider the following phrases, which one can trace out in almost any contract, sitting reclusively away from the uniform tempo of the rest of contract.

“Notwithstanding anything mentioned anywhere in the contract, this section will hold precedence over any other clause. “

The whole contract might read like a decorated love letter between two parties but the inclusion of the phrase “notwithstanding anything…….”, line and the attached clause can include some of the most draconian conditions of the contract. If someone is not savvy enough not to understand the significance of this statement, he can land up in something really unpleasant later.
Similarly consider another phrase:

“Subject to clause xx.xx, this section confirms that all the liabilities will be shared between the two parties in proportion of their investments”

The presence of the phrase “subject to …” drives home all those situations (referred in clause xx.xx) where the liability will not be shared. And this clause will be hidden somewhere in the end of the contract.

Consider yet another:

“……. Shall not be unreasonably withheld”

Now, who defines the limits and boundaries of being reasonable? Some really nasty stuff can be attached with this phrase and if the intervention of this phrase is required during the course of the contract, it all depends on lawyers again to fix the problems.

For someone like me who would rather prefer to maintain simplicity in everything, law seems to be an inevitable mate.

THICK SKINNED PACHYDERMS

One interesting aspect of spending fourteen hours a day awake in a place like Mumbai is getting introduced to a variety of breeds of people. Imagine, you meet hundreds of people with whom you interact on a daily basis....

Now, there is one class of people whose typical traits have irritated me in the past but have impressed me with time. Come whatever may, these people so easily swim through their daily rituals without any exterior influence. Their emotions hold zero correlation with the judgment of their critics. They are happy creatures with limited capability to empathize with lesser mortals. They are well versed with the rules of mortal success.

I don’t know if it’s a compliment….but I do feel it makes sense to develop this special trait of a “thick-skinned pachyderm”…at least on a case-by-case basis. A colleague of mine from my previous workplace used this term frequently to target certain people who were just intolerable by being what they were. Today, I hold these individuals with higher respect.

BRANDS

Often wonder what made their founders give them the following names -

Apple (ultramodern gadgets)
Orange (telecom service)
Mango (apparel)
Pears (soap)
Red Hat (OS)
20th Century Fox (Film studio)
Caterpillar (Construction equipment)
Jeep (vehicle)

EVOLVING AS ALWAYS

Things change….or should I say they evolve….

When I was a teenager, there came a bollywood song by the lyrics “Hello sexy…hi sexy…”. The whole concept was no less than a revolution of a sort. Elderly men and women claimed that Indian culture is doomed….parents tried their best to veil their kids from hearing such songs. Cultural ideologists threatened to destroy movie halls screening that movie. Teenagers mumbling these songs were severely rebuked…The list is endless. Such was the effect of this outburst that finally the word “sexy” in the song was replaced by the word “baby” and the world moved on.

Today….”sexy” is perhaps the most glamorous word, well appreciated and respected by every silo of the society. It’s the word which truly defines beauty in all its versions. In the business world, every high potential idea, every new thought is so respectfully named “sexy”. Any idea which is platonically stimulating to the mind (I repeat “mind”, forget others…) cannot be defined more articulately than being coined sexy. Even elderly people don’t mind using this word. And cultural ideologists…I believe they are not so unhappy about the usage of this word….From beauty to vehicles, from ideas to business plans is there any other word which is so pervasive in its usage.

So what happened….is this just a generation change.

TRANSPARENCY VS. SECRECY

One of the most visible aspects of corporate life is to understand and appreciate the significance of information. Especially in the Indian context, people love to restrict disclosure of facts and acts.

The culture of an organization is greatly shaped by its information management policies. If critical information trickles down into different levels of an organization like free flow of water, the organization cannot survive. As against this, if information just remains within the closely guarded veil of a few people, the organization becomes highly centralized and the majority of the employees will soon lose interest in the affairs of the organization.

Where should the balance lie between transparency and secrecy? What should be the optimum level of organizational trust that can guide towards a healthy balance between employee motivation and company disclosure restriction policy? Not easy to answer...I guess.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

How many times an individual faces the situation of conflict of interest for being a part of various social entities? An individual is himself an entity with his individual interests. He belongs to a family, which is again an entity. He works for an organization, which is another entity. He belongs to a nation, yet another entity. Now, he also belongs to the much larger entity i.e. the global definition of humanity.

An individual’s place within an entity entrusts him with certain obligations. But he belongs to different entities at the same time. More often than not, different obligations from different entities are not in sync with each other. Every individual continually survives balancing the obligations of his roles he plays by being a part of different entities he belongs to.

For instance, the obligations of his workplace at times intrude into his family obligations. In another situation, his obligations towards humanity might affect the obligations he owes to himself. Extrapolating this to other entities, it’s such a delicate balance of conflict of interests an individual is almost always subjected to.

GEORGE SOROS AND MARKET

Making billions and giving away millions …This is how the iconic billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros is best known for.

Loved his quotes (on the nature of markets) which I bounced upon.

The financial markets generally are unpredictable. So that one has to have different scenarios. The idea that you can actually predict what's going to happen contradicts my way of looking at the market.

Stock market bubbles don't grow out of thin air. They have a solid basis in reality, but reality as distorted by a misconception.

Markets are constantly in a state of uncertainty and flux and money is made by discounting the obvious and betting on the unexpected.

The worse a situation becomes the less it takes to turn it around, the bigger the upside. (don’t understand this one)

Markets are designed to allow individuals to look after their private needs and to pursue profit. It's really a great invention and I wouldn't under-estimate the value of that, but they're not designed to take care of social needs.

MY NAME IS RED

It took me more than a month and a half to experience this Orhan Pamuk classic. This book is nowhere close to an easy read of the refreshing breed. Neither is it easy to assign a particular theme to the subject of this book. Enriched with the voice of the most renowned contemporary Turkish author, “My Name is Red” is set amid the splendor and the religious ideologies of the 16th century Ottoman empire.

What is this book about? Not easy to answer. This book can qualify itself as a murder mystery evolving out of the heresy, blasphemy, self-doubt and religious turmoil in which the Turkish art found itself deeply soaked in. But it is not about the murder per se. It can also be a book about an engaging and apprehensive love story. But it is not about love per se. The book is also about the perceivable religious tensions between the east and the west. But the tension is just a canvas which Pamuk has used for his creation.

In the context of the above themes, this is a book on art and painting as depicted through the lives and thoughts of miniaturists. Intensely researched, this book very intricately presents the then prevalent Islamic art form in medieval Turkey and the influence of Persian and Chinese art on it. As the novel unfolds, the impact of the European art forms on the Ottoman sultan and the Turkish miniaturists helps define and build the concept of the novel where one intricate concept after foreplays with each other before the inevitable happens. What starts as a murder mystery ends with redefinition of Turkish art, illumination and ideologies. This is where religion, art, suspense, mystery and ideologies converge at the climax.

The most striking aspect of this book is its ability to weave multiple perspectives. Every chapter is in a form of an intense monologue depicting individual perspectives. Even nonliving entities like a coin and paintings present their perspectives. Dead corpses share their perspectives too.

It’s a typical Orhan Pamuk classic. It has everything which Orhan Pamuk loves to picture through his books. It took five years for Pamuk to create this creation and he has ensured that the readers of this book too give considerable time in understanding what the book is all about.

BROWNIAN MOTION

I was about to catch a sweet nap in the local train after catching up with Orhan Pamuk’s themes in “My name is Red”. It is habitual now. It is almost impossible for me to read this book for more than thirty minutes after which I feel myself getting overpowered by drowsiness. That’s exactly the reason why I am yet to post on books so far this year.

Today morning, after completing my quota of delving into Pamuk’s thoughts, I was feeling this tremendous urge to close my eyes and relax. It was at exactly this moment when I overheard three middle aged gentlemen who were sharing the adjacent seat in the local. It seems each of them had kids who were about to clear class 12.

1st Gentleman: These days it’s not worth going for Engineering. Everyone is an engineer these days. I am not encouraging my kid to pick up such a career. Its too outdated…

(The statement made my ears ring…I have an engineering degree…oops)

2nd Gentleman: You are right. But more than engineers, you can trace out MBAs these days. Every 2nd person holds an MBA degree. Too much oversupply you see. I am just not going to ask my kid to undertake such fancy studies worth nothing.

(Well…that was like another arrow shot….I have spent so much time and energy gathering a fancy degree)

3rd Gentleman: I agree with both of you. These 20 something people are hugely responsible for pulling down America’s economy. The son of my boss is 26 years old, holds MBA…is an engineer and is working in a global bank….earns too much for his age….absolutely not worth his knowledge and experience. You see we are so much experienced and we are nowhere close to what these guys earn. That’s why the economy got screwed. That’s how US got screwed. These people without experience assume decisive roles, make wrong decisions….and we suffer.

(So here I am…according to these people…with two degrees….one outdated and one fancy….and responsible in my own way in screwing up the economy….and make these people suffer)

What makes me wonder is the fact that these three people were supporting each other in blind with such absolute ease and continuity…. nowhere their thoughts were in sync…the idea of the 1st person was to underline the fact that Engineering is outdated stuff. The second person supported him but stressed the fact that MBA is a fancy degree which every second person has. The third person supported both of his friends but he wanted to prove that MBAs have ruined the economy and that they are terribly overpaid.

SMILE AS YOU ENTER

Noted something…in the entrance door of one of the ground floor offices.
There is a mirror extending the top half of the entrance door. The span of the mirror provides an ideal visage to every individual who happens to cross through it. Just above the mirror is located a board which reads:

SMILE AS YOU ENTER

Simple but striking….isn’t it !!!