agoneve

Good a software & Good software engineer

2012-02-10T21:40:00.000-08:00

1. What is good a software?
2. Who is a good software engineer?

I asked these to a set of guys who had wanted to learn about software project management. The simplicity of the answers is similar to the one about happiness. Thus it also resonates with the idea that the most important/fundamental things are most simple; yet, many of us are unaware of those answers.

If I don't know what good software is; how could I develop good software?

Thoughts about Happiness

2012-01-05T08:39:00.000-08:00

What is the definition of happiness nowadays? Is happiness attained through enjoyment? Is happiness a state of the sensory organs or the mind? Is the stimulation of sensory organs necessary to be happy?

With the twisted definition of attaining happiness through enjoyment/stimulation of sensory organs we have run amok. We don't realize that we would end up needing perpetual stimulation to be in continuous state of happiness when we rely on attaining happiness through stimulation of sensory organs. This is highly impossible.

Hence the only way to be perpetually happy is to have sense of contentment & happiness in the mind.

Trend Spotting

2011-08-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

Cyclical things happen in all parts of life. There are megatrends and there are minor cyclical trends within those mega trends. The frequency depends on which cycle we are referring to.

The mistake that we make is usually we may find the mega trend or micro trend that is prevailing but fail to notice the other. The events that keep happening are a combination of both these trends. So we get surprised when events happen contrary to the trend that we are observing. If we stitch together all the contrary things - we may find the other trend that we are missing.

May appear like some gyan. Most observations are :-). So feel happy to read, forget or read & think.

Learning again the computer science & engineering stuff

2011-08-06T12:38:00.000-07:00

Feels like breathing fresh air during a morning walk on a tree lined avenue.

From the days of my engineering almost 14 years, the computing technology has evolved to a great extent. The fundamental principle of thermodynamics that the entropy of a system keeps increasing leads to ever increasing complexity however much we try. By creating a new way of doing things or finding new thing, we add to intellectual complexity as we have one more item to consider. These new things implicitly lead to more complex systems. For that matter "ignorance is bliss" is a truism. The key to understand is that these new things essentially create new paths and hence add to combinatorial explosion. If these new things completely replaced existing ITEMS (yes, plural), then these reduce the complexity.

I don't think that happens as the technology itself accelerates to the creation of new items.

Why such a long preamble?

Because The thought that we are already in the era of parallel processing at mobile phone level hit me hard. The multicore computing systems would possibly now require almost everybody to be aware of the parallel processing (guys please forget concurrent processing). These will change computation in fundamental ways because till date all computation except in the research areas has been single core. All system software, & application software is geared towards it. The OS concepts that we learnt talked about CPU scheduling for only one processor.

The parallel processing is a whole new learning for me as I need to go back and relearn the concepts of parallel processing. I was always a big fan of very nice multithreading support in Java and loved to create multi-threaded programs. (I remember one incident - our team wrote a multi-threaded data transfer as well as processing application so well that whenever it used to run, it pushed the CPU usage to 100% and that caused crisis saying that we are hogging the CPU time without letting other applications to run - How can that happen on a preemptive multi-tasking system I couldn't fathom :-)). So I love to see what is left to be done yet at the level of applications. This definitely will need extensions to all language libraries with implementations of parallel versions of algorithms to make full use of current day desktop computers.

Similarly the need to process massive quantities of data is leading to the need of everybody to become aware of the concept of distributed computing.

I am headlong in to learning these new things so that I don't become a dinosaur. Yes, I have become pretty good at managing, but without the knowledge of current day evolving trends I would not be able to compete with the best. I always wish to compete and create best results and win.

The idea of looking at these trends which are very powerful and beautiful is exhilarating and refreshing.

Symbolism - Cobra with opened hood (No I am not brain dead yet :-))

2011-02-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

It all began with me and my wife going in to a restaurant previous weekend when I was visiting her. There we chanced upon the Chinese predictions for the people born under the signs of various animals. For the uninitiated it is important to know that like all ancient cultures Chinese also follow a calendar based on Moon and each year is named after an animal in a predefined set of animals. The people born in these years are thought to manifest the nature ascribed to the animal.

Then, when we were through our dinner, my wife started asking why snakes are considered wise beings? I did not have a definitive answer. Today suddenly a moth fell in to the glass of milk I was drinking and died. It made me look through the symbolic meaning. While looking at that, i read about snakes open hood being used as a symbol of offense by Egyptian pharaohs. in Hindu mythology lord Vishnu sleeps on a bed formed by the curling body of 1000 hooded serpent named Adishesha. Here, snake with open hood is a symbol of security and shelter.

Suddenly it flashed to me that the opened hood of a cobra very gracefully combines both the offensive and defensive natures. It is what the rulers must do and must be like. Punish the wrong doers and protect the pious. It is what the wise people do.

Now I believe I know why snakes and among them the cobra is held in such high regard.

Living

2011-01-23T09:38:00.000-08:00

Life is about living happily. To live happily we need peace within our heart. This is more than enough. Let us realize this & give up on all egoistic pursuits which bring nothing but misery.

Curtains and life

2011-01-08T22:08:00.000-08:00

I was looking at the closed curtains in my house; suddenly i realized, they don't let the outsiders see what is inside, but at the same time also prevent the light from streaming in and making the house look bright. Our lives are also like this, we may be closed and guarded with a feeling of security, but at the same time prevent the inflow of knowledge & wisdom that helps us get better.

For whose glory?

2010-12-05T00:12:00.000-08:00

In the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the last of the knights guarding the grail asks a very nice question to the people who are eager to lay their hands on the grail. "For whose glory are you seeking the grail; for his glory or yours?".

Software development every day poses this question to the software builder. The person creating the software trying to to show off his knowledge can create immensely complex piece or think what is needed by the end user and make the software that serves the end user needs.

Random thought: What is the value of a film star

2010-09-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

If the movie makers can answer the simple question:
1. Do the people come to the movie to watch the star?

If answer is "it is less than 50% probable", then that star is really not a star. So it is better to check if that star is really worth the money.

Most of the times, people go to watch the movie & rarely a star.

Arishadvarga and path for evolution beyond

2010-09-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

It is nice to gain more insight in to what actually will help me to become a better human being. I am supposed to have equanimity with control over kama, krodha, lobha, mada, moha, matsara. It means I retain the capacity to feel these emotions but not driven by these. Not being able to feel any emotion makes me inert. Inertness is not the goal of evolution.

The goal of evolution is to be fully functional with mindfulness. Once I manage the arishadvarga, & learn to be empathetic/loving, I have found what every seeker searches in life.

Insight is good, but practice is what makes a person. Long way to go for me to become a better human being.

Note:
Arishadvarga : 6 categories of enemies on the path of a person's evolution
Ari: Enemy
Varga: Category
Shat: 6

Kama : Desire
Krodha : Anger
Lobha : Greed
Mada : Arrogance
Moha : Attachment
Matsara : Jealousy

Alchemist/Steve Jobs - Achieving Excellence - What are common lessons?

2010-08-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

The Alchemist:
•The story of a boy named Santiago. He starts off as a person who wanted to fulfill the wishes of his parents by becoming a priest. On realization of his yearning to see the world, he gets his father to agree to let him realize his wish to roam around. He becomes shepherd. Then dreams of a treasure in Egypt buried near the pyramids. He goes on the journey to find this treasure. Along this journey finds his true love, finds the teacher, learns about the oneness that manifests itself in multitude of forms, learns about letting go, and learns to listen to his heart. He in the process learns to become one with the universe and yet retain his individuality.
•The central message hence is about making the journey and along the way learning to let go of my fears, doing what gives one the happiness, and learning about the unity behind all diversity. This automatically lets the one to realize oneself.

Steve Jobs:
A person born to unwed mother, an adopted child, a college drop out (wanted to graduate in liberal arts), a person with tremendous sense of opportunity, drive to accomplish things, & finally a person with lots of luck. He is a vegetarian, been to India, believes in Zen Buddhism. His sense of aesthetics and minimalism have been the key driver for many usability improvements. He has founded 3 companies Apple, NeXT, & Pixar. He was thrown out of the company that he founded, & then returned to the same company to create iPod+iTunes, iMac, & iPhone.
Ill treated all most all of people worked with & lived with. Why people work with him?
What makes him tick despite idiosyncrasies?
All the people worth their salt really want to do is leave some legacy behind (other than their genes). It pleases them when somebody recognizes and challenges them to achieve what many think is impossible. Steve is the past master in it.
Life As He describes: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts

What can we learn:

•The key to reaching the goal is moving towards the goal. It is moving in the right direction, but not how fast I move.
•The essence is in doing the things to realize the dreams rather than gaining knowledge about how to realize the dreams (The Englishman trying to master alchemy by reading, but not doing any experiments). Only action or movement takes me towards realizing my goal. (Steve trying to build a CPU without fan)
•Only when I learn to not let the thought of preserving what I already have hinder me, I will start to make progress in gaining something new. This is also the only way to realize my destiny or make progress. I have to move forward from the place where I am starting to walk. I can’t just desire to be in a new place without letting go of my previous place (Boy deciding to move from Oasis to seek his treasure near the Pyramids or for Steve Jobs - Abandoning Lisa, Getting kicked out of Apple etc., starting Pixar They say creative destruction. It is necessary.)
•Everything has a time and a place. I am so jaded by my preconceived notions that I hesitate to use the book as a pillow, but the boy just does that. So I need to see everything with a fresh perspective and see the utility value (Mac without floppy drives)
•I need to seek help when I don’t understand something. Once the help is there, I still need to make my decision (going to Gypsy and then going to Pyramids in search of treasure).
•In time of loss on the path to achieving a goal it is always important to consider how close I have come to achieving the goal rather than how far I am from the goal. I need to be constantly aware of the purpose I started with.
•Once I am able to unlock the message hidden in most simple things like grain of sand I will be able to comprehend whatever is considered the most complex.

Final lessons:

•We tend to believe life is all about
–Having, To Have – We do, To Do – We Live
•Called the To Have -> Do -> Be paradigm

•If we think a bit, it is about
–Being, For Being – Do X, Having is just a side effect
•Called the Being -> Doing -> Having paradigm

•Be -> Feel the passion & joy inside you.
•Be at peace with what you are & what you do.
•Enjoy what you do -> it seems & becomes effortless to you
•When it is effortless results will flow automatically

Trying to create something exceptional makes you/me/us exceptional

•As a company strive to build something extraordinarily good for the end consumer – Leadership in technology, market, & financial world are just the side effects of this.
•As a software engineer enjoy creating a flawless code (NO, flawless code is not an oxymoron J) or creating something simple, useful, usable, & beautiful. For that person, it will translate to better achievements in all other spheres. So ENJOY doing good work and take PRIDE in it.
•If I look at it from Indian perspective – Achieving perfection in performing one’s Dharma automatically leads to good results in the areas of artha, kama, moksha J.
•APART FROM THAT YOU NEED LUCK / GRACE of GOD – Some people have more of it.

Lessons about living - Finding the better half - Part III

2010-05-27T07:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, I got married :-). For finding and once found

1. Your future dreams and common interests matter more than the similar background. - I used to be scared of pursuing girls who were from different regions or from different cultural background as I used to think cultural past would mar the future. Now I can certainly say, it is not the common cultural background, but it is the future dreams and common aspirtaions that matter more.
2. At least once in life we encounter one person who comes closest to our ideals. Then even if I don't say anything everything is known, but realizing that I have found that person and making the move is important. There is only one maxima in life's curve, all others are sub optimal solutions. Don't hesitate at that moment.
3. Don't marry if you don't believe that such thing can exist.
4. Once found listen, accommodate, understand, share with honesty, & talk.

Pandit Ravi Shankar & Tiger Woods :-)

2010-01-15T22:34:00.000-08:00

My dear readers,

Compare the lives of Pandit Ravi Shankar & Tiger woods. Chuckle for yourselves. They are a study in contrast. So think, have fun, & learn the way to lead life.

sincerely,
AG

Lessons about living - Finding the better half - Part II

2010-01-09T07:03:00.001-08:00

Found the one. Some things I forgot to write in the first part

1. Being with the person matters & not having the person.
2. Be ready to change / at least modify some behaviors.
3. Usually somehow God makes the paths of people who are supposed to be together cross. At that time we must understand - i used to ignore this. This does not mean i need to chase everybody, but i connect with some people better than others and i know it.
4. Look for happiness & everything else will follow. Don't look for material things and expect happiness to follow. It may happen, but it will always be better to use the principle of putting happiness first.
5. The fear about tomorrow simply evaporates when I am with the right person - yes reality may bite hard, but I don't feel helpless in facing that reality.
6. Mind and heart are two things. Use both. What comes first - no definitive answer. Whatever we choose; should appeal to both - it avoids internal conflict and confusion.

Wish you all a very joyous new year.

The power to choose

2009-12-25T08:25:00.000-08:00

What makes us humans so unpredictable is our power to think, power to suppress our instincts, and power to choose. That makes us so different from all other animals and all interactions involving humans so much more complicated. Our emotions and our logic make our actions unpredictable. It is so contrary to our innate understanding :-).

Random thoughts

2009-12-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

What makes me feel great is the spirit to fight relentlessly in the right way. Similary there is so much capacity in human heart to be selfless and do what is right. It is there in every human heart - some places more and some places less. Great things can be accomplished only when they make sense to the heart.

I don't know how many of you have watched a Mandarin movie called Hero - even though there may be very symbolic characteriztion, the sword fighting sequences and background music are etheral. The message "Everything under One Sky" is so simple and yet so profound. It talks about the unity of everything without saying as much. Once we realize this truth, I believe we will stop being "self centered" maniacs. Why do we need a sword? To establish peace. If everybody realizes that peace is the normal state, then suddenly there is no need for sword.

Ok, Ok - I understand. Life is unlike less than 2 hours movie, but there is quite a lot we can learn, if we are ready to listen.

Route Number 27

2009-12-02T08:50:00.000-08:00

route number 27 is the shuttle that carried us back and forth between our home and the office. The beauty of shuttle lay in its travelers capability to make the best out of the long journey hours and have fun. There were conversations - meaningful and meaningless, there were laughters - many, there were sullen silences, celebrations and so on. It was world in itself. Everything put together it was fun and had great time.

So what I learnt - life is also a journey. We remember it through the conversations, celebrations, laughter and tears that we have. Without these there is nothing to remember about our journey of life - it will be monotonous like the sleep that I find myself in when I travel using the other route number.

Prayer

2009-11-30T08:09:00.000-08:00

Oh, Great Spirit
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me, I am small and weak,
I need your strength and wisdom.

Let me walk in the beauty and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.
Make my hands respect things you have made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.
Make me wise so I may understand the things you have taught my people.
Let me learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock.
I seek strength not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy - myself.
Make me always ready to come to you with clean hands and stright eyes.
So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to you without shame.

- Native American Prayer - Times of India, Sacred Space, 2009-11-30

Communicate :-)

2009-11-30T08:06:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy0HNWto0UY&feature=player_embedded

Assumption & Reality

2009-11-08T09:02:00.000-08:00

The general assumption for a society to function normally is that "everybody is trying to do something that is right". Right here means doing the things that are in line with normally accepted human values - truth, justice, & compassion and not doing things that are utterly selfish and unlawful.

This assumption that people will do what is right is being put under severe test in emerging economies like our country. It is becoming extremely difficult for the people who "trust" and work according to the "right" set of values as the existing reality is diametrically opposite to what they assume to be reality.

Kung Fu Panda Continued ...

2009-10-19T09:17:00.000-07:00

What does it take to become successful apart from raw talent (I believe this must be there)?

Patience - There will be no result over night
Courage - Needed to take risks
Confidence - Self belief when entire world is saying it is not possible
Discipline - To consistently work systematically to attain your dream
Compassion - To stay human, to stay humble, to be able to understand, and to be understood

All put together should be directed towards attaining happiness/perfection (This is the quest).

Again got the opportunity to watch the "The secrets of the Fabulous Five" in sister's home :-).

Simple Truth

2009-10-14T09:25:00.000-07:00

One day, I was expressing my displeasure about the hustle & bustle of city life and how I planned to go back to my village one fine day. My friend, I am pretty sure who hasn't read any philosophy, asked me a simple question - where does the calm that you are chasing lie? I had to answer it is within me. Then she asked "what are you going away from?".

So all the journeys intended to find clam, peace, & happiness must start within oneself. External entities can facilitate seeking the answer, but are not the answer.

Lessons about life - finding the other half :-)

2009-10-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

Alright, this is one other area where I have learnt few things in life.

As I am neither for nor against, and as I did make a late attempt, and as I made mistakes, I will simply write about what I learnt:

1. Know what you want in life, know your priorities. Also realize in life things are not always sequential, many things have to happen in parallel. Can't keep thinking C after B after A all the time.
2. Have a list of mandatory things that you are looking for.
3. Be ready to choose.
4. There is no ideal one, grab the first one who is at least above 70 % of what you expect. School and college time - may be good to find the right one. Keep in touch. Once you have organized your life as an adult may be you realize they are the best. There is no way to find out unless you talk.
5. Let go of your ego, talk if things are not looking up, don't make hasty decisions.
6. If you make a mistake, as soon as you realize, go back and check - may be you are lucky.
7. Don't think too much about the future - understand life is transient. In the long run all of us are dead. Being happy while we live is what matters.

If you are planning to look, if you are thinking whether you have stomach to jump on to the merry-go-around, a read of the above will help. So have fun.

One more thought from my corporate life about Hiring

2009-09-12T19:03:00.001-07:00

Hm, as a person I learn by reflecting on my past actions and analyzing their results. I was actually building a team more than 2 years ago. I selected some good people, who are better than most of the people present in the organization. As I was also new to the organization I hadn't realized that. We agreed on certain salary for these people, based on the "bands" the people were being hired into and also on their past salaries.

One year down the line we realized that for most of the team mates, the salaries should be higher, but with the recession we were not allowed to make any change to the salary.

So what is the learning from this episode:

When hiring
1. Always assess the person's capability
2. Benchmark the the person's capability against the capabilities of existing set of people.
3. Then fix the salary using this benchmark rather than using the past salary and the band in to which the person has to be hired as the benchmark.

This would ensure that person gets a fair pay, gets in to appropriate band and even if person compares his/her salary the reason for discontent would be very less.

Where have all the people with evolved thinking gone?

2009-09-12T18:29:00.000-07:00

Again in some dinner time discussion about what does it mean to be being cultured and what is not, we ended up with the following thoughts.

In today's India, among the people, we find people for whom the modernity means having various gadgets and aping the western clothes and the way of living. Then we also find people to whom being cultured means being ritualistic and going around to places of worship and following arcane rules to live life by. Even though the preceding sentences do not mean that most of these people are devoid of real understanding of the word refinement as a human being, mostly I find that they haven't thought what does it actually mean to be a human being.

I believe if each of us understands that the goal of life is to live with joy and move away from being self centred, performing actions that are right, we have again started on the path of evolution.

Seeking completeness

2009-08-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Unless i am challenged realy hard, we don't think too much about the thing. Even though I can not find the elusive soulmate, at least I can think hard why I need to find one / don't need to find one.

The "Eureka" thought is each is searching for the completeness (unity) one way or the other. As I wrote earlier, we can create that by acquiring something that is missing or completely annhilating the already existing entity. For us humans it is very hard to let go and relatively easy to acquire. Even nature has made the task of finding completeness acquisition oriented.

May be if we are able to find that elusive person/soulmate, may be we will find the path to reach that completeness/happinees.

Enthusiasm for living (Jeevanotsaha)

2009-07-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

I and my mom were discussing "what makes a person look beautiful?". It's definitely the internal joy that person has and the happiness the person radiates. What makes a person radiate this happiness? It definitely is the person's enthusiasm for living.
A person who is enthusiastic about living will cope with setbacks and still maintain a smile in the eyes and on the lips.

Life and Soulmate

2009-07-06T09:44:00.000-07:00

Life - What is this about? I am not writing any original thought. The thought from movie Hitch sounded very good; hence just typing it here. A person's life is all about the small interesting moments that the person is part of; because without those moments that person can not experience "living" or can't find the "purpose" of life. So it is about those events that happen during our life that give meaning rather than the act of "breathing".

Soulmate - Somehow it again goes back to the principle of being nothing is being everything. We most of the times define this entity as the one with which we can communicate and be understood without struggle. I believe it would be the thing with which a person is absolutely at peace, the mere presence of which would calm the person and no words need to be exchanged to be understood / to understand. So absolute absence of words becomes communication :-).

In earthly sense it is good to strive to find a person with whom one can be at peace, where mere presence of that person is good enough for one to feel great. If two persons could sit next to each other and feel joyous even without speaking a word, they are soulmates :-).

We must know why and what if we are searching for something - may be those will help us define how.

Am I crazy - because this is way out of my domain? may be.

My life and destiny

2009-06-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

Let me just say this - My career sprang back to life from the dead today due to tremendous help by many people who were ready to listen and make corrections to what they felt didn't go right. There is always an element of luck in all these.

I was in my van returning to my house. The HR manager called and told about the new job and at the same time somebody in my van returning from Tirupati started distributing the famous "prasad". Yes, by the way Timmappa is our family diety.

This is one of many such things that have happened in my life.

Why Organizations/Humans Fail

2009-05-30T21:42:00.000-07:00

Organizations/Humans create plans based on their view of what the world needs now and in future. This is entity's view of reality. It is based on certain assumptions regarding the various things that pervade this world.

As long as these assumptions about the world are good enough to create a theory about the world and predict future, organization/person keeps succeeding. At regular intervals there is a fundamental shift in people's perception such as what they want from the world, what they want to pursue in life, and how they want to live. Then many of the the assumptions that explained how the world functioned get invalidated.

Once the assumptions are wrong, any theory and action plan based on those assumptions is wrong. Companies don't question if the change has happened and if that needs changing the assumptions and creating a new plan. They because of earlier success try to do the same old things more efficiently instead of doing different things and eventually end up as failures.

Parents & Inspiration

2009-05-24T02:31:00.000-07:00

As I grow older, my admiration for my mother keeps growing as I realize how hard it is to be as disciplined as she is, as selfless as she is, and as broad minded as she is.

My parents taught me to ask myself "Am I about to do what is right?" before I tried doing something. It simply made me and my sister to strive hard to live up to that ideal.

The best compliment that I got was when my manager who is a veteran of industry said that he wanted to meet my parents because he admired what I did day in and day out.

My thoughts about avoiding recruitment pitfalls.

2009-05-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

What they teach and don't teach at IIM are the following. They tell "you need to create your own rules of thumb to live the life by" and their goal is to only expose you to the thinking you may want to have or to the lines of thinking that you may wish to pursue.

Now is there any possibilty to prevent offices becoming resorts where people get paid for spending their time at the expense of people working hard to earn their daily bread?

Some thumb rules:

1. Test a person's integrity - if he/she fails this test don't hire.
2. Culturally people are very different. In every culture there are basic values. In India in modern time these are cheating, lying, and pursuit of money by any means. People who cheat and lie are strict no no. People who are ready to put in the work required to earn the money are the only part of the population that we can employ.
3. Never hire a person who has screwed up the his/her personal life.
4. Never hire a person who has not achieved a single significant thing in life till date.
5. Never hire a person who does not feel good about himself/herself or is at war with the external world.
6. If you have doubts during the probationary period just fire, because it will save lot of heart ache that the person and you are going to have in the days ahead.
7. Talk with references for each person you want to hire. More persons the better.
8. Don't hire if person is worried more about benefits even before taking up the job.
9. Don't tolerate any breach of rules. Warn sternly, give chance , indicate maximum chances available. If offence is repeated simply take the corrective and preventive action. Don't keep saying "I will shoot", "I will shoot" - just shoot. Sometimes fear is also a good motivator. For many of us in India who have become shameless, fear is also an effetive motivator along with greed.
10. Never hire if person has entitlement mentality. Nothing is guranteed in this life. We need to work hard to get these things. With entitlement mentality rewards come before the work. In nature it never happens so.

Alright I will keep writing more. I did not follow some of these thumb rules. So don't make the mistakes that I have made.

Fanfan and Alexander

2009-05-09T01:06:00.000-07:00

Representative of our need to hold on perpetually to something rather than cherishing the moment. As soon as we start striving to hold on to something especially in relationships - it becomes stifling / twisted. The realization that we can't hold on to something will let us cherish the moment without worrying about the loss that the tomorrow might bring. Hm, in a bout of philosophy I should not forget the surreal beauty of most French women. Some how so much harmony / beauty has a calming effect on the mind. It simply makes one feel joyous. On the account of beauty now I must add Spohie Marceau to the list of Monica Bellucci, Kate Winslet, Natalie Portman and my sister.

Donkeys and Horses and Ways of the world

2009-05-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

Some how in many industries it appears that "number of years" put in matter more than what a person could do. This makes me think industries are mostly oblivious to the fact that with age a donkey/mule does not become a race horse. It just becomes a very old donkey/mule. So it is important to understand
a. whether it was originally a donkey or a horse
b. has it been used to fight wars or has it been used to lug the dirty linen
I believe this donkey becoming a horse mentality is very much true of the "knowledge work" industry.

Perfection

2008-09-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

What can be considered perfect? Only 2 entities. Nothing and Everything. All other things lack something or have something, but are not perfect. Hence the secret is in being "NOTHING".
All answers to attain inner peace have been found, but are hard to realize and inculcate in to our lives. For me it is the distance between writing and living that is hard to bridge. World always wants one to become something however imperfect it may be :-).

Kung Fu Panda, Zen and My niece

2008-09-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

Zen teaches us to live in the moment - being mindful of actions. I tried to practice it while I was eating. Tried to savour the food that I ate and involve myself fully in that action. Doesn't it seem a simple thing to do? but I think it is worth trying :-). I realized this is meditation 24*7.

My niece turned 2 years old recently. She is a precocious kid. She has learnt speaking, & watches quite many cartoon movies and keeps my brother-in-law and sister on their toes all the time. Whenever I visit their house - which is quite frequent, I get to see the cartoon movies like Mowgli, Tom and Jerry, Kung Fu Panda etc. This time I ended up seeing Kung Fu Panda. The essence of this film is "Believe in yourself, Be passionate about something, Do what you are passionate about / are happy doing / can be in meditation kind of state most of the time. Realize what one is trying to attain is being nothing - The secret ingredient is NOTHING". The same message comes across in "The Alchemist" - The boy when he tries to become wind realizes that he is not different from the entity that pervades this universe. The same message comes across through Hindu philosophy - know yourself. Which is again the essence of "The Matrix" and Neo :-).

As a note on excellence why Steve Jobs' has his place can be seen by watching Jungle Book - Part 2 created by Pixar and Kung Fu Panda created by DreamWorks :-). Think, think, think.

Desire and Destiny

2008-08-12T06:36:00.000-07:00

Do I control my life or is everything pre-dermined. I believe it is not an either/or answer. I think it is both. Destiny gives a set of range of values. My effort determines which value I end up with. So this sequence keeps repeating.

Can "I" determine where I get born? - No. Can I determine my set of genes? Can I determine which diseases I don't want to have? On many major things in life I don't have much influence. I can always choose to put in the effort to choose more desirable of the alternatives or just think everything is destiny and give up.

Accepting what is there and trying to make the best out of it is a better way to live a happy life.

Ctrl+Z life

2008-06-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

In some context we were discussing about experimental learning. Somehow the meaning of experimental learning seems to have become do something and see if that thing works. In this age of computers, and ctrl+z (undo); I see people hardly stopping to think. The sequence of actions seems to have become - do, then see, then undo, and keep redoing till we somehow convince ourselves that, whatever we have done is good (mostly we think it is the best :-)).

I see these people managing their life also in this do/undo sequence. Somehow we seem to have forgotten we need time to do anything, and as we keep doing the same thing, we lose more than one non renewable resource such as time, health, our reputation and so on. I also think most of us have forgotten that, most of the things in life that we do, can't be undone.

Why can't we take some time to think? Where has the wisdom of look before you leap gone? I believe in our quest for more, we have given up the quest for perfection.

Desire

2008-06-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

I was reading the "world book of mythology". The quest for "liberation" from the cycle of birth and rebirth is a recurring theme in Indian mythology. Ok, I am making lot of assumptions like the life and death is an eternal cycle (body dies but there is something within this body that does not die. That is true considering the fact that the atoms that make up the body don't get destroyed but merely get converted in to some other form of matter). The purpose of life is to find liberation from living again :-) etc. When we achive this it is called Mukti (liberation). The cause of rebirth is supposed to be our unfulfilled desires during our life. The thought that goes beyond this is Buddha's simple words that "the desire is the root cause of all misery" that we suffer in life.

My question is how to conquer desire or how to be desireless? This builds on my previous post. To become desireless you either have fulfilled all your desires or you don't have any desire. Each of these is really hard to do. However much we strive we may not achieve all the goals, as not everything is under our control. Hence the only possible way to become desireless may be is to be without desires.

Hm, if we became desireless - what about our fundamental animal instinct for self preservation? Do we need need to give that one up? My current though is whichever desire is causing misery to me I think I should give that up. That will keep leading me towards a state where I am happy all the time. I believe intrinsically all beings are happy.

Yin-Yang/ Shakti-Shiva

2008-05-24T15:10:00.000-07:00

The principle says the absolute maximum of any entity or form is the beginning of its complementing entity or form. Utmost ruthlessness is the grounded in being right which in turn is rooted in being selfless. That is where the compassion begins. Similarly when two opponents are fighting and if they are skilled; even though the fight is most violent, it transforms itself in to the most harmonious exhibition of skill ie; a dance. I think you would see this the picturization of the fight between Hector and Achillies in the movie Troy.

Steve Jobs, Opportunity in Life and Disillusionment

2008-04-28T05:16:00.001-07:00

I was feeling a little bit off color in the days in between. Read through biography of Steve Jobs. May be I got a glimpse of the other face of the man who has been a force in the computer industry. He, I believe understands clearly what his strength is. It is at the level of a genius and he uses it well. That some what covers up for his other short comings. It is easy to break Apple and him if somebody attacks using his weaknesses instead of trying to outdo him in the areas of his strength. I can write a theory on that. It does not give such a good feel. This definitely is not what I intended. On the positive side the thing that I realized is as long as we are good - it is never end of the road. Need to believe. Need to be passionate and need to strive.

Now "what is the opportunity to do right". Every time I feel low and think, why should I keep striving to excel - something says "Use your ability to create something in this world, even if you don't need anything and undersatnd everything is transient, there are many who could use the fruits of your work". I read an article about few girls scavenging for food in the garbage dump. So even if I don't need, I believe I need to persevere and build something the right way. I should always let go of the things that are in excess with me. Isn't the life an opportunity for us to do something selfless and something right once our basic needs are met?

A good government would have done this job well by taking money in the form of taxes and providing opportunities like education, food and healthcare to the needy, but our government has become a conglomerate of the greedy that sucks out the resources, and doesn't put them to the right use. It is more bothered about impairing the system more with subsidies, reservations and minority quotas. What an opportunity lost.

I started somewhere and ended somewhere, but let me end with a good story that made me realize the bad impact that I have been having till date due to my bad temper. It is here - http://www.indianchild.com/bad_temper.htm.

To Know God

2008-03-22T06:22:00.000-07:00

Sacred space in Times of India on most of the days is thought provoking. Today there is an assertion from Kena Upanishad. "The ignorant think that the Brahma (the supreme entity) is known, but the wise know Brahma to be beyond knowledge." - What does it mean to know? Most of us understand, data --> Information --> with ability to interpret and reason --> knowledge --> and then wisdom.

Is the assertion true? Does anybody know how does the supreme look, behave, or its attributes? Is it bounded by the dimesions that human mind can comprehend? Or is it just the experience? As none of us know what is supreme is like, even if we find it in dimensions that we can comprehend, we will never know it as the supreme entity. So it is simply unknowable as Brahma. It may be known by some other name, but we will never realize that it is the Brahma or whatever you or I may call. Thus the supposition that Brahma is unknowable is right.

Funny and Serious At the same time

2008-03-17T20:33:00.000-07:00

I read an article in Businessweek. It is about how much we live in the world of vitamin "M".
Love and Bank Account
Cost of Love

ನನ್ನ ಮೊದಲನೆಯ ಕನ್ನಡ ಪುಟ

2008-03-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

ತುಂಬಾ ದಿನಗಳಾದ ಮೇಲೆ kanndadalli ಬರೀತಾ ಇದ್ದೇನೆ. ಸಂತೋಷ ಆಗ್ತಾ ಇದೆ. ಇದೆಲ್ಲ ಸಾಧ್ಯ ಆಗ್ತಾ ಇರೋದು ಗಣಕ ಯಂತ್ರ ಮತ್ತು ಅದನ್ನು ಹೊಸ ಹೊಸ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಉಪಯೋಗಿಸೋದನ್ನ ಸಾಧ್ಯ ಮಾಡೋ ತಂತ್ರಜ್ನ್ಯರ ಕೃಪೆಯಿಂದ. ಸಂಕೀರ್ಣವಾದ ಶಬ್ದಗಳನ್ನ ಕೂಡ ತೊಂದರೆ ಇಲ್ಲದೆ ಕನ್ನದಲ್ಲಿ ತರ್ಜುಮೆ ಮಾಡೋ ಇದರ ಶಕ್ತಿಗೆ ನಾನು ಮರಳು ಆಗ್ತ ಇದ್ದೇನೆ.

ಮಹಿಳಾ ದಿವಸದಂದು ನನಗೆ ಈ ಹೊಸ ವಿಷಯ ಸಾಧ್ಯವದದ್ದು , ಮಾತೃ ಭಾಷೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬರೀತಾ ಇದ್ದದ್ದು ತುಂಬ ಖುಷಿ. ನಾನು ನನ್ನ ಜೀವನವನ್ನ ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ ರೂಪಿಸೋದ್ರಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಜೀವನದಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದ ಮಹಿಳೆಯರು, ಹುದುಗಿಯರು ಇವರ ಪಾತ್ರವನ್ನ ಯೋಚಿಸ್ತಾ ಇದ್ದೆ. ಅನಿಸಿದ್ದು ಏನೆಂದರೆ ಇಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗಿನ "achievements" ಎಲ್ಲದಕ್ಕೂ ಕಾರಣ ಅಥವಾ ಗುರಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟದ್ದು ಅವರೇ ಅಂತ. ನನ್ನ ಆಯಿಯ ಸ್ಥೈರ್ಯ, ನನ್ನ ತಂಗಿಯ ಸಹನಶೀಲತೆ, ನನಗೆ ಕಳಿಸಿದ ಅಧ್ಯಾಪಕಿಯರ ಪ್ರೋತ್ಸಾಹನೆ, ಮೊದಲು ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ಸೇರಿದಾಗಿನ ಬಾಸ್ ನ ಭರವಸೆ, ಉಳಿದವದರ ನಿಸ್ವಾರ್ಥ ಪ್ರೀತಿ ಎಲ್ಲಾನೂ ನನ್ನ ಈ ವರೆಗಿನ ಜೀವನವನ್ನ ತುಂಬಿವೆ. ಇವರೆಲ್ಲರಿಗೂ ನನ್ನ ಮನಹ್ಪೂರ್ವಕ ಅಭಾರಗಳನ್ನ ತಿಳಿಸಬೇಕು.

Being Human

2008-03-02T09:31:00.001-08:00

There was a strange thing that I viewed on TV. There was a guy named Raghav Bahl who was interviewing the finance minister of India - P. Chidambaram after the budget for 2008-2009. The temerity of this Mr. Raghav Bahl unfazed me. He was obnoxious to say the least. Why have we started becoming more of animals in the way we behave than humans. His behavior contrasted so much with the 2 stories that I read from the two of our great epics - Ramayana and Mahabharata. After mortally wounding Ravana, Rama knowing that Ravana is one of the greatest statesmen and a scholar, goes to him and stands at Ravana's feet with folded hands & requests Ravana for his knowledge. Similarly in Mahabharata Arjuna and Duryodhana end up at Krishna's place to ask for his help in the great war that is about to ensue. Duryodhana sits on a chair that is near the head of the Krishna and Arjuna stands near Krishna's feet. Arjuna gets the chance to present his request before that of Krishna. Why have we started forgetting "Vidya vinayena shobhate"?

Why small time thugs and terrorits get more attention in our news channels than people like Baba Amte - who really made difference in the lives of the people?

Only explanation is the human civilization as such has had its peak in being "human". Now the only way is to deteriorate.

Ag_On_ConversationsAndQuestions

2007-12-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

The question is the one that most of us at some point in time in our lives try to answer. "Does the path to a destination matter? or only the destination?"

So my current thought is "Destination matters, but journey is about the path. Destination is just a point. So path matters most, but path must ensure that we reach the destination. It depends on the individual what he/she chooses. The choice of one does not preclude the other.

Paths and destinations are not constant. They keep changing. These can be constantly redefined; the person needs to stay true to himself/herself. So the answer is paths and destinations matter, but not as much as being a certain individual that I want to be."

Why? It is the individual who has the discretion and sovereign will to choose the path and the destinations. Individual if aware can always change the path and the destination these based on the experiences that he/she has during the journey.

Why person needs to stay true to himself/herself - The basic premise is the person that I am talking about is a human being with conscience that guides his/her actions and tells what is right and what is wrong based on established ethical / moral values and derives a sense of well being by choosing the actions as per his/her conscience.

Ag_On_UnansweredQuestions

2007-11-11T09:53:00.000-08:00

I keep reading and I keep thinking. I contemplate to find answers to questions that have intrigued me for many years now. The following are some of those questions.

1. If we exist in universe, in what does the universe exist? In what does the thing that contains the universe exist? Is infinity a reality?
2. Is whatever the system that we exist in deterministic or probabilistic? "God does not play dice with the universe" - How valid is this statement? What are the proofs of validity of this statement?

The implications of answers to these questions are significant. If I say the universe is probabilistic and as part of such a system, even if humans have pre determined purpose all outcomes of their actions are actually determined by probability. Hence there is no specific goal humans can ever strive to achieve. They need to be content with trying and be happy with whatever they achieve in the surrounding environment. Thus effectively there is no purpose for human life except performing some actions.

This is pretty much the known reality. Humans make choices and they live with those choices. Thus there is no destiny but only choice. This seems very contrary to my view in thoughts from the Alchemist, but the more I ponder, more I lean towards this probabilistic view.

The Alchemist - what I learnt and my views

2007-09-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

The book is sublime and fills one with hope and yearning to find ones destiny. I have read this multiple times and each time gives some new insight. It is very simple and lucid and yet profound in its throughts. Only few places in the book I feel like author is writing something that he hasn’t experienced by himself. Only in these places, I feel the lack of coherence, but in others the harmony in the writing is like that of water flowing through a calm river.
I am dividing the writing in to 2 parts. The part one essentially focuses on what are the key messges embedded in the story told in the book. In the second part, I shall describe how the story of my life resembles the story. I will write about what I have learnt in my life and what I am yet to practice after learning.

The story is about a boy named Santiago who boldy goes about realizing his dreams and his destiny. The boy starts off as a person who wanted to fulfil the wishes of his parents by becoming a priest. Once he realizes his yearning to see the world he gets his father to agree to let him go in search of his dream. He becomes shepherd. Then he listens to his dreams and heads to Egypt in search of treasure buried near the pyramids. Along this journey to realize his destiny to find the buried treasure learns about the oneness that manifests itself in multitude of forms, finds his true love, learns about letting go, and learns to listen to his heart. He in the process learns to become one with the universe and yet retain his individuality.
The central message hence is about the unity behind all diversity, about letting go of my fears and doing what gives me happiness. If I am able to do that I would along the way find perfection also.

PART I
There are insights about how to live life and why to live life. The insights about “how to live life” I call as existential insights and “why to live life” as philosophical/spiritual insights.
The existential insights, I will simply list. I will ponder over the philosophical/spiritual insights so that my thoughts and my learning are clearly conveyed.

Existential:
1. Avoid the avoidable problems in life – however much time or resources you have. (Ensuring that no sheep runs out of the enclosure by barricading the entrance, even if you know that all sheep are sleeping near you).
2. Everything has a time and a place. I am so jaded by my preconceived notions that I hesitate to use the book as a pillow, but the boy just does that. So I need to see everything with a fresh perspective and see the utility value
3. I need to seek help when I don’t understand something. Once the help is there, I still need to make my decision (going to Gypsy and then going to Pyramids in search of treasure).
4. Whenever I am getting in to a new environment I need to have given some thought about what the environment would hold for me. I should not be naïve, but be aware and realistic. It would do me good to be aware of the local customs and lingo in a new environment.I need to be aware that attention to details matters. (Santiago would have done well to learn Arabic so that he could have understood what the tea shop owner had to say)
5. In new environment, I need to make my decisions about whom to trust with more discretion. I should not just go by outer appearance or words. (Don’t judge the book by cover).
6. I should not get carried away. I should always check about the correctness of what is being told to me in a new place. (As soon as the thief says it would take only a day to the Pyramids, the boy believes).
7. One opportunity leads to the other and I should seize these opportunities to move towards my goal. I need to know how to use each opportunity along the way to reah towards my goal (Crystal shop experience).
8. The key to reaching the goal is moving towards the goal, but not how fast I move.
9. I can learn by observing and pondering over the nature. If I am open and ready to accept what comes my way, I will make progress. I need to be open to different views. I need to be ready to learn from all.
10. The essence is in doing the things to realize the dreams rather than gaining knowledge about how to realize the dreams. Only action or movement takes me towards realizing my goal.

Philosophical:
1. All the things are connected. What I sow is what I reap holds pretty much true in this world.
2. I need to learn that I am not the centre of the wolrd. Whether I am teaching the sheep or are the sheep teaching something to me is not very clear. It is essentially mutual. I am able to see the world as a better place once I subjugate my ego and my greed.
3. I am driven by hope – I don’t know why I am alive, I don’t know what is my destiny or purpose. Even at existential level I hope that I achieve better material comfort tomorrow than today. I hope and hope for things to become reality, things to be mine and so on and that’s what keeps me alive. Hope is very euphemistic word for people who are not facing adverse situation. If I am facing adverse situations – hope of having what I desire helps me exist.
4. I begin to complain about things which have helped me to be what I am today as soon as they lose their utility value. I forget that the same entities had helped in my times of distress. I do it for my parents, my friends and with many other things. I have to stop to think about whether whatever I am saying, feeling, or doing about something is right. (The boy feels the jacket is too heavy during the afternoon).
5. I need to learn to let go of people of things and learn to genuinely feel happy in them being happy. I need to learn that each individual has a dream and that is most important for them. I need to understand how I can be of help to them even when I am trying to realize my dream. (Santiago’s father lets Santiago become a shepherd).
6. When I find something interesting (merchant’s daughter) along the path of my journey I need to ask myself was that what I was looking for? Would it lgive me the happiness or inner peace that I was looking for?
7. Only when I learn to not let the thought of preserving what I already have hinder me, I will start to make progress in gaining something new. This is also the only way to realize my destiny or make progress. I have to move forward from the place where I am starting to walk. I can’t just desire to be in a new place without letting go of my previous place.
8. I am not indespensible. I am held back only because I want it to be so.
9. I need to be immersed in the world and at the same time not ignore what I want to do for my own happiness (Seeing the wonders of the world, but not losing track of the drops of oil that I am carrying in a spoon that I am holding).
10. Once I know that my intuition is usually right I need to trust it more to make decisions rather than trying to reason why it is right.
11. In time of loss on the path to achieving a goal it is always important to consider how close I have to achieving the goal rather than how far I am from the goal. I need to be constantly aware of the purpose I started with.
12. If I observe carefully everything is an omen. I need to be able to choose what is right at that moment and never be afraid of the consequence.
13. I have to learn to live in the moment rather than hurrying thorugh the moment. (Why can’t we go to the Oasis now – because now it is the time to sleep).
14. Once I am able to unlock the message hidden in most simple things like grain of sand I will be able to comprehend whatever is considered the most complex.
15. I can attain perfection by pursuing what I love. In the same process I shall get connected with the world around me with better awareness.
16. I need to appreacite the differences among people. Each has his/her own way of doing the things. I need not be perturbed by it. I just need to ensure that I progress in the right direction using the way I have chosen.
17. Love is about having faith and trust. It is about setting free the thing you love most. It is about believing enough in yourself to be able to let go of the thing that you want. “Love is distinct from possession”. I need to aware of true and transient nature of material things. That will help me overcome the very innate desire to hold on to the things.
18. To understand something I need to watch its surroundings. The people who live in vast surroundings are usually ready to share whatever they have; similarly the people who live in small spaces are always touchy about sharing the things.
19. I have to trust myself first to understand the world better. I have to ensure that there is coherence in my thinking. The calmness that then pervades within me helps me understand the things that are around me better. To reach to this calmness I need to overcome my fears.
20. There is some unknown guiding force that is always taking me towards my goal as long as I want to reach the goal. I am the one who has to have the desire to reach the goal and do whatever right thing is necessary to reach that goal.

PART II
Destiny has played a big part in whatever I am today. The small example how destiny operates was when out of 14 people selected from college campus by Wipro and GE teams I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to be put in GE healthcare. That was never in my control, but being in GE helped me do what I always wanted to do; which is having impact on products in global scale and learning to lead people on bigger scale. There are many other incidents in my life which have made me realize that there is something beyond my control that also contributes to the result of my actions.
This journey guided by destiny, has made me introspect on the real meaning of existence. I always end up trying to put on a mask so that people around me like me rather than trying to be what I am and doing what I like to do. In this process I end up losing what is important to me.
I wonder whether life is entirely determined by ones destiny or by ones willingness to move in certain direction. I believe as long as I don’t realize that I am also a part of the whole or “the one entity”, I will feel this difference. Once I realize that I am part of the whole and I am no different from it, I know what my path is. Then there is no difference between my will and what I call destiny. In that scenario both are one and the same. I will realize my purpose then. I am part of something larger and I need to accept that reality to be in harmonious existence

The questions for which I have no answers:
1. If the world has a reason to exist (deterministic) then everythin within the world also must have a reason to exist and definite role to play, otherwise there is no role for anybody. Does the world have a reason to exist? Do I have a reason to exist? Why do I need to pursue happiness?
My current thought:
Existence has no meaning as such. The only way to find happiness during this sojourn is to focus on attaining perfection in what Ilove to do rather than trying to compete against somebody else in something that I don’t love to do in search of external possessions or glory. I need to understand these are side effects of my actions rather than the goal. I need to understand myself and puruse what I want with full intensity and dedication.

On Relationships

2006-09-29T22:23:00.000-07:00

agoneve

Can't say anything better than Bhaja Govindam. Every relationship that we have is a crtuch to reaffirm our existence. We don't know what to do with life without building those relationships.

On Life

2006-09-28T02:54:00.000-07:00

Why live? / What is the purpose of life? I have not found one satisfactory answer. Yet I am trying to live.
How to live? I don't know what is the best way. Yet I am am trying to live in some way.

The human minds ability to rationalize and think that it knows and be egoistic is amazing.