Day before yesterday I had the good fortune of visiting Hard Rock Cafe at Lower Parel, Mumbai (Some people say it’s in Prabhadevi, but that’s a completely different story). What I witnessed was simply amazing. Loud Rock Music, some very beautiful people (you could repeat “very beautiful” a few more times) hustling and bustling about the entire place, all kinds of liquids being passed around, and large TV screens playing the IPL match. The last bit is of the greatest interest to me – nothing is better than sitting with a drink (Fresh Lime Soda – sweet & salt) in hand surrounded by gorgeous women and watching an electrifying cricket match.
What I observed is how alien I felt in the place. Sure, the place was full of Indians yet there was not much that I could identify with the crowd. One, the people seemed to be really affluent, really good-looking, seemed to be anglicized, not just in speech but in appearance and demeanour too, shared a common interest in liquor and rock music (why else would one go to HRC in the first place).
If a European or an American found himself in there that night, he would’ve felt at home instantly. I could as well have replaced the whole bunch with the characters of Archie Comics and it wouldn’t have changed a thing! The only saving grace was the plate of “potato skins” deep fried in oil, something I hope was indianized to cater to our palate.
Would I go there? Yes, of course. Didn’t you read the “very beautiful people” part?
Saturday 23 May 2009
Thursday 21 May 2009
A new beginning once again
A new place, a new job, a new house, a new city - I almost don't want to do all that again. It happened 5 years ago in Bengalooru when I moved to the city for the first time with just a couple of suitcases.
I spent close to three years in the city slowing building up my "household" with a few worldly possessions until I had to move to the glorious city of Ahmedabad. I gave away some of my stuff, my telephone connection, my gas connection etc. and placed myself snugly in the comforts of a student life.
Now I am back to the square one with a couple of suitcases in tow. The process has to begin all over again. What is perhaps different this time is that I already have an AC, cable and gas connection with the house deal. But I still have to mop and clean my house, wash my clothes, make my own tea etc. At least until I find a maid-servant or she finds me.
There is no water at home and I drink all the water I need in the office before I go home. This coming weekend I will have to fix all those plugs that exist in my new setup. It is, I tell you, Boooooooorrrrrrring! I hate it, but I understand that in order to lead my life in some comfort, I will have to do it again.
I really pity all the government servants who get transferred ever so often. It must truly deeply painful to dismantle and reorganize one's entire household every 2-3 years. The strangest bit is that I never realized it when I was a child and we were moving around the country (both my parents worked in PSU)!
Ah well, such is life!
endnote: While in Bengalooru, I had desisted from purchasing kitchen stuff until my grandmother decided to visit me. This development compelled me to spend Rs. 7000 and equip my kitchen with every conceivable instrument that might be required by my grandmother during her cooking. The entire set is now going to be sent to me by my Mother. It means "washing utensils" will get added to my list of household chores. :-(
I spent close to three years in the city slowing building up my "household" with a few worldly possessions until I had to move to the glorious city of Ahmedabad. I gave away some of my stuff, my telephone connection, my gas connection etc. and placed myself snugly in the comforts of a student life.
Now I am back to the square one with a couple of suitcases in tow. The process has to begin all over again. What is perhaps different this time is that I already have an AC, cable and gas connection with the house deal. But I still have to mop and clean my house, wash my clothes, make my own tea etc. At least until I find a maid-servant or she finds me.
There is no water at home and I drink all the water I need in the office before I go home. This coming weekend I will have to fix all those plugs that exist in my new setup. It is, I tell you, Boooooooorrrrrrring! I hate it, but I understand that in order to lead my life in some comfort, I will have to do it again.
I really pity all the government servants who get transferred ever so often. It must truly deeply painful to dismantle and reorganize one's entire household every 2-3 years. The strangest bit is that I never realized it when I was a child and we were moving around the country (both my parents worked in PSU)!
Ah well, such is life!
endnote: While in Bengalooru, I had desisted from purchasing kitchen stuff until my grandmother decided to visit me. This development compelled me to spend Rs. 7000 and equip my kitchen with every conceivable instrument that might be required by my grandmother during her cooking. The entire set is now going to be sent to me by my Mother. It means "washing utensils" will get added to my list of household chores. :-(
Saturday 16 May 2009
The Sound of Music
Do you remember the song “Bhool Ja” sung by Shaan? In the music video, if you’d noticed, Shaan was sitting in a recording studio singing this song. Today for the first time in my life I got the opportunity to sit inside one such recording studio and the experience I must tell you is simply unbelievable.
Coming from a family that has a long history with music, vocals to be more precise – my parents sing, my grandparents and, I am told, their parents all sang too – it was not a surprise that sooner or later I would find one of my family to be inside one such studio. It has now begun with my father and, boy, was I blown away!
My father by the way is recording a few songs that are expected to come out in the market in the month of August. I am his biggest fan and over the years I have realized more and more what a fantastic singer he is. I have seen him mesmerize audiences, big or small, wherever and whenever he has sung. I have seen people coming up to him with tears in their eyes after having been deeply moved by his rendition of a bhajan or a tragic song. I have seen people literally bless him with innumerable good wishes because he brought some sort of inexplicable joy in their hearts with his renditions.
Today when I heard him sing sitting in the recording studio, I discovered how truly blessed he is (touch-wood!) with a voice so amazing that would be an object of envy to many. The quality of voice, the melody of the music, and the emotions in his singing, all flowing in a divine confluence of music that was just simply breath-taking!
I cannot contain my excitement as I wait for the finished product to come out in the market. I pray to God to bless him with all the success he deserves. All the best, Appa!
Coming from a family that has a long history with music, vocals to be more precise – my parents sing, my grandparents and, I am told, their parents all sang too – it was not a surprise that sooner or later I would find one of my family to be inside one such studio. It has now begun with my father and, boy, was I blown away!
My father by the way is recording a few songs that are expected to come out in the market in the month of August. I am his biggest fan and over the years I have realized more and more what a fantastic singer he is. I have seen him mesmerize audiences, big or small, wherever and whenever he has sung. I have seen people coming up to him with tears in their eyes after having been deeply moved by his rendition of a bhajan or a tragic song. I have seen people literally bless him with innumerable good wishes because he brought some sort of inexplicable joy in their hearts with his renditions.
Today when I heard him sing sitting in the recording studio, I discovered how truly blessed he is (touch-wood!) with a voice so amazing that would be an object of envy to many. The quality of voice, the melody of the music, and the emotions in his singing, all flowing in a divine confluence of music that was just simply breath-taking!
I cannot contain my excitement as I wait for the finished product to come out in the market. I pray to God to bless him with all the success he deserves. All the best, Appa!
The bug list
“Can you see?” asks one of the oracles of held captive by the U.S. Department of Justice in the popular movie Minority Report. A strange question considering that the oracle herself was endowed with good eyesight and could “see”. Yet it wasn’t the actual seeing that she was referring to. She was wondering if she was actually seeing reality – the world as it was.
Most of us are capable of “seeing” things. We have come to regard our sight with so much casualness that we don’t simply attach the importance that needs to be attached to it. That oracle could for the first time see things that were not visions was so frightfully exciting for it. That must tell us how important the power of sight is.
We as humans have been blessed with strong cognitive capacity - the ability to apply thought to concepts, build on them, take actions on them, “evolve”, as it were, not just physically but also intellectually and spiritually. We have the power to apply strong cognitive models to our sensory faculties and develop a more comprehensive and enriching picture of the world around us.
For example, when we see things, we apply our mental energies to understand the image in front of us, what it stands for, what it implies, and how does that affect us. If that doesn’t happen to us then God save us!
However, we must go beyond just the perfunctory duty of seeing things. There is more to seeing than just images forming on the surface of the retina. That is why there exist words such as watch and observe. The word “observe” beautifully describes a higher form of cognitive process that accompanies the process of seeing. It is not just viewing things and trying to understand them. It is going one level beyond that. It is about bringing more value to our lives. An observer builds on his viewing experience and then applies his intellectual power to explore ways in which he can use the visual experience to add more value to a human life.
I recently read about a company called IDEO (http://www.ideo.com) and was blown away by the incredibly innovative work that they do. A book “The art of innovation” has been written on the company and their philosophy. In the book is mentioned an interesting phenomenon called “The Bug List”. It is list of things that designers “see” around them in the world and are unhappy about. The inherent unhappiness drives them to seek better designs in the systems around them thereby continuously adding value to the society.
A typical observer, they say, would view a queue at a railway station ticket window and try to figure out how he/she can improve the process. An observer would view the flowing traffic outside the window of his house and wonder how to improve the traffic system, or how to reduce the burden on roads, or how to move to a more efficient public transport system etc.
I think every human can “see” the world in this new way. Every human can and must do justice their human-ness and strive to add more value to the society and the world. Only then we may deserve any bit of the pride that we associate with us being Humans.
Most of us are capable of “seeing” things. We have come to regard our sight with so much casualness that we don’t simply attach the importance that needs to be attached to it. That oracle could for the first time see things that were not visions was so frightfully exciting for it. That must tell us how important the power of sight is.
We as humans have been blessed with strong cognitive capacity - the ability to apply thought to concepts, build on them, take actions on them, “evolve”, as it were, not just physically but also intellectually and spiritually. We have the power to apply strong cognitive models to our sensory faculties and develop a more comprehensive and enriching picture of the world around us.
For example, when we see things, we apply our mental energies to understand the image in front of us, what it stands for, what it implies, and how does that affect us. If that doesn’t happen to us then God save us!
However, we must go beyond just the perfunctory duty of seeing things. There is more to seeing than just images forming on the surface of the retina. That is why there exist words such as watch and observe. The word “observe” beautifully describes a higher form of cognitive process that accompanies the process of seeing. It is not just viewing things and trying to understand them. It is going one level beyond that. It is about bringing more value to our lives. An observer builds on his viewing experience and then applies his intellectual power to explore ways in which he can use the visual experience to add more value to a human life.
I recently read about a company called IDEO (http://www.ideo.com) and was blown away by the incredibly innovative work that they do. A book “The art of innovation” has been written on the company and their philosophy. In the book is mentioned an interesting phenomenon called “The Bug List”. It is list of things that designers “see” around them in the world and are unhappy about. The inherent unhappiness drives them to seek better designs in the systems around them thereby continuously adding value to the society.
A typical observer, they say, would view a queue at a railway station ticket window and try to figure out how he/she can improve the process. An observer would view the flowing traffic outside the window of his house and wonder how to improve the traffic system, or how to reduce the burden on roads, or how to move to a more efficient public transport system etc.
I think every human can “see” the world in this new way. Every human can and must do justice their human-ness and strive to add more value to the society and the world. Only then we may deserve any bit of the pride that we associate with us being Humans.
Friday 15 May 2009
The importance of being a practitioner
The world loves a practitioner. A highly generalized and perhaps grossly misplaced statement, some may say. What does the word “practitioner” convey? An instinctive answer to the question might be that a practitioner is the one who practices. Yes and No. A practitioner does practice but that’s all not what he does. A practitioner’s practice is characterized by the depth of his practice as much as the width of it. Confusing, is it?
Let us consider a few examples – Sachin Tendulkar, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Naseeruddin Shah, Mahatma Gandhi, Lata Mangeshkar etc. What is common between all of these? Yes, they are all famous. But is there anything else? Let me provoke you a little more by adding to this the following persons – your favourite teacher at school, your most loved servant/subordinate, your favourite cook, and your biggest crush. Do you see anything common between them and the names that were listed earlier? Almost invariably one would find that all of them have been practitioners of one thing or the other.
Let us consider Sachin Tendulkar’s example. He spends hours at the nets practicing on his batting skills, but he does not stop himself there. He invests equal if not more amount of time and effort into studying the nuances of the game, studying various conditions that might affect a cricket game, study opponents’ game to learn their strategies, understand their psychology, and is continuously endeavouring to better himself and add more value to the team each and every time.
Ustad Zakir Hussain not only practices playing the Tabla but also spends considerable time understanding the fundamentals of percussions, the effect of various beats and tempos, the various effect that can be generated by combining Tabla with other instruments in a jugalbandi, understanding western concepts of music to enrich his knowledge of percussion and music.
My favourite cook, my grandmother, is perfect not because she has practiced the art of cooking over the years. It is because each and every time I find her trying to improvise, learn new recipes, modifying and experimenting with her own recipes to appeal to varying tastes and preferences of my cousins and me. She goes as far as to mix elements of different cuisines in order to enrich our eating experience every single time.
All three of them are practitioners. Their existence is not limited to practice and perfection of a simple task, but to practice and perfect the value that they intend to provide through that task. We love Sachin not because he has perfected the art of batting, but because he nearly every time plays to win the match for his team. We love Zakir Hussain not because he has perfected the art of playing Tabla, but because he nearly every time enthralls us with his performance. I love my grandmother not because she has perfected the art of making rasam or sambar, but because she has never failed to arouse the joy of having consumed delicious food.
We seek and adore practitioners in life. We respect them for their discipline, and we don’t feel shy of showering them with our affection and blessings. That’s why the most popular guys in schools or colleges are those that are “famous” for some quality of theirs. It could be from as sophisticated as a math wizard to something as inane as a champion of antakshari.
Yet not many of us consciously try to become practitioners in life. Practitioners are a rare phenomenon in our society. Somehow a majority of us have relegated ourselves to a life of mediocrity and have built a cocoon around us in the false assumption that life in the arms of mediocrity is simple and uneventful. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
A practitioner may not achieve stupendous success in an activity but a mediocre person is doomed to failure under all circumstances. A student who is a practitioner may not end up topping his classroom, but is likely to contribute more value to the society in terms of his job, his family, his knowledge, his skills etc. than someone who is not because practitioners are a rare and cherished commodity. Sooner or later the practitioner would find success and when success comes to him it will come in all its glory. What is more amazing that the practitioner thereafter won’t really have to work hard to sustain it. He just has to be himself. The mediocre on the other hand would almost always struggle to achieve any semblance of success which I am afraid would never come to him or, even if it does, would not stay with him for long.
A practitioner when asked to perform a task that does not match his passions will perform at 80-90% efficiency whereas a mediocre person would always function at 50-60% efficiency, his own passions notwithstanding. A practitioner however when asked to perform a task that matches his passion ends up working at 250% efficiency. In fact, the word “passion” implies a practitioner at the core of it. The key is “devotion”. Devotion to a value, a cause, as it were, compels a person to explore in more depth and breadth and helps him reach an elevated state of knowledge that others can only dream about. Thus it is not uncommon to find practitioners become “stars” of an organization, “icons” of a society, or “idols” for the masses.
There is indeed value in being a practitioner.
Let us consider a few examples – Sachin Tendulkar, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Naseeruddin Shah, Mahatma Gandhi, Lata Mangeshkar etc. What is common between all of these? Yes, they are all famous. But is there anything else? Let me provoke you a little more by adding to this the following persons – your favourite teacher at school, your most loved servant/subordinate, your favourite cook, and your biggest crush. Do you see anything common between them and the names that were listed earlier? Almost invariably one would find that all of them have been practitioners of one thing or the other.
Let us consider Sachin Tendulkar’s example. He spends hours at the nets practicing on his batting skills, but he does not stop himself there. He invests equal if not more amount of time and effort into studying the nuances of the game, studying various conditions that might affect a cricket game, study opponents’ game to learn their strategies, understand their psychology, and is continuously endeavouring to better himself and add more value to the team each and every time.
Ustad Zakir Hussain not only practices playing the Tabla but also spends considerable time understanding the fundamentals of percussions, the effect of various beats and tempos, the various effect that can be generated by combining Tabla with other instruments in a jugalbandi, understanding western concepts of music to enrich his knowledge of percussion and music.
My favourite cook, my grandmother, is perfect not because she has practiced the art of cooking over the years. It is because each and every time I find her trying to improvise, learn new recipes, modifying and experimenting with her own recipes to appeal to varying tastes and preferences of my cousins and me. She goes as far as to mix elements of different cuisines in order to enrich our eating experience every single time.
All three of them are practitioners. Their existence is not limited to practice and perfection of a simple task, but to practice and perfect the value that they intend to provide through that task. We love Sachin not because he has perfected the art of batting, but because he nearly every time plays to win the match for his team. We love Zakir Hussain not because he has perfected the art of playing Tabla, but because he nearly every time enthralls us with his performance. I love my grandmother not because she has perfected the art of making rasam or sambar, but because she has never failed to arouse the joy of having consumed delicious food.
We seek and adore practitioners in life. We respect them for their discipline, and we don’t feel shy of showering them with our affection and blessings. That’s why the most popular guys in schools or colleges are those that are “famous” for some quality of theirs. It could be from as sophisticated as a math wizard to something as inane as a champion of antakshari.
Yet not many of us consciously try to become practitioners in life. Practitioners are a rare phenomenon in our society. Somehow a majority of us have relegated ourselves to a life of mediocrity and have built a cocoon around us in the false assumption that life in the arms of mediocrity is simple and uneventful. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
A practitioner may not achieve stupendous success in an activity but a mediocre person is doomed to failure under all circumstances. A student who is a practitioner may not end up topping his classroom, but is likely to contribute more value to the society in terms of his job, his family, his knowledge, his skills etc. than someone who is not because practitioners are a rare and cherished commodity. Sooner or later the practitioner would find success and when success comes to him it will come in all its glory. What is more amazing that the practitioner thereafter won’t really have to work hard to sustain it. He just has to be himself. The mediocre on the other hand would almost always struggle to achieve any semblance of success which I am afraid would never come to him or, even if it does, would not stay with him for long.
A practitioner when asked to perform a task that does not match his passions will perform at 80-90% efficiency whereas a mediocre person would always function at 50-60% efficiency, his own passions notwithstanding. A practitioner however when asked to perform a task that matches his passion ends up working at 250% efficiency. In fact, the word “passion” implies a practitioner at the core of it. The key is “devotion”. Devotion to a value, a cause, as it were, compels a person to explore in more depth and breadth and helps him reach an elevated state of knowledge that others can only dream about. Thus it is not uncommon to find practitioners become “stars” of an organization, “icons” of a society, or “idols” for the masses.
There is indeed value in being a practitioner.
Wednesday 13 May 2009
An example of the "scare"
Following up on this post of mine...
A sticker outside some auto-rickshaws in Mumbai
"Spitting causes TB. Stop spitting"
Ah! How I wish this campaign catches on and we are rid of the menace of spitting that is literally painting the country red.
A sticker outside some auto-rickshaws in Mumbai
"Spitting causes TB. Stop spitting"
Ah! How I wish this campaign catches on and we are rid of the menace of spitting that is literally painting the country red.
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