D.E.A.T.H

Death is a strange thing to encounter. Everything is forgotten and forgiven when there is a death. At least, by most people. Even if the person who is dead was not someone who was particularly helpful or a great human, everyone around rarely recalls such matters. Death is a strange thing. It makes one realise that there is simply no escape. Everything ends. Everything ends with death. If there's anything beyond death we don't know it....

Death thy appearance...
Is the time when ironically somethings begin to make sense!
For one of the souls though...
It is the final bow!
For those around it may be too hard a blow
Even if the person who left was not a great bloke
The experience; it brings to the fore
The fact that death is perhaps life's core!

Sorry if that poem makes no sense....I may just be babbling...

Asterix and Oberlix - A paradox

Came across a cool paradox in 'Asterix and the Normans'. The statement is credited to Getafix, the druid, in the book.

It is something on these lines...

"The truly brave are the ones who have overcome fear. Courage exists only where there is fear"....Courage lies in the overcoming of fear....

Blog Ban?!

I heard from one of my friends about the Indian government issuing orders to block links to blogs including ones hosted on Blogger! Was appalled by the step. Almost seemed like we are in the prehistoric world! What do we have here? Where did our freedom of speech vanish? When we can say what we feel like via other mediums like TV, Radio, Print et al, what's so intimidating about blogs? Is it that they have a much wider reach? Or is it simply that blogs are easier to block!? How can politicians who have been voted to power by the people stop those very people from even expressing themselves? If this is a case of certain miscreants up to no good, then why doesn't the government just 'take care' of them? Hmm! Lots of questions, many a stirred emotion, no clear answers.....

If you know better and know what's the latest, please leave your thoughts here....

Plum Party

Joining the party are some more books.... :D

6. Aunts aren't gentlemen
7. A few quick ones
8. The old reliable
9. A gentleman of leisure
10. Spring fever

Three cheers to the Solihull Library!! Hip Hip Hurray! :)

Providence, PLUM and I

I ought to be jumping up and down with joy...really! Providence has helped me get my hands on some PLUM (P G Wodehouse) books that I had earlier combed Bangalore's bookshops and libraries for but in vain. Though these books are from the library and I can't possibly think about owning them, the fact that I've an opportunity to at least read them once in my life is something to be jumping up and down about. The books that I've got so far (and hopefully I will get to read more than this if I am around in UK longer) are...

1. Very Good, Jeeves
2. Something Fishy
3. Doctor Sally
4. Louder and Funnier
5. The Small Bachelor

:-)

Reading book # 2 now. Came across this yesterday and laughed away to glory....

"Poverty is the banana skin at the doorstep of romance". Haaaa Haaa Haaa :) What prose, o boy! Hats off to the one and only PLUM...eh?

Update: I've managed to read a lot more of PLUM's books
- A gentleman of leisure
- The old reliable
- Wodehouse - A life by Robert McCrum
- The girl on the boat
- A few quick ones
- Aunt's aren't gentlemen
- Ice in the bedroom
- Bill the conqueror
- Money in the bank
- Do butlers burgle banks
- Indiscretions of Archie
- If I were you (This one's wonderful)

Blogs and the future....of the world

I've been wondering about this since yesterday.

What if someone were to have all that it takes to run an intelligent tool through all the blogs in the world and find out...

1. Which country has the maximum number of blogs?
2. What are the profiles of the people who blog in each of the countries? (Age, Gender, Education, etc)
3. What are the most popular topics that are blogged about in each country (alongside information about the people who belong to a particular type-set.....for each of these topics)?
4. What are people generally thinking about things that have a direct impact on the economy of their country? (Money, Share-market, Spending, Saving, Careers etc)
5. Is there some sort of a world-trend that can be predicted by mining all this information being poured into blogs day in and day out?

Any answers? You must be having some thoughts if you are into Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing, Data Mining and the like...!

KM and Internal Communications

Someone asked me to draw a link between KM and internal communications. My top-of-the-head response was...

1. How about internal communities that are based on the concept of organisational grapevines...?
2. How about the usage of the KM system - intranet - to create, store and manage internal communiques?
3. What say mentoring systems that ensure that organisational knowledge lives on (that is internal communication in its own right...ain't it?)
4. And....storytelling ought to be a means to communicate within the organisation....one of the best ways....

Let me come back and develop my thoughts on this topic sometime down the line....tada for now...

Hmm!

A thought just occurred to me. People who never ever get embroiled in difficult situations as a consequence of something that they have been involved in, are not those 'I am as white as milk' kinds. They are all people who have either been unimaginably lucky or simply those who know how to get out of situations they got themselves into! The second solution may have taken one of the two possible routes - cunningness or honesty. But honesty doesn't seem to yield positive results in today's world. Almost everyone seems to use a situation in which they can take advantage of others. So, what does it leave us with? Hah! Need I say? :) 

Forget and Forgive

"Our outer lives can be made prosperous by all the trappings of wealth and luxury, but without virtues like love, compassion and honesty, there cannot be any long-term
sustenance" - Swami Tejomayananda

Hmm. How many times have you wondered if someone whom you saw patch up with friends or family after a terrible fight, was shameless? :) I have too. But, that was long back. Many years ago. Now, I know that it is always good to patch up. But....there is a catch. If you see someone patch up, she could be doing it for two reasons. Either because of her natural trait that tells her to forgive and forget or because she knows that her life cannot move on the way she wants it to without patching up - vested interests in other words. So, it's all about intentions and root causes. Obviously, someone who forgets and forgives knowing that bad has to be replaced with the good and cruelity with kindness is the one that you would tend to respect. If she is patching up because she knows that the person is the one who determines her salary or decides whether she gets that coveted post blah blah, then you know there's nothing about respect....it's about selfishness...

Next time you have a tiff, think about patching up and more importantly, think about whether you are doing it to further your own needs and wants or because it is the sign of a good human being to forget and forgive....!! Spiritual-talk, eh? Life does teach one a lot, if one wants to keep learning....

Green is so beautiful!

Google's principles of innovation!

1.      Ideas come from everywhere (This smacks of KM. Combine ideas....)
2.      Cheer everything you can
3.      You're brilliant, we're hiring
4.      A license to pursue dreams
5.      Innovation, not instant perfection
6.      Data is apolitical
7.      Creativity loves constraints
8.      It's users, not money (Wow!!)
9.      Don't kill projects, morph them

 

Which brings me to the topic that I've been wanting to talk about for some time now....have you seen the new Google Desktop? It is wonderful!! Gmail, Flickr, Photos, Blogs, Search, Puzzles et al. Try it today...if you haven't already, that is!!!

Unity in Diversity

I am not sure what's up...either I am not so very obsessed with blogging as to think of blogging everything that my mind even remotely processes or I am going through a phase akin to writer's block or I am so busy in my new environment and project that all I can think of is doing the project well and nothing else....

Anyways, here is something that I finally felt like blogging about. Diversity in teams...
I think diversity in teams is a rather interesting thing to study and observe. It comes with its package of advantages and disadvantages like all other things in the world. A diverse team that comprises team members who understand each other really well, are able to appreciate the value of conflicting and diverse viewpoints can perform wonders! And just the opposite with teams that can't for the life of them figure out why people think so different and that they (the others in the team) have to be wrong. Such a situation can be chaotic. It is worse than having a team with all people who are alike.... :)

Before a diverse team is formed, enough and more needs to be said to the team members and they ought to be trained about the specialties of a diverse team. A diverse team also needs a wonderful leader who can bring them together and make the most out of the situation and not waste any time (which is what would happen in a diverse but an uncontrolled and weak team)....Leadership would be a challenge and a pleasure in such a team....more importantly, perhaps, leadership in such a team will have to be very subtle at the same time. Maybe a Geese Flock like leadership system is what is required....people taking turns to lead....
What?

It's all yours

Infinite power and existence and blessedness are ours, and we have not to acquire them; they are our own, and we have only to manifest them.- Swami Vivekananda

It's amazing what unshakeable faith can achieve...!!

Going abroad...

Why do people want to go abroad? Indians, that is....
An informal and random survey indicates the following....

- Make more money (Thanks to exchange rates)

- Want a different lifestyle (Culture/Weather/Safety...)

- Societal status increases on return

- Increases 'marriage value'

- Just want to try it once

- Want to see the world. Can't tour it myself. Work gets me there anyways...

- Got no other option. Work demands it...

:D Got anything else to add to this?

A digital camera makes photography look very simple....

This one's mesmerising...
There's nothing as beautiful as mother nature!! :-)

Finally...

Finally, I am getting to capture some birdies on my camera, laptop and blog forever. Thanks to my new digital camera...

I caught this guy after a 5-minute chase and some thief-like tactics....

A special dictionary

Patience,
Cheer,
Faith,
Goodwill,
Love ,
Kindness,
Understanding,
Fairness.............

These are words that most people in today's world don't seem to know the meaning of...sigh!

Me too - Tissington

These guys know better than their mom when it comes to publicity and marketing...They posed for photographs for about 10 minutes while the mom continued with her raw-material gathering process...

Found something

I am fascinated by Idioms....

Here's something for those of you who share this fascination with me.

Next time, you don't have to be embarrassed about not knowing what a particular idiom means....

 

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/

 

Exploring a new world...

I've become a member in the local library and 'am trying out new books/authors. This I may not have done back home. I randomly picked up a book and it turned out to be something fictional but with a philosophical bent. Don't blame me. The book is called 'The Journeys of Socrates" and is set in Russia. It has caught my mind quite a bit due to its spiritual flavour. Sample this...


"Courtesy is often mistaken to be weakness or fear". Why! Tell me more! :)


A quote from a Zen master....


"Softness triumphs over hardness. Gentleness over strength. The flexible over the immovable. This is the principle of controlling things by going along with them, of mastery over adaptation"