R we afraid to SPEAK our MIND

Why are there anonymous posters in forums, blogs - 'guest', 'never mind' etc.,

R these guys morally spineless - why R they afraid of speaking their minds. Do they think something like - "the fellows will think bad about me if I said this. They will see through me". etc.,

I think so, if you are afraid to speak your mind how R U going to speak what U think about something you, your friends, your products, your team mates are doing. How this fear is going to help build the world class product that our company wants to build. Don't be afraid please speak your senses - if it is termed wrong, correct Urself. Nobody is going to kill U for speaking your mind. We are in a democratic country, remember.

This blog is a continuation to the spineless youngsters blog I posted earlier, I believe the courage thing in current youngsters is very low and is due to the main reason how they grew.

Some people think something to say, but because of circumstances say the something else. They don't speak their mind. Some people are over ambitious and over courageous, they say everything that comes up in mind. Both the versions are not the best in every action. But I will commend the later because they know sometimes they overdo it and they definitely have the chance to rectify it. But the former people have no chance for redeeming themselves.

I don't know if these persons will be able to standup against any atrocity they might suffer. Will they be able to put up against corporal punishments, preferences in marriage, give proper design suggestions. GOK.

Just think a little...

Should We be Submissive

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/jul/23hostage.htm - US urges to stand up against abductions.

Should we be submissive, I don't think so ??. Why are we becoming submissive. We shouldnot be.

Yesterday it was people from the nations who sent troops to Iraq. After some merciless killings, some countries are turning back their troops. Now, it is turn for people working in firms rebuilding Iraq. The firm has decided to turn back.

If the above proceeds further, it will be that more companies run away from Iraq. Again colossal control will be handed over to the mighty bullies, the terrorists. Simply to say, they spread 'Terror'. Terrorism works by the basic principle of 'Terror'. When the fear/Terror is neutralized, terrorism will not work.

So, should we be submissive to the demands.

Just think a little...

Distractions - The Art to Avoid

Distractions are a definitely personal preferences over something else.

Anything and everything from a Ring tone, Chat request, New Mail to a Phone call, guys chatting nearby, pretty girl on road can distract you. The point is to decide whether to get distracted or not.

I would actually love to hear a song playing in the background when I work. Similarly I have spent my boyhood when I read/learn my book with TV switched ON. I particularly relish sleeping with a mild melody playing ON the transistor/radio. Ringtones, when I hear them I definitely get fascinated or you can say distracted, then again that does not last long.

I clearly have this much in my mind, when I am into something interesting, nothing else can get my attention so easily and immediately. To say the least I am not awakened so easily from my sleep. Similarly with work/music/tv etc., And similarly I don't get into things pretty easily either. It takes time to get into the groove, hence I value not missing it. Another vital thing is I love to get interested in what I do. If I lose a small amount of interest in it, I tend to lose focus.

Some small deflections are immediately erased. And I go back full fledged on the focussed work. Ask it to anybody who has talked to me when I am very seriously involved in something else, they will definitely vouch for what I have told.

Sometimes those poor souls will be repeating the stuff they told me once/twice/thrice to make me shift gears to them. Yes, it is cruel. That's why I am confident of getting the fullest support for the above statement. What to do ?? that's how I am built.

Now, to state the whos who lose control easily and get distracted. These persons are pretty emotional persons. So they are not able to program their mind to be priority based. If somebody gets distracted mainly by a noise (can be anything for eg. ringtone) from what he is currently doing with utmost interest, then U will definitely say that my above two statements are correct/accurate.

But how I am trained to avoid that is a question. May be it is heredity, my mother has a niche to complete whatever job she is doing before she takes up anything else. She just does this by her shrewd work ethic. She is completely committed when she spends time in a work. There U go. I don't claim any of my good qualities to be mine. I say I have been taught well.

U could do that too. Just train yourself to be focussed on a work. First of all without distractions, then add Ur favourite items one by one as distractions. If you have survived the favourite items, then you can add annoying items. With these stuff you can get trained to not get distracted.

First try to abandon your emotions when you do a job. Then let the emotions come in but at a priority like, ShowStopper, Critical, Major, Minor, etc., - increase the priority with number of occurence for some particular emotions. [The above priorities are purely technical names, you can have your own naming conventions, if you find them cool] Once more use priorities for emotions wisely. Try to get back to the fullest focus after the distraction/emotion.

Another vital stuff in every practice is, take a break. Break is doing something light-hearted and nothing serious. I won't allow doing an exercise/coffee/technical discussion.  Just a small walk, concentrating on a chat (not contributing), a simple wise crack (to aggravate your friendly enemies), bug fix (works for me), or simply something which will free your mind a little. Sometimes looking at your 'sight' nearby is also fine.

The vital part is get back to the groove after any distraction. Get working, focussing, and doing what you do best - work (??).

I have subscribed the above guidelines learning from what happened since my childhood days as a solution. Hence I don't know the time of the results, you can notify me on times once you are successful.

Once more, this has been a great under current, hoping to add soon.

If the above looks like all me, hey, its me writing the pages not you.

Is City Life Growing Spineless Youngsters

I saw an article in City Express (15th July Chennai-India supplement of Indian Express). In that a polytechnic student (19 yrs) had committed suicide because his lecturer insulted him in public in front of his parents.
 
Nowadays we hear a lot of news of students committing suicide when,
1. They fair bad in exams.
2. They are given corporal punishment in School.
3. They are insulted like above.
 
I even heard a news that is more chilling than the above. A child was bitten by a dog. He didn't inform this to the parents in fear of them scolding him and stopping him from playing outdoors. The wound made him give his life.
 
Is the current generation of students/youngsters getting more spineless by the day. Are they afraid of facing difficulties in any place they go.Are parents and society encouraging such activities. Are parents becoming too strict or too supportive (not letting them know the world).
 
I know our society encourages only successes. Even a slightest of failures are made worse by pressure of the peers. For a student, it may be the exams. For a youngster it may be his dignity.
 
Is our City life making all this happen - not giving attention to children, not able to provide them adequate training to face the world, children loaded with complexes, etc.

Just think a little.
 
PS: The hasty wasty city life is encouraging the concept of micro families, where every family member gets out and does his bit. The child in these house-holds are left with more time to spend only with the TV or each other. Hence to garner them the information and courage to make them face the world is fastly vanishing. That kind of micro families and the hasty city life are the target of my article.
 
FYKI, this concept is fastly spreading to other urban centres such as small towns and villages. Again just let your thoughts flow.

Water - a Crucial Resource

My point is that how long can we live depleting such resources (water/land/air - simply our eco system). I believe the next war will not be on money but on who controls such resources, the war over basic amenities. For instance, we are already seeing wars on oil.

Take the idea of farmers selling water for Chennai City and getting compensated for it.

Take the worst case scenario, the farmers get a lot of money, they forget what they do for living and when the income in water stops(depleted water), the thought goes on to plunder another resource of water. Now itself we have seen a lot of farmers selling their farm lands as plots and moving towards cities. Will the effect continue.

Or can we think something out-of-the-box like the de-salination plant, which is balanced with proper bought out water from other places(farmers/rwh(ponds)/dams/etc.,).

Here also we have a lot of cliches, but we can be sure that no one is unjustfully plundered. I believe doing one thing will not solve the problem, it has to be complemented with a lot of aid, similar to the power manufacturing, diesel/thermal/nuclear/hydel powerplants nourishing India with all the power we need.

My fav. quote, in the movie The Matrix, Agent Smith describes Human beings as viruses, one who occupy and plunder the place of all the resources and then move on to a richer resource to plunder more. We should not be like that. We have to replicate what other mammals do, adapt to the surroundings and build the eco system.

I have seen people waste a lot of water, when they are in abundant. And panic when they are scarce, and they move on to a richer place with resources.

When I was on a trip to Kerala, I thought of how much we have wasted, its time we built it again. Only people should come forward.

I believe the water under my ground should not be my property such that I can plunder it all I want. I can use it, I shall not sell it. Because, whatever I am doing right now, becomes or decides what is going to happen few decades from now. If this power falls on the right hands (like some God-like people), it will be great. But if this power even falls to a normal individual, it is quiet likely plundering will take place.

This comes to conclude I hate soft drink makers who plunder underground water for maximizing their produce.

I am not saying we should have a central organization which should ration water, but what I am saying is we should educate people to be sensible (For that we have to educate them first). From the Captain Planet, we have to reduce, re-use & re-cycle.

All in goodness in full intent. Commerce in water is good, Commerce in good intent is doubly good.

Passionate Review - The Passion of Christ

The torture scenes of this movie where nothing which drew tears out of my eye, but the sentimental mother scene did. That was a class on its own.

Much would I not like my child or anybody with a heart condition to see the movie, I would much like everybody to see this movie one time or the other with all the effects in a big screen.

The torture scene which almost runs through more than 10 minutes can be told as one of the lengthiest/bloodiest scenes of movie history, but I would also like to mention that it may be a zillionth of the stuff which could have really happened (I heard from somewhere the face was almost skinned after the beating he suffered in real life).

Moreover, in real life would you still think that they could have left something to respectfully hide his privy parts. This statement is not mine but of a Teacher who taught us 'Moral Instructions along with Jesus' in my school.

The movie is excellent and it even cannot be compared to sitting through 1000s of sermons in real life.

This movie is going to win lots of Christians throughout the world. Some christians who see this will be turned again towards Jesus. I cannot really comment on other people's feelings, but the above is definitely what I really believe.

The film shows 'Passion' or suffering as per the review, but I would also like to comment that this 'Passion' is also literally the 'Passion' Jesus had for each and everyone in this world. And how he wanted himself to suffer for the sins of people. He is the truth, the way and the life.

Professionalism & My Father's Comment

I once wanted to have a chappal made by hand labourers. They took a decent budget and also got hold of a design which I had used up. Later when they delivered the good, it was in stark contrast to the original with lots of lose ends. The main fact it didn't even fit in my feet.

I asked my father whether the raw materials we gave them were insufficient and they have done a poor job with cheap leather and everything.

His point was these guys have the talent to do a professional job, but they never do it. That's why they are still in footpath or a roadside shop fixing wornout chappals.

Even the same happened to the carpenters we hired to fix wooden cupboards up the lafts. Their target was in the money they will make (either in the daily wage or the commission from the timber store), but was never there in an ontime and professional workmanship. This hurted me the most, since I saw them as one of the most talented guys to do the job.

Once again my father's comment was, "U know these carpenters from 1980s right, still we are seeing them in the same state right, all this is because what U are seeing right now - lack of professionalism".

Professionalism is not taught in any class. Even in school someone finishing up a record note shabbily is passed up. They even tease the owner of the best record note as 'nee enna oru mark enna vida athigama vangiduviya, athukku ivvalavu scena' (Why are doing this much for getting just the +1 mark). In some schools there is not even this one mark bonus for a professional guy.

I don't know the reasons for this, but my kind of solution for this is to have more industry-school relationships to get the better out of our talent. And professionalism should be garnered from the root.

Professionalism should matter, not only when U compete on global scale but also in every competition.

Indian Cricket is fairing better lately due to professionalism. Before hand we just termed opposition (especially Australians) as professionals.