tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85507872024-03-13T19:15:42.916-07:00clogDeepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.comBlogger230125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-81105646946155381102015-03-22T03:28:00.001-07:002015-03-22T03:34:27.404-07:00Open Happiness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a cheeky story about a fisherman meeting a Harvard MBA where the fisherman is living a life of contentment with his minimal income. He had reasonable work hours, no stress, time to play with kids, meet friends, enjoy with family. The Harvard guy advises him on working harder, smarter, corporatiz-ing his work and become a millionaire. Fisherman then asks what would he do with all the money and the MBA tells him that then he can retire, catch fish, play with kids and on and on and I guess you got the message. My personal view is that the sweet spot lies somewhere in the middle for most of us. If you are a monk and you can be okay with anything in life then you are God, and most of the discussions don’t apply but for the average folks who feel happiness and sadness derived from external situations, I think a compromise between the two will be the best bet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As of now, the circle I move in is lopsided (a good percentage of them not all) on the side of doing too much and being too competitive and too stressed out. Obsessing over being the one with the last word in a pointless meeting, trying to get the wording right for some presentation to make the right impression, socializing with the right crowd in the right way to get noticed and the list goes on and on. To the extent, life becomes an endless series of performance oriented living and somewhere they need to be brought back.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you go to the core, life can be very fulfilling if you have the base of your needs covered from Maslow's hierarchy of needs and then have time for other tiers. To be able to take care of your base needs most of us need a lot less than what we have, but because we are on a treadmill with many others where the speed of treadmill represents the average speed of the guys running. So, to be able to just keep up, you have to be at par with the average. And why do you have to keep up, just because if you don’t, you feel you have lost and you lose your mind. So, there is an artificial association of happiness to this race. In fact, there is very little chance of gratification, as that is reserved only for the top few percent and the recent are just playing catch up. If you are doing well, you are less miserable, if you aren’t you are more miserable. The race is to avoid misery and not to attain happiness and hence the default setting here is misery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If only, people could realize this and dig deeper and try to find happiness in simpler things <a href="http://cokeurl.com/96jnc">like the coke ad below</a> suggests, they might end up having a lot more fulfillment and happiness!</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aQ3uhnByS1k" width="560"></iframe>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-10888495635462070062015-03-14T09:52:00.000-07:002015-03-14T09:52:07.252-07:00The Moments that count<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>We as human beings are always trying to maximize, it’s in our evolutionary genetics. What you try to maximize has a significant impact on your life.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had heard a lot about Conjuring before I went to see the horror for myself and I wasn't spooked as much as I thought I would be. Being a die-hard fan of the genre I was less than impressed with scare factor, but one thing that stuck from the movie was a scene where a picture of the family together was taken at a beach and the whole family seemed really happy. That moment becomes pivotal for the climax. I wondered how many such moments do we have in our lives that truly stay with us.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I recount, there aren't that many moments that always come to your head when you think about them. There are a scarce few though, those are still vivid and will probably remain that way for the rest of your life. There wasn't a particularly striking theme for all of those, some were moments of true happiness and some of true horror, but a good amount were neither and were banal from all known aspects. A lot of them came <a href="https://housing.com/">when I was together with my loved ones</a>. For the banal ones, I have a theory that those were the kind where you suddenly serendipitous-ly became fully aware of the ‘now’ and hence they remained etched in the memory forever.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are doing everything in our powers to maximize the number of moments in our lives but are we doing enough to maximize the moments that stay. I know, this is a cliche and more like the classic example of a cliche said by probably half of the world’s population. It still does make sense to be repeated because of the applicability.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will still remember the time when I got my job and I ran to the STD PCO outside my hostel to inform my parents. That indeed was a life changing moment but I will always remember the time when my father and my brother went to the circus in my really early childhood. I still remember the rain, the deluge, the cut short circus routine, the disappointment of not being able to see “maut ka kua” – a drill where they ride a bike on the sides of a sphere; it was cancelled due to the monstrous rain. I still remember a few glimpses of the streets we had to take because we couldn't take the normal route that was rendered un-usable by the rain. I can almost feel the wetness in my buttocks to this day and the numerous seat changes as the roof of the circus was leaking from many places. Not sure what made that moment stick, but it did and it keeps coming back to me and I can’t help but feel a little fondness and nostalgic about it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you are truly a saint, your every moment can be memorable but then for rest of us, we have to work it out. I have often thought about taking time off and be able to make these moments. It always ends up being a few days trip to a tourist spot, or a week at home, but not much other than that. It is almost always fairly routine with flashes of memor-ability sometimes. How hard would it be to think of taking a month off for vacation, with family without family, but without the worry of something clambering and waiting for your attention that you somehow shut out? It seems fairly possible to be able to do that, but I haven’t done that in more than a decade of my job. That probably is my best shot at making moments that count until a time when I become a saint!</span></div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-9839564628241997622015-03-10T04:29:00.000-07:002015-03-10T04:29:08.761-07:00The Depth of Abstraction<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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During an orientation I attended for one of my significant
promotions at work, someone kept repeating a phrase “Get comfortable with
uncomfortable” like a mantra. Every now and then throughout the day it would be
thrown in for good measure. I tend to forget most of the stuff I hear in these kinds
of sessions, but this is one of the few that stuck. </div>
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This isn't a concrete advice with specifics; rather it sets
the tone and has applicability everywhere.</div>
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The reason this remained stuck is because it internally spawned
in me a chain of thoughts and for the first time I fully realized the wisdom of
abstract advises. I have often considered them useless in past as being too generic
to be useful, something said because of lack of thought into putting it in more
concrete terms, in short - bullshit </div>
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Recently I was trying to advice someone on similar lines and
reached a point where I mentioned to him that you don’t need advice on
specifics, you need a generic meta-advice. An example of one such advice would
be a case where I offer 10 things as suggestions on various aspects you can
improve and the 11<sup>th</sup> advice I give you is “act on advice received”<span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>. So effectively the 11<sup>th</sup>
advice is sort of meta-advice but holds real value especially if you aren't
really acting on advises.</div>
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Another example once came to my mind was giving someone
advice on how to keep himself healthy. The advice can be broken down to granular
on keeping your heart healthy, limbs healthy, liver healthy, digestion healthy
and so on. If that someone happens to be someone who falls sick very often, I think
a meta/abstract advice would be to try and work on his immune system. If you
can make that strong the other parts will be taken care of. So, you have set
the tone and direction of what you are trying to do and then you still do what
you have to do to keep your body parts healthy but then you always have the
context in your head.</div>
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This advice held the same potential for me and I realized
the power of having such mental frameworks to ease your life especially with all
the cut-throat-ness in this world thrown into the mix for good measure. This
simple advice can be applied whenever you are feeling bad and just by observing
and knowing that you are in this specific situation that you are supposed to
learn from, changes the scenario from victim-hood to one of coping and learning
from it. The more practice you get the better you get at it. So every time you
are in deep shit, rather than feeling you are in deep shit, you can visualize
yourself as being in intense practice <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span>
This may sound like bullshit, but think about it – when you are working out you
are putting yourself through intense pain, much harder than a moderate slap on
your face during a fight. Which one would hurt more? The pain inflicted by a
slap will be much harder to bear than the pain of your workout, despite the
huge difference in the actual pain element associated with the two. So, what is
different, the way you perceive the pain – one is an insult, the other is your
own pursuit. Now, the basic point of the lengthy explanation is that your suffering
isn't determined by the magnitude of pain, but the context and your perception
of that pain. If you could change that you can free yourself from it! You can
extend this to any situation and hence we are back to the point of discomfort.
If you can find a way to handle discomfort (generated by job, spouse, kids,
parents, friends, traffic) and be OK with it, you have found your way to
nirvana!</div>
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So, think about some abstract/meta advises you would like to
apply in your life and then apply. Few basic tenets you should keep in mind – Our
bodies and brains are infinitely elastic and respond to challenges and practice,
they have the power to become better and the second one - whatever you need in
life to be at peace is present within you (no matter who you are!). So with
these two basic tenets and a video about hope below from <a href="https://housing.com/">an upcoming start up</a>, find out your own set of
rules and start a new life full of hope, happiness and most importantly inner
peace!</div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1FXdCjk505w" width="560"></iframe></div>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-14753035710915468272015-03-05T09:43:00.001-08:002015-03-05T09:43:59.175-08:00The Shawshank Redemption Re-reviewed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the best lines ever said in a movie or elsewhere come
from the movie “The Shawshank Redemption”. It is an inspiring movie; the pace
of the movie belies the climax. </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every time I hear word hope, I get reminded of
the movie and the line above. Every time I think about it, I get to think about it in a different
way, based on the phase of life I am in and the state of mind I am in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The part that I hadn't noticed so much earlier but that
comes to my mind when I got reminded of the movie today was the pace. There was
hardly any urgency or many tense moments throughout the movie. It just takes an
easy and lazy pace, definitely out of tune with the climax that is awaiting
you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I also thought a little bit about the restlessness that
comes with hope. Your restlessness is driven of the fact that you don’t like
your current state and you would like to change and you have some hope of changing
it. But the fact that there is restlessness is enough to spoil your present and
for some folks that is the kind of hope they have, which can make them miserable,
like Red said in the movie.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let me tell you
something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The kind of state Andy appears to be in the movie is a sense
of acceptance that comes with finality. Some times that fact that you are in a
dead end state drives acceptance and you end up compromising with your current
situation. That is the sense you get out of most part of the movie as he tries
to do things inside the prison as if he is going to be there forever. The acceptance
hides behind itself an indomitable spirit and an undying hope that remained
alive despite near impossibility of ever being able to get out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the end the hope does work out, but the aspect that
struck me more this time is the possibility, what if it hadn't. Would that be
considered a sad ending? It wouldn't be exemplary ending (and definitely worse for a movie), but then the way
things seemed to be going it seemed an acceptable ending for Andy. He was doing things, changing
his world in little ways possible for himself. He built a name and reputation
for himself, made real friends, real relationships, had leisure, time to
indulge in his hobbies (some if not all). A lot of things people in the outside
world struggle to keep because of a lifestyle they chose for themselves or
decisions they made in life. The point that struck me was, it probably would
have been OK for Andy even if he wasn't able to break out. He seemed happy and
content with where he was. Even though he was aspiring for more, it wasn't as
much from a sense of hating his situation and trying to escape it, it came more
out of being OK with the situation but still striving to be at a better place,
a content-er place if you will. As he also comments at some point</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Get busy living, or
get busy dying<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A hope that drives madness and spoils your current situation isn't real hope. The best kind is the one where you don’t end up being
miserable in your present, <a href="https://housing.com/lookup">yet you look up </a>to something even better.</span></div>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-9289550545487181112015-03-01T03:20:00.003-08:002015-03-01T03:20:42.974-08:00Self Reliance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How great would it be, when everybody in the world gives
more than he/she receives in all the aspects of life! If only that one cardinal
rule is followed the world will be a constantly improving place</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now that I have a lot of friends who have young kids and are
trying to inculcate values in them that will shape their lives forever, I can
see different patterns. Some patterns are recognizable as inherited as they are
things that their parents did with them and hence assumed to be the best possible
things. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lot of people mistake good parenting with being
subservient to the kids’ demands. A “no” for something is regarded as a lack of
care or resources; more so when it comes to things that your kids’ friends have.
Seeing what I have seen around, I think the last thing you would want to happen
to you is to be seen as someone not caring about your kid. Most of the times,
the conclusion becomes lack of resources and that’s an insult to the ego of parents.
It is more common than you think to have parents put their ego (in reality) in
front when dealing with such situations. It is easy and guilt free because all the
while you are convinced that you are doing the right thing, in fact the best
possible thing! However, there lies the catch. In succumbing to any demand your
kid makes or anything that is driven out of peer pressure, you are
essentially letting someone else drive your parenting. Now that may or may not
be the right thing, but the fact remains, you have forsaken your judgment. You
have outsourced your thinking and will let others, your peers, decide what you
do. This is generally a bad rule in life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is however, another class of people, who realize this
and let their own principles guide them. They are the ones who would make their
kids clean up their own mess whenever possible. They will make them say sorry
when they make a mistake and make it known to them what is wrong and what is
right. Those guys will do a great job at making independent and self reliant kids.
While it may seem that you are helping your kid by doing his/her work or covering or defending their mistakes, it
actually weakens them in long run, make them dependent on you and in worse cases make them bad people. I am still surprised
by the number of people who would support their argument with, my parents did
the same to me as if they are some benchmark of propriety; a gift to mankind.
In doing so, they are validating their parents as the best examples of parental
care and themselves a perfect specimen that came out as a result of that
perfect care.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new ad by <a href="http://www.hdfclife.com/">HDFC</a> bucks the trend, and shows
the value of self reliance and how you can be caring yet be able to push your
kids in the right direction by letting go of the support gently and
thoughtfully. A brilliant ad that I am sure is going to catch the attention of
a lot of folks.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rg8mH2I4VBM" width="560"></iframe></div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-78179503859428438502015-02-28T01:12:00.001-08:002015-02-28T01:13:22.961-08:00Painless Upgrade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The market for second hand goods is gaining pace and
automobiles are not far behind. An endeavor that once would have meant many
weekends spent in finding second hand car dealers and then checking their
inventory is now transformed to an online marketplace where you have the choice
available at the click of a button. It is also to be noted that a dealer acts
like an exchange and makes commission from both the sides, so there is inherent
friction built into the deal that is eating away hard earned money from the both
the buyer and seller and making the middle man richer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My first second (!) hand car buying experience was spread
over many weekends of searching the showrooms, keeping track of the models they
had and multiple visits to them before I could finalize something. I am pretty
sure, I ended up paying a little extra due to the commission made by the
dealer, and this is beyond what he claimed he made on the deal. With online
places like <a href="http://www.quikr.com/">quikr next</a>, now a large part of the research can be
done at the comfort of your home and you can talk to the seller directly. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I had mentioned in past, there was a tendency in our
previous generation to attach a lot of emotional significance to their purchases,
things like my first car, my first something else. And in most cases those
first remained their last ones too, because they were reluctant to sell those
off or possibly they were never able to because they never go the right price
for it. Considering the limited second hand market, they would never find the
price satisfying for their vehicle and then will choose to stick with it rather
than sell it a price that they find insulting for their prized possession. So,
there they were stuck with their old goods forever and cherishing their
emotions around it. Not the case anymore, current generations don’t think much
of replacing “people” in their lives, much less thought would be spared for
things. And no one is looking forward to a life where they develop an emotional
bond with their car and never feel like selling it off. With the <a href="http://www.quikr.com/">options available in the market</a>, it is far more tempting now to sell
your current car at a good price and get a better one at a reasonable price, a
gradual painless process of upgrade! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And with options like <a href="http://www.quikr.com/">quikr next</a> which is a chat based
system, you get a lot of benefits like privacy, ability to keep track of the
discussions and no endlessly interrupting calls. Most of the offices are now following
an open theme for seating (which I find absolutely useless for any creative
pursuit because of the all the built in interruptions, but I digress, topic for
another day), it is very hard to hold a conversation without annoying the hell
out of your co-workers, in such cases, an asynchronous chat based system comes
as a blessing!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I have said many times before, the world has never been better
for people looking to get things purely for their use without investing the
savings of their lifetime and without sacrificing countless weekends in the
search of a deal<span style="font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-15650500149085116842015-02-17T08:26:00.005-08:002015-02-17T08:26:56.782-08:00The Retirement Myth<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is interesting that
the bane of our successful working class isn't laziness, on the
contrary it may be too much work<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many folks including myself would speak of their early retirements
at the start of their careers. All blue eyed, hopeful, optimistic and full of
energy, it all seems like a steep rise to top in the next 10 years or so,
giving you enough money and constant income to have you retire in peace. Few
people got it right and I only read it few years back and it all makes so much
sense. <a href="http://fourhourworkweek.com/">Tim Ferris got it right in his 4 hour workweek</a> and the <a href="http://www.inc.com/peter-cohan/success-is-controlling-how-you-spend-your-time.html">Peter Cohan inthis article</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are not looking for a life of zero work, I don’t think
most of us will survive that kind of life, more so after a life where you could
make enough money in ten years to last your life time. Unless you are truly
lucky to win a lottery, any such achievement would come after many 100+ hour
weeks and you would be incapable of dealing with the emptiness of no work. So,
essentially, what we look for isn’t really zero work, but freedom from
constraints, a control over your life, your time. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you could spend your days the way you want without having
to worry about putting food on table or saving up for your kids’ college,
marriage and what not, you would have the life you want. This all makes a lot
of sense, and begs the question - is it really worth waiting 20 or 30 years and
have a retired life where you are not worried about all the things mentioned
above. Would you even have the energy to do what you want with your free time
then? </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Instead of planning for a deferred retired, peaceful life,
figure out what you would like to do. You may come to realize that all that you
are looking for doesn’t need you to retire fully, all it might need for all you
know is a little bit extra time in your life and may be slightly better
financial planning? <a href="http://www.idbifederal.com/Pages/wholelife.aspx?utm_source=Video_LandingPage&utm_medium=Video_LP_GPS&utm_campaign=Video_LP_on_GPS">Like the ad below from IDBI federal Life Insurance</a> trying to
free you up from worrying about some part of your financial needs. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iCwysxW0-QI" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, this may be true for some, not for others, but what makes
sense for everyone would be to have a list of things they would like to do if they
could get a chance to live worry-free. Here is mine</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been too fond of reading all my life. I spent first
18 years of my life without reading any English novel, but devouring every
piece of reading material I could get my hands on at my home. We never had a
reading culture at home (more so English) and I never realized how much I loved
it. Come college, I see a Hostel library and I got hooked. I read more than 55
books that year ( I was keeping count), of course, the grades nosedived, but
that’s how I started and my constant regret is, so many books, not enough time!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Play/Exercise</b> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Again something I did as much as I could, but wasn’t into it
formally ever. But started playing table tennis a little more seriously in
college, and then later on got into running, yoga, gym-ming, swimming. I may
not look super-athletic, but I enjoy it !</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Movies/Music</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With web 2.0, there is only more to do here and I would like
to lap it up all</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Write</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Writing for fun, un-constrained, un-supervised</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learn</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something, anything</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Make Money/Grow an
enterprise/Solve Problems</b>: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is the bit where I would like to fit my job or is a
proxy for a job. However, a job that lets me enjoy the other things without
putting pressure to choose from them, or ignore them. Of course, there are
rarely those jobs, and even if there are, there will be peer pressure, a
constant sense of competition with your immediate peers forcing you to push
just a bit harder. This is a bane for all of us, in big scheme of things, all of
us have lost the race in one way or the other if we really think we are in a
race, but we always change our scope to make it interesting/horrible for us. And
we stick to our own treadmills forever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Write your own list, figure out what it is really, and make
a move!</span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-38222493365842735292015-01-31T08:39:00.003-08:002015-01-31T08:39:37.264-08:00Pensioners' paradise and Visitors' nightmare<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite being in Bangalore for a long time now, I haven’t
been able to reconcile with the one ways especially in the business district, the
area next to M G Road. I was trying to reach a place that would have taken me
20 minutes under normal traffic and if I knew the way, took me an hour to reach
because I came within few hundred meters twice and took the wrong turn. Horrible
traffic conditions and lag in GPS meant I was always one step behind and paid
the price heavily. All this extra time I kept thinking and thinking. The only logical
reason to create so many one ways is to optimize the traffic and one ways
should somehow help it, though considering all the extra traffic I generated owing
to my wrong turns, it would have more than compensated for the savings.
Obviously I will think that way because due to all the one ways I suffered and
will mark them as evil.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That got me thinking, who would design a city in this way
where navigation is such a challenge. This arrange can be convenient if either or both of the following holds: its a really small city and/or the population here has been living there forever. Those will ensure that everyone knows the way like the back of their hands and will generate an overall optimized traffic. This theory </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">aligns well with the reputation
of the city as pensioner’s paradise. The problem with this is, it becomes rather
un-welcoming for new and not so new people.</span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-86820157847750562422015-01-31T06:59:00.003-08:002015-01-31T06:59:41.395-08:00Don't Repeat Yourself<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I posted about the benefits of having a vibrant second hand
market and its handiness when it comes to folks who are looking to set up base
in short amount of time without having to spend a bomb and a series of weekends
exploring.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.quikr.com/">Quikr</a> has already given an awesome market place for these transactions and is always looking to up
the game and make it a better experience for the users. With quikr next, they
are introducing quikr chat which is going to be a great thing on many counts. Here are the reasons I would prefer chatting over a phone call.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reduce
Interruptions</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We live in a world of interruptions. While
it is impossible to eliminate it, it is wise to reduce it as much as possible
for preserving your own sanity. A phone call leaves little room for
multi-tasking and snatches you away from whatever you are doing. Responding
to chat, on other hand, can be dealt with an asynchronous manner. A significant improvement in our
overly interruption ridden world.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Multi-task<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chat gives an option for you to speak to many
people at once, often times re-using responses as opposed to a phone chat,
where you can talk to only one person at a time and things get recorded only if someone is explicitly transferring the data
from voice format to some other longer lasting format than your memory.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Convenience</b></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is hard to take calls and talk in office
at your desk unless you have a plush personal office to use which many of us
are really not fortunate enough to have. For those of us, having an option to continue a quiet chat makes a lot of sense.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Privacy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are always worried about handing out
your phone number with the large number of marketing calls you receive. Despite
being extremely cautious about giving out my number, I get a lot more marketing
calls than I would be comfortable with.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Record
Keeping<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You will be talking to a good number of
people and both as a buyer and a seller you would want to keep track of what
things were discussed, which would include some clarifications around nuances
that matter to you but don’t always get captured in the fixed categorization and
text put in the ad. You can keep track of all those with chat and will be super
handy when closing in your option. With phone in one hand, it will be
challenging for someone to really note down the information, simply too inconvenient
when compared to the comfort of being able to chat and preserve the information
forever.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheaper
than phone call<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You save money on phone calls! Data is much
cheaper than voice, until now that is. Things may change in future but as it stands
now, you do spend a lot more for the details you share using voice than when you
send it as text/image over internet. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like I said in <a href="http://0deepesh.blogspot.in/2015/01/rolling-stones-need-online-market-place.html">previous blog</a>, things are much sweeter for everyone these days and more in-line with the times. These simple
but extremely effective features are going to be make a significant impact on
the way people buy/sell things and set up their homes!</span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-58479220385205326302015-01-24T03:24:00.003-08:002015-01-24T03:24:50.905-08:00Spoilt for Choice<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Asus has some great
products to showcase in recent times. The two that came to my inbox for checking
the features are Eeebook and the “All in one” PC. To begin with, the look and
feel of both the products is top notch and you will be tempted to go for both.
In our day to day life, the time spent on our devices (for good or bad) will
definitely mean we need different screens for different settings. I already own
quite a few of these “screens” and have designated use for all of them but then
the moment you see something new, you got to check it out. So, let’s see what
each of these got</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 13.5pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.flipkart.com/asus-eeebook?otracker=ch_vn_laptop_promowidget_banner_tab_1&__view=desktop"><span style="color: yellow;">ASUS EeeBook X205TA</span></a></b> - A compact laptop, with a decent sized screen and under 1 kg, definitely something you can carry with ease. The features that matter to me are</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> Under 1 kg with a full function keyboard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> 12 hours battery life</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> A decent sized screen for a portable device</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.amazon.in/b?ie=UTF8&node=5731179031"><span style="color: yellow;">ASUS All In One PC ET2040</span></a></b> – This one is a full-fledged desktop that doesn't really fill your desk unnecessarily despite such a healthy screen size. The features that matter to me are</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> Heavy duty power – 2.4 GHz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> Screen size – I am a big fan of big screens especially when working and 19.5 inch, you won’t be left wanting for bigger screen be it work or pleasure</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> Hand Gestures – while this needs to be tested in person to see how effective they are, but if you are like me who watches a lot of stuff online, YouTube or otherwise, this may come in very handy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> Power backup – need I explain this</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">-> LED Display – “seeing will be believing” but going by the experience of LED TVs, this may be a killer feature.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Looking at these two products, I think everybody would want to have one of those for different use cases. I, for one, am more impressed with the ALL in one PC as it gives me an elegant desktop for my home that I can use for my work as well as for multimedia entertainment. My work usually involves looking at a lot of data or looking at things in detail where a larger screen translates into higher productivity. In fact, if I had my way, I would love to mount an array of screens on a wall, but you don’t always have your way. A screen this size is definitely something you can’t complain too much about.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">EEEBook is great when you work on the go and your work involves more than browsing internet or sending small messages/mails. Tablets are great for those browsing needs, but the moment you have to type something substantial you are left fighting with the device, instead of being able to focus on the task at hand. This looks like a great balance between usability and compactness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For those who work on the go a lot more and need a sleek, long lasting, lightweight laptop, they will end up loving EEEbook, but for me, the pc takes the cake.</span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-14704093445414764892015-01-24T01:14:00.001-08:002015-01-24T01:14:08.766-08:00All in<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not an expressive person and when it comes to talking about
my personal life I get even shyer. However, the lure of a gift voucher and an
opportunity to write about one of the rare things I have done in my life to
express someone’s importance in my life, decided to go ahead with it. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Considering the picture I gave above regarding myself, it isn't hard to guess that I had an arranged marriage. There was no courtship,
followed by realization leading up to proposal. Well, it was one of those new
age arranged marriages where there is interaction before closing the deal,
however, the intent from the start was to explore marriage and the only options
were, get married or forget about the whole thing ever happened and move on to
the next prospective match! Sounds clinical, but that’s how it is. Well, I am
sure there are people who can turn this into a courtship and proposal routine,
but none of that for me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given not much was done earlier, I tried few things later on
to make it interesting. Small things like hiding gifts in unusual places, and …
maybe that’s it :(. Amidst
all these banal attempts, there was however, one that I would call a really
successful one and if I have to think of a way for proposing someone, I will
gladly convert the same idea into a proposal. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She was gone for a while to visit her parents, my parents,
relatives, basically a fairly long visit to our “native” as we call it here in
South India. I had time in my hand and got some ideas on creating albums for our
family. They look like picture books, literally like books with your pictures
in it. I created many of those, but the one in question was about how I met my then
future wife for the first time after speaking to her on phone for a month or so
and then all the meetings in between and so on. Speaking to her on phone, I was impressed with
a few things, not so impressed with others, but at the end few things were
clear. We were completely different people, but if there was someone who could
tolerate me and stick with me, it was her and if there was someone who I wish
would do this for me, it was her. I guess, rest of the stuff, felt less important,
though it manifests itself in our daily lives, in the form of constant
disagreements but we never hit each other so I guess we are good :).</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, I was shameless enough to click pictures of our first meeting
and she didn't mind either. We never proposed as such, but talked in general
that day and absence of any no, meant yes from both the sides. Once official I had
the pictures of all the other time we spent together leading up to the marriage
and then our first anniversary. So, I collected all those and arranged them in
a nice sequence and got that book done.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, she was back and this time also there were the usual
hidden gifts, and I guess she was already bored with that. Over the weekend, we
decide to go to a mall. The two of us were roaming around in the mall and reach
to a studio with all sorts of fancy personalized things. I suggested we explore
(or maybe she did as she likes all these things) and so we go. We checkout a
lot of sample mugs, t-shirts and then reach the album sections. The moment we
pick the album, she is frozen, sort of petrified, not knowing what happened,
and whether it was real. It was “our” album with us on the cover page. Well, that
was a “shock” very well received and I felt all the preparation that went in
was worth it. With support from my brother who coordinated with the studio on
that day to put our album out in the samples at the right time.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, this would be my proposal, except that the
last page instead of holding the picture of our first anniversary, there will be
a question, the big question! It will be an all in proposal, completely
documented, leaving no room for saving your face in case things don’t work out.
It will be bold. So go forward, <a href="http://cupidgames.closeup.in/">take the cupid challenge</a> and make it bold if you are looking to do it. </span></span></div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-3773696237388576662015-01-13T20:26:00.000-08:002015-01-13T20:29:48.811-08:00Rolling Stones need online Market Places<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How many times you have heard your parents or grandparents
wistfully talking about the furniture they bought, there first (and many times
only) bike or car. How all those things were not just things for them as they
lived with them for so many years that they became a part of their identity! Some
of the folks we knew as our parents’ friends could actually be labeled with
their vehicles or clothes, because they were just there, always, never changing.
You would often witness them sweating over the quality of the stuff and be
extremely particular about what they were buying because it always seemed like
a life time decision and hence all the due diligence was worth it. I have a
chair at my parents’ place that is 40+ years old and that’s just one among many
other things and definitely not the oldest. But gone are those days, I believe,
and for good (both in terms of never coming back as well as this being good as
a trend). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The trend is changing and the mindset is changing too and I like
it. The static nature of life is giving way to a more fungible and flexible
mindset. The life of a job used to be 35-40 years because most of the older
generation worked with government or government like private companies. People would
often stick to their hometowns as much as it was possible. It wasn’t uncommon for
people to pass up promotions just to be able to stay in the same place. Having
this set up, it made some sense to invest a lot of time and attention in
setting up your house as you were doing it once forever but not so any more. This
generation isn’t sticking to jobs or cities or countries or marriages (not
good!) for too long, so it is only natural to adjust the rest of our habits
accordingly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am not one of those who fall in love with their stuff. I
hold all the stuff of life at a distance and a strong believer of buy and sell
approach. I think finally, the world is now coming to a place which I feel more
comfortable with. There is a <a href="http://bangalore.quikr.com/">great second hand online market</a> and you don’t have to spend a bomb or weeks finding the right stuff for you.
You just have to log in, browse through the ads and voila, you are done.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many years ago when I moved to Bangalore, even when I could
have transported some stuff at my new employer’s cost, I decided to take only
what I could with me on the flight. Coming here, a lot of weekends were spent
in finding the right shops and then one by one I got things and buying after
marriage is a totally different ballgame that I won’t even venture to discuss
today. So, for my bachelor setup, I had to go for new stuff, because there was
no reliable marketplace that I could use to buy decent goods at decent price. The
world today is so much better though.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are rolling stones and we are not looking to gain moss, we
find our freedom and salvation in <a href="http://bangalore.quikr.com/">online marketplaces</a>!</span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-35880226301816891292014-12-31T02:12:00.004-08:002014-12-31T02:12:38.179-08:00STT: Speech to Text<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
<span style="orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; widows: 2;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;">Just realized the power of text to speech in smartphones. It was pretty accurate and possibly there is no going back now as it is so much easier than typing. This may be one of the biggest game changer for me in 2015. This post was entirely done using speech to text on my mobile phone, needed a little correction here and there but around 80% accurate.</span></span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-43525795800755403072014-12-28T04:50:00.001-08:002014-12-28T04:50:25.565-08:00PK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
How much money can you make by paying attention in your primary school moral science class? Well crores for sure and enough to break records all time bollywood box office records.<br />
<br />
I have never been a big fan of satyamev jayate as is well known to people around me. The primary reason is, we don't need Amir Khan to tell us to be basically decent, kind, play and many other things. Though in reality, it seems a good number of people like to be told! It also doesn't give me any gratification to appreciate the efforts of others who are doing some great work. Not that i don't appreciate their work, but me seeing it and appreciating is not my idea of being a responsible citizen. Not pegging my efforts on any scale, I just feel, to each his own, and I am no one to judge anybody else for not doing anything about it except when it comes to hurting others, that's totally terrible and for that I don't need a show to tell me.<br />
<br />
Anyway, continuing on that theme apparently there is another message you get in the movie PK which has gotten cash registers ringing non stop all over the country. There is some outrage from various sections of the society because of the usual - "I may be wrong, but you didn't show someone else' folly? and that gives me enough right to question and oppose and litigate you". Well, it is totally understandable to see why the movie showed what it did, and didn't show what it didn't. This was the most convenient story/themes they could bring in without any massive repercussions.<br />
<br />
Well, I took some objection to the movie as well, but mainly because I felt there was a little bit of over-generalization. Few Babas being bad doesn't mean all are bad, people being forced to donate money in temples isn't something I have seen (so really doubt if it's common), general idol worship (well, that's an issue too?). Some of the practices are not fundamentally wrong. There will always be a case of bad sheep but that shouldn't be enough to rubbish a religion or a broader philosophy. Terrorists using Quaran as their guide shouldn't be used as a reason to rubbish their teachings or labeling all muslims as terrorists. Also, the movie has gone too literal when it looks at people visiting temples, may be a lot of them go their with their applications, but probably not all and they are meant to be spiritual symbols and people go their for experiencing peace.<br />
<br />
The general population who takes all the godmen seriously good or bad will probably take the movie too seriously as well and will start thinking that "all" religious practices are bad. And to all those who want to argue that until science proves something it isn't to be believed, well, gravity existed before science recognized it and gave it a name and there may be such things. So, let's go with the middle path and leave a little room open for doubts, skepticism, questioning either way and keep it cool. Going to either extreme is stupid and in that the film falls in the same trap that it's trying to expose!</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-21860273292569042562014-12-28T04:07:00.001-08:002014-12-28T04:07:25.797-08:00Music stuck at different times<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A government bus ride in a small town will definitely lead you to listen to some songs from strange times in past. I end up hearing songs that were released 20 years back and yet, all the buses and some times cabs play them. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aashiqui">Ashiqui</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilwale">Dilwale</a> are two hot favorites. It seems they just bought the music at that time and then nobody bothered to change it. May be that was the time the bus was bought and hence the songs remained stuck. Recently my barber's tv was broken and he ended up playing songs from his mobile and surprise surprise, he was playing Dilwale (and he is a south Indian!!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have a friend who listens to songs that were popular during our college years. Without revealing my exact age, that is pretty far back in past.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recycle my collection a little more often and other than few solitary songs, most of the playlist consists of stuff from 4 years back. Today I made it a point to recycle my playlists to change the situation for myself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't know what it is, but everybody seems to just get stuck to some point in the past and continues to be there in some way through the music and just can't let go of it.</span></div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-77709915217508959532014-12-27T07:40:00.000-08:002014-12-27T07:40:57.379-08:00Lies we tell ourselves<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kinley as a brand has always focused on themes involving trust,
because in a way you trust them with your life when you decide to drink their
water! </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their most recent campaign is another case in point. The beautiful
campaign stresses the importance of being truthful with the ones we love.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/RvGOTeJsZb8" width="560"></iframe></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The ads feature kids telling their parents lies about their
whereabouts but end up “confessing” for the sake of their peace of mind. The ad
touches upon the emotional bond between parents and children and the importance
of trust in it. It’s a big deal to break that trust, though at transaction-al level there seems to be very little to lose. The ads have definitely generated a lot of
interest and has caught people’s attention because I have come across a few
parodies and that’s one way to judge the public interest. One of them
goes like this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Boy: Dad, I told you that I am with a friend studying</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dad: yes?</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Boy : I lied, I am having drinks with my friends</i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Dad : Why are you telling me now? </i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Boy :I wasn’t getting high because I had lied</i></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On a serious note, I think the ad takes Indian relationships
to the next stage of evolution. Traditionally, the best way to ensure kids are
on the right track was prohibition, so much similar to everything else in our
society. However, we are turning a corner with many things and are getting it
right on more fundamental level; bring in the internal moral compass. A kid
should not break the trust of their parents because of fear of reprimand, but
because it is wrong and I think the ad does a good job of showing that
maturity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The lies we tell people we trust are horrible, not because
of their immediate effect, but their potential to break the trust that is far
more valuable than the situation you are trying to salvage. Our conscience
weighs on us, forcing us to blurt out the truth, and for a good reason. Our gut
understands the value of upholding the trust as it forms the foundation of our relationships.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is another class of lies that are dangerous equally,
if not more. These are lies that we tell ourselves. And “trust” me we lie to
ourselves more than anyone else because we are forever living with ourselves.
The lies we tell ourselves can be in any form, can originate due to a variety
of reasons, but in all cases these are things that take us away from who we are
– they take away our authenticity. It can be a voice advising you in office
that it’s dirty politics but sometimes we have to do it – so let’s play along
and you do; or a voice telling you that this is how everyone is supposed to be
and hence so should you when you don’t feel comfortable with it and yet you end
up being that! You convince yourself to be what your gut tells you not to be.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is far more common than you think though really subtle
and usually influenced by people who are good and have noble intentions but end
up hurting you deeply. As they say, the road to hell is paved with good
intentions!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have read sermons in the context of corporate
lessons that being authentic has a value in the long run even if it means in
short term you end up losing a little bit. It’s a good selling pitch but really
unnecessary, authenticity is a reward in itself, it doesn't need any other
crutch to sell it. Being truthful about you who are will form a stronger
foundation of your life than pretty much anything else. It is far better to be
happy and yourself than anything else, success, social status or any other form
of social index is completely irrelevant. It’s easier said than done, as we
have lived our lives forever bench-marking it based on others’ idea of success.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The way the kinley ad shows the next stage in the evolution of
our relationships, moving on from prohibition to trust, we need to turn a leaf
too. Take the target from success to happiness, from compliance to
authenticity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your intellect determines
where you start your life, being aware determines where you end.</span><o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-48010956534294768262014-12-27T07:02:00.005-08:002014-12-27T07:02:42.725-08:00This is it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is this it? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">well it isn’t</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">right now, isn’t what I want, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">always the case, always the same</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">moments after moment</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hoping another one will be right</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">stuck with “this isn’t it” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">being stuck is the haze</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you see in every sense, but then you don’t</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the difference becomes clear</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">only when the blur is gone</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">you know what you are missing </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">only when you get</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The realization,</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">now is “the moment” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">can alone bring that moment</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">that’s the only option</span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-40157358571562097082014-12-21T09:42:00.000-08:002014-12-21T09:42:18.188-08:00It's what you make of it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.flipkart.com/passionaate-gospel-true-love-mystical-story/p/itmd9ybcf9qm7sca?pid=9788192105109&otracker=from-search&srno=t_1&query=poonaam+uppal+&ref=665a3878-5c80-4a50-b0a3-c20af207cfd7">Poonaam Uppal's book - A Passionaate Gospel of True Love : A Mystical True Love Story</a> deals with a sensitive subject that begs the question whether it is right to have pre-marital sex or not!</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While all the questions on "morality" beg a simple yes or no answer, time and again, it is proved that it's usually the context that is important in deciding these questions. Is something good or bad, on its own, it's neither, yet it can be both based on the context.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is Chocolate good or bad? Well it may be bad for you if you are diabetic, but if you like it and it puts you in a good mood, it's good for you. A limited consumption ain't for sure going to kill you and if it gives you immense joy, so nothing really wrong in it.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When dealing with matters of morality and in cases lack of it causing crimes, the talk is always about the incidents and their correlations and link them. However, it is pretty common folly to no realize that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlation_does_not_imply_causation">Correlation does not imply causation</a>. (<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">All the people who get divorces are married, does that imply marriage is main reason for divorce, it's good as a joke but inane as a conclusion</span></i>) So, there we </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fall in the trap of blaming the "circumstantial" and not looking at the core. You see a rape incident by a driver employed by uber and you ban them! If a rape happens on road, would you ban building road, or if it happens in a house, will you ban houses? It's simply confusing the root cause, it was just circumstantial that the rapist happened to be a driver and was destined to face the situations where he just lost it, but the root cause is within him, not in the cab. Sometimes, if it's really the medium that makes it easy to do some crime, it may make sense to use a stopgap arrangement of making the medium hard to get or illegal, but the real treatment still needs to happen within. The real change should always come from something deeper.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same logic can be applied to the question of pre-marital sex. Is it good or bad, it's neither without context, and it is both with some context. It is easy to dole out advice regarding it either way. There is one extreme, the right wing as it's known, that will bring in the question of our culture, modesty, the traditions and what not, to substantiate their claim that practically anything pre-marital is wrong and should be condemned. To them, I say, if all the people involved are happy, then what is the problem, as long as they know how to handle it and not trouble anyone for it, seems like a harmless exercise for everyone involved and how to take it forward is none of anybody's business. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other extreme comes from the "liberals" who will go to extra lengths to justify and even glorify it and can often go overboard. A case in point is the recent "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Kiss_of_Love_protest">Kiss of Love</a>" campaign which started as a protest against moral policing and protesters felt completely justified in displaying "A" rated content on roads with no regards to who might be watching them. And among those liberals I am sure there are many who go astray or spoil their lives just because they couldn't handle all the liberty they got. To them, I would say, a little restraint will do you good.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having spoken from both the sides, it is always a decision to be taken at an individual level. If you can handle it, go for it, if you can't, stay away. There are many other areas where there may be long standing evidence scientific or social to put a black or white label on it, but this is no such matter, far from it. So, the only answer I can offer you is in the form of a question, can you handle it?</span></div>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-18404842765693807202014-12-13T21:30:00.000-08:002014-12-13T21:30:02.920-08:00Beyond fear lies the zone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When all the context is stripped off everything we want to and should do but don't boils down to fear. That is the only block to overcome.</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You remember the feeling of finishing your exams where you
slogged your butt off till the last moment and you are finally done with it. The
time when you are in a run and it seems you couldn't possibly finish it and yet
you do. The time, when you go for trekking and fight all the temptations of stopping
mid way eventually to finish your trek. The satisfaction that you experience is
not because of some kind of external achievement but something you experience within
when you really gave your 100% percent to something and clear the hump without
letting weaker emotions take over. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">David Allen, the great productivity coach, in his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHxhjDPKfbY">ted talk</a>,
talks about how crisis evokes serenity. This is the serenity that comes from appropriately
engaging with what you are doing, you really being present in the moment. Crisis demands it
as he said it. I think in all our lives that’s precisely what we are looking
for it, whether we know it or not. We are looking to appropriately engage with
our current moment and that is the art of being present, the simple yet almost
impossible thing to achieve. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can take any of your ambitions and external parameters of
a good life and you can eventually boil it down to being comfortable in your
current moment as the only lasting invariant. You can look for successes in
your professional life and more often than not those will be about doing a
little better than the next person, but then in totality, you will have someone
else ahead of you on that path. The tendency of all the external parameters to
be relative and competitive strips off any possibility that it can give you
lasting happiness and peace. It turns into a race. Momentarily, some of them lead to wins that may elate you but then it withers off. It is when you get your focus to the absolute;
you will find a way out. That absolute, that invariant of this universe is
being content in the current moment despite your circumstances is the cell on
which a life of lasting peace can be built.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What are the stumbling blocks to reach the state we have
above, because we run a race, we play by its rules and when we are in a race,
there is fear of losing. In different areas in our life, we don’t break free
because of fear of looking an oddball, fear of living in poverty, fear of
getting ridiculed in public, fear of disapproval from the family, fear of failure! Going back to
David Allen’s Ted talk, in a moment of life threatening crisis, none of these
fears matter, you go beyond them. That’s when clarity hits and you realize what
it means to be free. That’s the freedom, the zone we seek, and as David said we
often stumble upon it but are we living in it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The moment of greatest pain and discomfort is the moment of
discovery. That moment of fear is the moment that will make or break. When you
are doing a difficult pose in yoga, it is often hardest when the discomfort
begins, you allow your body to take a few more breaths in the same pose and the
pain eases and in some more time, it actually builds the capacity to reach there with ease. Same holds true for our lives, we have
to learn to go beyond the fear the moment it strikes. Fear is the prime distract-er,
that’s the first step that de-rails you. The moment you start second guessing,
the flow is gone, the intense presence is no longer there. You have lost the zone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All our lives, we are constrained by our fear. If you can
only go beyond that, you will find freedom, peace and serenity. So find the
fear, seek it, go trekking, push yourself to a seemingly impossible feat,
challenge yourself, face your fear, you will know yourself a lot better at the
end of it, and then go over the hump, it will be beautiful on the other side. Like goes the motto of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/mountaindewindia">Mountain Dew</a> - “Darr ke aage
jeet hai”!</span><br />
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-79053157053650891582014-12-07T00:32:00.000-08:002014-12-07T00:56:27.784-08:00Terrifying or Terrific Traffic? It is our first impression<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Traffic in India is one of the first things that a visitor from a foreign nation (first world) would notice and needless to say, as a scary prospect. It is easy to see why, the first step you take in a country is to step on the road to reach to your destination. That’s our first impression and it is scary. Anyway, that’s not the main reason why I think we need to give our traffic issues a thought. A more worthwhile reason for me is the fact, that having spent all my life in India and in middle of this traffic, I too find it scary most of the times and annoying all the times. The fact that I always stayed within a couple of KMs from my workplace tells the story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When faced with unpleasant circumstances, there are multiple levels you can try and solve it. I can think of three discrete levels at which thinking is warranted for our road safety and driving experience</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Avoid: </b>Why are we in the situation in the first place? Could we have done or do something to avoid it? Let’s forget what could be done in past. If I were a planner and I have zero experience in these kind of things, here are the rules I will make for myself for future</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Adjust your calculations of projected growth to have a factor of safety. If you are building 2 lanes, make them 4 or 6</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - The underground ecosystem is extremely important, think as far ahead as possible. Ensure the roads can be opened any time you like without any need to break of the road</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Build to Last: re-building roads seem like a massive waste of time and money</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Public transport – buses/metros and trains need to form the backbone of city’s transportation. There can be nothing else acceptable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- Either increase road tax or parking fees (and punish illegal parking) to achieve either less vehicles or less vehicles on road</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- Remove the need for transporting people: Build self contained areas. Change the cities bit by bit to get to this model</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Manage: </b>Now that we are in it and can't escape it in the short term, what can we do to manage it so that while it remains annoying it doesn't lead to any real damage. Considering Bangalore traffic, here are some pertinent advice based on behavior here</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Pedestrians: Please don’t challenge and annoy vehicles to come and get you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- Some of them even hang their head down, clearly indicating that they have taken a leap of faith and will simply not do anything to save themselves relying purely on others to keep them alive. Please stop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- Some of them are not able to decide whether to stop or proceed causing massive confusion. I wish confusion was a crime punishable by law</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- Some try to play traffic cops by directing the vehicles to stop even though it’s the vehicles’ right of way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Drivers/Riders:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- High Beams: Not sure of you ever realized that you are driving or riding on high beam. I am pretty sure you find the high beam coming from front annoying and it’s quite possible that you are doing the same without being aware. Please check. "Deer caught in headlights" is a phrase signifying inability to act for some good reason.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- Lanes: If you need to turn left, stay in left lane and so on, think ahead for God’s sake. Don’t be lame, follow lanes ;)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> -- No talking on phone while driving/riding, it’s worse than DUI.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Damage Avoidance:</b> If the situation gives rise to a disaster are we ready to tackle it, if not, make amends, minimize the damage</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Helmets: Rule number 1, helmets are not supposed to be worn as a symbol of respect for traffic cops. They are worn to protect “you”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Seat Belt: Same as helmet. Also, trying to clutch a seat belt to appease a cop while actually not wearing it is a lot more dangerous and obviously as counterproductive as it can be considering its objective.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> - Air bags: Apparently it takes only 50 dollars to put air bags in a car, if that is indeed the case, don’t see a reason why this shouldn't be a rule for every car in the country</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If you have any doubts on the importance of any of the above, it will be good to checkout Nissan Safety Driving Forum, won’t be hard for you to judge for yourself how critical these simple things are. Great to see Nissan taking an initiative on this, now let us do our bit!</span></div>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-45554294363970697732014-11-29T01:28:00.001-08:002014-11-29T01:39:52.247-08:00The theory of broken windows and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Great things happen not just with
great ideas, most of the times it is a simple idea implemented effectively that
makes all the difference.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How easy it is for
people to admire the cleanliness of the first world, while spitting in public
at the same time when in India. Why is it that, every Indian that goes off to live in
the first world, becomes a great citizen of that country, while the same guy
when back, resorts to the same old habits. The civic sense is gone and so
is the need to keep our surroundings clean. The root cause lies in “what is
acceptable” here and “how much we care” – a perfect explanation of which comes
from the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory">Broken Window theory</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a concept of broken
window, which essentially states that some damage unchecked promotes further
acts of damage or vandalism and the corollary, a well maintained and cared for
state will be a deterrent towards any behavior worsening it. The example is
taken of a car abandoned on a road. If the car is in perfect condition, it is
very less likely to be attacked, but once a window is broken and left like that, it promotes a lot of others to attack, steal and mutilate it
further. Why is that? Well the state of a system describes the care people
devote to it, a broken window is a signal of apathy and promotes people to
worsen the situation with impunity. The interesting observation of these experiments was that the people
acting as vandals were apparently decent family crowd. We are not talking
criminals or unruly youth or any other such demographic, it’s our white collar,
decent individuals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our India cleanliness situation
has fallen into the same spiral. You see garbage in public places and think
its OK to have dirt and garbage in public places, you add a little
more. The situation soon becomes worse and keeps getting more so to the
point we start living in a virtual monster dumpster of a city. A jolt is what
is needed to break this cycle and that’s what has happened when our Prime
minister<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swachh_Bharat_Abhiyan" target="_blank">took
this in his own hand</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and
accorded this simple decent habit the attention it deserves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is important, that we make it
last. A onetime clean up act is not what we need. We need a change in behavior,
internalize it to the extent it becomes our second nature. A common approach to
stop bad behavior is punishment, but how much will it help to put prohibitive
measures? How many vigilantes you will need to enforce a rule like this, until
you turn into vigilante, each one of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is the voice of everyday that
will make the difference. Every citizen, a vigilante. In fact, if each one of
us can take responsibility for just ourselves, it will be more than enough to
get to where we want to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The multiplier effect of a large
number of people applying a simple idea effectively is a powerful concept. All
we have to ensure is we are able to raise our voice when needed to show
“we care” in our daily lives and it will all be well soon.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There is an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.abmontubolega.com/" target="_blank">interesting campaign that strepsils</a><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>is running to make sure we raise our
voice. Here are some places to follow Montu, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/StrepsilsIndia" target="_blank">here on facebook</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/StrepsilsIndia" target="_blank">here on twitter</a>. </span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="line-height: 115%;">#AbMontuBolega </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">represents each one of us as we have
been silenced over years for raising our voice even if it was for the right
cause. The muffled voice now needs to come out, Montu has to speak now.</span></span></div>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-21591284385322885642014-11-09T05:52:00.000-08:002014-11-09T05:53:58.563-08:003 Cheers to Immunity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A solid foundation always pays off. In software engineering
paradigm, we are always talking about the cost of an issue over the life cycle.
During early stages, it is practically zero and at later points, it can be anything
from disastrous to catastrophic. This may seem true for industries, but can’t
stress the importance of this principle when it comes to our lives. It is
equally applicable there!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In India, family usual forms the core of everyone’s life and
at the core of a family sit the children in a family. The marketing and
advertising on our television and newspaper will be a testament to that. A
smiling kid or something that promises to bring happiness to kids becomes an
easy way to grab attention. In my own interactions, I have seen hardcore hagglers
become extremely quality sensitive when it comes to buying stuff for their kids.
You could blame them endlessly for being unscrupulous in all the matters, but
on most cases, it is hard to see someone who isn’t careful about the choices
they make for their kids.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now linking this back to the initial premise of a strong
foundation, do people know if they have considered all the right choices and
what are the ones that they should put more focus on. If there is anything,
health comes to me as the first one. We have heard the age old credo, that if
wealth is lost, nothing is lost; if health is lost, something is lost and if
the character is lost, everything is lost. Well, in case of children, the other
two don’t exist; they can only be built over a period of time and for that to
happen properly, a healthy foundation is necessary. To ensure, a healthy life
for kids, as much as you can try and vaccinate them for all the known ailments,
but what about the ones that are not known? The best defense is offence and in
our body, the defense against ailments is centered on our immune system. The
wisest investment for your child’s happy future would be to create a child with
a strong immune system and Dabur ( </span><a href="https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/" style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 13.8000001907349px;">https://www.liveveda.com/daburchyawanprash/</a><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) has been doing a great job at creating that awareness and enabling
that by creating products around this theme.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A healthy person will always have a better chance of doing
well in life. Our bodies are a means to help us achieve our goals and happiness
and in our life. A poorly maintained one will be a cause of misery and will act
as a friction to your life. A well maintained one will be the best enabler you
can ever think of. To be able to do that, one needs to be fighting fit and be
able to defend from diseases. 3 cheers to 3x immunity!</span></div>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-47230292790769669152013-09-09T04:00:00.000-07:002013-09-09T04:01:31.447-07:00Dilemma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There lies the dilemma, was I doing the right things because
I really believed in them or just because I had no other choice. As much as
power corrupts, a lot of times you need the power to be corrupt. An honest man
may just be a euphemism for weak. I am often being called upright and honest,
sometimes idolized, sometimes pitied, but never questioned for integrity, but
then not everyone has seen through the layers. It isn't easy being me, for that
matter, I wonder, if it is easy being anyone...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Bharat Shinde by no means was a failure in the eyes of the
world with his flashy corporate title and pedigree despite modest beginnings,
but only his heart knows the truth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This post is written as a response to an indiblogger contest built around promoting <a href="http://www.amazon.in/Jacob-Hills-Ismita-Tandon-Dhanker/dp/9350296497" target="_blank">Jacob Hills</a> perhaps I might use this some day in something I write.</span></div>
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Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-28357185034868130412013-07-27T04:27:00.000-07:002013-07-27T04:30:32.166-07:00From a normal life to a meaningful life<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ted conferences have become synonymous with ideas, more
specifically mind boggling and profound ideas. I have been fascinated by many
talks I have seen so far, a window to a world with brilliant ideas, people
chasing their passions and finding joy while doing so.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the conferences that I had seen earlier, were mind
boggling because of the sheer brilliance and sophistication of the idea and
research, there is a difference in the one that happened in Mumbai –<a href="http://tedxgateway.com/2012/" target="_blank">TedxGateway</a>.
The ideas are mindbogglingly simple yet impact-ful! The concept is highly
relevant to Indian context. While any place in the world would be looking to
have great ideas, in India, there are a lot of basic problems and a lot of them
just need simple, economical solutions and some attention. There are so many
unattended problems, thanks to our ineffective governance, that anybody willing
to spend some time and energy can easily make a serious impact. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most of the
talks are about the distilled concept that ted stands for; ideas and not
necessarily the sophistication. A world eager to jump on to highlighting problems in
any area and complain about it, TedxGateway talks are about solutions and
impact. In my opinion, this came out most alarmingly in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=u1iWhljEbTE" target="_blank">talk by ArunachalamMuruganantham</a>. He wouldn't be someone you would ever expect to appear in a
conference like this. His background is the antithesis of ted speakers who are
usually highly educated and worldwide experts in their area. He is a school
dropout with little command over English yet he is a man whose eyes were open. The
field he chose to make an impact was also very unorthodox considering his background. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He chanced upon the way rural women handled their periods after his marriage
and found it so shocking that he couldn't digest it and went about doing
something about it. Without the support of sophisticated machines, education or domain
experts, he went on to create a cottage industry that is producing low cost sanitary
napkins for rural area. The idea is so simple to implement that it has the potential
of penetration to the remotest areas with modest facilities, so something that can easily and definitely should go viral. That is the
essence of these conferences, stripped of all the trappings of high profile
conferences, it is about ideas, solutions, about keep an open mind focused on
implementing solutions and as a result graduating from leading a normal life to
a meaningful life as Mr Muruganantham puts it!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Lucida Sans Unicode; font-size: 13px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span></div>
<a href="http://www.franklintempletonindia.com/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Lucida Sans Unicode; font-size: x-small;"><strong>Franklin Templeton Investments</strong></span></a><span style="font-family: Lucida Sans Unicode; font-size: x-small;"><strong> partnered the TEDxGateway Mumbai in December 2012.</strong></span></div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8550787.post-62538817036106684512013-02-19T19:43:00.001-08:002013-02-19T19:46:48.786-08:00Panasonic Camera: Image Counter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Instead of a customary come back post, I am writing down something that might be useful to people and I am not even sure if I will be able to sustain so why make a big deal about coming back!<br />
<br />
Coming to the point, few days back I was trying to work out the number of pictures taken by my Panasonic camera and after searching it found out how it can be done, though not in a clean single link. Hence, this blog<br />
<br />
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li>Connect your camera to a computer in USB mode</li>
<li>The folder names are always numbers, get into the latest folder i.e. folder with the largest number in name among all present. Sometimes there may just be one, in which case you save yourself some thinking</li>
<li>Look at the latest image taken in that folder (i.e. the image with the largest number in its name)</li>
<ul>
<li>The names are in the format "P Followed by a number" like <a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8550787" number="">P1090704</a></li>
<li>You can alternatively find this out by sorting on a field (Date Picture Taken)</li>
</ul>
<li>You will notice the folder name appended in the beginning of the file name (along with an extra P). For P1090704, 109 is the folder name. Divide the name in two parts: Folder Name and Rest which gives you P109 and 0704 (Rest). Eliminate P and the first digit from the folder name, you get 9 and then take the last three digits from the Rest. And that gives you 09704, That's the total number of images taken by your camera!</li>
</ol>
</div>
Deepesh Yadavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12357363112195738822noreply@blogger.com0