I PUBLISH, THEREFORE I AM

Plants are positioned for decoration not detoxification

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 20 Sep 2015 11:56:00 +0000

Although, we treat plants as a commodity and expect a certain utility, it really hasn't done well in the market as compared to the other commodities.

Several shops, online and offline, sell plants and people seem to buy it from there. But, plants are bought for decoration purposes. That's the market positioning of plants for the most part.

I am unsure if many people buy plants to breathe fresh indoor air or detoxify indoors. This is THE need of the hour.

There must be a level of education that a customer must receive about the different varieties of plants before they start taking it seriously as a health product.

Content marketing is the key strategy for such a company. I am going to give it a shot. That is, help people understand the different ways indoor plants help us stay healthy, and then sell those plants to them.

I just bought some plants and hope to have nice indoor air detoxification.

Starting a nursery, online or offline, will require a lot of things. For now, forget about the business, lets see if I can educate people to buy plants.

It's on.

Spending a lot of time thinking about and working on a backup plan

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 16:39:00 +0000

I am guilty of spending more than enough time on backups. Frankly, if I am onto something, I gotta be completely on it.

Almost for every event , I plan for the worst case scenario and ensure that I am ready for it. Spending a lot of time getting ready for the worst case scenario is cheating on the real plan or not showing immense confidence on it.

Too safe and secure. Fuck backups (not entirely) and invest almost entirely (98%) thinking only about THE plan.

#focus

The day off concept and the why!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 12 Sep 2015 12:50:00 +0000

I wonder if this "weekend" concept is fairly a new invention, or do humans actually enjoy doing something for 5 days a week and then do something completely different the other 2 days. By the way, the number of days is irrelevant, it's just about how we demarcated days as off or on.

In my opinion, I wouldn't mind if I did not have 2 days off per week. I only need vacations not days off of work on a set interval. Note, the actual process of vacating a place for a few days is what I mean by vacation.

Although, psychologically, I too am accustomed to weekends and I seem to want it sometimes because of the several years of conditioning and sometimes coz I really need to relax. Anyway.

I think and hope that religion has its roots in the concept of weekends and that humans did not invent weekends. Dear atheists, if religion is itself a human invention, then I rest my case. Assuming it isn't. I tend to think that the first managers/business owners who set up workplaces and employed most of us had to invent the concept of weekends coz:

**Our jobs weren't interesting enough and we were tired of our jobs.

**Our jobs were so damn demotivating that days off of work was the only way for our managers to retain us and keep us at their workplace.

Or may be, Humans don't like to work and if we all had unlimited supply of everything, we would rather sit and die than work.

Very preposterous and negative thoughts there. But, frankly, humanity is just a product of such small and unconvincing pivots.

One more thing! When I think about us as social animals...Actually, just smartER animals...I choose to believe that earlier we were wired only and only to work for our food, and then the ego thingy screwed everything for all of us, and now we have to have goals and vision, and be competitive, prove our worth, make a mark, and what not. Good or bad! Dilemma!

Enjoy your weekend! :-)

Girish Mahadevan.
youtextme@gmail.com
I am mobile. Please excuse if no typos. :)

Can't stop living dangerously

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 10:31:00 +0000

I choose to believe in karma coz it is a concept that drives good will, even if doesn't seem logical.

We are all living dangerously, just that some of us are able to survive the dangers that life brings with it everyday. Some of us smoke, drink, eat recklessly, stress ourselves to be extreme extents, do adventure stuff that can be fatal....and still die a natural death.

In the meantime, some of the unfortunate or the unlucky die coz of one of the dangers that we don't give a damn about on a regular basis.

Karma doesn't seem to fit in such occasions. And yeah, we are sorry about people dying in such fashion...that's all that we can be coz we can't stop living dangerously.

Peace.

Living a lie...loving it!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 14:20:00 +0000

I live like I am the one calling all the shots and that I am the master of my ship....I know, I completely understand that it's not true, it is just an illusion.

But....but, living such a lie is turning out to be really good coz I feel good and more confident; and, no one is hurt in the process. Living a lie FTW! #whatWorksStays

In Hinduism, they say "sab mohha-maya hai" (everything is an illusion). If that's true, then I am just living another level of that illusion.

@nolan take note. Why not do an Inception like movie on the different levels of illusion. :)

First iteration is too basic for all the brilliant ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 01:49:00 +0000

We have several ideas to implement and all of them sound really good, but the one thing we must keep in mind is that the first iteration is a solid foundation of the business and it ONLY needs to be a foundation when we launch it.

The startup needs to get on board with the philosophy that the first iteration is way too basic for implementing many of their ideas.

Shooting down ideas in the beginning is only to bring them up in the later iterations. So, understand that thinking only about the first run is very crucial for a startup.

Confounding with an enterprise and not individuals

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 10:20:00 +0000

I have been able to run a product strategy for some time with my acquaintances but what has happened over a few months is that there is no control over how fast the idea is driven and without any disrespect to anyone, the seriousness towards the project diminishes because the end goal is most important to me and not everyone else involved.

I have to go aggressive and make some bets to test the waters. So, making a product in collaboration with an enterprise is the second best option.

The pivotal post is that I may not get to confound the project with an individual, instead I will outsource a co-founder's work to an enterprise/company.

Go fast. Fail fast. Know better.

Girish Mahadevan I youtextme@gmail.com

iPhone.iTypos.iApologize

Product design and a sweet feature for job portals

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 16:32:00 +0000

The thing is if you pay the job portals whatever money they want, they let you send your job postings to everyone on the network.

Now, as a product design, it will be extremely relevant to have a feature that allows candidates to receive only jobs that are relevant to them (from the recruiters on the network) and help them reject jobs at source, that is, recruiters can't reach certain candidates because the recruiters don't have a job description that have the keywords that are relevant to the candidate.

Resourcing & job portal startups...You hear me!

Girish Mahadevan I youtextme@gmail.com

iPhone.iTypos.iApologize

Mild-talk over hard-talk

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 16:07:00 +0000

Sometimes it makes sense to withhold your hard-talk because there is a small window before your hard-talk session when you can clearly feel the friction and the non-conformity popping out of your team. If you try to highlight the uneasiness and not subside it, you will open a nice window for a mild-talk with your team.

A simple statement that goes like "I see there is a problem, lets talk about it...may be I am wrong and I need to know it from you" will break the uneasiness and help your team open-up about the problem. And that's when you can have your mild-talk about what you expect to happen, what they expect from you, and how proper communication would have helped all of us avoid such a situation. After all this, you will get to tell your team about the problem that you think is inherent and how to move forward. And yeah, your team will be extremely responsive.

Mild-talk FTW! But yeah, there is no taking back that hard-talk is a straight-forward cure in several situations because the leader knows that his neck is on the line no matter what and he's gotta save his ass. #sadButTrue

Girish Mahadevan

iPhone.iTypos.iApologize

The sense of ownership - a tool to evaluate your team memeber

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 14:39:00 +0000

I see that ownership is restricted to the actual owner. Frankly, I won't feel that I own something unless I really do. So, that's that.

But when you are working at an organization (a corporate set up), you will see that some have a clear sense of ownership (that is inherent but extremely apparent) and then there are some who clearly don't.

Sense of ownership is one quality that tells your manager/head/leader that you are ready for more and you want to aggressively progress.

Give your leaders a sense of ownership. Good luck.

Girish Mahadevan

iPhone.iTypos.iApologize

A Product Manager with minimal authority

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 11:04:00 +0000

I have been developing a software product and doing everything that is required to get the product to my customers.

I am yet to perfect my product management skills, but all this time, I've understood that a product manager (PM) may not necessarily expect people to do what they think is possible, but, PMs gotta get done the best that their teams can do. And, and, the teams that work for you don't always report to you, so, there is no (bonding) reason for them to follow the path you laid down for the product. PM's game is completely about collaborating, selling the vision, selling the urgency, and getting people to develop a great product. All in all, I wish everyone gets a chance to develop products (software or not). It is a great exercise to really understand what kinda leadership works and what doesn't, and what kinda leader should you truly be.

Another thing, when you develop a product, you understand that all the products you have been using in your life were developed by some product manager, and how all the product can be revised with your vision.

Good luck being a Product Manager!

Shit people tell themselves: I don't want to be a part of the rat race

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Mar 2015 07:35:00 +0000

Whatever is that I do, I tend to see how others with the same capabilities & opportunities as I are doing; and then I arrive at we I did was good or not-so-good. It is motivating to feel that I am competing against myself, and I tried to see it that way for a long time, but that is just horseshit! I will be as I am if I don't have an outside competition that is unsettling my need to be good/better.

I don't always feel good about getting a reward if that reward simply appreciated the status quo. I feel truly rewarded whenever the reward (that I got) was up for grabs and everyone was trying to grab it. In all seriousness, I like rat-races and I want to be a top-rat. So be it! Life shouldn't be lived like a rat races. I think, there are many rat-races going on that we should be participating in & that we should strive to be a top-rat in as many rat races as possible.

The word "rat-race" is full of negativity and people want to feel like they are not part of the rat-race. If they aren't a part of a rat-race then are not competing anywhere. I have thought a lot about how to be more structured and planned, but what I am planning isn't part of a grand design, which I believe in. I don't think I am a (and will most probably will die as a) confused human. So yeah! may be rat-races is how we would like to evolve.

Hail Ratatouille!

Lufthansa advertisement: why what they are doing isn't Indian by heart

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 17:25:00 +0000

I don't get the ad. It talks about Lufthansa being Indian at heart. Well! I get the point, it is a german flight with Indianness. But, in the Indian market, do people really care if the arline is Indian by heart? I highly doubt it! We care about costs and only costs! I sugest you give cheaper flight tickets instead of airing this ad 500 times a day and spending 10s of millions of dollars from your advertising budget; I guarantee that Indians will love it and cheaper flight tickets is what Indians (if not everyone) think is Indian by heart.

Overall: Bad or confusing ad placement. The ad seem to target a set of people that don't exit.

Hospitals have to start treating patients as customers/clients

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 07:11:00 +0000

It is a good exercise for kids and adults-behaving-like-kids to go along with a patient to a hospital. The place makes you serious and helps you understand that patients in the hospital (some with really serious illness) are just like you in terms of their lifestyle & appearance; and that, we too can unknowing be having all that they have. This is the scary part of going to a hospital, but then if shit has to happen, it will! So Chill! Anyway!

I did not go there for any serious illness or anything. A family member had to do some tests and we were there to see the diagnostician.

What I felt is screwed up about the hospital? I did not feel welcome, I felt that I have got to fight my way to the doctor, and that I am responsible for ensuring that I am doing the right things at the hospital. Now, this got me to think about what is the futuristic hospital going to be like? It will be a place where patients are truly treated as customers/clients.

Clearly, the patients are made to feel like they are not really welcome and that the hospital is doing a favor by helping them (the patients). Favor my ass! We are paying a bomb to get ourselves fixed. :) As a consumer/customer we are used to getting a decent service from whoever we pay because the businesses know that if they don't treat us (customers) well, there will be another business that will.

So yeah! You hospital businesses! Do me a favor, please don't treat me like you are doing me a favor.

PS: I see a lot of opportunities from the administration and the customer-service standpoint. Hospitals have a huge scope for improvement. Cheers!

I am not an asshole. I am just trying too hard to be one.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 28 Feb 2015 14:47:00 +0000

My alter ego is telling me that I am trying really hard to be an asshole. It is a confusing feeling because it identifies that I am not really an asshole, but then, it tells me that I gotta stop being one.

I thought about how am I being an asshole for about 20 minutes. I never, consciously, try to make someone's life miserable or say things to piss someone off. That's my definition of an asshole and I am clearly not one. I am given the vibe that I am a nice & frank guy. I'll go with that.

But then, I figured that whenever I am truly (with all my heart) trying to help someone from doing or saying something stupid OR make someone realize about their stupidity, the conversation wakes the asshole in me and I truly act like an asshole (unconsciously). Now, there is a fundamental block in my self-image if I think that whatever seems stupid to me must be stupid for everyone. Anyway, this mindset need not be corrected, nor do I want it changed. I kind of feel that one lives a rich life if one feels that his thinking echos what others think, it makes one confident and responsible for whatever one does. So, let that mindset be and let's focus on what can be corrected.

Here is what I think are the main areas to work on:

I see self-interest in not letting people do or talk something stupid. This is wrong because we all do stupid things and I conveniently ignore my stupidity (because I can). I gotta shut the fuck up and not give a sermon whenever something stupid is said or done. I cannot prevent the stupid things from happening.
I see self-interest in acting efficiently. We at work and home don't control everything around us. Sometimes, people have to take a decision that they think is best but it hurts my so-called efficient way of living. I have got to sense that my mental masturbation over efficiency is not worth it.
I see self-interest in wanting people to chill all the time. Am I chill all the time! nope! Then why do I expect the same from others around me. People have bad days and they have to suit themselves as they wish. I have to concentrate on how not to be bothered by other cold and cruel people/remarks around me.

All in all, I have to acknowledge the psychological ego and stop being an asshole. I gotta have a metal scale in the mind that is configured to shut me up whenever my assholeness crosses my set limit.

Let the healing begin! Peace Mofo! :-B

The obvious first step is usually the second step

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 12:41:00 +0000

If I have to do something, I gotta make sure I am doing it in the most optimal manner possible. I have realized that when I get an idea, I start thinking about the most optimal way to execute it, but then, almost always (so far), it leads me to overthinking or overanalysis, in turn, abandoning the idea for another time in space :).

I think, when one has an idea, it is better to run with the first (obvious) step. The obvious step is almost always the incorrect step to start out because our deep thinking hasn't validated it. But then again, usually, the obvious first step leads us to the zeroth step, which is what we need to commence our idea execution!

Let's say I have an idea about an app and I want to build it, but I don't know how to develop an app? What should I do first?

Obvious first step: Hire someone to build it or interest someone in the prospects of the app and partner with the guy?

Actual first step: Make a skeleton of your app that you can share with others, which will be used for hiring someone.

Hope that was confusing enough. Good luck.

Have a good day,

Girish Mahadevan
www.gpod.in | Linkedin | Facebook | @girishmahadevan

Election exit polls to a restaurant's exit poll

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Feb 2015 16:16:00 +0000

The exit poll is is an extrapolation. We use the exit poll data for several things, but, the main reason (or to play it safe, one of the main reasons) why exit poll is such a big hit is that it predicts the future. Obviously!

I am hooked to Delhi (election) exit polls because there is an uncertainty in it that makes me want to know how the people-in-question react to predictions. That said, let's get exit polls outside of the election context and bring it to consumerism.

I have filled several forms while exiting restaurants and conferences. I have answered questions like "How likely are you to refer this to your friend?" or "How do you rate your product?" or "How would you rate us?".

Now, all that I can see in feedbacks (in a restaurant's exit poll) is that unless you make it completely objective, it would not help you believe and act on the exit poll. Subjective questions like how do you like this, how often would you come back to the restaurant etc. give you a personal opinion that doesn't echo public's behavior. So, if I were a restaurant owner, and I happen to like data collection and analysis for predicting a winning strategy for the future, I would focus ONLY on objective data.

PS: Of course, I might be wrong and might change my stance on this subject after deep thinking, but this is my opinion for the opinion poll. :)

Have a good day,

Girish Mahadevan
www.gpod.in | Linkedin | Facebook | @girishmahadevan

Well-thought Vs Well-read

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 14:23:00 +0000

I don’t particularly enjoy reading as much as I enjoy daydreaming (for the linguistically challenged, daydream is not wet dream). I am not the kind of guy who would read books whenever I find time; instead, I would spend my free time staring outside the window/the ceiling fan with some subject in mind or sometimes going completely blank/fantasy-world.

For some people, the above is a colossal waste of time and that I should utilize that time to read some book!

I call bullshit on that! I would like to tell them that being well-read makes you knowledgeable but not clever, and it doesn’t guarantee a learned reply from you for an intriguing question. I’ve experienced that several well-read people give answers that are extremely difficult to understand and if you dissect their answer, that is, if you wade thru the-truck-loads-of-shit they affix to their answer, you’ll find that, their answer isn’t convincing at all. And sometimes, the answer is just one of their best-guesses well coated in an umbrella of probabilities; so that, they don’t seem utterly wrong when you Google the real answer. However, those who aren’t well-read tend to not answer the question as they don’t know about it or give a fair-and-square answer that is easy to understand.

I am not against the well-read folks. I’d like to grow into a well-read personality during my 40s, but till then, I’d want to be a well-thought personality. I am just trying to say that I am FOR well-thought people as I am one of them. There, a simple answer! So, to all those who don’t like to read all the time. Let’s not be well read, let’s be well thought!

PS: A well-thought person is one who thinks a lot about whatever one reads! By the way, well thought hasn’t made it to the dictionary yet! If it does someday, let the world know that it was coined by His Exalted Highness Girish Mahadevan.

Boredom is the way to truly access free will

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Feb 2015 12:59:00 +0000

How can you get bored in this mobile world? There are so many interesting things to do and there is so little time, why would you spend it not doing anything?

I get bored every once in a while. I kinda find it as an abuse, and I think boredom is a waste of productive time and that I should never ever get bored. For me, boredom is a sin which is at par with watching TV endlessly.

Not anymore! I think boredom is a prerequisite to my mind (truly) acting on free will. When I get bored, I am not doing anything or maybe I don't know what to do. I can only voluntarily get out of it by deciding what I would like to do next. The next activity that I take up is a result of a "pure decision", in that, my mind doesn't have priorities and it is free to decide what it wants.

It was so amateurish of me to think of boredom as something I need to escape from. I think, all of sudden Nietzsche kicked in/me and now, I feel getting bored is worth it and I don't want to escape it anymore.

Cheers to getting bored. By the way, the first thing I am doing after 20 minutes of boredom is writing this blog post. I haven't been blogging for around half-a-year now and it is freakishly-creative of my mind to choose blogging.

PS: I think my brain has a mind of its own. :) No wonder people talk about mind and body as two separate things!

Have a good day,

Girish Mahadevan
www.gpod.in | Linkedin | Facebook | @girishmahadevan

Singapore Trip - How to plan smart and make your trip cost-effective

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 23 Aug 2014 09:57:00 +0000

Just this week, I came back from singapore. I am writing this post to help people who stumble upon this blog post as part of their Singapore trip research.

So, let me just cut the foreplay and directly come to the point. Here are the questions that I want to answer for you:

How do I save on flight tickets and Accommodation? You take a low cost airline from your country to Singapore and yeah, make sure you clearly know as to how much check-in luggage is allowed on your ticket. You don't want to end up spending a few hundred dollars on extra baggage. As for accommodation, go to tripadvisor.com and get to hostels/lodges type places that give a decent accomodation for really cheap currency.

What attractions do I see, can you list the must-visit attractions? There are plenty of things to see in Singapore. I think, to see every attraction you would take around 10-15 full days, and I don't have any list. But wait! all the so called attractions in Singapore aren't really that fascinating. So, every man for himself, go to tripadvisor.com and have a peek at the list of attractions and traveler's reviews. For example, Gardens by the Bay is a highly rated attraction in tripadvisor and I did not find it worth of the ticket cost and the experience. So, don't go to all the attractions, skip what doesn't interest you. You'll know what interests you if you read about the attraction online.

Where do I get tickets for the attractions? All the attractions have their own entry tickets. I was looking for an outlet that sells all the tickets online in some portal, but unfortunately, I couldn't find any such website. So, if you have to buy tickets while at Singapore, I suggest, you buy your tickets from Chinatown vendors. Have Chinatown as your first go-to place in Singapore and get all your tickets from a travel agent there. They give you prices that will save you a lot of money. For instance, Universal Studios ticket is around 75 dollars from the counter, but in Chinatown they sell it for 62 dollars. That's a great deal for a foreigner. The thing is, these travel agents get tickets at the cost of what locals have to pay to enter the attraction (which is always lesser than what the tourist have to pay). Therefore, know the over the counter ticket prices (both for foreigners and for locals) before going to these transport agents. Whatever the locals pay for the entry ticket, you can negotiate with the travel agent to give you that rate.

How to save on food and water? I don't suggest you think about saving in this department. As a tourist, we ate all the local food and explored the different cuisines that we don't get to eat in our country. So, no savings in the food department. Nevertheless, the best savings for you is not purchasing water bottles. Get yourself a nice 750 ml bottle in your carry bag and remember that most attractions (places) have free drinking water coming out of the taps. Yes, tap water is edible and you can drink it.

How do I travel in the city? Some websites suggest that we purchase EZLink pass to travel in MRT. My tip is that avoid taxis as much as possible for long distances and download (android or apple) MRT maps to know how to go from one place to another. If you want to save on the transport, use busses and rail. Take taxis only when it is too late or in some urgent situation. Is it necessary to have a phone with an internet? Yes Yes YES! Most of the attractions you go to will be super crowded and it will take you over an hour of waiting in the queue to get your taxi, but if you have a few singapore taxi service (android or iOS) app, then you can easily book taxis thru that. Don't forget to carry at least one phone per group that has full phone network and mobile internet.

What souvenier should I bring to my country? Nothing actually, there is a bugies market and mustafa center where you can get nice $10 souvenir items but the quality is so bad that I would suggest you not give anyone any souvenir. Except for electronics, I did not find anything cheap there. That's because, everything in Singapore is imported.

From where do I get the best tips about what all I can do in and around my location? Sometimes you are in an attraction and the next show is only after 4 hours. Now, you can sit or relax within the attraction premise for 4 hours or you can get to know from locals about what other nearby places you can visit if you have some time in hand. Don't over plan, plan only the main attractions and for the rest, ask the taxis drivers or the locals to help you plan your day. They are great planners as they are living in that place.

Have a great singapore trip!

Hit bottom ASAP

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 07:07:00 +0000

It's better to hit bottom as soon as possible because only after you have lost everything, you are free to do anything. Reminds me of Durden.

Anyways, I usually end up using up my mind and body (in a way, hitting bottom) to such an extent that further usage would kill me. This is true for intoxication, exercise, games, music etc. I usually go full on with the intoxicating activity till I hit bottom. It is only after that can I retrospect and think about detoxifying my body and mind.

Is there scope for improvement? There might be, but it isn't worth it. Hitting bottom is essential every once in awhile because we need to be interested in starting over with life again and again. After all, we need the "they're is always a next time" line repeated to us just so that we know screw ups are a part of life and that there is no reason why we should be afraid of screwups.

Happy hitting bottom as soon as possible.

Guests hosting our party

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 03:39:00 +0000

One of our guests does more work than us at our parties, which makes him the Uber host of our party.

I have realized that it takes enormous amounts of selflessness and true intent to host a party as a guest. But for sure, the hosts know for a fact that their guest outdid them and he wasn't really helping them, it was them who were helping him.

How about we recognize such an act? Take it from me, there is no point recognising the uber host in front of the party people because they aren't looking for it and in a way they detest recognition.

Anyways, thanks to the Uber host, and I would really hope to host somehow else's party as a guest.

To make a change, take a shower first

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 02:52:00 +0000

Taking a shower is the first step to bringing a change in you. - Girish, 2014

I have found out that, my brain tells me to clean myself before I can fix anything else.

To come to think of it, in college, just before the exam when the shit hit the ceiling and we had some 24 hours to study and "score well" in the exam, the first thing that I and most of the college kids did was to take a shower, clean the room, set their cupboard, and only then will we be ready to study for the exams.

Clean the surroundings (the outside) before cleaning the house (the inside). No wonder cleanliness is godliness! bulb!

PS: Taking a shower is the first step. The second, for me, is writing a blog post. :)

Meditating in Indian cities

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 May 2014 01:25:00 +0000

To meditate, one needs pin-drop silence, or, one is advised to meditate (preferably, in an open space) in pin-drop silence. Why is that? With absolutely no online research on this question and with just my understanding of the activity, I believe, it is advised so because quietness brings uniformity and uniformity imparts concentration. Now, why is uniformity required to balance our thoughts while meditation? Precisely and simply because it's easier to balance our thoughts in the calm and quiet.

Now, for people living in the Indian cities, it's hard and sometimes impossible to find quiet-time in the regular waking hours, how are they going to meditate? For the first few days of meditation (assuming, you meditate in an open space), find uniformity in the traffic noise, as in, try to foresee what noise is expected every now and then. I can assure you that traffic noise is the permanent background score, and you can't avoid it, so, you will most certainly be able to work on the traffic noise.

I am trying to find uniformity in the tragic noise, and I believe, my trying to find uniformity in the traffic noise is a better form of meditation than my trying to focus on one thing while mediating inside a quiet air conditioned (and sound proof) room.

You decide what's meditation for you in the absence of quiet.

Doing what's favorable to your hindsight

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 May 2014 02:17:00 +0000

The most excruciatingly painful or helpful realization is what you have in hindsight. Hindsight is great. I in hindsight have realized that the impact of most of the personal things I do can be realized, before I do them, by fast forwarding my thinking.

Fast forewording your thinking is your thinking about what will happen 6 months from now if you did what you just did. It is a tool to help you take decisions and understand how much of a difference does it makes in a short to medium term. Also, when in doubt, this helps you understand if you should do whatever you plan on doing.

Taking decisions that you think will be favorable to your hindsight might most likely, in hindsight, be good decisions.

The Fast forward thinking also made me realize that most of the things I do today donot really have any impact on my life 6 months from now. Don't blame all the choices you make because even if you had chosen the alternatives, 6 months from now, you would not have substantially been any worse or any better. I used to worry about things that later on prove to be benign in nature. Not anyone!

PS: On a long enough timeline, everything normalizes, but that's besides the point...I might be wrong, but I feel, we are stressing a lot on long term thinking when personal gains are realized mostly on a short or medium term.