If ........

An interesting reflection: Slow Down Culture

2007-01-31T20:37:00.000-08:00

Just happened to read this email yesterday. Really made sense to me ... read on

It's been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes 2 years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It's a rule.

Globalize processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme. At the end, this always yields better results.

Said in another words:
1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo, a state in Brazil.
2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.
3. Stockholm, has 500,000 people.
4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden, one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn't say
anything, either the second or third. One morning I asked, "Do you have a fixed parking space? I've noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot." To which he replied, "Since we're here early we'll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will
be late and need a place closer to the door. Don't you think? Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there's a movement in Europe name Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing. Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of "hurry" and "craziness" generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of "having in quantity" (life status) versus "having with quality", "life quality" or the "quality of being". French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US's attention, pupils of the fast and the "do it now!".

This no-rush attitude doesn't represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the "now", present and concrete, versus the "global", undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans' essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do. It's time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there's a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, "I can't, my boyfriend will be here any minute now". To which Al responds, "A life is lived in an instant". Then they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists. We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans".

INDIA Poised

2007-01-24T01:17:00.000-08:00

INDIA Poised - Its all about jolting the new genration to rise up to build a better tomorrow for INDIA. A great initiative by one of the leading brand names of the country. With great achievers coming out and discussing the future INDIA, am sure its gonna ignite the flame in at least a few hearts.

Here is an incident that kinda froze my feet in the middle of the road and made me think. Maybe she is the real hero cause she doesnt need any achievers to remind her to do something for her world, her country. Being so small and illiterate, am sure she doesnt read the TOI and neither would she even understand the words INDIA Poised.

It happened on a sunny Monday Mumbai morning, not very long ago with me dragging my heavy feet slowly towards my workplace. WIth the road between Sewri station and my office undergoing concretization, as always i saw half-clad kids playing around. The scene tht i saw there was what made me stop and think. A mother standing in a dug up hole and filing clean water in a bottle (may be from a leaking pipe) and not far away from her was her 3-4 year old daughter running towards a tree ... in fact a plant with a stem hardly an inch think and height - about 36 inches ... with that bottle. On reaching the tree she just bent down and watered the roots of the tree .. and did her bit... towards her small world, towards our world, towards our INDIA.

Turning back to us .. why are we the today's generation so selfish, where the central focus is always on 'me' and never on the 'we'. Why cant we do something simple yet make a difference. When was the last time we went and planted a tree? When was the last time we did our bit for our INDIA? If u need to think and search for such an incident ... you surly arent doing enough ... I myself am not.

Wake up, i believe NOW is the time to make a difference ... even if it goes un-noticed ... u would be doing your bit to build INDIA and the world.

Serendipity

2007-01-18T01:46:00.000-08:00

Saw Serendipity a few days back and really liked these lines.

Dean's orbituary for Jonathan ...

Johnathan Trager, prominent television producer for ESPN, died last night from complications of losing his soul mate and his fiancee. He was 35 years old. Soft-spoken and obsessive, Trager never looked the part of a hopeless romantic. But, in the final days of his life, he revealed an unknown side of his psyche. This hidden quasi-Jungian persona surfaced during the Agatha Christie-like pursuit of his long reputed soul mate, a woman whom he only spent a few precious hours with. Sadly, the protracted search ended late Saturday night in complete and utter failure. Yet even in certain defeat, the courageous Trager secretly clung to the belief that life is not merely a series of meaningless accidents or coincidences. Uh-uh. But rather, its a tapestry of events that culminate in an exquisite, sublime plan. Asked about the loss of his dear friend, Dean Kansky, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and executive editor of the New York Times, described Jonathan as a changed man in the last days of his life. "Things were clearer for him," Kansky noted. Ultimately Johnathan concluded that if we are to live life in harmony with the universe, we must all possess a powerful faith in what the ancients used to call "fatum", what we currently refer to as destiny.

Maybe its May, Maybe its destiny

2006-05-03T23:45:00.000-07:00

I picked the title of this post from one of the leading newspapers. Is it mere coincidence that INDIA lost 3 big politicians (Rajiv Gandhi, Madhavrao Scindia, Pramod Mahajan) in the month of May or was it destined to happen.

A few months back the newspapers were talking about the date "26th" being unlucky for INDIA .. 26th Jan earthquake in Gujrat, 26th July floods in Mumbai ...

Are we beginning to believe that life/death & good/bad are just events waiting to happen (as in destined) or do we have the capability to change what they call it destiny ???

I still believe its we who make/break/control our destiny than destiny controlling us.

And if u ask me why? Its because ... the supernatural forces (GOD) are the controllers/makers/breakers of a persons life ... and at the same time, we human beings have had the privilege of having an 'ansh' of this supernatural being in the from of 'soul'. Therefore GOD has given us the privilege to make or break our own lives. Maybe its just me thinking this way.

Would love to hear from one and all about what you all think ....

I Love You - Saigon Kick

2006-05-03T23:32:00.000-07:00

I may not be the man I wanted to
I may not be the king of wit
I may not know the things you need to know
I might not measure up quite yet
I may not have the mind of Jung
I may not have the grace of Fred Astaire
But there is something you can't forget
I cannot buy the things you need to have

I love you
I love you
Through the fires
And all the hell
It's something I can't stop
I love you

It may not seem that I care enough
You can't leave me standing here alone
Until you hear what I have to say
I may not take the time to say
I love you

I love you
In all of hell
Through the fires
It's something I can't stop
I love you

My Didi

2006-04-17T01:16:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to the person who is the architect of my life, my career, me as a person, as a friend, as a son, as a brother. And this person is my lovely sis.

My earliest memories about her are when she used to dress me up for school, pack my bag for the day, feed me with her lovely hands, and yes even polish my shoes. Then came the days when she started teaching me maths and science ... and today these are the subjects where i can say i have a strong base. Always trying to bring life into things, she was the one to take me for a stroll in the garden just to make my botany lessons exciting.

She being a truly family person, started taking tutions to aid my family in difficult times, and made sure i was in oblivion @ all times. And with the help of these tutions she got the best out of me too, to make me compete with my seniors in the annual maths competition held in DehraDun and yeah even beat them :):)

And as they say life doesnt always remain the same ... she got married during my 8th grade, leaving an unfillable void in me. Today she is pretty far away from me but she is the closest person I have. I am too small to even try to repay her.

Sis ... I may have never said this to you in these many words but "I truly love you"

Poems

2006-03-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

I used to hate poems while in school .. cause we had to quote a few words from them while writing exams ...

Today when i look back, these poems really carry such amazing meanings ...

Here are few of my favourite lines ... there would be many many more .. but these are the few that make most sense at this point in time.

Daffodils - William Wordsworth
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils

If - Rydyard Kipling
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Songs

2006-03-23T09:42:00.000-08:00

a few words/lines from the songs i am listening to these days ....

Heaven - Bryan Adams:
Oh - once in your life you find someone
Who will turn your world around
Bring you up when you're feelin' down

Winds of Change - Scorpions:
Walking down the street
Distant memories
Are buried in the past forever

Just Around the Hill - Sash/Tina Cousins:
Take a look from the other side
Suddenly you see
There are many ways
Don't go astray
Just walk around
Walk around that hill

When You Love Someone - Bryan Adams:
When you love someone - you’ll feel it deep inside
And nothin else can ever change your mind
When you want someone - when you need someone
When you love someone...

Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd:
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
running over the same old ground. What have we found?
The same old fears, wish you were here.

Drops of Jupiter - Train:
Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day
And head back to the milky way
And tell me, did venus blow your mind
Was it everything you wanted to find
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

That's What Friends are For - Stevie Wonder:
Ohhh and then
For the times when we're apart
Well just close your eyes and know
These words are comming from my heart
And then if you can't remember....Ohhhhh

Buffalo

2006-03-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

Its been almost a year since I have moved out of Buffalo and Here I am penning a few words about a few who shaped my life.

(In alphabetical order)

Aditya: Adi ... F1, bowling, golfing, driving, mandir, DC, Toronto, NF, letchworth, Scorpions, rava dosa's, ... donno what all to write about him ... can go on and on

Alpina: Alps as we often called her ... the only non CS engineer in our gang ... the only one funded from SEM 1 ... I often recall her dance in the heath kitchen ... something I can only dream of ...

Ashima: Another babe of my junior batch ... the economist ... am sure someone got jealous of me (wont name whom ..and he may not even agree to it) when she hugged me after she returned to buffalo after her internship ...

Aunt Nancy: She has been a gift to me ... I still miss her calling me 'baby' ... I dont know how many hours I have spent at her place ... the only regret I have is ... wish I had stayed with her a bit longer that fateful night ...

Bhanu: "girls are getting married" One of his phrases that I still remember. But a great senior to have ... one who let me use his computer to send an email to my parents telling them about my safe arrival in Buffalo.

Candice: Yeah people Candice .. .. can dice ... (sorry for the bad PJ) ... better know as candi ... the girl crazy about kalla music ... dances on those tunes

Dipti: The 'modak' girl ... or let me not speak about this controversial issue .. what say people ... jiske saamne alps nein sumedh ka slid game kiya tha ( cant write about that down here ) ...

Frank: I am sorry for not eating your piazzas the way u prepared them .. and kinda forced you to change your cooking style for me ... yeah .. the only person on this earth who has made a pizza without CHEEEESE just for ME ... me not kidding ... and people ... his pizzas are just delicious ... but mind u .. dare not eat them with ketchup

Jayesh: Another MS guy but this time Morgan Stanley ... an ex Patnite ... aur mujhe sure hai ki yeh sabse pehle suli pe chadne wala hai ...

Joy: His name says it all ... and you got to be in his company by what i mean. Did not interact with him that much but i can definately say "Yaar kitna bolta hai" ... but guys he is an artist ... Music is his passion ... you got to listen to his creations ... and yes he is my new teacher ...

Ninad: The Kid who has grown leaps and bounds ... the guy who always stole the limelight from us ... the cute guy for all the girls .. wht say heath people ?? Till date if anyone sees my pictures from buffalo .. the first question is 'Who is this guy ???'

Mahesh: The guy who has the guts to say the standard proposal line to a girl "Aapko pehle kahi dekha hai" even before he landed properly in Buffalo ...

Maria: A long lost friend ... have been out of touch for the better part of the last 2 years ... but of late I was able to get in touch with her ... we used to talk endlessly ... about nething and everything ... I still miss sitting in her office and talking for hours ...

Mary Jane: I donno wht to write about Mary Jane. At one point of time she was my supervisor(I think so) ... and today I wish I would have met her on the very first day I reached in Buffalo. She gave me a home away from home. Used to barge in at her place anytime .. anyday ... MJ ... my trip with u to NF cave of the winds is still pending ...

Meenakshi: Or better know as Smiley ... and of late the Poetess ... the joint founder of the MR club ... the girl with the maximum number of research papers ... tha handwriting expert ... working for a company trying to improve quality of human life ... the one who introduced me to my mentor ... way to go girl ...

Murtuza: Some think he is very sarcastic, but the guy with whom u can have the most fun and still not get tired, can take ur case even if u r right ... still remember the call on that fateful night of algos assignment ... it was equivalent to the call that call center guys recieved in one night @ the call center ...

Nikita: :P:P:P ... Choti or Niki is a cricket crazy, cooking crazy girl ... most often lured by vivek to cook on his cooking turn ...

Pranjal: She is the defective one ... with dimple on only one cheek ... she is the most distinctive style of laughing ... and has big plans of directing a special movie ...

Praveer: My classmate since good ol' enggineering days, Jadye is the guy who has been a "Kelvinator" ... I mean ... "the coolest one" .. happy to go lucky person.

Saloni: The pevert jokes ... the snow pics ... the diwali nite ... the fight when her lens fell down ... her ability to keep in touch with 100000000000000s of people ... and not to mention the shaitanee she does ...

Sarah: MJ's daughter ... and she gave a special touch to my name ... I would hear people call me sumeeeeeeeeeeeeet ... but she's the one who still calls me suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuumit ... and believe me while writing this.... her voice still rings in my ears ...

Saumitra: A nice guy with the purest hindi, that even me a northeeeee, sometimes had trouble understanding .. still remember how much we had laughed on " woh bahut batameeze kar rahe hai" ... and I am still smiling while writing about it.

Shamalee: The babe of our junior batch ... I am sure have got enough bad words from a lot of people .. you'll know for what ... but yeah .. she is the only person to have been (both time) in my car when I met an accident ... once rearing Prav's car ... and then the day my Car died after striking a tree ...

Shantanu: Donno how I met him, but one of the great people I came to know during the days before classes began. Remember him coming to 83 Heath to eat mere haath ke aloo ke parathe.

Subir: The Guitarist ... I still remember and am hooked to "Making Love out of nothing at all - Air supply" beacuse of him.

Sumedh: His nose is one of the things u would notice the most about him. Till u dont know him ... a man of very very few words ... and after that ... only GOD can save you ...

Swapna: Swaps ... we sat up practically the whole night .. the day she arrived in buffalo .. and cooked at 4 in the night. The Archi of our gang ... the one who would team up with sumedh to speak in their Northeeeeee accent ...

Vinay: Currently the Microsoft Guy ... and the elder twin ... a serious guy ... but mind you dont let the word "Microsoft" decieve you into thinking that he is a geek ... and I know someone who is fida over him

Vivek: The younger twin ... actually a manager (kaam chor I mean) ... always used to patofy meenakshi/nikita to cook on his cooking turn ... the guy who would call u all for dinner at someone else's place ...

Silence

2006-03-06T00:42:00.000-08:00

Silence.

Its all about speaking volumes without words. Its the music of our soul ... when our mind listens to the heart giving wings to our dreams.

Often do we find ourselves wide awake on our beds after a great day inspite of being tired. Lying quietly, smiling to ourselves Why? 'Cause our heart is happy, reliving those moments.

Its GOD's one of the greatest gift to human kind ... times when we cherish his gifts with unspoken words.

The beginning .......

2006-02-20T07:16:00.000-08:00

I believe (and am sure) you cannot achieve something till you give it a shot. The worst that can happen is faltering umpteen times before finally succeeding. And here I am trying for the first time ... to write ... to express something ... entering the blogging arena ... never to look back ...

It wasnt long ago that i got hooked to Formula 1. Have been a Ferrari supporter right from the beginning ... fascinated by the red cars ... all the discussions we used to have in TSEC and then buffalo ... had heard about the greats who no longer raced ... Dameon Hill, Villeneuve, Prost and yes the all time GREAT Senna. Never saw Senna race, just heard he was the greatest.

After years of being a F1 fan ... got a chance to read about the events of that fateful weekend ... and was in misery for the better part of the day. Googled a bit more about him, read quite a bit ... and the best I read about him was when a guy was unable to explain to his girlfriend ... "how could someone's death ... whom he hadnt even met in his life, affect him so much." Similar was my case ... i have had my share of ups and downs in life but the kind of pain i experienced that day is unexpressable.

Recently i saw the lap that cost the F1 followers .. the best racer, the GOD of motor racing. One of the rare sights when I was unable to stop my eyes from getting moist.

And I dont think many would disagree (if any) that the legend continues to live, in my heart, in our hearts, all the formula 1 fans.

Coin Games

2005-12-17T07:01:00.000-08:00

One of these days just saw few pictures of creations with coins ... copied a few ... tried a few ... just for fun

Here are 2 of them i tried last evening.