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Wednesday, March 31, 2004 ( 2:17 AM ) sankar Cribbing Sessions Yesterday and today, I was discussing (cribbing) with my close friends in office about the problems related to my job at the present organisation. There were too many things happening that I did not like. Today I had a heated discussion - argument, more or less - with my immediate boss and his boss. I was overtly frank, bold, told my friends, who listened to the whole story! "You've just fired your boss," they said. I know its too bad. From Buffett's Buffet I am reading a book on writing. The title is "Writing that works." It quotes a business report of Warren Buffett, Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway. He was trying to explain why he is favouring long-term investment over frequent shifts from one investment to another. He writes: "We have found splendid business relationships to be so rare and so enjoyable that we want to retain all we develop. This decision is particularly easy for us because we feel that these relationships will produce good - though perhaps not optimal - financial results. Considering that, we think it makes little sense for us to give up time with people we know to be interesting and admirable for time with others we do not know and who are likely to have human qualities far closer to average. That would be akin to marrying for money - a mistake under most circumstances, insanity if one is already rich." Another sample was a report he prepared to the shareholders of Salomon Inc - a famous stock broking firm fell into disgrace after a few scandals - in his capacity as the interim chairman. He writes: "I have also urged them (employees) to be guided by a test that goes beyond rules: Contemplating any business act, an employee should ask himself whether he would be willing to see it immediately described by an informed and critical reporter on the front page of his local paper, there to be read by his spouse, children and friends. At Saloman we simply want no part of any activities that pass legal tests but that we, as citizens, would find offensive. ....I believe that we can earn...superior returns playing aggressively in the centre of the court, without resorting to close-to-the-line acrobatics. Good profits simply are not inconsistent with good behaviour." Wow! I love to be in writing! I love to be in business writing! I love to be in business! # Monday, March 29, 2004 ( 9:51 PM ) sankar Pebble Therapy Sunday morning I had to go to handover something important to my sister. Her college is at Vellappanchavadi. We took a walk to a nearby Shiridi Sai Mandir. Inside the mandir campus, there is a 'small pond of pebbles' with God's vigraham in the centre - the arrangement is something similar to a thulasi maadam. Devotees have to walk on the pebbles bare foot circling the maadam for 9 or 12 times or whatever the board out there suggests. We took 12 rounds, believe me it feels sooooo good to your feet - it's a deserving massage for them. Once an acupuncture therapist told that one can stay away from most diseases by an hour of bare foot walk a day. # Monday, March 22, 2004 ( 12:36 AM ) sankar Mirror Vijay called me this morning and asked me to list out his weaknesses! "I will call you after 15 minutes, you have to tell what faults do you find in me," he sounded as if he had to send a report to his head office and it's some HR appraisal. Well, it did not sound funny because I used to do the same thing - seeking ratings (on a scale of 1 to 10) from my friends' (and colleagues) to know where do I stand on things like time management, leadership qualities, etc. I have stopped doing this because, I am yet to overcome the shortcomings that I have already known - or made known by my friends - exist. There is an interesting theory that unless you are wrong you cannot find fault in others. This means the more faults you find the more faults you have. Another dimension to this is, the very fault that you find (in others) does exist in the same manner in you. I set aside this theory and told him my observations without mincing words, as he expected me to do. I just recollect this saying, "If you have a true friend, you do not need a mirror." In our polite, diplomatic, urbane world full of etiquettes, protocols, manners, it is indeed find a good friend. # Sunday, March 21, 2004 ( 12:49 AM ) sankar Maha Periyaval I am reading a book on Kanchi Maha Periyaval ("Periva" in Bhramincal Tamil) that I bought yesterday. This short book is full of very interesting and truly inspiring anecdotes. # ( 12:35 AM ) sankar My cup of tea Opposite to my office building, there are two mobile teashops that sell biscuits, vadai, bajji, cigarette, etc. Since, one of the shops is a supplier to our office, we can have any number of tea or coffee there at free of cost. Today, when I went to have tea, I saw a notice exhorting (in English and Tamil) the public to use garbage box to keep the place clean. I was surprised to see this and was sure that the teashop wouldn't have done this. The notice is a simple black and white laser printout. But it does not carry the name of the NGO that had taken the effort, which is unusual. I enquired Deva, the tea master. He said, "One day, a few came in a car, gave us a plastic garbage collection basket, stuck the notice and left." I asked where is the box. "It's not there in the front? Oh! It's Sunday so we kept it inside." I was thinking about those car-wallahs, who never bothered to seek publicity for their social service. I think they would even object to my usage of the phrase: “social service.” They must have considered it as a duty - more or less. That’s the spirit. Even I prepared a notice and stuck it in our Men’s toilet asking my colleagues to save water. But my idea of my place is confined only to my office. However, for them it is the whole city. Well, after my fruitless search for a while for an appropriate place to put my by now used plastic teacup, I hesitantly threw it at the street corner, like anybody else, and returned to office. You know taking that extra step to insist the garbage basket (which, in this case, is enjoying its holiday) is still an embarrassing thing to do for Indians like me. # Thursday, March 18, 2004 ( 8:53 AM ) sankar My Rev Guruji I call her chief. When smsing, I address her Guruji - Rev Guruji. All this is not entirely for fun. At least I will henceforth mean it in every sense of that word. For she taught me - or may be I've learnt it from her myself completely through observation - something very profound. It is about the importance of listening to the inner voice. She listens to it and takes crucial decisions in her life based on it. Her belief is so strong that it's finally those temptations that have to suffer a retreat. For all the spiritual talks that I do and spiritual texts that I religiously go through, I stand empty in front of her practice. Our ideas of God or spirituality are poles apart though sometimes (in my understanding) they come tantalizingly so close. We will never agree on the basics of certain things. We both have some conceptions that are deep rooted and entrenched for years by the different streams of faiths, readings, culture, language, etc. Neither of us has the faculty or motivation strong enough to break into each other's beliefs. But that's different. That's not going to matter. For me her belief in her belief is the inspiration. I told her that "you are a blessed one." Here's someone who says no to a life, which to many of her age will prove irresistible. She says no because she finds that there is "no peace inside" her, whenever she enquired the self about it. She believes that "this is not something that God planned for me." (If someone reads this, he or she will make no sense of this "she" nor of the "life" this she says no to. Let it be that way.) She will listen patiently to all her friends' arguments (including that of mine) that she is acting plain stupid. But nothing will make any difference to her. Yesterday, we had a long conversation - it was so long that I even thought later that I wasted my time, especially since I had some important works to do. I was feeling that way till I went for sleep. However, this morning, when I woke up early - probably it must be 4:30 or 4:45 - I was for a "spiritual treat." I was still in bed, my eyes closed while some profound thoughts kept emerging one after another. They were like answers to my search, my demands for the understanding. I believe that the messages of my morning were the direct result of my interactions with her the previous evening. Following were some of those messages (as I remember now, it was as if someone was telling this to me): "You are prompted for actions by your thoughts. Understand that those thoughts come from your mind or the "ego" or the doer. Here the doer is not you. You are the self. This doer is someone who embodies fruitless desires of delusions. Observe those thoughts as a mute spectator. Do not suppress them and at the same time, do not analyse or react to them - as you will remain generating thoughts that way. Thoughts are fine as long as you are not letting them lead to immediate actions. You can neither escape from the thoughts nor from the actions. Do not make a conscious effort to escape. Otherwise, it would amount to suppression. However, you will have to listen to your inner voice. That inner voice, which is subtle, nevertheless is an ever existent. It is not even a voice - leave alone a hunch, intuition, etc. To experience this, what probably could not be expressed in words, you will follow a technique, so to speak. This technique will help you to come out of the compelling thought patterns. What is that technique? It is the chanting of His name. As you start chanting His name, you will sense that the doer (the ego), who is prompting you to act, is not the real you. This doer's prompts you again and again to act. But you will again and again chant His nama. That is, you will chant His name, the moment you get those thought-prompts for action. This way, inside you there are two things happening: the prompts and the chants. Now, whats going to happen? Do not expect anything to happen but just chant mentally His name. After a period of "time", so to say, ultimately the thought-prompts subside and the inner chantings of God's name leads you to listening to the Inner voice. You may feel at peace now. This might mean that you are no more under the compulsion of the thought-prompts. You may now proceed whether to take up the actions or otherwise. In other words, you are choosing to act and not compelled to." For someone who was frequently troubled by doubts pertaining to the way of life, the messages were like God sent. At this juncture, this is what could be Karma Yogam. "Doing" things without the sense of "doership" or "enjoyership." Coming back to her: I know she might think what on earth I am talking about here. And even if she understands the subject (which definitely needs some initiation into Hindu scriptures) to any considerable extent, she must still wonder how I link that to what we had discussed yesterday and in which way. Even I am not sure of, or bothered to find, the link. All I know now is that there is a way - however incomprehensible to her or others - to listen to the inner voice. This I realised - or reminded of - thanks to my discussion with her. Her way of listening could be different from that of mine. (Also, by no means I suggest here that I have listened to it so far.) # Saturday, March 13, 2004 ( 5:16 AM ) sankar SWIM Book Aruna, Suchitra and I met today and discussed about SWIM's book project. We agreed on few things: 1) the theme of the book will be karmayogam and its relevance in business, profession, etc 2) we will be interviewing people who are successful in life and believe and practice "karma yogam" - though their definition of this phrase may differ 3) the book can be written in English first, and can be translated into Tamil later. The next step is meeting a potential publisher, shortlisting people we would like to interview and setting up meetings with them - necessarily in that order. # ( 5:11 AM ) sankar All that shines is not success For all the talk of India being IT superpower, we do not have a single successful international IT product. All the success stories of Infosys, Wipro, TCS, in a way indirectly reinforce that we are obdient, talented, productive, efficient coders. Just that. But we need someone outside to project lead us. We cannot innovate. Our government and industry take pride in claiming that India is becoming the world's back office. Our attitude is about being "practical." Some of us ask, "We earn in dollars, what is there to complain about?" Recently I asked a top leather industry person why India is not having its own brand in leather in international market. He replied that by not having a product we are not going to lack behind anyone in terms of technology. "Look at China. It is the world leader in leather. But it does not have a single brand," he said and added, "We have passed that stage where we were worried about the lack of brands. In fact, we do not need a brand." The debate of product vs backoffice is a very old one. However, Prof Patrick, whom I interviewed today set my thinking to this subject. At this moment, I somehow feel that outsourcing is something inferior. May be the progressive countries should compete with each other as innovators. May be there will be a world order where the US will not be the only innovating country. Even there will be a situation where countries would try to keep frontend and backend jobs with them. I also think that America as an innovator, which it is today, will not outsource its backend operations to India. Probably because it may see the scope for adding value in the backend work, which we Indians are doing now. Similarly, India will not deploy its mind to executing projects outsourced to it by the US. There will be no outsourcing as we understand it today. May be there will be only co-sourcing, as it is happening in some cases already. # Friday, March 12, 2004 ( 7:09 AM ) sankar Reception Magazines Hi Kribs I finally implemented your suggestion - I kept all the latest copies of all our group publications at our office reception area! So, when you come to our office next time, you will see them all. Chant Machine I have just bought a chanting machine for rs. 275. It has 36 chants, short prayers, etc. I think my mother will be happy. # Tuesday, March 09, 2004 ( 1:14 AM ) sankar Label Today, a (growing?) section of consumers boycott products if they think that the products are manufactured in some poor countries exploiting children living in poverty. Kashmiri carpets, Sivakasi fireworks are some of the products that suffered in the Western markets for this reason a couple of years ago. I have learnt that for some time now it has become necessary for the producers of carpets to obtain a third party certificate/label that assures that no child labour is involved in the making of the products. How about turning our attention also to certain environmental issues. Take for instance this news item that appeared in the Hindu Business Line. It informs: "...manufacturing one desktop computer and 17-inch CRT monitor uses at least 240 kg of fossil fuels, 22 kg of chemicals and 1,500 kg of water - a total of 1.8 tonnes of materials - roughly the weight of a rhinoceros or sports utility vehicle." Why can't manufacturers measure and inform the public the levels of consumption of water, energy, etc? At least, it will help them realise how much they can contribute to conservation of resources. # Saturday, March 06, 2004 ( 11:05 PM ) sankar Blog Pro I always pester my non-blogger friends to get hooked into blogging. Saravanan and Prema are yet to start it. Vijay is doing it but once in a Mahamaham. Susan is still thinking what to blog after her single post some 6, 7 months ago. Shrividhya has just been intiated into this. Parkkalam! # ( 10:52 PM ) sankar Mouse Trap I asked my mother to shut down the computer this afternoon. I verbally instructed her how to hold the mouse, move the cursor towards the start button without assisting her physically. She attempted to bring the cursor where she wanted for more than ten minutes but couldn't. She gave it up ultimately. # Monday, March 01, 2004 ( 7:14 AM ) sankar Dear diary, Today I got up very late - it was around 8 am. We, the whole office, went out for lunch. I borrowed two books: The Elephant Paradigm and Technical Report Writing Today from Eloor Lending Library. I spoke to Mr Jayaraman, author Economics and Vedanta and requested him to address the members of Spiritual Writers of Indian Media and Meet The Business Press. He agreed. The tentative time is 3:00 pm Saturday and venue: Chennai Press Club. A client of mine almost yelled at me for not keeping the deadline. # |
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