Thank You, Google Blogger!

This is my way of saying Thanks to Google Blogger for the Images Upload facility! :-)

As for you folks, you can look forward to many more pictures, cartoons and photographs on my blog here on....

I've blogged enough for today (or have I?)...so, some of my favourite pictures will be saved for later...

Have got work to catch up with....got creative with my work in the past two weeks :) but then had to take a break because of my health condition...it's high time I went back to it and polished it with some more creative stuff...so, here I come...my dear 'work'!

Unwind...Wind...Unwind Again...

You can see something interesting and rare if you’re in Bangalore now. Just opposite the Cantonment railway station, there are plenty of billboards. Wait, I am yet to get to the fact of the matter… :) For the past few days, 2 of the billboards that are right next to each other have the same word written on them…big and bold ….but in different fonts and for different products/services. The word is “Unwind”. One billboard says ‘unwind’ to advertise for its body-massage kits and another says ‘unwind’ to advertise for its radio (read music) services. It is sort of amusing to see the two boards next to each other read the same (the rest of the text on the billboards are of a smaller size, so what strikes one is only the word ‘unwind’). I wonder if this could be an advertising strategy….because I am sure this ‘redundancy’ will get more eyeballs…

Raving about Reva... :)

While I am on branding, taglines, and the concept of playing with words in the same context, let me also talk about another organization that I admire....The Reva guys.....

I noticed two of their boards a couple of years ago and still haven't forgotten them...

There was apparently a Reva service station somewhere near Jakkasandra (I don't see the board anymore) which said "Reva Revelation Point"! :)

Another board (I think I saw it somewhere near St. Mark's Road) said "Reva Seva" (Seva means 'service' in Hindi)

Simply Good!

I love the Air Deccan tagline – Simplifly; maybe because it is wacky but more, I guess, because it truly reflects Air Deccan’s philosophy so well and is not a tag line that’s been suggested by some witty advertising guys because they thought that’s what would sell! Simplified flying at its best…no gift wrappings, no accessories, no nothing, just flying…from one place to another….(I’ve seen one too many organizations go for taglines that are trendy, stylish and cool but don’t in the least reflect the values/vision/philosophy of the organization! How absurd and unbelievable!)

Noticed some of their one-liners outside their office on Cunningham road...(not as impressive as Simplifly :( except for the first one. The first one is again appealing because it is the truth…they (Air Deccan) surely changed the perception of air travel in India)

The wings of change
Of the people, by the people, for the people
So powerful, it can carry a nation
Official carrier of common sense

Thoughtful Post by Raj

Check this one out! (Raj's post on the compartmentalization of life)

Extract: This part of his post hits me the hardest....makes me think a loooooot.

"Ramnath writing in today's DeccanHerald says that one's inner journey (deep purpose, fullfilment and service) is sacrificed at the altar of outer journey (wealth, power and fame) due to one's refusal to acknowledge the interrelationship and interdependency of one's different roles in life."

Leader?

Was in a training programme earlier this week. The trainer shot us a query which went like this – What comes to your mind when I say ‘Leader’? Can you illustrate your thoughts?

This is what (ni)me (pronounced nimmy :)) drew. The circle (read person) in the center is the glue that brings all associated forces together. (S)he doesn’t hide everyone else in the team and look for the publicity, fame and popularity herself/himself. Neither does (s)he necessarily have to ‘hide’ behind people and work so quietly that there is no clue who is ‘leading’. The leader is both a leader as well as a follower. A leader is one of the team members. But a leader does much more. (S)he understands the big picture. A leader inspires, motivates, thinks, sets the direction, calls upon others to contribute to setting the direction, encourages, directs, consults, advises, clarifies, questions, listens, empathizes and understands. Her/his language is WE, OUR, and OUR’S.

PS: I did ensure that the circle representing the leader was slightly larger than the other circles because all said and done, the leader ought to be of such a character that (s)he is respected and admired and therefore stands out...

The trainer told us that in parts of Europe and US, people mostly drew a person leading from the front and an army like formation behind her/him. In Japan, pictures were drawn the other way round…the leader backing up his people and letting them march ahead of her/him.

Btw, I am thrilled that I don’t have to go to the trouble of using Hello or Flickr, anymore, to post my pictures! :D Thank you, Blogger!

Dilb-ER-t

So far, it was only Calvin that I brought to my blog...
Today, it's Dilbert....

...this strip here is hilarious and that's because...truth is funnier than fiction... :)

Weird? or/and Silly? And Who? The Weather or Me?

I haven't been feeling well for almost 2 weeks now, down with one thing or the other. Obviously, I wasn't able to blog/blog-surf...
I decided to risk it and look at the monitor for just a few minutes today (the latest in the list of organs affected are my eyes) and have ended up quickly browsing through some of my friends' blogs only to realize that the rest of Bangalore or at least bloggers in Bangalore and some other cities are all down with illnesses. The weather is obviously dictating to our immune systems...

Meanwhile, here's my chance to get a little weird and silly or maybe just silly or maybe just weird. I mean, here's a silly and weird poaam or maybe just a silly one or maybe just a weird one. Whether you see it as weird or silly depends on whether you are weird or silly (and the weather in your city). Excuse me. I am almost done...except for the poaam. ;)

Plagued by illness
One after another
Looking for kindness
Is what one might gather
It all started with my upset stomach
That did a sure-fire job of passing the buck
Then, it was the common cold
And then, it was the aching throat
Despite being so bold
It was time I grudgingly wrote
This poem, to denote
That now it's my eyes
Which are infected and, boy, it cries (ignore the grammar)
And here, I hope, the buck stops
Else, I shall call the health cops (I couldn't think of anything else that rhymed)
Through with my quota for 10 years;
I hope...with blocked ears but determination fierce

PS: If I haven't responded to your mails, you know the reason why I haven't. Hold on till my eyes are back to normal. (And my mind too, you might add...going by this post)

The God of Government-Bashing!

I’d picked up a book by Arundhati Roy on an impulse a couple of weeks ago and I must say that I don’t regret it at all. In fact, I ought to be buying the book for which she originally made it to the news - “The God of Small Things”- once I make the necessary arrangements. I love the way she writes! Her passion and her language are scintillating.

This book of her’s is all about clobbering governments – the devious schemes they design to decimate the public – and especially about the policies of the current one in USA. She goes at it hammer and tongs and could put any self-respecting blacksmith to shame. I wonder if she wrote this book with a pen or a gun that had a razor-sharp knife attached to it and what’s more – I might add that it probably was dipped in the most venomous poison you can ever imagine. The gun is pointed towards governments – that of democratic countries – USA/Britain and India. To say that she feels strongly about the USA government’s ‘policy’ toward Iraq would be a gross understatement. You’ve to read the book to believe it. You can’t get more sarcastic or bitter than that! Sarcasm simply oozes out of her. Interestingly enough, she is so focused on voicing her opinion about the USA government’s wrong doings that one has to read between the lines to know what it is that she thinks about the ‘so-called’ terrorists and everything else in ‘life’. She is categorical and directs all her energies on just one thing – that the whole story (of war) has been scripted, edited and directed by the current USA government. There seems to be no possibility of her approaching the story from any other angle at all, as she believes that there is only one player and that is the US government. One could almost mistake her to be on Iraq’s side, but level-headed observers who don’t get carried away by the bitterness of her language will see that all she intends to say is that the US government’s approach to Iraq is what she hates…nay….detests…! The hatred overshadows her feelings toward Saddam Hussein/terrorist outfits. Oops! She might not even approve of me calling some groups as terrorists. Take away the US government and you will generally have peace is what she seems to suggest though my interpretation may be wrong. (If I am right - maybe this is partial ignorance, but I am not so sure if governments are the only entities that prevent us from having peace. The ‘bad’ are everywhere!) She weaves a similar story in the case of certain happenings down here in India. Her sarcasm makes you grimace at the government while sometimes making you grin at her overtly cynical approach (eg: something like ‘US would certainly be saving the people that it kills from Saddam’!).

It is certainly a laudable effort as it seems she has taken on the task of speaking for the people, the task of inspiring civil disobedience and protestation against anti-public tendencies of the government. She speaks like a freedom fighter! Passionate indeed! I wish she had also pried into other root causes for disruptions in the society apart from pointing fingers at governments. Is it right to believe that all the bad that there is in the society is in the government? Or am I reading too much into it and it is just that she made governments’ tyranny her only topic for this particular book…

Quoting Myself...

We are invented so we can discover ourselves!

We may have been invented but the cycle of life is complete only when we discover ourselves!

Nimmy (Fed (but not fed up) on philosophy)
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PS: I don’t particularly want to be known as a philosopher, but can’t help saying the following: Will this quote make it to a book on philosophy? Do make sure it does, if you’re the one writing it. What? :)

Library or House?

I have been on a major book-buying spree this and last month. My dream of owning a library, I should think, has been sort of fulfilled. I should also mention that I now run the risk of being deprived of the bed that I sleep in. And, pray, why? My bed has become an extension of my book shelf. Whoever thought about using books for pillows was thinking about me and in a literal sense (pun unintended).

There was a book exhibition conducted by the Information Services Department in my organization and, additionally, I went around snooping in book shops very well aware of the fact that it would be a next to impossible task for me to come out of book shops without buying at least one book! I deserve it. And wait…who said I don’t desire it? So, here are the books that have been added to my collection but are having to manage by sitting in awkward spaces - in temporary abodes.

- Life of Pi (Fiction)
- Sophie’s world (Philosophy)
- An ordinary person’s guide to empire – Arundhati Roy (Politics)
- The Upanishads (Ethics, Life, Philosophy, History)
- The collaborative enterprise (KM)
- Indian birds – Salim Ali (:-))
- The romantic manifesto - Ayn Rand (Fiction)
- Ignited minds – Abdul Kalam (Inspiration)
- My experiments with truth – M.K Gandhi (Autobiography)

Somebody stop me…till I build a house with a library that conceals the house!

KMWorld Magazine - A sampling of hosted collaboration products

KMWorld Magazine - A sampling of hosted collaboration products

Useful article on Collaboration and KM products from Live Link, Oracle and Xerox.

Insomniacs

Came across this amusing quip in 100% Mind Power -
"Insomniacs wake themselves up to see if they are sleeping" :)

Silence (Enjoying it...)

I am not exactly going through a writer's block, but I haven't found too many exciting/thought-provoking things to write about for about a week or so now...It's been a period of silence...Most of the posts last week are direct quotes that I found to be profound. I've been reading 3 books parallely for some time now...100% Mind Power, An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire and Sophie's World...good books! I am also, I guess, getting sucked into work given the fact that I 'am working against a seemingly formidable deadline! :) But, I am sort of enjoying the silence. It's building my potential energy and well, I am also using it for formulating some plans at work... ;)

Let's see if I'll find some food for thought this week! That said, it's actually gonna be a freaky and noisy week as my cousin and her kids are coming home after a long long time! :)

The philosophy of selling

I’d gone shopping on Saturday; walked into a music shop and asked for a particular CD. There were two shop owners/employees catering to customers. One of the men looked around for the CD that I asked for and came back after a few minutes and informed me that it wasn’t available with them. I was about to ask him for the second one in my list when the other man very quickly lifted a whole set of CDs and placed them before me and said “How about some new Hindi CDs ma’am?” Now, I normally browse through CDs whenever I go to a music shop and apart from planned purchases, I do pick up some things on an impulse as well. But on this occasion, I had no plans to spend more than what I’d intended to. So, I ignored him. Meanwhile, the first man who’d looked for the CD I wanted got angry with his sociable colleague (the second man) and said “Give only what the customer asks you for!” I somehow found that response to be intriguing. I did not exactly agree with his ‘philosophy’ even though I did not want to purchase other CDs. These two men had opposite approaches. While one wanted to push and cross-sell, the other, if you like, believed that the customer knows best and one ought to respect her requirements/decisions. What do you think?

:-) I've tried this and it works...

"To stand 'APART' from a situation and 'SEE' you facing it, is the most hilarious fun thing in life!! Liquidate your ego (and the consequent involvement) and 'see' the joke in every situation. You will then read the motives and intensions of others, your own values and ambitions - every thing petty, small, often ugly. God has never created anything but Joy and Beauty. We create sorrow and ugliness!

- Swami Chinmayananda"

More quotes.....

I hadn't checked my mails for long. I subscribe to a community discussion forum wherein there's one spiritual person who passes on some amazing quotes. Have read 30 so far and my soul clamors for more...'am publishing selected quotes on my blog....that's the reason why you see a flurry of posts with quotes...hope you love them as much as I do... :)

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We build our lives, one day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then with a shock we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we'd do it much differently. But we cannot go back. You are the carpenter. Your attitudes and the choices you make today build the "house" you live in tomorrow. Build wisely!

- Zenyasi

This one should make us think...

Freedom to do what one likes is really bondage, while being free to do what one must, what is right, is real freedom. - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

I belong to this school of thought

Q. How does the thought of giving, the thought of blessing, or a simple prayer has the power to affect others ?

A. Our body, reduced to its essential state, is a localized bundle of energy and information in a universe of energy and information.
We are localized bundles of consciousness in a conscious universe. The word 'consciousness' implies more than just energy
and information - it implies energy and information which is alive as thought. Therefore we are bundles of thought in a thinking universe. And thought has the power to transform. Life is the eternal dance of consciousness that expresses itself as the dynamic exchange of impulses of intelligence between microcosm and macrocosm, between the human body and the universal body, between the human mind and the cosmic mind -

Deepak Chopra

When the going gets tough...

Q. How can one maintain sattvic dhriti - fortitude, great enthusiasm and dynamism even when things are going wrong against all odds and expectations?

A. ''When the going gets tough everybody leaves, but the tough keep going!" Life is such that we cannot always insist on having our own way. Sometimes we gain the expected result; sometimes we don't. A person whose mind fluctuates constantly because of favourable and unfavourable results and who is elated one minute and dejected the next, is bound. How can a person who insists upon everything be happy? Insistence, as I mentioned earlier, should be on knowing the Truth and abiding in it. The correct attitude is - '' I have done my best, I have done everything that I could do which was within my means and reach. If now, something does not happen, I am not at fault and I am not to be blamed.'' With such an attitude, the mind remains balanced and also lives in freedom.

- Swami Tejomayananda

Zenyasi Again

Develop unconditional acceptance.
Love people and use things -
not love things and use people.

- Zenyasi

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How I detest people who 'use' people! That's why I admire and respect LEADERS who inspire and motivate but not MANAGERS who simply exploit people to get things done so they can be called successful managers...

Mmmmm!

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. There are stilluntapped possibilities within us and newbeauty waiting to be born.- Les Brown

More evidence

Nobody is perfect. We are all struggling souls.We frequently
fall from our ideals.There is nothing wrong or unusual about
that. But it is wrong if we persist in repeating our mistakes,
don't regret the lapse and never try to rise again. Stand up and
cultivate that courage to accept your mistakes. The Upanishads
say, "Abhi !" Be Fearless. Not the fearlessness of the brawn but
the fearlessness of a sophisticated, honest, pure, unagitated,
serene and dignified mind. Mind is the Man; not the physical body.
The quality of the Mind determines the quality of the Man.

- Swami Nityananda

NewsBlog: London Blasts: Bloggers swarming the blast story

NewsBlog: London Blasts: Bloggers swarming the blast story

You guessed it. I too was looking for Blogs on the London Blasts and found this one with plenty of links to other blogs and even a map of london bloggers...

I just can't for the life of me understand terrorist pschycology. How can anyone be so inhuman? Will the world ever be allowed to live in peace? Sheesh! As if natural calamities weren't 'enough'!! :&

Read at your own risk...

It’s pretty amusing to realize that sometimes one feels like rolling on the floor laughing at one’s own thoughts that may have occurred just a day or two before the laughter set in. It’s relatively less amusing to realize that one feels like laughing at thoughts that occurred years ago. These thoughts can, as you know, simply be attributed to lack of maturity and experience. It’s when the thoughts persist and are proven to be right that one is progressing on the ‘maturity index’. Now what the hell is that?

I am going through the quality management system in my organization and 'am trying to absorb its concepts. It will reflect in the rest of this particular post. This is the time to back-out. Else, you have no choice but to face the consequences. ;) Here is a metric for you to assess your maturity level/level-headedness (some level...whatever!).

Maturity Index = (Number of thoughts that persist and are proven to be ‘right’ * 100)/Total number of thoughts

Where, Total number of thoughts = (number of thoughts that last only a few hours + number of thoughts that last a few months/years + number of ‘permanent’ thoughts )

Therefore, if you are a person without any thoughts whatsoever (zero), then your Maturity Index = Infinity! (Just discovered that there is no button for representing infinity, on the keyboard!) :-)

Guidelines: Maturity Index is directly proportional to experience, education, insight, common sense, people skills, exposure to the world, learning index etc. It is indirectly proportional to level of ego, level of insecurity, level of selfishness, level of greed, level of arrogance, level of anger, level of attachment, level of jealousy etc

Not known – Relationship between Maturity Index and age, location, and gender.

Learn to Change

Learn to Change,

Wonderful stuff! It ties in with whatever I have been reading in my current book - 100% Mind Power! Very inspiring! I may think of blowing it up and pasting it across one of the walls of my room...

Swift

swift-03,

I think the car's quite appealing...

To be employed...

Excerpt from an article in The Pioneer

Corporate HR managers' expectations from employees is first & foremost the person's ability to communicate objectively. Communications or interactions should always be in line with the basic rules of using simple language, logical structure to communication, usage of appropriate words to convey the message within a stipulated time, use of clear diction, non-defensive resolution of disagreements, sharing of ideas, trust building, active listening, appropriate dressing, good eye contact, extension of interests in matters concerning co-workers and creation of positive connections, when working in a team.

Failure Is Part of Success

Failure Is Part of Success
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Nice interview....2 statements that gripped me...

"Are you going to see what you've gone through as something to empower you or limit you?"

and "All of the biggest hurdles are internal"

Leaving a Vacuum at Wipro

Leaving a Vacuum at Wipro

Sign of the times...Global business indeed...BusinessWeek covers it....

ET Article: You read it here first: Vivek Paul quits Wipro - The Economic Times

You read it here first: Vivek Paul quits Wipro - The Economic Times

PS: You read it here first is ET's title of the article... :) (not this blog's)
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Subconscious Mind!

I am getting sucked into the concept of using the subconscious mind to do just about anything! I swam into the concept for the second time a few weeks ago and have fallen for it hook, line and sinker. Everything (else :)) is gradually falling in place. To give your subconscious mind the power to do whatever you wish means getting the conscious mind out of the way – to be precise, it is about getting rid of the limitations set by your conscious mind. It is about teaching your conscious mind to simply trust the subconscious to do what you want it to once you’ve dreamed it all up in a perfect and precise way. This is how Jack Addington puts it – “Man can do whatever he is able to conceive in his mind, receive in his consciousness, expect with assurance, and accept in actual experience”

As I sat reflecting on the two states of the mind, I unexpectedly recalled a scene in the Tamil movie, Chandramukhi. While watching this scene in the movie left me thinking for a while, I did not really bother to go back to it and reflect upon it once I was outside the theatre. The movie is about a woman (the heroine) who is subjected to split-personality disorder. The heroine and her family move into an erstwhile palace, in a village, much against the wishes of the villagers. The villagers believe that the palace is haunted as a lady that lived there had been killed by her own husband, the king. After being exposed to the new circumstances and getting engrossed in the story, supported ably by paintings, books, and attire that she finds in a dusty room in the palace, the heroine is so influenced that she assumes the character of the lady - a dancer who was wronged by the king - when she (the heroine) is not ‘herself’. In her newly ‘acquired’ personality, the heroine is out to seek revenge against her ‘real’ husband who she thinks is the king who wronged her. OK, cutting the story out, the scene that I am referring to is one where she suddenly assumes the personality of the killed lady and lifts a bed that weighs tons, literally, single-handedly. Her husband is aghast and watches her do so unable to believe his eyes.

What I am coming to is that, the heroine who suffers from the split-personality disorder is obviously going through a patch where her conscious mind disappears and subconscious mind comes to the fore, whenever she takes on the personality of the lady killed by the king. The conscious mind has already done the job of telling her that she is the lady in the old story before it makes a disappearing act. Now, when she lifted the bed that weighed tons she was being directed by her subconscious mind! This, if true, confirms the fact that the subconscious mind knows no barriers; it knows no failure! Are there any doctors (actually psychiatrists) out there who can verify this? Have you seen patients that do ‘impossible things’ when they are subjected to such mental disorders? I am dying to know!

See my related posts:

Deepak Chopra’s thoughts on intuition

The Book Behind These Thoughts

The Sewing Machine story

Harry Potter, JKR and Imagination