Happiness: Explained

True happiness is not attained through self gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose

– Helen Keller

I love to kick start my writing with a catchy line. And since I was running short of one of those, I decided to borrow one from Helen Keller. Well, here I’m writing about a simple question, whose answer is not-so-simple. The question, what is true happiness? Think for a couple of moments and if you have a satisfactory explanation, don’t bother reading any further. Else…

Scientifically speaking, happiness is a state of mind in which the chemical composition of brain changes, making the person experiencing this change, feel good. Alright, then what triggers this? This question is highly individualistic in nature. Because different people think differently. And as per me, different people should think differently. To some happiness could be writing a poem, to some, listening to a particular genre of music, while to some others it could be sitting with friends sipping some whiskey.

This highly personal nature of the phenomenon of happiness has brought in a fair amount of confusion amongst people. So, our society constantly tries to define the boundaries for being happy. These could range anywhere from having a dinner at the fanciest hotel with your family to owning a luxury car. To my observation, the capitalist society tries to brainwash people by linking happiness to materialistic possessions. Essentially there is no relation in between being happy and possessing tons of wealth. Quite often than not, confused souls fall prey to this trick and then starts their pursuit of accumulating wealth. People get so much overboard with this idea that they forget what they really wanted, when they started this blind folded run.

What amuses me is that when few (very few, indeed) show no interests in the pattern set by society, people make no hesitation in concluding their being abnormal. On the other hand if you crave for all the luxuries in life, it is considered perfectly normal. I find this just hard to digest. Probably many succumb to this sort of pressure and alter their thinking in life. By the time they realize their mistakes, their grand children would be about to make the same mistake. Life… happens.

It is possible to happy sans having any wealth but seldom without being able to share your feelings. I will leave you with this thought. Amongst all your happy moments so far, how many times do you remember yourself happy because of "things" and "not people"?

Where is Innovation taking us?

In the past couple of decades, technology has revolutionized our lives. Along with technological advances, innovation has probably been overdone. Its effects haven’t gone down too well with people. So, where is this ‘over-innovation’ taking us? To answer this question, I would like to quote few articles, which I have read in past several days.

iPhone defined what a smart phone is. When it was introduced people were awestruck with its touch-screen, sleek looks and variety of apps it provided with. Then came the various flavors of iPhone with more and more improvements. As of 2010, it also made video calling possible. Awesome! In this process of innovation, what was forgotten is that the main (NOT the sole) purpose of a phone is to make and take calls. Oh yes, smart people realized this before I did and recently a new phone called “anti-iPhone” was launched. What are its features? One can make and take a call, that’s it. It comes with a regular diary and pen to note down phone numbers instead of a phonebook feature. My parent’s generation had only such phones. Wow!

Once upon a time, in organizations there used to be a role available called the telephone operator. With the automated voice responses becoming popular, the next generation will probably not know that such a role existed. Recently, cognitive-psychologists understood that if a human answers a call instead of digitally recorded voice, the customer satisfaction goes up. No wonder organizations are switching back to the traditional telephone operators, to give a boost to their business. In US many companies have already started giving ads about how ‘true-humans’ answer our calls instead of recorded voices.

So, the trend is clear… It is invention, innovation, over-innovation followed by switching back to the good old idea. Did I get it right?

I or M?

This article has been due and I felt just needed that extra time and extra motivation to compile it, which I ultimately found today. If you are wondering, what the hell this guy is trying to convey, by such a weird title, let me throw some light on it. I or M, here are abbreviations for Intelligence or Money. Now probably some of you might be interested in reading further. Most of us are raised with this logic that more intelligence means better grades, better grades means better schools and better schools directly translate into higher salary. And when I try to argue countering this logic, this probably amuses people. I fervently believe that there is no logic to determine the relation between intelligence and money. However people often deduce a mechanism, the more money you have, the more intelligent you are. Oh yes, the rich man is handsome, makes incredibly funny jokes and sings well too.

What trend I have observed is that people are just fascinated with wealth and pay least attention to the intelligence that goes behind earning it. To prove my observation, I did a small experiment (which you may do it in under 2mins).I googled names of four people who are either wealthy or extremely intelligent. For Richard Feynman google gave 3,140,000 pages while for Richard Branson, there staggering 4,250,000 pages. Another two people I tried were John Nash at 2,070,000 pages lagged behind Warren Buffet with 3,500,000 pages. I bet most of my readers wouldn’t have ever heard of Richard Feynman or John Nash. To me, focusing on money and trying to somehow relate it to or ignore it for money, is in a way bankruptcy of thought. One needs to evolve beyond materialistic world, in order to realize the complete advancement in the society.

Of course these are my personal thoughts. When you ask me this question I or M, I would go with I, simply because I find I factor more appealing. To many it’s M. But secret is, without I, M seldom stays! Ah… am I pimping for people to focus on I. You decide.

Enacting Movies In Real Life

Do movies inspire people to do something, which they wouldn’t have done had they not seen it in a movie? As a 16 years old, my answer to this question would have been, “No, but I’m a special person who would do so” More than a decade later, there is a change in my answer and it is, “Of course yes. Had movies not portrayed a particular location or situation, no one would have ever paid attention to it”

Movies don’t only serve as a way of recreation, but also play an important role in setting a trend. Most certainly, they leave their strong impression on people who seriously get involved with the characters. Eventually you see the same styles, clothes et al which the leads opted for, on screen, becoming a trend.

Out of curiosity, I was searching the web for information on some locations, which were covered in a movie that I saw recently, of course with the intention to visit them. What this search revealed was something interesting. I was no exception. Though this movie was not that popular, there were more than six people I came across, in my shallow searching itself, had gone to the very same locations, after they saw the same movie. More interesting was some of them had even visited those places in the same order which they were shown in the movie. Ha, crazy, isn’t it?

A few days back, when I had read a study published in a leading news paper that “Romantic Comedies Could Damage Your Relationship” I said to myself, how silly. Now, I re-read the same article and agree with that study. After all rom-coms are targeted at that age group and that sort of people who think more from heart and less from brains. Probably if someone wants to set a good trend or make a positive impact on the society, it would be worthwhile to consider making a good movie. Of course, only if you have that talent!

The Strabucks Way

I have been longing to write this article for a long time now, but have been giving it a miss, just because it doesn’t seem to fit into the category of my previous articles. Then I thought why shouldn’t I try something different? So, here comes this article.

If you have known me well, you would know that my flair for a cup of coffee is eternal. Obviously, I have been a Starbucks addict, ever since I landed in the US. Phrases like, “When in US, you are never too far from Strabucks”, “Don’t know where Starbucks is located, just peep out of your window and you should find one” are often cited to make you understand the brand power of this coffee chain giant.

Why I love Starbucks is because the way in which they do their business. Firstly, I feel that each item on the menu is great and reasonably priced. It is genuine role model for corporate ethics. Be it recycling or offering free Wi-Fi to their customers, they would always set a fine example. And another thing I really like about Starbucks is, each time you buy something they would ask if we need a receipt. And only if you need, they would print it out and thereby reducing a lot of paper waste (It is estimated that more than 80% of receipts are not needed by the customers) Applying common sense, coupled with good intentions make them a class apart. Of course other coffee chains can emulate these methods, can’t they?

If you ever get an opportunity to visit Starbucks, please don’t miss it. Since I’m an old school, my choice would be a cup of brewed coffee, with little sugar and cream. Of course, you may try out many more flavors. Good news is that Starbucks will be soon seen in India.

Unexpected Resolutions

I saw this award winning documentary called “Struck, the film” which inspired me to write this article. What was remarkable about this movie was it captured emotions and facts about human life, without much conversation.

The protagonist is shown with a arrow struck in his heart throughout the movie, which adds the bit of humor too. This signifies that he probably had a break up. To resolve his condition, his friend introduces him to various girls, one at a time. Each meeting gives rise to a new sitcom, but always in vain. It turns out that one day, without any plan or expectations he goes to a laundry only to find this beautiful girl. The moment she approaches him, the arrow that had been struck for quite a few days, falls down. And they both live happily ever after.

If we carefully observe our daily life, it wouldn't take much efforts to find incidents where in our problems get resolved at unexpected times, in unexpected ways. When we plan a lot, make a desperate attempt to make things happen, seldom do they happen, especially in the matters of heart. Though ‘Love’ and ‘Logic’, both begin with ‘L’, they hardly coexist. A firm belief that eventually everything is going to work out is the secret to find these unexpected resolutions.

PS: Here's the link to watch that movie http://www.struckthefilm.com/

Comparison

If I begin another post by asking you to pardon me for the delay, I guess I will start sounding very monotonous. So getting straight into the matter, here I go.
Comparison is one human tendency which has existed for ages. Be it sports, academia, or just day to day life, comparison always makes room for itself. So, the question is why do we compare at first? Before answering to this question, I would like to tell you one thing… In life if something has lasted for ever, there has been some benefits out of it. If there were no benefits, a phenomenon cannot last for this long. Hence I would first throw some light at the positives of comparison.

I am of the opinion that if there is a comparison, no one prefers to lose. The human ego brings out the best performance at times, thanks to comparison. Another way of looking at this would be a feel good factor, which leaves us with satisfaction. If we compare ourselves with someone inferior, quite often than not, there is a gratifying feeling that we are superior to someone. This was understood by the great Gautama Buddha and hence when a man complained that he had no footwear, and how his friend had good footwear, the Buddha asked him to look at a man with no legs.

Positive points bring with them some negatives as well. The biggest negative that comparison brings in is jealousy. Mindless comparison and meaningless conclusion, certainly leads to jealousy. There is no greater evil than jealousy in human life. It is believed that the great Buddha fell a victim to his brother’s jealousy and ultimately died. From the time since great Buddha to a recent survey by a premier US Psychology school shows that there is no real change in human attitude. The survey asked people to select one of the two cases
1. Your salary as $100,000/year while your friend’s salary as $75000/year
2. Your salary as $150,000/year while your friend’s salary as $180,000/year
Shockingly, more than 80% people opted to first case, making a sacrifice of $50,000/year, just to see a friend earning less than them.

Based on the above two paragraphs, I need no rocket science to conclude that there is both positive and negative to the phenomenon of comparison. It’s only up to an individual, as to what he decides to do with it. At this point, I would leave you thinking about where you would place comparison in your life?

Mirroring

This article has been due for a while. These days I have been busy beyond compare, with my work and academics. But, if you have to write something, you will, whatever be the case. With the same spirit I’m writing this article, amidst of a busy week.

Quite often than not, you see people neglecting others, but get offended when others start neglecting them. Everyone wants to be loved, cared and treated well. But how many people really are willing to show the same attitude towards others? Here’s a short story I had read as 10 years old, which throws some light on this subject matter. Guess these adages are more effective at that age and as we grow up, we tend to forget their importance and move on.

Once, a little boy named John went alone to woods. He hardly saw anyone there. This probably got him annoyed and he started uttering swear words, aloud. Quite to his astonishment, someone used the same swear words back at him. He felt terrible about being in the woods and returned home. He described his experience to his mom. His mom realized what went on in the woods and asked John to go back to the same woods and this time instead of swear words, asked him to try using some pleasant words. Little ones often follow what is taught to them blindly and the next day as expected he went to woods and started giving complements to the woods. In return, he heard the same complements back. John went back all happy this time and hugged his mother. His mother said, “This is how it works in life. When you use kind words at others, they will use kind words at you. When you do some good deeds to people, people will do some good to you. It’s simple, when you stand in front of mirror and make a frown face, obviously your reflection will not be smiling”

Probably, little John understood this dynamics of life, but alas, we grownups seem to have forgotten it. It will be only fair to expect others to behave in the same way, the way in which we behave with them. That’s life. The principle of echoing and mirroring may have got a lot to do with science, but this principle holds good in our day to day life as well.

Mother Tongue: A Natural Advnatage

After giving it a miss to post any article in the month of May, here I am back with this one. May was just too busy for me initially with academic work and later part with travel.

Well, it’s a long standing debate whether a child learns better in mother tongue or not? This view point is extremely important from our country’s perspective as an overwhelming majority of students do not study in their mother tongue. For most, there is no alternate to English, when it’s a question of successful career for their future generation. Of course factors such as globalization, our ties with US and the never ending colonial effect, make English the de facto choice as the medium of study.

But well, what’s the thing which we lose out when we go in for English, or any other language which is not our mother tongue, for learning. Regardless of how many languages one speaks, it’s a known fact that humans internally translate every language into their mother tongue and understand it. Enough practice makes a person good at a language and masks the mother tongue impact, with time. But, then, there is this extra effort. So, along with the learning effort, the internal translation effort also needs to be considered. But we can do little or nothing about it as this is the lesser evil among the available choices.

There is probably one alternative which I remember reading in an article by Swaminathan Aiyar (a noted Economist and Columnist with the Times of India), which didn’t appeal to me then. That was to make children learn in their mother tongue until their fourth grade and when they seem to understand things better, switch over to English. Today, I find this solution more appealing because of an incident that I experienced recently. While attending a seminar in one of the courses I have opted for, an American student who is technically sound, delivered a seminar effortlessly. His communication (obviously in his mother tongue), but not his technical skills, made that seminar sound outstanding. I have seen several other International students, who are technically as good as he was, but cannot do, as good a job in delivering a lecture. Probably not being able to speak in their first language does them in. I would say, I envy the Brits and the Americans, who by several means and past history have left others with no choice than to learn their mother tongue. This probably is going to keep others second in the race, all the time, because of the obvious advantages.

Unending Love

Felt like posting something, but couldn't write anything on my own. What better than An awesome poem, by the great Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, would do! Written in 1890 this master piece gives so much warmth when you read it...

I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times…In life after life, in age after age, forever.My spellbound heart has made and remade the necklace of songs,That you take as a gift, wear round your neck in your many forms,In life after life, in age after age, forever.

Whenever I hear old chronicles of love, it's age-old pain,It's ancient tale of being apart or together.As I stare on and on into the past, in the end you emerge,Clad in the light of a pole-star piercing the darkness of time:You become an image of what is remembered forever.

You and I have floated here on the stream that brings from the fount.At the heart of time, love of one for another.We have played along side millions of lovers, shared in the same Shy sweetness of meeting, the same distressful tears of farewell-Old love but in shapes that renew and renew forever.

Today it is heaped at your feet, it has found its end in youThe love of all man’s days both past and forever:Universal joy, universal sorrow, universal life.The memories of all loves merging with this one love of ours – And the songs of every poet past and forever.

Ineffective Symbolism

It’s again been a while since I posted some stuff here. These days, I read a lot of interesting stuff, yet am not able to express my views or add on something to it. Partly, I need to blame twitter, which is super short and convenient way to express opinions or make comments. Yet, the fun of writing an article is unparalleled.

Here, I have written about two of the latest trends that caught a lot of attention in neoteric media. One, about the ‘Earth Hour’ and two, about the ongoing debate about ‘bottled water’.

For beginners, ‘Earth Hour’ began in 2007, in Sydney where in most businesses and homes turned off lights for an hour. This was initiated by World Wide Fund for Nature. Well, now the question arises on why it’s done and how does it help our planet earth? A partial information from Internet about it reads out like this “Earth Hour is known to result in drop of energy consumption. But not one power generating station has reported lowered production of energy. Statistically, this relates to a zero effect on change of carbon emissions.” In Indian context, we don’t really need to participate in ‘Earth Hour’ as such. Our cities consume negligible amount of energy as opposed to cities like New York, Sydney or San Francisco. This is mere symbolic gesture which creates some media sensation, but is of no real use. We all were taught that drops of water makes the mighty ocean. So, instead of displaying this symbolism, why can’t these major cities do something on a regular basis to curtail the energy consumption? My point is simple… By doing one good deed per year, you are not going address any issues. Do it on a regular basis and work effectively. This holds good for everyone at every juncture.

After ‘Earth Hour’ drama, the ‘bottled water’ saga is making rounds. It does have some substance. Like facts such as just one in every five bottle is recycled, millions of barrels of fuel is burnt in producing bottled water, et al. That accepted, but unsubstantial claims like drinking bottled water would make your bones brittle, would make you more vulnerable to diseases are again media sensationalism. Bottled water is one such thing, which cannot be done away with. In our country, the tap water is definitely not safe. In such a case, how can we stop drinking bottled water? Just because Shekhar Kapur is making a movie called ‘Paani’ and has made some interesting observation, we cannot buy everything he wishes to sell. For that matter, driving cars is a big evil as so much fuel is burnt and so much pollution is caused. So, have we given up driving cars and instead prefer bullock-carts as a more environment friendly mode of transport. We require modernization. If modernization brings in some negative impact, we cannot stop it. Instead we need to find smarter solutions to such problem.

Any solution that is offered to address such issues should not be mere symbolic or too impractical to implement. The trick lies in our understanding of the issue and resolving it in such a way that we not only make progress, but also don’t harm our planet.

Mind Without Fear

An interesting poem by the great Rabindranath Tagore, which suits to the current situation of the world, and probably beyond!

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason
has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action---
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

The Two Diminishing Communities

Year 2010, the Chinese year of Tiger, has seen some efforts from our Government as well as people to save two special communities that are feared to be extinct in years to come. The Parsis and the Tigers.

Apart from decreasing numbers, there are some other similarities in between the Parsi community and the Tigers. Like Tiger is our national animal, the Parsis introduced us to our national symbol, cricket, which is more of a religion in our country. Like the Tiger attracts a host of foreigners, the Parsi business houses such as the Tata’s, the Godrej, the Mistry’s etc have managed to attract a lot of foreign investment.

The underlying reason for both the problem is urbanization and modernization. Let me start pointing out the reasons for the acute decrease in the number of Tigers in our country. Firstly, with human population explosion (no wonder ours is truly a land of Kama Sutra) forests have been on decline and the concrete jungles are fast replacing the real ones. This affects the natural habitat of the Tigers. Also, the human greed to make business out of anything possible, Tigers have been poached for their skin. With guns being invented, hunting-for-bravery became a great hobby, which considerably contributed in reducing the Tiger population.

Even before we achieved our Independence, Parsis were among the most influential people in our society. Their uncanny ability, be it in business, science or law, their inherited wealth and their life style, set them a cut above the rest. Mahatma Gandhi once quoted “In numbers Parsis are beneath contempt, but in contribution, beyond compare” That’s how each Parsi-run business house has made India proud in ways more than one. Then why this community suddenly started declining in numbers. Obviously with such a background, they acquired modern thinking. Modern thinking for most of us means a blind imitation of the west. This resulted in high divorce rate and some people opted-out of the institution of marriage. This sort of individualistic and modern attitude probably resulted in catastrophic consequences.

A recent study by a scholar from a reputed business school in the US shows that the self-oriented values (such as comfortable life, exciting life, pleasure, social recognition, capable, intellectual, social power, daring, and others) becoming more important, while others-oriented values (such as true friendship, wisdom, helpful, loving, polite, sense of belonging, loyal, honoring parents and elders) becoming less important.

I have observed this is phenomena in the present generation. But it would be wise to foresee the consequences, before it gets too late. The reducing number of Parsis and Tigers, tale should serve as an eye-opener to us. Remember, modernization means a progressive advance, which would make us, as well as our future generation, proud and not a mindless growth which would eventually cause the fear of extinction!

Relative Choice!

Before you read this one, want all my readers to know that this is NOT my original work. I’m rewriting a story which I had heard as a teenager (ages back). The story goes something like this…

Eons ago, there lived a king in Greece. He was known for his administrative skills and his generosity. But he had this policy, if he felt something was good for him, he would enforce that as a law and expected people to practice it religiously.

Going by these lines, he got a bed made of gold, for his special guests. He ordered the length of the bed to be exactly 5ft 7inches. Once the bed was ready, he took the test nap and felt that bed was the best ever on which one could sleep, as he exactly 5ft 7inches tall. So anyone who would be his special guest was expected to sleep on that bed. Then how did he manage to solve the problem of fitting in either taller or shorter people, on that bed. Simple, he created this rule, if someone was taller, his legs would be chopped off or if someone was shorter wooden piece equivalent to the difference in length, would be nailed into the guest’s legs. Over a period of time, there were instances of both, shorter and taller guest, suffering from this idiocy of the king. Yet, a couple of them who measured 5ft 7inches enjoyed the king’s hospitality.

This goes on to show only one thing. “What is perfect for one, maybe harmful to others. What is most harmful to some maybe perfectly suitable for some one else” Another conclusion some sages have drawn from this adage is that “Creating rules and expecting everyone to fit into it is the biggest mistake in the history of mankind” Most choices in life are relative and that’s the way it should be! Generalization seldom works.

Though we have come a long time, this concept of generalizing things has hardly changed. Take this example… Just ask some of your friends, “Would it be wise to live in the US or in India?” Blindly, an over whelming majority of them will hum “Of course! US” Truth is, neither the US nor India is a perfect paradise. It all depends on your preferences and priorities. By rigidly holding onto a mindless notion, ignoring personal preferences and expecting people to abide by it, are we not making mockery of our (so called) evolved society?

Humility

I'm writing here after a while. My schedule has been packed with work and academics. Along with these, some short-term and long-term planning has also contributed in keeping me off from writing! Phew...

The latest inspiration of this article comes from my Professor, whose wisdom, be it any walk of life, is unquestioned, has a plethora of information, helpful yet unbelievably modest. Not only computer science, but you could take some of the best lessons on humility from him.

I have always observed this astonishing phenomenon. Mostly, the brightest student in class is very humble and helpful (however exceptions are prevalent). But the 'so called' or 'self proclaimed' intelligent ones are exactly opposite of it. Same probably is true with teachers. The best ones don't want to force you respect them by scaring you, but they 'earn' it by the aura they carry around them. Even offices are no different. A situation where your Project Lead is very harsh, Project Manager is gentle and his boss is very friendly, is not very uncommon.

My father, who is wise and well-read, is another such person who often inspires me by his humility. People in his age group tend to brag about their past glories and wisdom. I have never seen him indulging in such behavior. He leads by example, instead of lecturing, indirectly forcing you to admire him.

I was just wondering, is it that high status, success teaches such people to be humble. Or is because these people have always shown humility they have risen in ranks? As a sign off quote for this article, I selected this one… "Always be humble to people on your way up, you never know when you will meet them on your way down"

Cubbon Park

To any Bangalorean, Cubbon Park is such a familiar name. Though it would not be fair to compare the Cubbon Park with the Central Park located in Manhattan, it would not be completely unfair to make comparison in between their respective statures in their respective cities.

I have always loved Cubbon Park and visited this place numerous times, at various times of a day. This is what my observation revealed. If you happen to go there by morning, you will see a bunch of rich people who drive miles in their posh cars for their morning walk. A little while later, the young and vibrant employees who work in fancy locations use this road as a ‘short-cut’ to reach their offices. A little later, by around 11:00, that is when the people from small villages around Bangalore visit this place, either for picnic or as a getaway with their ‘could-be’ soul-mate. This is the scene till evening, until IT sector employees get back from office. After that time, people who want a shady place for shady activities are commonly found here.

What amazes me is; why the naïve population from villages doesn’t feel like coming over for a morning walk in Cubbon Park. Or why the rich don’t make this place their getaway during day time, instead of a park restricted only for their morning walk. If shady activates are prevalent during late evening, why nothing is done to stop it? Well I never found any logical answers to these questions. To me, Cubbon Park will always be a place where I can sit peacefully and think calmly, when I’m distressed. In fact I composed this entire article sitting there.

If you are wondering, why I posted this article now, the answer is… I had written this article back in June 2009, with some editing needed. This time my New Year resolution was to give up procrastination and nail down incomplete tasks. That’s exactly what I’m doing now!

Wish all my readers a very happy 2010 and beyond!