Chocolate Box

Commitment, Career, Compromise....

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:19:00 +0000

If you find the love of your life, you commit yourself to the one you love. You start living in a world which is full of dreams, weaved around the one you want to live the rest of your life. But, there are dreams which you have been dreaming much before the love of your life entered in your life and those dreams are yet to be fulfilled.

Love comes with commitment, commitment to be there with your loved one, Commitment to share everything including dreams. So what about the dreams that do not include your love of life? Dreams that can only be materialized by constant determination to succeed, which require time, hard work and single track mindset. Are those dreams needed to be compromised just because you think that they cannot be achieved with your other dreams that include your love of life.

The career, which also requires commitment and is absolutely essential to realize all the other personal commitments; Career and Dreams are two different path that merges together when your career is same as your dream. But mostly your career and dreams are of different type and you need to balance your time between your career and towards pursuit of happiness.

Life becomes miserable when your career demands more than what you are giving it, and your love also wants validation of your commitments (e.g. marriage, or moving in together) and then your dreams seems to be fading away between your commitment and career. The priority of commitment becomes the highest and of dreams become lowest.

So what to do now? How not to compromise your Dreams for Commitment and Career? I am desperate for an answer....

Nine Eleven 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:26:00 +0000

Its been eight years when America came under attack this very day, the twin tower, the symbol of wealth and power came down like a deck of cards. I clearly remember the day that changed the history. The mayhem, the cries, the desperation and the anger associated with that moment.

Eight years have passed and from America under attack to War on Terror, lots of things happened that shaped our modern history. From being anti Islamic, extremism and radicalism to a new US president whose name has Hussein in it. I'm not going to write anything about eight years of war, politics and terrorism as I hate all of these, instead, I am exploring the effect of time on the people that were feeling the pain more personally than anyone.

The first is New York Fire Department, it lost more than 300 brave fire fighters in a single day! Those who got survived were unable to cope with the emotional loss and trauma. One of the fireman in New York fire department broke after reading the list of fireman died in that attack. He said that he couldn't believe that almost all of his best pals and buddies are no more with him. Suddenly, they became hero, whenever and wherever they put off the fire, they had been photographed and admired and honored. Still, it took time to fire department to fill all the vacant jobs as no one was willing to join it afraid of death and calamity. As time passed, things got settled down, they are definitely heroes but now treated like common men and the department have to no longer search for appropriate people for the jobs.

The other people are those who had no option but work in the twin tower locality of Manhattan. They were the closest witnesses of the loss and the pain. There life was going to get changed post 9/11 when they began it where they left on 9/11. The Doctors, the Investment Bankers, the Consultants and the Engineers, all were afraid of doing their job in the vicinity of the remains of the twin tower. Fear of being killed by an aircraft or a missile and the haunting images of that sad day made their life and work miserable. But, as time (the greatest healer) passed they tend to get back to normal routine and now must be feeling safe and secure of living near the tallest building to be build in America

The final ones are those people who feared most of their lives and dreams, that is the American Muslims. The only fault of was their name that made them suspects. There are thousands of stories of trauma and pain that they had gone through over a period of time for being a Muslim. Times are changing, and surely they must be feeling more secure today than ever before.

9/11 has touched each one of us at some level, but its affects are going to be their on the lives of many more years to come. Lets hope that we all act rationally and logically to heal the wounds of past.

The Bad, The Ugly, The Murugun

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:29:00 +0000

After reading Aamir's take on Quick Gun Murugun, I went to see the movie with high hope of having a great good time. But, to be very frank, I didnt like it at all! I know that its not necesaary that something my idol likes will also suit me. But I was dissappointed, as my expectations were too high.

Its not that Quick Gun Murugun is a bad movie, its a different movie that I didn't like. It started with a promising note but then went on to become a drag for me. More than half the movie is in Tamil, which was a shocker as in its poster it says, English. Then same old Rajinikant style repetitive action sequence seem to get boring! It has some witty moments but overall it was too much of a drag for me.

Watch it if you are willing to enter the theater with no expectation, light mind and heart!

Does being a Chameleon is better than being a Copy-Cat?

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 15:37:00 +0000

Since the start of our great school days, we have been asked to read our study books and learn by heart, all the answers to the questions asked. We have been asked to memorize Hindi and English Poems, Science Questions, Chemical and Mathematical formulas and many more useless things word by word such that if you made any minor slip while writing the answers, you deserve to get less marks. We study, learn and apply it in our life.

Are great thinkers, innovators and visionaries became the great without reading and learning. The answer is no, so a creative person is born with a creative mind?

Its quite strange that while interviewing someone, we expect to get the same answer to the question, which we have learn by rote from the candidate, and if, the candidate gives us an alternative answer, we usually reject the one immediately

Few days back, I wrote a post on a political controversy, It was an interesting subject, and to learn more about it, I read lots of blog post and news. I also quoted and included few lines from other post, and, surprisingly someone I know, called me and questioned its authenticity in terms of writing. I did not feel hurt as someone was questioning my viewpoint, but it was an uneasy feeling that made me question about plagiarism, quoting that has been written. If I would have changed and rephrased the sentences keeping their meaning same, then all those views would have become mine?

After all, we read something, quote it, analyze it and then accept it in our thought process. If by changing few words those ideas and beliefs becomes ours, then I would definitely disagree with one of my dear friends opinion. After all, what we absorb is what we become.

Something you create is an inference to already existing thing or idea.

Next, time if someone solve some problem in a way which is different from what you have read, try to give one the full marks.... I can't... Do you?

Quick Gun Murugun, Mind it!

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 05:55:00 +0000

While browsing through Aamir Khan ( my favourite Bollywood actor and moviemaker ), I saw his latest post ( august 23, 09 ) in which he mention about a comedy flick named Quick Gun Murugun which he had watched recently.

In his blog he says "Just saw 'QUICK GUN MURUGAN'. Really enjoyed it. I think fans of the Channel 'V' character Quick Gun Murugan will love it. Its got so many rib cracking moments. And a very well pitched performance by the lead actor Dr Rajendra Prasad, and all the other cast. Its releasing on 28th so dont miss it if you are a Quick Gun fan."

I am a huge Aamir fan, and I believe whatever he says! So, I am going to watch it on the very first day, and will try to post my review.

Quick Gun Murugun is a comedy film directed by Shashanka Ghosh who earlier directed Waisa Bhi Hota hai Part 2.

To Jinnah with love, from Jaswant

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:05:00 +0000

I can understand the fascination of senior BJP leaders ( first Advani now Jaswant Singh) for Jinnah, as its impossible to believe that a cognac drinking and pork eating Muslim can become the demon that divided the country in the name of religion.

It can be impossible to accept the fact that India is divided by a man who opposed the Congress’s Khilafat agitation as he believed that it was endorsing Islamic religious bigotry. How come a modern, English speaking can be the sole reason for Pakistan existence whose Urdu was so bad that as one saying goes that when he once declared "Pakistan Zindabad!" he said it in such an anglicized way that most people thought he was saying "Pakistan's in the bag!"

How come he allowed his daughter and her daughter’s son to stay back in India, in spite of all the hatred and communal violence? There are many instances of Mahomedali Jinnahbhai life that makes him a westernized liberal Muslim, which must have fascinated Mr. Jaswant Singh to explore Jinnah’s true contribution to the great Indian partition.

It is not a new perspective of the events that led to the division of India, earlier also many noted academicians and writers (including Maulana Azad) have written about it in the similar line of what Jaswant Singh had.

What amazed me the time that Mr. Jaswant Singh deliberately chose to publish his research; at a time when BJP is going with its identity crisis, was hitting on the core BJP ideology is Jaswant’s way from becoming a senior marginalized party member to a revolutionist? Definitely, Mr. Jaswant Singh was aware of the consequence, otherwise he would not have reacted lightly. Was he thinking that an intellectual view cannot be seen as a blow to BJP ideology, as Mr. Advani, BJP's top shot have already been condoned of praising Jinnah as a secular leader in 2005.

It’s also sad to see that Jaswant Singh expulsion was finally signed and approved by Mr. Advani who himself once praised Jinnah as a secular leader. What is now making BJP warlike against one of its founder member who had served many cabinet minister ranks during the NDA days? Was it easy to kick out him as he made a view against the ideology base at which BJP sits as here is no one to support him in the BJP, after all he is a rootless politician, who had to move from the deserts of Rajasthan to the distant hills of Darjeeling for Lok Sabha rehabilitation.

I have not read Mr. Jaswant Singh's new book but who read and dissected it says that Jaswant Singh's book on Jinnah is a little over 650 pages. None of the 20 odd members who comprise the BJP's think tank at the party's chintan baithak have read the book cover to cover. Had they read the fine print, they might have realized that the book is more a critique of the role of the Congress leadership during partition, doesn't eulogies Jinnah, nor does it castigate the BJP's new poster boy Sardar Patel.

One thing is for sure after telephonic expulsion of Jaswant Singh from BJP is that the party is going through an identity crisis and is desperate to establish its hardcore hindutva ideology, for which there seems to be no takers.

I am not here to support Jinnah or BJP, because as a young, educated and ambitious modern Indian I cannot be bring to boil on Hindutva as the Karsewaks and Sants of early nineties. I am sure most of the India’s youth is now focused on his career, dreams and life rather than BJP ideology of Hindutva. Whether Jinnah did it or not, it’s a history and let it be part of discussion of academicians and historians.

No Strings Attached!

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:15:00 +0000

Last week, I watched "Love Aaj Kal", a Bollywood movie that speaks about the meaning of love to our generation and how much it’s different to the love in sixties (1960-1969). At the core it talks about the journey of love, from realization to grand finale.

In the film, a modern, carrier focused and ambitious couple decides to break their relationship as they needed to focus on their carrier and dreams. They move to different continents after throwing a break-up party to their friends. As they settle into their new life, they tend to realize their love for each other, and eventually end up together after lots and twist and turns in a truly Bollywood style.

Is it really hard to get out of a relationship? In this film, they tried to make it easy by throwing up break-up party, then kissing good-bye forever, hoping for not see each other again. But, they made one big silly mistake; they kept talking to each other on phone, without a break, about everything. Come on! You have to be missing someone to make so many long distance international calls. It’s so stupid to first break-up and then start talking about everything in life over a phone or using INTERNET. This makes one more attached to ones ex instead of out of one’s mind and heart.

Lets face it, if you are breaking up with someone, you need to cut all your lines that connect you to your ex, otherwise you will never get out of it one hundred percent. It’s strange that our ultra modern and career centric generation takes love as a fast food, you have to just eat it fast and move it back to your life, which of course is not true. One has to face the bitter truth someday.

Suppose, that the couple of "Love Aaj Kal" decides to part their ways 20 years back when there was no cell phone and no internet, they would have had no strings attached to their break-up, and they would have lived happily ever after, far away from each other.

So, if you want to end, end it with no strings attached. :-)

Brothers Commitment!

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 08:42:00 +0000

Rakshabandhan aka the bond of protection is a Hindu festival marked by the tying of a Rakhi, or holy thread by the sister on the wrist of her brother. The brother in return offers a gift to his sister and vows to protect and look after her.

In my school days, Rakshabandhan would bring fear in the eyes of all cupids struck innocent teen, the fear of becoming Rakhi brother to the first love of his life. What happen if ones first crush think oneself as her Rakhi brother? What if someone has leaked my tender desires to the girl I love and to prove herself innocent she would come to me with a Rakhi. Also, there were girls madly in love with someone who sits in a adjacent row (my schooling was done under the watchful eye of famous Indian co-education system where a class room is divided into two mutually exclusive co-existing area based upon the gender or sex), feared that, Is he going to come with a Rakhi? and request her to tie her on his hand.

We really enjoyed making fun of our so called stupid friends, spreading rumors of someone intentions of tying Rakhi to the someone, the fear of those foolish eyes, the sadness of so called newly made Rakhi brothers and sisters, their bravado to accept the fate in front of bunch of jerks. No one ever dared to deny the request to become ones Rakhi brother or sister.

This was a scenario of a typical small city Kendriya Vidyalya, fifteen years back, in which I spent my wonder years. It was strange, yet true, that in our Co-Ed school, you can make friends only of your same sex. It was, you can say unaccepted, to have a close friend of an opposite sex. A friend to a girl can be a girl only and vice versa for boys. But, you can have a deviation if you became a Rakhi brother, it’s like a commitment from brothers side to the girls social circle that my intentions are pure and my love is brotherly.

It can look like a joke, but still these so called commitments from Rakhi brothers still part of our great Indian small town which constitutes more than eighty percent of our city population. I am not here to judge our society or culture but, can relationship between a girl and a boy be only limited to brother or non-brother.

Strange but true, still, if we see a girl hanging out with a boy, and we get to know somehow that, the boy is not her brother, we always smile at our intelligence and think "hmmmm... kuch to chakkar hai"( Something fishy is going around). Can a girl and a boy can never be best of best friends?

I have seen so called modern liberals doubting on a friendship of a boy and a girl, so, it’s only brothers commitment which is pure and genuine, and rest is JUNK.

It’s not about being ultra cool and modern; it’s about our mindset, which needs to get cleaned. Until and unless we are not able to accept the fact that a boy and a girl can be good friends or buddies without getting romantically and sexually involved, we cannot overcome this so called jinx.

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind?

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Somethings that are not in our direct view or cannot be seen by our eyes get less important over a period of time........

Is it true that long distance relationships and the people that goes far away from you, are going to get out of your mind sooner or later?

Its been five years since I have started working for the same company. In the last five years many people came and left my team...and to my surprise.... at present I am not in a regular touch with any of those so called professional buddies, but there are a few, to whom I refused to get out of my mind as they were more than just professional buddies to me.

Five years ago, my life changed when I moved from a small old city to the buzz place, during the course of time I made friends, lost friends, missed my family, missed my pet, went to diiferent places of world where I coudn't have imagined to go when I was leaving my roots. But, my family, my pet and my dear friends were never gone out of my mind, as they literally were out of my sight

So, there are people who are part of your work/activity/routines (the replacables) and, there are also, the one who are part of your life e.g. best friend and your loved ones (the irreplacables).

Irreplacable never goes out of your mind even if they are out of your sight, but, replacable gets out of your mind as soon as you begin to write a new page of your life.

Breaktime Over!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 12:11:00 +0000

Its been almost six months since my last post! A lot of things happened during that period. I got sick, almost broke my leg and had a roller coaster trip to Japan. I know its an excuse, but I didn't get time to express myself on my blog. The blog which I started with a dream of learning how to express myself, how to let the world know what I am thinking and above all, to make some effort to test my dreams.

Lots of things to say, lots of thing to learn and its never to late, so, here I am making a resolution to write again.

All the best to me, :-)

Do Dreams die?

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:40:00 +0000

Do dreams really die? If I can recollect my great childhood days aka my wonder years, I was a dreamer! Always dreamt of becoming famous, famous and more famous. I wanted to be a great artist, a charming story teller.

Dreams at that time seem achievable as you are an innocent soul pure and away from all the corrupt things, and in my case destiny was also favoring my dreams. I was learning classical music, participating in school dramas, writing poems, article and stories that were recognized and appreciated. I was on cloud nine, everybody in school at that time knew me. Those were the best days of my life.

Suddenly one day I realized that I should focus more on studies as I have to become an engineer, probably a software engineer. I changed track, my focus was not that strong, but I never bothered, and eventually I became a software professional.

How the heck I became software professional? I wanted to be something else, then what am I doing in software industry for the past four years.

Is it because my childhood dreams were destined to die? or Is it because that my dreams were not meant to be materialized? I really don't know!

So, what is stopping me to dream new dreams as my childhood dreams are now dying or have already got buried. I really don't have answers to all those questions, but one thing, that I believe in is someday I have to start dreaming again, and it seems that time has come, for me to do that.

Friendship Is Like

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 17:41:00 +0000

A song that your soul sings every day! Friendship day is special, at least for me, as I have few great friends and I thank God that they are in my life. Thanks to my buddies that make my every day special whether they are with me or not.

So, I have best friends, and among them I have a special friend! Why special? because he can make me feel happy and great whenever I think of him. He is like me, um, not exactly, he is smart, girls just love him and to some extent a bit cute. So how can he is like me? The answer, I really don't know..... but still I believe he is like me. One thing is sure that I want him to be my best friend all my life, so that even if we are far away making the life to work for us, just by remembering him will make me happy.

Will our life will again give us a chance to meet and be together? I don't know, but all I know that he has done enough for me than I can ever imagine. I treasure his friendship, his support and the way he always remind me that I am also his special friend in his own distinctive ways!

The day he was leaving, we cried, I for losing my shelter for comfort and security to abandonment. Why can't a friend be like wristwatch, you take it wherever you go and never miss to check it. When he went I thought that my happiness is gone, but I was wrong! he still makes me happy, I just have to think about him, or talk about him with others.

Life is strange, it can surprise you before you plan to surprise it. I know that we all have to go through unimaginable, but he wasn't ready for that, but I have faith in him that he is going to surprise his life, and I am waiting for that day.

Right now none of my great friends is with me, that makes me sometime a bit creepy, and in that creepiness I tend to get bouts of anger, specially when something happens which I was not expecting at all, and the weired thing is that at that moment, I want to enjoy being creepy. I cannot guarantee that its not going to happen again, but I'll try to avoid hitting others with it like recently did with my special friend. My special friend may not know that but at the end I have to come back to him for support and shelter.

My friend is such a pure soul that wherever he'll go he is going to get love and friendship with abundance, but may be I'll not get a chance to meet other one like him. I feel so proud in saying that I am his friend, may be, a good friend.

So, on this very special friendship day, I thank him for being always there for me. Hope never to miss you again :-)

Happy Friendship Day!

Friendship Quotes

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 06:37:00 +0000

Below is the list of my favorite friendship quotes:

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born. --Anaïs Nin

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one." --C.S. Lewis

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. --Elizabeth Foley

If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day, so I never have to live without you. --Winnie the Pooh

Perhaps the most delightful friendships are those in which there is much agreement, much disputation, and yet more personal liking. --George Eliot

"Stay" is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary. --Louisa May Alcott

It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter. --Marlene Dietrich

When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it. --Edgar Watson Howe

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival. -- C. S. Lewis

The most I can do for my friend is simply to be his friend. I have no wealth to bestow on him. If he knows that I am happy in loving him, he will want no other reward. Is not friendship divine in this? -- Henry David Thoreau

Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down. --Oprah Winfrey

Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance. --Rabindranath Tagore

We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over. --Samuel Johnson

Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person; having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but to pour them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then, with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away. --George Eliot

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. --Henri Nouwen

Review : The Lives of Others

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Once in your life time , you get a chance to stumbled upon a movie that has the ability to change the way you perceive the complexities of human emotions. Ideologies are not made to be changed in a day or two, but what if your beliefs about the entire system that you are part of get shattered by an innocent and pure soul? That's what from my perspective "The Lives of Others" is all about. Its about the transmogrification of ruthless, tough East German secret service Captain into a humane individual.

The lives of others is an extraordinary cinema, at one level it is a fast past docudrama, at another it is a political thriller with just apt screenplay. But above all its a movie about triumph of honesty and innocence over lust, ambition and blind faith in what can be unjust. Its a simple fictional story that fold beautifully through the intense emotional dilemma for right and wrong.

Set in the backdrop of communist ruled East Germany, in early 80's, the film begins with Gerd Wiesler, a Stasi ( East German Secret Service) teaching his students using a tape of the interrogation to show his class how, by making prisoners awake for a period of days, can break them and get them to confess. Wiesler, a loner, is a firm believer of his ideology, and thinks that what he is doing is right. He believes so deeply in the system, that he no longer questions it at all.

Wiesler is assigned to monitor Georg Dreyman by his old friend who desperately wants to impress the minister Humpf for professional growth. Humpf, wants to have physical relationship with Christa-Maria, a famous and gifted actress and Georg's girlfriend. He must eliminate the writer from his way to fulfill is lewd desires.

Georg is one of the few "intellectuals" who vocally supports the government in spite of his close friendships with artists who are considered dangerously outspoken. Georg wired house is monitored by Wiesler for any anti government activity. uring the course of time Wiesler get to know the true intentions of minister to implicate George and how pure, innocent and good George is. Caught between the lust of power and the honesty and innocence of Georg, What Wiesler does is the heart of the movie.

I don't want to disclose any further as I want people to go through the discomforting unpredictability of the sequence of events that make it as cinema at its best.

Its the silence and facial expressions of actor Friedrich Hans Ulrich Mühe, who plays the captain Wiesler that must be applauded together with the moral dilemma of the Christa-Maria played by Martina Gedeck.

But the real hero of the film is debutant writer-director Florian von Donnersmarck, who crafted such a thought proving and awe inspiring master piece.

The discomfort and tragedy of the "Lives of others" is going to haunt you for few hours after watching it. But, as I said this 2007 Oscar Winning movie is worth a try, go for it.

Spend Money To Get Happy

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:30:00 +0000

Yes, Its true spending as little as $5 can make you happy, but you have to spend money on others ( e.g gift, charity) and not on yourself. So buy for someone and get happiness in return. Its an outcome of the research conducted by HBS professor Michael I. Norton and colleagues Elizabeth W. Dunn and Lara B. Aknin. The research also gives answers to how and why spending on others gives a sense of happiness.

The researchers confirmed the joys of giving in three separate ways. First, by surveying a national sample of more than 600 Americans, they found that spending more on gifts and charity correlated with greater happiness, whereas spending more money on oneself did not.

Second, by tracking 16 workers before and after they received profit-sharing bonuses, the researchers found that that the workers who gave more of the money to others ended up happier than the ones who spent more of it on themselves. In fact, how the bonus was spent was a better predictor of happiness than the size of the bonus.

The final bit of evidence came from an experiment in which 46 students were given either $5 or $20 to spend by the end of the day. The ones who were instructed to spend the money on others — they bought toys for siblings, treated friends to meals and made donations to the homeless — were happier at the end of the day than the ones who were instructed to spend the money on themselves.

“These experimental results,” the researchers conclude, “provide direct support for our causal argument that spending money on others promotes happiness more than spending money on oneself.”

Its strange but but do we need a scientific research to make ourself believe in the joy of giving? Being an Indian and a Hindu, its been instilled in our religion/way of living that giving gives divine joy and blessings from God.

CO2, kick the habit

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 07:46:00 +0000

Today when I checked my mails, a mail from my HR with subject "Special screening on World Environment Day..." caught my attention. It says that today is World Environment Day and to mark this day, cafeterias across my organization will screen the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore"

Then, In our monthly group meeting, Bhaskar Paul ( My cubicle mate ) made a point to go green at individual/organization level so that we can do something for the betterment of our environment. So, now very much aware of the fact that today is the World Environment Day, I also decided to write something on it.

CO2 kick the habit, is the theme for this years World Environment Day (June 5, 2008). The theme focuses on reduction of carbon footprint by individuals/organizations/governments. Carbon footprint is a of the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a person, organization or state in a given time.

One can calculate ones footprint at http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx. On the net one can find thousands of article on reducing carbon footprint size. Almost all ask you to go green by:

car pooling
using CFL aka Compact Fluorescent Lamp
buying energy efficient and environment friendly appliances.
planting tress
using renewable source of energy
doing recycling
and many more.....

I am personally not against all these good measures to go green, but I feel still India has not done that much harm to environment compared to more civilized western countries have. Still our total carbon credit may be high but per person carbon credit is far lesser than advance nation, as more than half the percent of Indians still live in villages where there is almost nil carbon footprint per person.

India is a developing country, and we need solid infrastructure to become a developed nation by 2020, for this we need a lot of energy that translate into high carbon emission. West has already contributed more than there share of carbon credit in their race for becoming superpower, now, its our time and we have to be at par with west in development and growth but, minimizing the mistakes that our friends have already done. Its not the time to blame India and China for the deeds that have been already done by the countries that are pointing fingers on us.

We need to be sensible and intelligent enough to find ways to save our planet together.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 13:05:00 +0000

Today, I was thinking which movie I have watched more then three times. In fact there are lot of movies that deserve my coveted crown of "more than one time watched movie", but there should be a special mention to "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", a 2002 sleeper hit, Oscar nominated romantic comedy drama, in my treasured list.

I, for the first time realized, after watching it, that there are communities that share almost similar kind of emotions towards our families and loved ones like we Indian do. For more detail you can visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Big_Fat_Greek_Wedding.

The film is intellectually witty, romantic and full of family moments. Its a great watch for weekends.

Why Do We Hurt Those We Love Most?

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:48:00 +0000

Why do we hurt those we love most, some of you might not agree with me, but its true to some extent.

As a child, when you want something, you first request your parents to give you the object you desire of. If your parents do not accept your request, you either start crying or stop talking and eating or do anything that hurt your loved one.

As an infant you get lots of attention and positive energy, care from your parents and all this train your brain about your relationship expectation form your loved one, as you grow, your parents start decreasing the levels of emotional energy shots for you as they need to focus their energy on newer things. So, when you don't get what you expect you start bombarding negative emotion toward your loved one so that when they feel hurt, they can come back to you feeling guilty and will again increase the amount of emotional energy they give to you.

May sound cumbersome ( as I am not that much of a good writer) but all I can say is that nothing changes when you grow up in your life. When you come out of closet of your parents, you again bombarded by the emotional energies of friends and the love of your life, you again feel like new born to all these complex relationships, you thrive on the energies of all those new found loved ones.

Again, Time comes when you have grown up and the amount of energy from your loved one gets lower, and you start emitting negative energy to hurt the loved one so that their sense of guilt will get you what you need.

So thats why we all always hurt we love the most!

Lonely in the city

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 06:35:00 +0000

Today, My brother is finally relocating to Bangalore, after spending more than a decade in New Delhi. One of the main reason for me to be in New Delhi besides its closeness to Varanasi (my home town) is that I was having my big bro living at the other end of National Capital Region.

Now here, I am lonely single, not ready to mingle living in outskirts of Delhi.

I really find it strange that the reason for which I was in Delhi is not going to be there at all and, I'll have no excuse to say that why the heck I am not able to switch my job.

Now, I need to find a solid reason for not switching my job since I have joined IT industry, also for working for peanuts. Its been four years in a IT firm which was one of my dream company in my college days, its been four years of making and loosing friends, its been four years of living a life in a metro, full of unspoken dreams and pain and pursuit of happiness, and still I want more of it, no change and no gains.

but, hope still floats!

If marriages are made in heaven then?

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Sat, 31 May 2008 07:23:00 +0000

If marriages are made in heaven then:

Why the hell you have to look for the one that is made for you?
Why you have been given option to choose the one?
Why you want to get married on the earth?

Some people say that "Marriages are made in heaven and consummated on Earth", does that mean that if one doesn't get married then one breaks the law of heaven/earth/nature?

Does it really feels like living in a heaven after you get married?

I really, really don't know why I am so confused about the thing called marriage, may be because, I definitely see myself getting married within a year.

Am I getting married because I want to or I have to?

Am I trustworthy?

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:48:00 +0000

Today, my mind was so full of ideas that I unable to decide on what to blog. Hence I decided to analyze myself......

Am I a trustworthy person? The answer can be "yes" or can be "no".

I break trust only when I feel there is not going to be any kind of harm to the person who trusted on to me.

Dream Deferred

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Thu, 29 May 2008 07:26:00 +0000

by Langston Hughes

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore--
and then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?

Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

Time Management Strategies: Are they Effective?

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Wed, 28 May 2008 07:12:00 +0000

I have been reading different articles of "Time Management Strategies", One thing that most of them write is time management is all about Planning and Prioritizing your tasks.

In brief almost all advise you to do the following:

Do proper planning of all the tasks on daily basis.
Prioritize your work, e.g. by making to do list and putting top priority work on top.
Divide large assignments and tasks into their component parts.
Review you plan on a regular basis.
Eliminate interruptions by closing your office door and letting telephone calls go to voice mail.
Learn to say "no" and to focus on what's important to achieving your goals.
Find a calendar system you're comfortable with, and use it for all your activities.
Build flexibility into your schedule to accommodate the unexpected.
Learn how to effectively delegate.
Set time limits on tasks.
Take a break.

I find it weired that most of the article talk about only planning the time management strategy for performing a task rather than identifying minimization of time wastage while doing a task or identification of the reasons for an individual to feel the need for time management strategies.

As we all know that there are only 24 hours in a day and if we add the extra time and effort for planning and executing time management strategies, we end up at the same place. Also. our priority changes on daily basis, one cannot avoid interruptions, sometime its difficult to say no and to delegate.

There is a belief that if you just work harder you can get more things done. Time management operates on the philosophy of trying to cram more and more stuff into your calendar and you end up working harder trying to get everything done.

So the best strategy for effective time management is to identify the time one waste (e.g. long tea and lunch breaks, chatting and talking on phone during office hours, unnecessary status meetings, checking personal e-mail at office time) while going through the daily tasks/chores.

Therefore, my time management strategies are:

to identify and minimize my wastage time,
start working less than you expect by taking balance amount of responsibility,
to always promise less and deliver more,
to take care of my health by taking meditation/yoga/exercise,
to take task as it comes and change priority as a newer task comes.

So what are your effective time management strategies?

Innovation, Innovation Everywhere

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:23:00 +0000

In many organizations including mine :-) there is a firm belief that to survive in a business you need to innovate and, majority of our bosses believe in that. But some times the buzz word innovation can make the basic aim of development of new products and services futile.

I quite like the IBM advertisements on innovation with punch line "Stop Talking, Start Doing". They really capture the confusion and dilemma occurring in the minds of software community people.

In a recent published article in "The Wall Street Journal" describing how car manufactures are creating new ways for drivers to start their cars. Instead of manual keys, more than 50 2008 models feature push-button starters. Drivers of push-button cars still have to carry a small device that emits a wireless signal that authenticates the driver.

I am not at all against new technological advancements, but what exactly was wrong with using a physical key to start a car? The process is familiar, it is easy to transfer a key to another driver, and the process takes about 10 seconds.

Saving 10 seconds is wonderful in today’s hectic world, but there’s a catch. In exchange for saving those 10 seconds, drivers have to make sure they don’t walk away with the activation device in their pocket when they valet-park their car. More importantly, they have to hope that their new key doesn’t run out of batteries or malfunction. While some activation systems include manual keys, using those keys involves following a complicated set of instructions, with helpful owner’s manual advice like “call your dealer.”

As we read in our school days that "necessity is the mother of all invention" is quite true. I believe that innovations are to make our life easier, and its not necessary to innovate/re innovate everything that exist just to impress others/bosses.

A beginning!

noreply@blogger.com (Sumantra Joshi) — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:00:00 +0000

Its been nearly an year since I have been thinking of starting my own blog, but it could not happen.

I have been waiting for a great innovative idea and interesting topic on which i could start my own blog. but as you see it never happened.

So, finally I decided to just jump into the ocean and try to learn the art of swimming as the waves of my fickle mind travels during the course of the time.
And, here I am, sharing my view, thoughts, personal experiences and dreams as time passes by!

Sumantra