What’s your choice?

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities” - J. K. Rowling

These days I often get asked about “why I am doing, what I am doing?” I am firm believer that we are all nothing but products of our choices. Also, I have seldom drawn inspiration by what trend the majority is following. Make no mistake; I’m not against the majority, but refuse to accept that majority is always right. I use the below story as an illustration for backing my views.

Long ago, in a small hamlet, there was a rumor about a huge repository of gold at the valley, across the hill. Well, even to verify one had to travel through harsh terrain, cross a river, scale up the mountain, get to the other side, swim across the lake and excavate a little. The minimum time taken for a healthy man for this task was about two years (oh, there was no infrastructure or technology those days). There were some who returned in two years with some gold, while there were some who went missing for years. Human nature is more on the optimistic side and the moment the news that some people did find gold out there, the trend of going for the treasure hunt started to raise. With time, people were almost certain that there was a lot of gold out there and this harsh terrain started getting more and more travelers. Like it always happens, only the fittest survived.

Joe, unlike quite a few successful ones from the hamlet, did not have the endurance to get his hands on to the gold repository. However he too had the same desire to succeed. As he travelled for nearly couple of weeks, he came at a diversion. At this juncture, he saw hundreds of people on the left side while no one on the right. Fully aware of his strengths and weaknesses, he made a counterintuitive decision of taking the right. Guess what? He was back in one month, with some gold. There is hearsay even today in the hamlet that the amount of gold Joe could get his hands on, was the only amount of gold at that site. Almost everyone who wanted emulate him had been unsuccessful since then. As one can imagine, today too, the rush on the left side is very high while the right is mostly empty.

My guess is that there is some more gold available on the path taken by Joe. It’s just that people are unwilling to explore it. Exploring on your own and not trying to emulate someone successful, is the key to scripting a success story. Maybe that’s the reason the rush is more on the tried and successful path. What worked for Joe may not work the rest in reality.

Besides this story, the additional inspiration to make different choices comes from Robert Frost’s, The Road Not Taken. The lines “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference” have left deep impression in my mind.

Keeping up with time

I came across a post on Facebook a couple of days back which highlighted some interesting facts about India. It would make most Indians proud to know that India has the oldest continuous civilization, invented zero, and so on. Honestly, I take no pride in such past glories, because I live in the present. Let’s look at the present.

Just about two weeks back, Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, a crusader of anti-superstitious practices was shot dead. What was his mistake? Perhaps to make people aware that what worked 10000 years ago, will not work in the times we live in. Science has advanced a lot and we need to keep up with time. However, most people still prefer to cling on to the glorious past. And even if some people have formally studied science and follow modern life style, citing tradition as a reason, will continue to do the same, which are perhaps among the social evils. Education should not be obtained so that one can make a living, but one has to be enlightened. I find no room for logic or reasoning, in most of the society. Women are mistreated in the name of tradition and people cannot do away completely with the practices of feudal society.

Here are some my points, supporting my claim. If you have been in India for long enough or aware of some of the Indian traditions, some days it is almost mandated to follow strict dietary restrictions. I find it unfathomable when people obey this selective dietary restriction. I mean, how does the same food become evil on some days and divine on other? Aren’t days of the week, months in a year, created for our own convenience? If something is not sacred on selected days, why indulge in such profane acts on other days? If you are making a living by the modern ways, why insist on following the tradition which is the product of feudal times? If we focused on ethics as an alternative to tradition, would we not be better off? Isn’t it your duty to fix the problems of your parents’ generation, as opposed to continue building on it? Refuse to accept everything that fails the test of common sense. Questioning has often helped mankind make progress, while following something blindly has hampered progress.

And finally, I find it hypocritical when the same people who take pride in the 10000 years of glorious culture, seldom miss a chance to leave Indian shores, with intent to never return. It is about time we as a society become more pragmatic, more logical, more reason oriented. Practice what you preach and preach what you practice. This will certainly make the society a lot better than it is. We ought not to do a lot good, but we ought to do no evil.

Prompt Response

While browsing through the online news, I bumped into this article published in Huffington Post.

Seven-year-old Dexter is a ways off from astronaut age, but his adorable letter to NASA (see below) is already hurtling through cyberspace at viral speed.

Dexter told the agency he's ready to fly to Mars. "But I'm 7, so I can't," he wrote. Just to make sure he isn't left behind, he reminded NASA that he'll be available in the future.

NASA responded in a letter (see below as well) encouraging the schoolboy to explore space camp, get good grades and continue "reaching for the stars."

Dexter's mother, Katrina Anderson, who posted the correspondence on imgur, told The Huffington Post via email that her son is over the moon that NASA wrote him back and included photos and stickers in its response.

It feels incredible to get response from someone, when we least expect it, doesn’t it? Imagine the positive impact NASA was able to create on this little boy, by the reply and associated gesture. This kinda encouragement induces a high degree of motivation, which is often a separating factor in between people. Now consider the scenario of people not responding to inquiry when needed? To me, it is simply a bad practice. Especially in India, certain people in certain positions, citing the reason of their tight schedule, seldom reply. This is not just discouraging, but also sets a bad precedence, not just at personal or professional level, but also in the society overall. From past several years, I have set a personal goal, to respond to each and every mail, I receive. Trust me; it’s not as daunting a task as people make it out be. If you can maintain enough discipline, getting your work done does not interfere with the habit of prompt replying. Somewhere, behind such practices, the culture plays an important role, I think!

Tationem: A New Beginning

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. 

- Henry Ford

Last month, my friends and I launched our very own company, Tationem. This post is not just to promote our business but to write about those points which often go untouched in business meetings. So, I breakdown this post into three parts, a) Coming together and starting b) Keeping it together and running c) Working together and the road ahead.

Coming together and starting:

It is very critical for anyone planning to start a business to work with like-minded people. I have been best friends with my partners for over a decade now and trust them more than myself on occasions. I did contact more such people, but it worked out well, only among us three. The first rule that we established for ourselves was, not to doubt each other’s decision making. We may goof up sometimes, but we will back each other all the time. And once the basis was established, we needed to name our baby. This is a bigger challenge than you may perceive it to be. You come out with the most creative name and that URL would already have been taken. We decided to do this in a very different way and left for Bangalore International Airport, at midnight, with a self made promise, not to return till we find a mutually agreeable name, with corresponding URL available. After having spent over four hours and emptied more than six coffee cups, we all agreed on the name “Tationem” which is a Latin word, meaning “New Direction”.

Keeping it together and running:

The beginning was challenging, but not as much as running this newly formed entity, which started to grow at a pace, which beat our anticipation. As per our original decision, we have been discussing the best strategy for the times that we encounter and our needs, we have been forming ad hoc policies. Over a period of six months we will be studying which policies yielded the best results and formulate more concrete policies. Though each one of us has some experience to brag about, this has been new to us and every day has been a learning experience. We have now hired quite a few technical and management interns, along with some full time employees. Trust me, even hiring and retaining people is much harder than you think it is.

Working together and the road ahead:

Working together with best friends has been a pleasurable experience for me and I would claim that my partners too opine the same. As we have invested our time, money and emotions into this venture, the message should be clear, ‘we are here to stay’. We clearly see us growing into a bigger entity, owning to our expertise and effective policies that we have been adopting. The only downside has been that each one of us has already started to suffer from the “no-time-syndrome”. Perhaps several years from now, one day when all of us would be sitting together, at some exotic beach resort, sipping tropical drinks, we would say, “Looking back, it was all worth it”.

Think before your save

The miser acquires, yet fears to use his gains

- Horace

Some days ago, I was talking to a friend on the topics of savings. The most important question here was, ‘how much is right amount to save?’ My honest opinion is an amount, after saving which you don’t need to make big compromises. However the general consensus on this topic was, it is essential to make sacrifices to boost the savings. I begged to differ and my reason is illustrated by the below story.

In a small Indian village, the months of April, May and June were big boon to the mango traders. All the mangoes that they procured had good demand and they made good money in this trade. However, it was July when the demand was high and supply was low, fetched maximum profit. Owing to climate and lack of cold storage facilities, selling mangoes in July was more a matter of luck than anything else. However one trader decided he will let go all the sales of earlier three months and make a merry by saving this huge pile of stock in July itself. So, he came up with the idea of burying all the plucked mangos in huge pit and covering it with grass. When his peers were making the market price and enquiring about his complete lack of business, he dodged the issue, thinking about how his present sacrifice will help him make big bucks in future. The mango season was almost over when he geared up to sell his stock. The day he uncovered the grass, he realized that all the mangoes were rotten and he could not sell any. His mindless saving had proved to be a terrible idea. In the hope of making more, he lost all his investment.

This is what few people do to themselves. They save, make sacrifices, and give up on the present, with a dream of seeing themselves comfortable in the future. This approach may not be the smartest one. If you want to win a race, you should be well aware as to where the finish line. A blindfolded run has helped no one win races. Give up on something, only if you have to. If you make sacrifices with a hope that it will one day pay rich dividends, you may be headed for bitter disappointments. Happiness is not a big chunk of cakes which one saves and eats a later point. Even if it is one, keeping it for a long time might make it stale.

Seven Blind Men and the Elephant, and the USA

"The traveler sees what he sees.  The tourist sees what he has come to see." 

 - G.K. Chesterton

Last month, I returned from the US, after having lived there for few years. Naturally, many people are tempted to inquire me about difference between the two countries. Though not always keen to talk on this subject, I have been honest about what differences I have been able to observe and experience. A couple of days ago, sitting at a café, I mulled over the conversations about the US, post my return. I was familiar with the pattern, but was not able express my experience. Suddenly, I remembered this ancient story, which I had read as a kid and I was able to exactly relate to the ideas and opinions which I had encountered. The story of seven blind men and the elephant. In case if you are not familiar, read the below rewritten version of the same. 

A sage while passing through a village, asks the bystanders, seven blind men, to go to the elephant and explain how they thought the elephant looked like. The first blind man goes, touches the tusks and reports, “this creature is like a plowshare.” The next one goes, touches the ear, and upon returning says, “this creature is like a winnowing basket.” Then the third one goes, touches the body and exclaims, “this creature is like a granary.” The fourth one touches the foot and says, “this creature is like a pillar.” The next one goes, touches the back and says, “this creature is like a mortar.” The sixth man goes, touches the tail and says, “this creature is like a pestle.” Then the last man goes, touches the trunk and says, “this creature is like a plow.” 

In reality, they were all correct, but they were all wrong too. For each of them touched only one part of the animal. Similarly, the US, like the elephant, is enormous, with unparalleled diversity. So, it is very likely that all the descriptions of the US, both geographically and in terms of culture, you have heard so far is through men, who didn't realize they were blind in reality. Relying on others’ version of the US would make you draw misleading conclusions. My recommendation is, go there and experience it personally. 

So, what is the US like, in reality? Like many claim, “is it a desert”, “is it a mountain”, “is it corn-field”, “is it surrounded by ocean”, “is it very cold”, “is it very hot” etc. Each description is only partially true. To get the correct picture, one has to travel a lot in the US. And what are the people of the US like? Having lived there, I was lucky enough to build relations with some of them, just like a family. My honest answer is there is not much of difference between aspirations of people, be it America or India or any other part of the world. In my experience, Americans are among the warmest of people you can meet in life. However if you expect an American to interact with you in the same manner, as someone from your own country would do, there cannot be a bigger wrong expectation. So, how Americans are, would essentially depend on who you are, how you interact with them and above all what you expect out of them? This probably works, not just in case of the Americans, but for anyone in general.

Two Assassinations

"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country"

- John F. Kennedy

I was recently on a road trip in which among several popular locations, I covered two assassination locations which perhaps, not only changed the face of US, but also the entire world. Though I had read a lot of material regarding both, Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) and John F. Kennedy’s (JFK) assassinations, visit to the locations did highlight an extra point or two which I previously missed out.

While visiting Dealey Plaza, in Dallas, Texas, I decided to let go all the conspiracy theories (read this article for conspiracy theories on JFK assassination) and focused on the official version. On the fatal day of November 22^nd, 1963, JFK was shot dead by Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. The official version suggests that this act was done to express displeasure over JFK’s favoring the civil rights movement. Soon after his death, rioting began in most parts of the country. At this time, MLK was instrumental in bringing calm by asking people to focus on, “what killed the president?” rather than “who killed the president?” This approach not only restored peace, but also gave a clear vision in the days to come, as to what the civil rights movement really meant.

Just as the nation had coped up with JFK’s assassination, barely within 5 years, on April 4^th, 1968, MLK was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel, in Memphis, TN. And here too I focused only on the official version of the turnout of the event. It was concluded that James Earl Ray, a white-supremacist, killed MLK with intent to put an end to the civil rights movement. Now, more than 40 years into this event, we all know how people with ideas of James Earl Ray are perceived in the society.

History has taught us and provided clear evidence that no one has ever been successful or championed a cause, just by killing a person with right intentions. However people of conviction and good intentions have changed the history of mankind, forever. It is said that MLK once quoted, “Christ gave me the message and Gandhi gave me the method.” Going by the current outpour of reactions, I seriously doubt whether people still fervently believe in the path, shown by Christ and Gandhi or not? Though I hope people will remain committed to both, the message and the method.