A powerful marathi geet..

ganjalya othas mazyaa, dhaar vajrachee miloode
aandhalyaa aatmyatmazyaa sury satyacha jaloode
ganjalya othas mazyaa
pangala bandist maza, janm aakashun javo – 2
vadalee aaveg maza char bhinteenna kaloode
ganjalya othas mazyaa
sarkhe saundary mazyaa kordyaa gatri khalalo ho
sarkhe saundary mazyaa kordyaa gatri khalalo
sarkhe astitv maze petatanaa darvaloode
ganjalya othas mazyaa
labhoode lachaar chhaya mothmothyannaa parantoo – 2
tapalyaa mateet mazaa gham manane galoode
ganjalya othas mazyaa, dhaar vajrachee miloode
ganjalya othas mazyaa

- from Umbartha, sung by one of my favorite singers, Ravindra Sathe and music by Pandit Hrudaynath Mangeshakar

A procrastinator

He slept beneath the moon

He basked beneath the sun

He lived a life of going to do

and died with nothing done.

-James Albery (1838-1889)

Comment- This is supposed to be a quote from James Albery. I think it as a short poem rather than a quote, but I am wrong

Late night conversations…

Question: Why are we so lazy? When it comes to work (conduct research experiments, read research papers..), we always procrastinate? When we want to go shopping, we are never late. When we want to eat, we are never slow.

Anaswer: May be we are  not biologically designed to work that way, read scientific papers, understand, innovate. Our design leans towards making us lazy.

Me: Well, there is nothing wrong with me then. I am lazy like every other human being. Hurray!

Times flies

Time Time Time,

It flies with Time,

It moves, it runs, it churns, it swims…

It runs when you walk,

It walks when you stand,

It stands when you sit,

And it flies when you run…

Run  Run Run, and match the fun…

Fly Fly Fly, and reach the sky…

Swim Swim Swim, and catch a fish fin…

Time is flying, Fly with Him.

I love whatever little lines I could get out of mind in half a minute. I had a thought of writing a blog post about how time flies. I even started to write some of specific observations, but some jingle kept coming to my mind and I had to pause for it to come of my mind. Well, my realization of time is not new. It is old, but it comes tonight with a fresh air. Ting..Ting..Ting.. enough of time wastage!

e-mail or snail-mail

This is a strange experience that I have had in the last few months. Or so to say, in the last few months, I “realized” that my account has this problem. My yahoo account seems to be on vacation. I am subscribed to a few groups from where it seemed like I was getting emails from. But, it looks like my mail does not get all emails, but only a few which it likes. Also, some people tried to communicate me on yahoo and thought I was receiving their emails, but honestly, I wasn’t getting any. After making sure that I was emailed there, I was utterly surprised to find that I was not getting any emails. I get spam emails, so my mailbox definitely has “in-door”, but strangely enough, I do not get emails that are supposed to arrive. This is a wierd experience. I should not say that this is limited to yahoo. My gmail account has a different yet equally strange  problem. A couple of time I emailed my boss, he replied back saying that the email was “empty”, and indeed it was true that the sent email had no information. It looks like snail mail might be more reliable now.

Dhirubhai Ambani, end of an era

I just went over a brief life history of the man, often known to be the “Man of the Century”, a man who built an empire, from scratch. How many of us have the ability to do so? A few lines from his public speeches-

1. Growth has no limit in Reliance. I keep revising my vision. Only when you dream it you can do it.

2. Think big, think fast. think ahead. Ideas are no one’s monopoly.

3. Our dreams have to be bigger. Our ambitions higher. Our commitment deeper. And our efforts greater. This is my dream for Reliance and for India.

4. You do not need invitation to make profits.

5. If you work with determination and with perfection, success will follow.

6. Pursue your goals even in the face of difficulties, and convert adversities into opportunities.

7. Give the youth a proper environment. Motivate them. Extend them the support they need. Each one of them has infinite source of energy. They will deliver.

8. Between my past, the present and the future, there is one common factor: Relationship and Trust. This is the foundation of our growth.

9. We bet on people.

10. Meeting the deadlines is not good enough, beating the deadlines is my expectation.

11. Don’t give up, courage is my conviction.

Shout your name

Well, what do you find these days pretty common? Most people do not know your name. Last night, you were famous and today nobody remembers you. In that case, what do you do? That is correct! “Shout your name [loudly].” Most people will not like you shouting your name too loudly but it will leave a memory, a bad one. But, they will remember your name. These days, it is a trend that when you are downmarket, you shout your name loudly. Remember to associate yourself with some organization, such as the one that seems to be fighting for a cause. “seems to be” meaning that it does not need to, but should be able to depict that it is. Once you associate yourself with some cause, you are free to shout loudly for that cause and the cause+your name will make some headlines and people will recollect that you exist. This is a pretty common trend followed by many Indian actresses, politicians, religious preachers and businessmen alike. Whenever people go out-0f-market, their aim is to come back, with apparently some sort of fighting spirit and they need some crutches such as an organization looking for a mascot, a party looking for a face, an “apparent” cause looking for a promoter, or a nothing-entity looking for some garbage-name. There is ample opportunity to shout your name, if you would like to.

Unusual, oh just slightly

I opened my mailbox to be happily surprised. After a long time, a mail arrived. I will disclose later- the details of the mail-sender. But, he used a very simple yet “unusual”, yet “funny” and “intelligent” way to say what he should have said. 3 independent people should have said it, but only 1 of 3 said it and that too very “smartly”. The use of a word was aptly disguised. He said “unusual”, but attached an adjective to it making it “slightly unusual”, a good effort to disguise the euphemism meant into it. Very well done Sir!

Dada, I am your fan.

Sourav Ganguly, a phenomenon that happened to Indian cricket, is set to start another innings. If Sachin Tendulkar is an icon for everything nobody else is, Sourav Ganguly is the best example of a southpaw  become the poster boy of Indian cricket. I like to compare him to Rocky for a simple reason that both of them are non-conventional. People ridiculed Rocky and said he was doomed to lose, but came on top. People ridiculed Sourav and said various things about this technique, but he came on top, especially when most had written him off. The bespectacled hero of Indian cricket is  an individual who has transformed Indian cricket, and paid price for it by being kicked out through humiliation. Well, for starters, Ganguly quit alright, but the fact is that he was not given enough opportunities to make his case and whenever presented with a small opportunity, he made merry. That is the key – I read somewhere  – “Every opportunity is different. The next may be better or worse but it will never be the same“. Neither could he come back completely from Greg Chapell saga, nor could he become himself, though he was back successfully. Ganguly, a phenonmenon that happened to Indian cricket took ”underdog” team to the World Cup final, and lost massively due to the fact that the team was put together by Ganguly, a team that was not going to win easily, but did win many matches due to its gritty captain and his best commander Sachin Tendulkar. There 2 people then took the team where it was. They both cranked the numbers! and were very aptly supported by Kumble and Dravid. These four formed the pillors of Indian cricket. The problem with other three – Sachin, Kumble and Dravid are very nice guys. They probably are the best, calm cricketers I have seen, especially Indian cricket where everyone wants to make a point or two every so often. But one man – who changed the course of the Indian team was Sourav. Ofcourse he would have been useless had the other three been absent. But, the fact remains that India needed a captain who could “literally take” this team and run with it. This is Dada did and I admire him. And ofcourse, a everyone else it, I am too a big fan of six-hitting style.

But, this is not for cricketing skills or rubbing with the administration, while he was the leader. That comes as part and parcel of the package. This blog is to appreciate the “rumor” that Dada is all set to enter a place – where his stamina would be tested. As the rumor may have it, Dada is all set to take on Dalmiya and make a bid of BCCI top shot. Well, these might be just rumors or these may even be true, but the fact that Dada has an inclination and the grit to take on the big guys, is something already. He may loose or win, but he will leave a mark. Dada, wish you all the best! You ROCK!

Bill Gates @ Harvard

These are the excerpts (interesting pointers) from Bill Gates talking during the graduation ceremony @ Harvard. Mostly, it looks like Harvard invites comedians for their graduation speeches. I did not understand why. But, the fact is that they have had atleast 3 interesting, non-comedians – Bill Clnton, Bill Gates and J K Rowling. I gathered this information from youtube, where videos are available. They have had Mother Teresa too, but her speech is not aired on youtube. Bill Gates mostly talks about caring and gives important pointers about how to care for people. These pointers are applicable in most situations..

• Improving your odds doesn’t guarantee success.
• To turn caring into action, we need to see a problem, see a solution and see the impact.
• Cutting through complexity to find solutions runs through 4 predictable stages – determine a goal, find the highest impact approach, deliver the technology ideal for that approach. and in the meantime use the best application of technology you already have.
• The crucial thing is to never stop thinking and working and never do this – surrender to complexity and quit.”