Man and Money

“Fuel prices have reached a new high”. “Inflation is on the rise”. Pick up any newspaper from the past decade or more and you are bound to hit these headlines more often than not. We reached a point where we have started accepting it as a fact. Do we, as a group of “evolved” organisms, actually know what we really want from money/currency? Yes, we all know how it works…you need something you don’t have, you barter …and then you bring in this point system-like thing where you exchange tokens instead of items..and centuries of social evolution down the line, we have currency( and a whole world that is enslaved by it)!!!

We all hear the discussions by some or the other renowned economist, on popular forums and TV shows, talking about the future of money, finance, India/America/China, global market, etc. But the future implied here is in terms of next 5 years, or next decade or so. What about some crazy but eventual scenarios? Like what happens when the fuel resources in the world are completely depleted? Don’t tell me the powerful governments of the world wouldn’t have plans for reserving some for them before it all runs out? Don’t tell me that it wouldn’t then become a special indulgence for just the rich and powerful only? Don’t tell me there won’t be fuel mafia and overlords?

Treasure found in the Padmanabh temple, Kerala
once again proving that He is richer than any human

Let’s say by the time the conventional fuels resources run out, the smartest brains of the planet come up with some new resource that will meet all our power and fuel needs. Now picture another scenario: What will happen when inflation reaches its yielding point? Inflation only exists till there are some people who can still afford it. The day things go out of everyone’s reach; it’ll be complete breakdown and hopefully start over anew. Every year the rich get richer. The net worth of the richest men of the world is always an increasing function. Now, tell me, do you agree with me when I say that the total amount of money in the world, (money as in buying power/wealth and not currency) in the world remains constant? It’s a simple theory: For someone to get richer, someone else has to get poorer. That’s my plain and simple understanding. If I am getting richer, my company is paying me. My company gets richer by selling software to banks. Banks get richer by charging interest and processing fees on other people. These other people are getting poorer by some x amount that they pay to the bank. How do they get it? They similarly work somewhere, someone else pays them, so on and so forth.... all running in cycles where common rule is that someone has to get poorer for someone to be richer. As simple as that. Yes, different people get richer at different times and the rich may one day become poor and the poor will one day become rich, but the cycle remains the same. It’s like a wave. We all are working hard so that during our lifetimes, we are at least riding the crest of the wave and not the trough. We strive everyday; all our efforts are directed towards earning more, so that during our lifetimes at least, we are affluent. Affluent enough to at least meet our needs. But then our needs broaden and start consisting of “security” too? And then they broaden to start covering “luxuries”. And then our future....our kids’ future….our relatives’ future…Where do we end with this intoxication? Honestly let’s answer the following questions

·         If I were given all the wealth in the world, could I possibly eat more than I already do? (given that probably you’d buy the most expensive dishes)

·         If I could afford the finest clothes in the world, could I be in more than one dress at a time?

·         If I could afford to build a 20 storey building with hundred rooms all for myself, could I be in more than one of those rooms at a time?

Shirdi Sai Baba, was a simple fakir.
Ironically his shrine in  Shirdi today
 is plated with gold from inside.

Actually, people have really got used to excess. That is the root to all problems. I firmly believe we would’ve sustained with the resources we have in the world without problem. But, then if you are going to drive your all expensive sports bike that drives 5km per litre of petrol just so that you look “cool”, that is an excess. It is an excess that is going to turn around and bite you someday. If you drive all alone in a car to office although you could carpool and take your colleagues along, that’s an excess. If you order 5 dishes in a restaurant and you end up finishing only 70% of the food served on the table, that’s an excess. Wasting food is an excess that a country like ours cannot afford. I have always believed that the world has enough for our needs. Mother earth is bountiful. But there is no space for waste. Be resourceful. Make best use of what you have. It’s only a matter of attitude. And please, share. Share whatever big/little you can. I really don’t get it with people. You’d rather leave a hefty tip for a waiter in a posh restaurant for a meal that was already overpriced, but you see a beggar in the street, suddenly your pockets become too tight to reach into. Yes, I know, I have heard all of the arguments about why we shouldn’t give money to the poor. Queerly enough, the wealthier the person, the more reasons you get to hear about why one should not give the street beggar money.”They will never improve”, “they make our country look bad”, “they don’t want to work”, “they will use it for drinking and other bad purposes”, “They are bad people. They steal and pick pocketing too”..they blabber on and on similarly. Geez!! All this for a rupee or two?!!! Who is the real beggar?? All said and done, may that beggar improve or not, may he use it for food or gamble it away, may he use it, loose it, the fact of the matter is, its not too much of value to you either. Really how much difference would it make if you were poorer by a rupee? Would your bank balance suddenly drop if we subtracted one/two? The fact is even ten rupees or even more wouldn’t really change much in your life, it’s not going to be your bottom dollar, I’m sure. So share, don’t talk. Don’t profess, don’t advocate. Don’t be a snob. Give a little, not asking for much, just a little, and imagine that you did something good, imagine it really helped that beggar have a meal. I know in reality a lot of other worse things could occur to the beggar or by the beggar. But it’s important for you to only share and imagine that you did well. Rest is not your concern.  Keep it simple. Someone asked you if you lend some extra rupees, you gave, end of story. You don’t need to know how it was spent.

Money is for serving us, not ruling all our actions and words in the world. The world is such a wonderful place. It has got so many aspects to it. And you are one truly gifted being. If earning money is your only talent, that is really sad.

Where are you from?

Annoyed...ambushed...flustered. I had to write this post. I was tired of explaining it to all; I had to write this post. I was bored of watching just how ridiculous people could be; I had to write this post.

Time and again, I have always had trouble explaining where I am from. Firstly the question itself is irritating and narrow minded in nature. What do you mean when you ask “Where are you from?”? Why should it matter where I am from? I could be from the North Pole, how would it change things anyway. It’s not like I am from a different country or something, you can see that I am just as brown as you.

Anyhow, I generally have to ask what you mean. Because… and we need the drum roll here because it’s the mother of all revelations:

“My dad had a transferrable job.”

It simply means that his company would transfer him from one region to the other, in a few years’ gap and so we used to shift places too. So, if you ask me where I am from, my native place, that is if you want to ask me where my ancestors came from, then I am Konkani. If you want to ask where I lived before this, (currently as write this post, I am in Pune, Maharashtra, India) I was living in Ahmedabad. Let me explain everything in killing detail in the remainder of this post.

When I was a little kid, we lived in Bangalore, now Bengaluru, though I was born in Pune. My parents did their education from Pune. Dad got his job from Pune. All our relatives are settled in Pune. I was too little to remember anything about Bangalore though. Then, Dad was transferred to Bhubaneshwar, Orissa. People, I would like to tell you, “yes, it’s a real city”. It’s the capital city of Orissa.”Orissa is a real state”. Sometimes I so feel that India tends to neglect it’s eastern, especially north-eastern states a bit too much.

We lived there for around 10 years i.e. till 2000 and then were transferred to Ahmadabad, Gujarat. We were there for 5 years and moved back to Pune after I finished my 10^th standard exams. From there on, Pune has been our home. We already had a home in Pune.

As for my Konkani origins, here goes: Konkani people are the Indians who have inhabited the west coast regions of India in and around Goa. All Konkani trace their origin to Goa. If not, then I doubt you are Konkani. Konkani is a language, it’s not marathi. It has no script, like Marathi it borrows the devnagari script. Around hundreds of years ago, the Konkani speaking people were faced with a dilemma. The Britisher and Portuguese had begun aggressive religious expansion there and Hindu locals were left with only two choices; either to accept Christianity as their religion, or migrate to Hindu-safe states like Maharashtra and Karnataka. A portion of those migrants, went over to the coastal regions of Maharashtra and took to fishing and agriculture as their occupations.

          A good portion of the migrants travelled over to Karnataka and made small towns in regions of Uttar Kannada and the area around Mangalore their homes. The people who migrated to regions around Mangalore or even as far as Kerala, mostly became businessmen and the ones who settled in Uttar Kannada primarily became farmers. I belong to the latter. My hometown is a small hamlet named Hankon, a little distance away from Karwar. Karwar is port, on the west coast. It houses the largest port project of India “Sea bird”, started by the late Rajiv Gandhi. The most interesting about Karwar is that this is the place where Rabindranath Tagore, got inspired and wrote the national anthem. Take a visit there and witness the calm of the sea and the simple slow life and you wouldn’t be surprised if you turn into a poet yourself.

          So that’s about it I suppose. I hope to never be asked ridiculous questions about my origins in future. If anyone does, I’ll send them a link to this post.;-)

Oh you think I am overreacting unnecessarily?? Take a dig at the weirdest things that have been said or asked to me:

·        You are from Goa? You must be Christian

-         No I am a Hindu. Gonna crucify me for that??

·        So you speak Goaneese?

-         No. Because there isn’t any such language. And please don’t say you can speak “Goaneese” too. It proves beyond recovery that you are indeed stupid.

·        From Goa? You are so lucky!! What are the best places to get high?

-         No, I don’t. And not all of us sit at the beach all day and get high.

·        You were in Orissa? Are there people there? Or all forests and caves?

-         No dumbass. There are only robots there, not people.

·        You speak Odissi?

-         No. Because even that isn’t a language. It’s a dance form.

·        You are Odissi?

-         It’s a dance form already!!

·        You are gujarati. (that’s right, not a question, a statement)

-         Flustered!!

·        Oye, Ahmadabad, come here.

-         Coming SOB.

·        So do you know where you are from or not?

-         Oh, I am from Krypton, here to save your planet from submerging into complete douchery.

·        So you don’t know where you are from?

-         Oh, chucks, I don’t know. Main kaun hoon?Main kahaan hoon?

·        Where are you actually from?

-         Told you, from Krypton.

·        The irritating thing when everyone in Ahmedabad thinks you are an Oriya and everyone in Pune thinks you are from Gujarati.

·        Garba nahi aata? Strange!! What do you Odissi people do?

-         I don’t do any of that dance. And I guess Oriya people do Odissi.

·        Did you ever have panipuri before?

-         Oh no, you are the only one. Did your mom invent it?

·        You didn’t build Shivaji clay killa(fort) in childhood??!! Strange!!

-         Yeah…I am the weirdo here right?

·        You are Maharastrian, you just don’t know it. (Yes gym instructor, this is you)

-         Thank you for reminding me. I now know my true identity, my destiny.

·        You are Naik, you must be Maharastrian.

-         Yes. I bet my parents were lying when they told me otherwise.You sir, are truly honest. Thank you for opening my eyes.

·        Your surname must be Nayak, not Naik. (Hindi teacher)

-         And yours must be Miss Dhakkan.

·        Kids in Orissa must be hiding behind hills and caves and get lost in the forest while playing hide-n-seek.

-         Yupp. In the pre-historic era that is…

·        Konkani and Marathi are the same.

-         Yes. Just like a square and circle are the same.

·        “Your people” have diwali too??

-         Yeah. In diwali, we fast for a month, then we get a Christmas tree, then dress up in scary costumes and go from home to home saying “Trick r Treat” and people give us the thanksgiving turkey.

·        “Your people” know holi too??

-         No.(Expect some wicked pranks from me this year)

·        “Your people” know Ganapati too? You too pray to Him? You also bring Him home?

-         No. Thanks to your people for inventing him.

I think we Indians finally need to get over our narrow mindedness. We must start getting to know each other finally because, geez! It’s a 5000 year old civilization already. And if we really want to progress, we need to grow up and start having a world view of things. Have atleast a bird’s view of things. Don’t be the frog who lived in a well and thought all his life that the well is the world and there doesn’t exist anything outside it. Being proud of your origins is good. Being intolerant and ignorant of everything else just proves you are a douche.
So, if anybody asks, say what I always love to say " I am from India".;-)

Powerpoint presentations and leadership

      The other day, dad gave me a task. He was requested by the guys at the "Human Resource" dept. of his company to give a presentation on "leadership" to all sub-ordinates and fresh recruits. he pretty much finds a waste of his time and prefers spending it doing something else, i.e. something productive. So, such frivolous tasks are given to me. I make the draft ppts, he then tweaks them a little and then gets the chore done with.

 Sometimes I wonder what number of people really think such presentations are of use. Like a presentation on management, or say "leadership", or "entrepreneurship", "personality development", how many really think all these topics can be "learnt", and that too through a powerpoint presentation? I believed its just something that was invented by the MBA folk. Some ritual of powerpoint presentations that they believe must be preserved to show that our organisation is organized, meticulous and believes in team participation. How much participation does a slideshow demand from the audience? Unless its of importance to the audience's daily or future productivity, its just a show of colorful slides!! with animation.

    A young entrepreneur, who co-owns a software company, "what does it take to become an entrepreneur?". He didn't recite out 15 bulleted points out. He just said, "You should be ready to take that risk". That is it. I next asked him, "Does doing an MBA make you better equipped?"."No it doesn't. Hardly ever has it helped anyone. The only thing I look for in MBA grads when I go recruiting, is that the institute he/she did MBA from already probably took an entrance test before giving admission. That cuts off my task of separating the completely dumb ones and narrows down my search. Rest, any business administration skills you need to know, are pretty much on the job.".

       Coming back to my topic, I guess its just the culture that brews in large organisations. The pros to it is that everything is meticulous organised and good, solid policies, and in-depth planning, in all departments including HR do make sustainability a much much more realistic goal. however, some things are really unnecessary sometimes. Mainly all the "soft skills" training that goes on.

       How do you train someone in leadership with just powerpoint presentations and speeches? Its a ridiculous idea that you can. If you really want to train leaders, spot the ones with potential, put them in a position where they have to take the lead, willingly or otherwise. And they will learn.

How do you spot a leader? easy thing. You see, it isn't something that exists only in organisations or say political parties, or the freedom struggle. Leaders exist everywhere. Its a primal instinct to lead. Why do you have to always only think of "Gandhi", "Nehru", "Kapil Dev", historical generals and prime ministers, etc when I mention the term "leader"? Anyone that assumes the responsibility to make decisions for a group, to take the risk, and guide the others. Pablo Picasso could be said to be a leader too; he lead the world of art into a new dimension. Of course a leader doesn't necessarily need to have a pack of disciples and minions following him wherever he/she goes. It could be as plain and simple as being the first to move in some new direction. In fact, leadership is a very primal, animalistic instinct that I bet got sharper through evolution. Don't we assume leadership of all the animals around us. We pet some, some we keep in cages, some we exterminate, and for some we decide that we would like to destroy their forests. And not just us, animals have leaders too. Each pride of lions has the alpha male. Every wolf pack has a lead male wolf. Elephants too. Bees have the queen bee and the worker drones. It's everywhere. How is it decided? Lions for example implicitly choose the strongest male to be the leader of the hunting group. He commands largest share of all the prey and has primary right over the territory and the females. Any contention as to who gets to lead the territory is decided by a fight between the contenders. Trust me, it is really that amazing.

   A leader is a leader, wherever he goes. Ideally it should be in all of us. Doesn't mean you convince some people to obey your command. It just means, being the first, taking charge. That is how you spot the leader. it is really that simple.

Fire and Ice

"Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice. "
-Robert Frost 

I had read the above lovely poem sometime in school. I really loved it, like most of Frost’s work. This poem rang into my head recently when I read some of the news pieces in this week’s papers.

“Love affair costs teen his life: Gets murdered by rival and accomplices”

“Girl kills self after being dumped on Facebook”

 

Fire: Two pretty contrasting stories ostensibly, yet the same culprit, too much of “fire”. It’s just too much passion. It appalls me beyond ridicule what drives good men and women to such insanity? It’s like an aphrodisiac, a slow poison. It is fed to us throughout our upbringing, the movies, the books, the fairy tales, peer pressure, society, all…all of them feed so much of this passion, that it builds up on a person and intoxicates the mind. It clogs all rationality and makes one loose perspective. All wouldn't have been lost if the guy would’ve just let go instead of taking the decision of taking another fellow’s life. Or if the girl would've just let her ego go for the sake of other things in life. Of course, if anything, I have the least disrespect for anyone who commits suicide. Yes, you read right, DISRESPECT. I don’t find any circumstances in hell that justifies suicide. I am not alone, pick up any scholarly/religious text and you’ll find the worst punishments meant out for suicide. There isn't any excuse for wilfully letting go of this wonderful life. (That doesn't include euthanasia. I am still undecided about that topic, and am not opinionated on that till I think about it more).

The above few and many more over the years, especially the increasing rate of passion crimes over the years really makes me believe, someday men and women are going to destroy themselves over this. It wouldn't be too much exaggeration to say that there is enough unrest, sufficient unresolved feelings, prominent insecurities in the hearts and minds of young men and women to bring about annihilation of this world on its own.

                            

“Asked to pay Rs27, motorist shoots Gurgaon toll man”

 

Ice: Rs 27?? Twenty seven!!! Sweet Lord!! What has the world come to? Then again, petty as this crime is, I don’t think the rudimentary sentiment is that new.

“Hatred” has always been one of the greatest human vice. Be it in anger, disgust, jealousy or revenge; all have stemmed from the feeling of “hatred” towards fellow men and women folk. After all, wasn’t it “hatred” that brought about the great war of Mahabharata? The eternal wars between the religions of the world? Don’t they all have their roots in “hatred”? Our own nation fights many internal wars between castes, sects, religions, regions that are all deeply rooted in “hatred” and mistrust. What makes even great leaders of the say and do horrible things is after all, some uncontrollable feeling of “hatred”. This in contrast is a slow, solid poison. It grows in the minds like a creeper and grips harder and harder, like a true poison ivy, till men and women are controlled, possessed and driven by their “hatred” towards each other. Tolerance is the key. It’s the only defence. You’ll find a million things worth disliking about the person next to you. But remember, you have better things to do then carry around a baggage of “hate”. If the quotes are really sticking out then let me explain. I never use the word hate. I am just too scared by it. It just brings in so much negativity. It means, in so many ways that you are so prude that you think you can afford restricting your world and prefer carrying this dark lead heavy feeling in your conscience forever. It just isn’t worth it.

The world is a beautiful place. Life is too precious to burn or freeze.

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Hi everyone,

  All those who used to follow my previous blog would know that the frequency of my blogs had reduced pretty much to nothing recently. That is because things had got hectic recently and I was just adjusting to the changes. Also, now I have better purpose to write.:-)

 If you are searching for some life changing inspirational read, or quirky tit-bits, some informational content, any sad/sullen romantic drag story, or me sharing the nitty-gritty teeny tiny events of my day to day life in killing detail, I am sorry to disappoint you, this isn't what you are looking for. In fact, it won't even have any sermons.  Because I always believe "preach too much and you prove you have nothing else better to do".period.It is what it is, just channeling my thoughts.(I wanted to use the title "pensive", Darn that Dumbledore).

So, read on, comment, share. All brickbats and opinions are welcome without discrimination. Watch this space for more.;-)

Ohh... I almost forgot :

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