See yourself - Visual DNA

Found this on Ganji's blog. Interesting....

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Finding what you really love to do

Finding what you love to do is not easy. Lets admit this much. Often the answer gets confused with our hobbies or our interests. At other times, it gets buried under sheer inertia. Sometimes, the enormity of choices out there causes inaction.

Now, there is a minority who just knows what it loves. As early as school or Uni, these people know where their hearts lie. They are blessed. I envy them.

For the rest of us, its hard work.

We get into our 1st job without really knowing what we are getting into. Often, our choice is driven by Prestige or (mis)Perception. And before we know, we are stuck in the daily rut - hate going to work every morning, spend the day cribbing about our boss and return home jaded. However, the paycheck at the end of 30 days makes all this worth it - its the carrot that keeps us going.

For a lot of us, this is life. We do this routine for 20-30 years and the money we make keeps the questions in our head at bay. Again, these people are blessed. I envy them.

But there are some rebels, some mavericks who continue to be haunted by the pursuit of what they really love to do. This minority has 3 choices -

One, Leave the drudgery, take the plunge and start doing what you think you'd love to do. After all, there's nothing like actually doing it. But this is risky. What if you're wrong? What if 2 months into your new attempt, you realise that's not it? And how will you sustain your lifestyle while you're learning this?

Two, Make the best use of your evenings, weekends and breaks. Even better, take a sabbatical. Net, keep trying your hand at activities you gravitate towards. Always, try to ask yourself if you'd love to do this for an extended period of time. After, a while, you'll detect a pattern.

And you can find out what you love to do while keeping your day job and earning the money needed for your lifestyle. But this is a long, patient and draining process. You have to keep your resolve against Newton's 1st law - inertia.

Three, take one of those tests that help profile you. These give you a broad domain to operate in - a kind of filter to sort through all the choices. www.tickle.com has some and www.strengthsfinder.com can also help.

Any other that you've come across???

What is work?

What is work?

I obviously don't intend to explain the definition of work as per ICSE Std IX Physics textbooks.

For most of us, work is something we do to make a living. Obviously, we all aspire to a certain lifestyle. And to realize that lifestyle, we need money. And we work to earn that money. Its quite simple, really.

The problem happens when you don't really love your work. But you still have to do it because you need to earn your living.

This gives rise to 2 questions:

1. Do we really know what we love?
2. Why does work and earning a living have to be linked?

Over the next few days, I'd love to engage in a conversation with you to answer these questions.

Strength Finder 2.0: My Results

Got hold of this interesting book: Strengths Finder 2.0. Based on Gallup Organization's research into people's innate talents, the book talks about 34 themes that map the different talents that we have.

The book points you to a website http://www.strengthsfinder.com/ where you can take a test (using a unique code provided in the book) that tells your top 5 themes.

Mine were (in order):

Strategic
Intellection

Input

Futuristic

Ideation

If any of you have taken this test, do mention your Top 5 strengths. It'll be great to engage with people with similar strengths to share our experiences. It'll be even better to find people with complementary strengths (I, for one, can do with an association with someone who has Activator, Focus, Discipline or Analytical strengths!)

Looking forward to building a Strengths Network.

The Great Indian Novel

Often, the best ideas deserve their acclaim because of their improbability. Shashi Tharoor's 'Great Indian Novel' is one such idea. It just seems miraculous for someone to conjure up a parallel between the great Indian epic and the great Indian freedom struggle.

Ofcourse, there are creative liberties and we should indulge the author with them. Ofcourse, there are times when the parallels are stretched but fiction by definition has a long rope. Ofcourse, umpteenth characters from epic and history are ignored but a tome of 418 pages can only accomodate so many.

The beauty of the story is in its idea and credit to Tharoor for sustaining its purity from start to finish. When reality offered no recourse, he resorts to dreaming, to extend the comparisons. When prose falters, he switches on his poetic abilities to carry the narrative further.

Often, the very act of printing a rumor gives it credence and when people repeat it in other forms and publications, they only serve to burnish its veracity. The book does it bit in furthering rumors surrounding the leaders of India by weaving them in its storyline. Whether it is Nehru's dalliance with Edwina, Gandhi's 'experiments with truth' or Morarji Desai's flirtations with urine - its all there.

The Great Indian Novel is great because it emanates from a moment of brilliance. A moment when Shashi thought that the Indian Freedom Struggle and its proponents share similarities with the heroes of the Great Indian Epic. The reader is richer for it.

Grand Trunk Road - Becoming Grander

Yesterday's road journey from Jalandhar to Pathankot swelled my heart with pride and gave me renewed hope about India's future.

Four laning of NH 1 had started 4-5 years back and the 30 odd km section from Jalandhar to Bhogpur was finished 3 years back. Work in the remaining section had been progressing slowly.

Now after 1 year, I saw significant progress. Most of the piling and earthing work is completed. Bridge foundations have been laid and only small sections remain to be acquired and prepared. From Jammu, 4 laning has been finished till Samba. There's a flyover coming up that'll bypass Pathankot and meet NH1 near Malikpur.

In 2-3 years time, the time taken for a road journey from Jammu to Delhi will take 6 - 7 hours instead of the 12 - 14 hours it took 5 years back. This should have a multiplier effect and the end result is only limited by our imagination!

Delhi - improving

Walked out of Indira Gandhi airport last night into an oppressive atmosphere of heat and dust. However, as the taxi pulled out of the airport, I was heartened to see wide roads, neatly marked and with paved footpaths running along. This was a marked difference from Mumbai where you drive out into a narrow lane, lined with slums and garbage.

Traffic was another thing though. People were taking to the wide road with gay abandon with scant regard to lanes. But I guess, that'll improve too with increasing education levels and a bit more effort on driving civility among Delhites.

Overall, Delhi seems like a much more agreeable place to live in than 5 years back and definitely more palatable than Mumbai. Safety - esp. for women - remains a concern and it'll be interesting to watch the trend on that front.

Virginia Kilings & Gun Ownership

This might sound blithely ahuman. But from a macro point of view, there are a lot more crimes that are averted due to gun ownership than are commited because of it. The issue is very much in the nature of the problem.

When things go wrong they make news. When they are going right, they are seldom newsworthy.

How often do we hear of a person preventing a burglary, a rape, a kidnapping with the power accorded to him by a gun?? But when once in 365 days, an incident like Virginia takes place, it makes big news.

Even if we ban guns, criminals will still get them. Look at the situation in India or Latin America - countries where gun ownership is restricted. People with mal-intent still get their hands on guns. The cost of a fool-proof method to control and monitor gun ownership is impossibly high and the endeavor might even be foolishly impossible.

The question is should we equip our people with the tools to protect themselves or not? The positives of doing this far outweigh the negatives of a stray incident like Virginia Tech.

Financial Education for Kids

I came across an interesting article by Keane Lee in Fundsupermart - the quaterly magazine issued by iFast Financial Pte Ltd., an investment administrator in Singapore. It talks about wealth accumulation and the different vectors that drive it.

It said , there are 4 things that determine your wealth accumulation ability:
1. Wage, W
2. Savings Rate %, S
3. Return on Investment, R
4. Time, T

Simple, isn't it?

Reading that article, I realised that financial education among kids in India is not that prevalent. Most kids learn this if they are lucky to be born into a Marwari or Sindhi or Baniya family.

Equipping kids with this powerful tool should be an important objective of education. Making it into an entertaining game should get it off the ground with them.

Working hours over a lifetime

My theory is that every person is born to work for a FIXED no. of hours. You can choose to cover them over 32 years (as my dad did) or the way its going, cover them off in 10 years and be done with it all!

Incidentally there's also the theory that every person is born with a FIXED no. of breaths allotted to him/her. Thats why deep breaths and yoga increase your life span.

Schools in the new world

Information is free and out there.
No one owns it. Its not stored in bound up books.

We need to point our kids to where this information is - Wikipedia?? Google??
We need to ask them the right questions to help with their search - Why?? How??
We need to ask these questions in an interesting manner - Projects?? Contests?? Games??

Does that sound like a new kinda school?

The right kind of questions

Too often in schools the questions that are asked are:
Who?
When?
Where?

All the time I think that the questions that should be asked are:
Why?
How?

The first set relies on memory, the 2nd on reason. I'll anyday pick a person who can think to a person who remembers.

How to make money in India, long term

India as a consumer market of 1.1 billion people is an attractive proposition for any Commercial Enterprise. Earning even $1 from each person is worth $1.1Bn. A lot of MNCs have bought this math and entered the country, expecting to make money with their existing models. Their assumptions are flawed at 2 levels.

One, the size of the 'consuming' population is not 1.1Bn but 800mn - the remaining 300mn live below the poverty line.

Second, the GDP per capita, even on purchasing power parity is $3700 - at best 1/12th that of the US.

Given these 2 factors, the expected size of prize of a business in India is at best 1/5th of that in the US. The math is 800/(300X12) ; 300 being the population of the US.

So, in order for an enterprise to make money in India at the levels that its huge population warrants, it should focus on improving the Purchasing power of Individuals. The single biggest known way of improving people's purchasing power is to improve their skills, i.e. through education.

Hence my plea: If you want to make money in India, invest for the long term, invest in educating its population. They'll grow up to earn more, consume more and by extension, put more money back into your pockets.

Hope some corporations embrace this long term business plan. I'm sure they'll see the returns in their shareholder value.

Sydney - why and why not

Just came back from Sydney yesterday. I love the place - brilliant weather, great food. The only thing that stops me from moving there are the high taxes and high cost of living. A taxi anywhere outside of the main city will set you back by about 25 Aussie dollars. Parking and road tolls are excessive. And the taxes are insane.

If only Singapore could get Sydney weather - I yearn for 4 seasons in a year! And a harbour bridge. And some fabulous beaches. Mountains at our doorstep. Being able to look up and see clear, blue sky. Drive for 40 kms and still be in the same city.

But then, I'm not willing to give 40% of what I earn to the government for weather and views.

Education in India

Education in India needs to improve on 2 parameters – the no. of people who have access to education needs to go up and those who get education need to get a better version of it. The first area is where Government and Public-Private collaboration of a massive scale needs to be undertaken. The second area is where I want to make a difference. In the current system, it is enough for students to read the chapters of their text book, learn answers to the questions at the end and regurgitate them in exams that move them to the next level. There is little being done to spur curiosity, to inspire discovery and to develop well-rounded individuals. Educational qualifications and knowledge bear little correlation.

We lack a vision of an ideal student – he is described more in terms of his behavior than his capabilities. The absence of the right vision means no clear definition of the means needed to achieve it. If we define our ideal student in terms of:

I. Capability
1. Multi-faceted skills
· Knowledge beyond text books
· Active in sports
· Can appreciate fine arts (music, dance, painting, sculpting etc)

2. Perspicacious
· Can analyze information and develop an independent point of view

II. Appearance

1. Civil Behavior
Makes the world around him a better place to live in. This is a wide ranging area that spans from respecting social hygiene (garbage, spitting, urinating at appropriate places) to social interaction (traffic rules, queues, courteous conversations)

2. Personal hygiene

Cleanliness in clothes and body (Body odor, Bad breath)

This needs efforts on 4 fronts –
1. Curriculum improvement to make it more well-rounded and experiential.
2. Teacher training to enable them to instill a sense of curiosity in students and help them discover vs. learning by rote
3. Parent education to enable a learning environment beyond school.
4. Supplementing school curriculum with after-school and holiday activities.

Credit: Picture on top from Getty Images

Doing what you love or Loving what you do?

Are you doing what you love?
OR
Just loving what you do?

Uncomfortable questions. They can lead you to a journey of introspection. And you might end up with a disconcerting realization - and painful change.

The alternative is to avoid them. Blissful ignorance - makes for a smooth journey. Don't ask tough questions, you won't get uncomfortable answers. Why screw up a peaceful, calm existence?

Which side are you? Do you have the answer or are you just avoiding the questions?

Billion Blues

Our Sri Lankan housekeeper Mary walked towards my brooding frame at the breakfast table today morning and hesitatingly asked, 'Sir, what happen match.....India won?'. Having stayed up all night to witness India's abject surrender, that didn't make for a great appetite.

Actually, all omens leading up to this match were kinda negative. First, the food at Chat Masala was spicier than we wanted and the Mojito a bit sweeter. Second, an office crisis meant we only started watching the match from the 18th over of SL innings. Third, I was watching it at Esh's place - 7 Indians & 1 Aussie in a Sri Lankan's home! And to top it all, Smits - my luck charm for India - left halfway through the Sri Lankan innings : Chamara, Vaas and Russell then took over to guide SL over 250.

I think the 1-tip-catch cricket we played in the intermission defocused us a bit and led to the madness in Uthappa and Ganguly (although Ganguly's bad hair day might also have caused the blood clot that fogged his brain). Tendulkar seemed to carry the burden of a billion Indians on his shoulders and that affected his agility - imagine taking a step forward with all that weight!! Yuvraj confused Tandoori chicken with Headless Chicken (they sound similar, esp. if you're munching Bingo) and lost his wicket in the process - I really want to know what he was running to. Poor Dhoni. He seemed to be in a real hurry to get back to shooting for Green Signal - didn't even wait for Murali to appeal. When Agarkar refused to acknowledge the common sense Dravid was offering for 3 consecutive balls and spooned a catch to mid-on, it became unbearable. I felt a pain in my chest; I think it was the sweet tea prepared by Vidya - hurts to see such affection :-).

I'm now counting my losses. Have to see how much all the airfare of my planned Carribean trip adds up to. Also, what do I do with the leave I have lined up. Maybe I'll go for a Vipashna session to clear my mind Will need that, else I'll have to endure a Billion Blues, thinking about the "if only's" from last night. If only Ganji had not gotten up from his sofa for a cig...........

Don't be misled!! Bermuda victory proves nothing

I was not happy with Sehwag's century against Bermuda. Before you start wondering whether I'm doped or anti-national, let me state my case. My contention is that Sehwag's century will lull him into a false sense of security. He'll think that he has fixed his issue. Dravid will feel vindicated and include Sehwag in the team sheet against Sri Lanka with his chest puffed.

However, if you watched his innings against Bermuda closely, you would have noticed the persistent lack of footwork. It was rank bad bowling that allowed him to get away with it. Sri Lanka is not going to be as charitable. And if Sehwag and Uthappa (who doesn't seem to value his wicket as much as he should) fall early, the veterans will come under pressure, Yuvi won't be able to free his arms and Dhoni will be caught between attacking and defending - something his simple mind can't handle! I shudder to imagine the scoreboard.

My only hope is that his time on the crease would have given Sehwag confidence. He would also have gotten some warmth in his frigid leg muscles - there was some movement in the latter part - during his time in the sun. That just might be enough to turn around his form. At the moment though, its a far hope.

The burden of Sehwag

There goes India's chance of progressing to the Super Eight. Bangladesh is almost certain to get 4 points (with their expected win over Bermuda). Sri Lanka won't be as toothless as India and will beat Bangladesh to get 4 points. India's only hope is to beat both Sri Lanka and Bermuda (which, on yesterday's performance doesn't look likely) and then pray that the run rate is favorable towards them.

But this post is not about India's chances of progressing into the next round. This article is about the old Indian trait of sentimentality over professionalism. Carrying Sehwag around in the team is a monumental mistake. He's at the moment an albatross around the Indian team's neck. He puts immense pressure on the rest of the batsmen by getting out within the first 5 overs. People like Sachin and Dravid have to then focus on steadying the innings vs. play their normal game. We have got to get away from keeping players for their history and choose the best 11 on the day. We have got to send him back to the nets and let him work out the demons in his head. We've got to stop hoping that he'll come good one day. Can we just start with Sachin and Ganguly - one of the most successful Indian opening pairs and let Dravid, Uthappa, Yuvraj and others follow?

My last worry is my planned trip to the Carribean for the semis and finals. I'm wondering what I would do if India crashes out of the World Cup even before the Super Eights. Well, I've heard that the Carribean islands are beautiful. Rum flows freely. The beaches are pristine. And well, catching Australia play the West Indies in the final will take me back to Mohali in 1995 when all of us witnessed Windies' capitulation at the hands of Shane Warne.

Carribean beckons!

Finally, its on!


Am going for the Cricket World Cup in West Indies. 1st Semi Final in Kingston. 2nd Semi Final in St. Lucia and the final at Barbados.

It should be fun. Kashyap is joining from California with his friend Vigyan.

I hope for 2 things -
India makes it to the Semis. At least.
I find an easy way to travel between the 3 venues

Am gonna carry a sleeping bag and most probably, a tent for acco - Just in case there's no hotel or cruise boat available