In-different Observation #45

shifting priorities...

at one point of time, it was all about 'big data'. statistics are however misleading...

for me, and for thousands of other people, soon it will be more about 'valuable insight'.

In-different Observation #44

hard to say how i find a place i travel to... my perception has differed while travelling along and while travelling in groups.
one factor that stands out is safety: when with a companion, i've usually overlooked safety. however in those instances pick-pocketing or minor incidents may have happened.
while alone, i did visit several places that were 'unsafe', but unfortunate things didn't happen.
so hard to decide if i liked a place... being an architect however helps me absorb the essence of a place without the 'company bias' creeping in :)

In-different Observation #43

One of the reasons why I like to travel on international flights is the vast selection of world cinema they offer in the IFE. time well utilized! Getting to know new cultures is always a plus for me :)

In-different Observation #42

it's real easy... after much deliberation in this women-unfriendly world, two kinds of men emerge:
1) misogynist idiots
2) the gentlemen

and for the women:
1) annoying, attention-seeking free-loaders
2) self-reliant ladies

In-different Observation # 41

just when we thought with computers we would get rid of the "briefcase", along came laptops and laptop "bags" that some of us must carry :P

In-different Observation # 40

i have always hated competition! it's about revelling in mediocrity, creating comparisons and eventually achieving nothing positive.

Pursuit of excellence on the other hand, inspires me. makes more sense to rise above the competing lot... even in college, while i scored top grades in my undergrad, it was not because i wanted to get the better of the "system". it was because i tried to know much more about the subject than what the curriculum taught. in short - pursue excellence! and so getting good grades was only a by-product, not the aim. there are several things i still recall from basics. not because i studied to pass the exams, but because i knew things way beyond the curriculum.

it makes me feel swell with pride when i see i've been having the right approach in life towards competition! Peter Thiel talks about something similar in his book Zero to One. Don't compete.. dont occupy yourselves with benchmarks of petty comparisons. Innovate n excel. not only be the "best" at what you are doing, find n do something that no one else is doing! add value to your work through differentiation.

In-different Observation # 39

going shopping after ages...

can't tell if it's jewellery or more of  home decor item
saw a few books that look more like pastries
Metro shoes all for gender equality - same no. of shelves for men n women
and then some ranting by shopkeepers (for a lady who was actively bargaining):
kaha kaha se aat hain ye chindi log... paise bhi nai hote. AC ki hawa khaate hain :-O
(from where do such cheap customers come; they have no money - just come for the AirCon)

In-different Observation # 38

have seen people scribbling their names on historical monuments.

have seen people making boats out of text-book pages too.

i guess it's the same damn thing - when one doesn't know the significance of history or of knowledge in their lives...

In-different Observation # 37

Money doesn't make us any better... it simply makes us more of what we already are!

In-different Observation #36

It is believed that in olden days, kings, queens and other poweful people commissioned artists to make their busts or portraits. Albeit, asking them to keep the visible flaws to the minimum and make them look "good"!

Nowadays we have Photoshop :P

In-different Observation #35

very often i find that intellectual mediocrity is made up for by the ability of people to engage and connect with others n become popular :P

In-different Observation # 34

Watsapped??

Well, think of it if people were able to "tag" individuals in messages on Watsapp 'groups' - a la Facebook!

Will it make life easier or tougher?? :-|

In-different Observation # 33

Buying shares of a company seems like a more formalized version of crowd-funding :)

Food over Philosophy, 8

Whoever says that our happiness is directly proportional to the amount of food we eat?

However it IS true - once you start shouldering responsibilities of the domestic life - that the amount of happiness does depend directly on the regularity with which the house-help visits the home and how well you can cook with the dishes all clean and then finally eat!!

PS- story of the 3-day leave of the maid :)

In-different Observation # 32

Long back I read about the middle path within Buddhist school of thought.

Amusingly,  I often find myself trudging the path between two extremes defined by fairly rigid people :-O 

Food over Philosophy, 7

How easy it is to think that our perception is the general perception. ..

While having mangoes in the summer, we drive home the fact that out of the zillion varieties, some are liked more by some. Yet, there is no one taste that fits all!

Alphonso loyalists pitch for their taste, Dasheri for theirs, and Malda/Langra for yet their best. And to think that what we like should be/must be liked by all.

?? Ain't something not right with that attitude?  :) Let people have different tastes, where each can be equally good as the other!

In-different Observation #31

There... vincent van gogh made his self-portrait way back in 1889... zoom into the future, more than 125 years, people are taking photos using "selfie-sticks"!!

it's the 2014 invention of the year, Roger that!

Food over Philosophy, 6

gone are the days when people did business to "fool" the customer and extort money!!

waiting for Maggi to come out clean... while tobacco, cigarettes and what not, still run free.

Food over philosophy, 5

It's summer again... and I've been gobbling ice-creams and ice-cubes and ice-what-nots and every cool and canbecooled food or drink to beat the 43°C heat in Hyderabad!

While mulling over thoughts it's cool to have some food!

Not unlike most people I've been worried about global climate change.

Recently the death toll due to heat waves in telangana crossed 160.

I want to have a task force, rather a startup to mobilize help in areas with extreme climates... when we can have startups to deliver food, taxi rides and the like, why not one for a climate task force? That's what I'd like to call it too... the Climate Task Force!

My prayers to those have lost their lives due to weather extremes...

In-different Observation # 30

New definition of multitasking?

Answering chats n texts on multiple Whatsapp groups at the same time, without mixing up n losing track of the conversation in each...!

In-different observation # 29

This is how I precisely understand the difference between the three:

Neuroscience - the hardware
Psychiatry - the software
Psychology - well, this is actually the "Facebook" of things!  ;)

in-different Observation # 28

Go for a complete idiot, and she'd blindly follow you...
Go for a semi-idiot, and it'd be hard to make her follow you
Go for a smart woman, .... errr, well why should she follow YOU!  :P

In-different Observation # 27

Advertising is all about conveying the essence of your products. Any marketing exercise serves as the "interface" between the product and the customer.

Food over Philosophy, 4

One of the main advantages of using induction cooker over gas-flame stove is that i can have the ceiling fan switched on while working in the kitchen!!

What a relief for people in hot-humid climates :D

In-different Observation #26

The internet of things... before the internet, we relied mostly on "word-of-mouth".

After the internet, we still do pretty much the same... what say, about reviews? and how much we depend on them for more authentic recommendations of a product or service that we are about to purchase or avail! :)

You'd know it if you read most of the travel website reviews before booking a hotel room or going to an unfamiliar destination... even if it's a restaurant not more than 50 metres away from your door!

Food over philosophy, 3

A lot of times we have within us what is takes... we just haven't stirred ourselves enough!

Recall that case when we already have added sugar to the coffee but it doesn't taste sweet? If we let he sugar lying at the bottom, it won't work.... we got to stir that up!

Just the way we need some soul stirring to galvanize ourselves into action and show the fullest potential :)

In-different Observation #25

Yay, that's a silver Jubilee!! :)

Well, how to tell whether a Facebook status or post is on a controversial topic?

You know it: comments outnumber the likes!

Food over Philosophy, 2

While munching over a snack of rice crispies, good girl Susmita decides to watch youtube videos on crass jokes; ends up watching TEDx instead! Simon Sinek's talk on how trust and cooperation play a crucial role in leadership left me speechless. Why some people do so much for their leaders? "Because they would do the same for us".

In times of economic crises, we never "lay-off" one of our children... Then why should we do that to employees, ever! In other words, the leader shouldnt be selfish... He's the one who eats last!
When assigned to act as a leader in many instances, I functioned half heartedly because I never had feeling of respect for the people I was made to lead. Alas seldom do I get to handpick a team with all the people I love and respect. instead for each set of new people, I must start from zero to build fresh respect disregarding any past experiences of mistrust and general bias or even dislike. Not let the very idea of working with "those people" or FOR those people put you off!

People's attitudes towards you can change if you change your attitude towards them... you can SHOW them you are willing to go that extra mile to make sure what needs to get done gets done by the team. Be not afraid to face discomfort. Why would they align themselves towards this goal otherwise? It really helped me survive a number of challenging tasks later on... If you followers see you building up from ground zero for them, you will be reciprocated by many.

Talking of zeros, I think the zeroth wonder of the world is the very seemingly obvious fact that a group of people can work together for a common goal! Look at our history, from hunter gatherer to big governments and civic bodies and corporates and armies... How do you get so many people united towards a cause? That's taken years of evolution and growing trust between people which has accomplished this. And Sinek's discusses this idea too illucidating upon the fact that it is effective leadership which binds a group together.

To get inspired, search out the title and watch it for yourself: "why good leaders make you feel safe".

Meanwhile, I'll finish this round of crispies and get back to act upon being a better leader :)

Food over Philosophy

Or should we call this some philosophy over food? :)
What I realized today that having resources is not everything.  What's more important is how we act on them... how we use them.
Just think of the ingredients: eggs, flour, milk, water, baking soda n sugar. Almost all of these go into the batter. But it's the proportion, temperature and to a great extent timing, which determines the outcome.
Depending on the treatment, the same batter becomes biscuit or pancake or a cake! All with distinct purposes, value and degrees of satisfaction for the eater!!

In-different Observation # 24

To study inflation, look to no book... look no further than a bag of potato chips!

In-different Observation #23

Powerless guy who follows rules: "I have values"
Powerful guy who bends rules: "I have value"

A resolution fulfilled: almost vegetarian

it's a new year (2015) and going by cliche, time for declaring new resolutions. so i thought of not announcing any novel ones being added to the dossier, instead, acknowledging what's been fulfilled in the last year!
from eating over 3 to 4 non-vegetarian meals a month, I've cut down to less than 10 non-veg meals in a year. i had consumed beef only once and pork about 5 times ever in life. not due to religious reasons (though i often give that as an excuse to people who don't understand better :P), but because i never liked killing "bigger" animals for food. why this partiality towards 'smaller' animals then? easy to kill? no danger while hunting? or easy to grow and breed (partly correct!)? a cow consumes 10kg of feed vs. 5 for pigs and 1-2 kgs vs. 1-2 kgs for chicken.
i do not have a bias for those countries who consume meat/fish because perhaps those are the only things which grow there and their cuisines evolved due to the climatic and geographic factors. however, over-dependence on meat for "nutrition" and for "luxury", accosted to as a symbol of prosperity, in several emerging economies (especially in south-east Asia), the trend will cause great environmental imbalance.
with greater mobility and provision for export-import, it is certainly a better idea to consume more vegetarian staples. i mean, where is the logic in feeding soy to cow and eating the cow for food? why not eat the soy which costs less, grows abundantly (and ethically?) and gives way much protein for the same quantity consumed.
although, i've noticed i used to exercise much more when i ate more meat. i've added a few kilos out of complacency given to reduced intake of non-veg food. now i'm all up to correct that by exercising more.
i do admit i am not a born vegetarian. due to family culture and established habits, i've been an avid meat-eater for most of my life, albeit not consumed more than 10 kgs of meat in a year ever. still i;ve cut down drastically and have consumed only lean meats and eggs in the past year on just 10 occasions. change takes time, but i'm happy to be taking a step in the right direction.