Sunday, August 22, 2010

Why, for whom and for what?

I just finished reading "Johnny gone down" by Karan Bajaj. It helped me clarify some confusion i have been in recently. The book offers good food for thought. Though written dramatically in a very typical style, some phases the protagonist goes through in the novel are situations which many of us would find ourselves in.

The book talks about Buddhist teachings like 'how you should detach yourself from the results and keep doing your work', 'how nothing in this world is permanent' , 'how meditation will help you realize the ultimate satisfaction/happiness' - questions that bother us many times while we are struggling to stay afloat and swim in gelid ocean waters which is our world. Here is an MIT grad who always takes the less traveled road knowingly or unknowingly, landing himself in trouble to the extent of losing everything that he is got. Strange and believe me not unreal (bad things always happen to a common set of people!!) that he is never safe and settled till the end with all difficulties hitting him through out the better and younger part of his life.

Off-late, I often think of living the life of a hippie, traveling round the world, no attachments, no commitments, no competition, no faking someone else's life, no fear, no pressure but only enjoying the beautiful things in this nature. What is it that one craves for in life? Success will demand more success from you, money will make you run behind it even faster and crazier, the people who love you will only make you cry when you depart with them, so how wise is it to yearn for all these which you know are not permanent?

The book explains how badly you want them when you don't have them; especially when you had thrown them away (everything that you had) when your life is ripe, in a quick spur of a moment wrong decision, which either appeared fancy or brave at that point of time.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

back(this time,the smaller 'k') with a bang!!

Never thought that personal stuff would keep me so occupied and far away from social blogging..perhaps, that's what, life in an IIM takes. It severs the relationship (the usuall wake up and good night calls) between a couple, will teach you to sleep at all odd hours, will make you call your parents only after 10 in the night and many more..but it's all worth it, isn't it. Atleast the academicians and the world around is convinced that the millionaires who are going to be churned out, deserve all of that. I agree neither with the premise nor the reason. Yes, all IIM passouts are no millionaires and also not every minute that you spend cracking those enormous cases is really worthwhile.

However, they(IIMs) teach time management, confidence, business acumen and working in pressure cooker situations, which are mandatory skills for top notch positions in the corporate.

I thoroughly enjoyed and loved the two years spent at Kozhikode. Though I couldn't still discover what I really want to do in life, it atleast ruled out some options. While it is true that it ruled out few, there are numerous more that suddenly opened up at the same time and I am back to the square one, yes, still confused.

All the while, I used to appease myself reminiscing that 'Steve Jobs graduation speech at Stanford'..be patient and wait till you know what you really are made for; It works no more as this time it is post graduation..yeah you battled it out and neared your quarter century and you still don't know if you should play defence or go thrashing for the rest of your run..you are still settling!! :(

And to make things worse, new problems arose, thanks to the place I am sitting and typing this post(the 50 star country)..I don't even know where to spend the rest of my life. I was happy till now reading the 'feel good' success stories about India, its growth and how it is gonna be the focus of all big businesses in the coming decades. While the success and efforts of few hardworking and smart Indians(mind you, I am talking about the population ;)) have brought India in to the limelight (It didn't become the market with double digit growth potential overnight you see), our policy makers are still not able to create a safe and conducive environment for the future generations of it(India).

I received an e-mail asking me to sign an online petition protesting a bill that is gonna be introduced soon. Reading many such e-mails, I digged in deep to find out what all this clamor is about and trust me, it is ALARMING.

I am talking about the "Civil Liability for Nuclear damage bill" which will allow US companies to retreat scot free even after causing nuclear damage in India. Yes, this bill limits the liability of US companies towards the nuclear damages that their plants can cause in India and Indian government is going to pay for the liabilities incurred upon such accidents. In a very simple language, Indian tax payers will be bearing lions share of the recovery and rehabilitation costs incurred incase of a nuclear disaster while American companies will be let off legally and financially.

You can get a detailed account of this hazardous bill at the links below

Yes, It is true that energy security is priority for a growing country like ours, but not at cost of peoples lives and health. Such a bill(if it becomes act) will fail to caution sufficiently, the private companies that setup and provide nuclear equipment in India, about the potential danger of the stuff they are dealing with. It will only give some unscrupulous officers, if any, and their bosses, a leeway to not function to their moral and integral bests.

If you feel that the equations and terms being agreed to by Indian government in this bill are not upto the safety standards a one billion population like ours, demands, then you can sign the below petition.