I first bumped into this idea when reading Eddie Yoon’s article title Why Verizon’s iPhone Could Be Good for AT&T where he highlighted the need to focus on loyal, super consumers who make a considerable impact on your bottom line rather the divas & deal chasers.

I really can’t make sense of what’s going on in life. Sometimes I feel I’m being overly optimistic about things – like the sole warrior fighting all odds. Are will & determination enough to survive tough times? Can & should one person bring about change in so many people? make them realize things? help them think right? I really don’t know. But I’m going to try. Because if I don’t, someday I might curse myself for having lost a chance to make things better for myself & those around. So I’m taking this chance to be a super-hero – my own super-hero. That’s the theme for 2011. And I will try to have one each new year to set a direction to life. Cheers!

This year I thought I’ll publish it in time. But before everything else, here’s wishing you & your family a very happy, prosperous & healthy new year. But here’s what is going to really make it a ‘new year’:

Its New Year. Welcome it with a new vision, ambition & persona. Stop worrying about things that don’t matter. Respect & love people selflessly. Don’t do things that make you feel sorry. Then its a Happy New Year! Cheers

And continuing on those lines, this year’s theme is: Unf*#k your mind. Everyday I meet sane people who are bogged by the pressure exerted on them by those people around – people
- with egos;
- who can’t reason logically;
- whose opinions you can’t confront; and
- who can’t stay away from critisism & negativity.

Assuming that people are the larger cause of all mindf*#k, which is completely avoidable if they are managed better. Here is a 3 point agenda for this year:
- detach previously attached tags from people (arrogant, irresponsible, thoughtless), avoid areas of conflict & start on a blank slate
- listen to all that people have to say – however ridiculous – and react responsibly
- at no cost be mean or revengeful when it comes to spreading happiness

If I can train my mind to work on these lines, I’m sure to avoid a lot of mindf*#k and free some time to create a dent in the universe. Unfortunately, writing more on this blog is not on the list

Wishing that your mind remains unf*#ked all year long

Lyrics:

yo boys i am singing song
soup song
flop song
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
rhythm correct
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
maintain this
why this kolaveri..didistance la moon-u moon-u
moon-u  color-u  white-u
white background night-u nigth-u
night-u color-u black-u

why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

white skin-u girl-u girl-u
girl-u heart-u black-u
eyes-u eyes-u meet-u meet-u
my future dark

why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

maama notes eduthuko
apdiye kaila sax eduthuko
pa pa paan pa pa paan pa pa paa pa pa paan
sariya vaasi
super maama ready
ready 1 2 3 4

whaa wat a change over maama

ok maama now tune change-u

kaila glass
only english..

hand la glass
glass la scotch
eyes-u full-aa tear-u
empty life-u
girl-u come-u
life reverse gear-u
lovvu lovvu
oh my lovvu
you showed me bouv-u
cow-u cow-u holi cow-u
i want u hear now-u
god i m dying now-u
she is happy how-u

this song for soup boys-u
we dont have choice-u

why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di
why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri di

I’m writing after a couple a months and, as always, a lot has happened since. In my post ‘The not so ‘Shiney’ future of men‘ based on the Shiney Ahuja rape case, I had mentioned that apart from strong opposition, we need to have a non-tolerant attitude towards offenders. But the recent Kenan-Reuben murders are a gory, discouraging result of such opposition. Its a shame on part of law & enforcement, which has left no fear in the minds of criminals. One of the killers had confidently mentioned that they’ll get away with this. Is our government bold enough to set a strong example by sentencing perpetrators to stone pelting in public? Brutal thought? Probably yes. But wouldn’t it sound fair if this unjust loss was to our family? We have to stand by their families, and together put our feet down until justice is granted.

So far, the globalization paradigm has wrongly been restricted to business & technology. What about the emotional support that is now being offered by the world to causes like Arab Spring? Isn’t that an outcome of globalization. As the UN GenSec Ban Ki-moon rightly said on 7 Billion Day: ‘Together, we can be seven billion strong – by working in solidarity for a better world for all’. If we extend this emotional power to the needy, we can overturn any unjust power. And that’s precisely the difference between Iraqi & Libyan liberations – the emotional outburst. To conclude, such issues require public support; not just local, but global. And we should do whatever little we can for the global common good.

In other news, my uncle Avinash has put up a bi-lingual blog around his thoughts called ‘मनांतर्गत शब्द विहार’. Check it out here.

The first problem is that these devastated intersections are “No Contractor’s Land”.When projects are executed across wards, the scope of work ends within the respective wards and the joints are often ignored. These spoiled joints then become favorites for pot holes & slow traffic.  As a result, traffic becomes slow, and the effect cascades miles away. So slow traffic due to lane re-arrangement near Aarey flyover is felt all the way back at Jogeshwari. Another issue is corruption. Paving blocks haven’t really worked that well for us, yet have been applied every possible where. I’ve heard that our opportune netas have invested in paver block factories. A second contributing factor is the resistance to cementing roads. This traces back to corruption because if all roads were cemented, no one would have to look at them for 15-20 years: how would tenders be floated every now and then? Moreover, its political agenda to portray roads being fixed in response to public complaints, especially in the pre-elections period. Yes, it takes longer to build cement roads and we would have to suffer for a while. But we suffered the fly-over construction around the millennium year, didn’t we? Aren’t we happier people now?

Team Anna is doing enough to tackle corruption and Julian Assange is threatening those who’ve siphoned state money into Swiss banks.  But I think what most of this boils down to is the political will. Are our leaders in parliament really to battle corruption, leave aside personal agendas & take decisions in favour of the nation. And its not difficult. If roads could be fixed overnight after HT raised public discontent against potholes & roads, why can’t these be taken care of a priori? If that’s going too far, take the Ganapati visarjan talao (Ganesh immersion pond) in Pandurang Wadi, Goregaon (E) for example. It was refurbished just a couple of days before the festival. And I don’t mean touch-up, the elevated footpath was re-built, the place was painted, and even trees were planted. All it takes is the will & determination to make things better for everyone.

Wastage of two resources very important to me makes me write this: Time & Fuel. It doesn’t make sense for 8 kms to take the time it takes my boss to transit between New Jersey & New York. And the amount of (imported) fuel burnt idling is damaging both the ecology and the economy. I love to take a shot at hypothetical estimation and here’s one: the amount of fuel wasted in Tier 1 & Tier 2 cities in India (due to traffic, bad roads and undisciplined drivers), must equal that spent by the rest of the country. I’d leave it for P.A.L.S. to validate. What annoys me even further is that at the end of 2 hours of non-stop clutching-and-braking, the root cause analysis has a null set of causes.

But what are assets? Things that can make us happy & sad. Things in which we invest time, money & energy for a better future. Things we won’t let go easily. Gold, stock, property for example. But don’t you think assets cover people, promises? And as someone rightly argued, your own body (as a plant)? People & promises that have the power to make you smile, and reinforce confidence to audaciously embrace challenges. And so is your body, which lets you maximize profits from your own self, but unfortunately does not have a choice to leave, no matter how much you ignore it.

Read an article which criticized the Warren Buffet tenet of doing things you don’t like today so that tomorrow you can do things you like. I come from a different faith; I believe one should do what they love to do, each day. But more often than not, for the sake of people & promises, we end up compromising, in the illusion that we’re investing in a brighter future. And when they turn evil, you’re left with the difficult task of writing off these eccentric people & unkept promises. But you can’t kill your assets, can you? My colleague asked me this while we were figuring out whether lab animals were assets or expenses.

So people are going to be unreasonable, promises are going to be broken. The body is your most valued asset, and you should do everything you can to keep it going. The only way out of unfaithful people & broken promises is to apply heavy depreciation each time you account them, so that they gradually fade away. Invest in new people, you can’t be renting (support) all the time. The show must go on.

1. Playing the blame card, always

If you get into a habit of blaming someone or the other for everything that happens in your life, you’re doomed! Trust me, there’s no softer way to put this. You can’t pull-off your entire life scapegoating & harassing others just to feel marginally better for your own irresponsible acts. And neither does that mean you blame yourself for everything, learn to deal with situations. If you work hard, you can get-away with blaming for good & still feel good about your mistakes & failures.

2. Deferring/Avoiding introspection

Sometimes we defer introspection in the fear of reconciling a wrong doing with the conscience. It takes great will to look into your faults or accept criticism, but its the only way to make yourself better for you & others around. Learn to accept criticism.

3. Acting fearless

Yea, everyone wants to be dauntless & reckless. But somewhere you need to fear someone: yourself, God, someone. This is the only check on your actions, and you must stand up to them – right or wrong – in a genuine way that leaves scope for improvement (and not just to show-off your bollocks; and ladies, whatever your counterpart of that is)

4. Lack of Patience

Everything takes time, and when they say ‘everything happens for good’ there is a certain logic to it. If something bad happens, then something good is surely going to happen to keep the natural balance. When it happens, you will feel that its the good that happened out of the bad. Yea, life kinda fools you, but its not too bad either. What you should remember is not to give up any virtue and allow negativity to set in. Because when you, the “goodness” counter is reset, and have to start fresh.

5. Pathological Distrust & Negativity

Quite a few people begin by distrusting people, some never do. This is what Ivan & me had coined few years back. Pathological distrust: what bosses or a company has in its employees. When you trust nobody (especially people who love you so much), you will waste time sniffing all their actions for treachery. And that only leads to a barrier to communication & business.

6. Breathing on sympathy

Don’t live on anybody’s sympathy, for its not real at all times. People might make you feel good about what you are, despite of knowing that your actions have caused damage. Others might be genuine. Both at some point, you have to gain freedom from the crutches offered by your support system, stand on your own feet, and face the world again.

7. Untrapped trap

99% of all damage in the world begins from words. Words cannot be undone. You might forget them the next day, but you don’t know what it has done to those at whom they were aimed. Avoid unnecessary taunts, comments, and expert advice, wherever you can.

8. Enjoying the company of failed people

You have called for your end if you start finding the company of failed people relaxing. Its going to slow you down and discourage purification of thoughts and spiritual evolution. Don’t ignore failed people, but don’t take connubial advice from someone whose spouse left them. Know whom to listen to.

9. Not knowing the definitions of success, money & failure

Success comes from a positive change in spiritual and intellectual quotient. Money is the power to make others around you happy. Failure is when success and/or money get into your head OR when you don’t have 5 reference-able customers. Being to fear the opulence bubble, and humility will follow.

10. Disrespecting life & food

Ok, I am a foodie. But I believe we all earn to eat (survive), and we eat to live. What comes before us is a gift from good, and whether its food or life, denying it does not solve any problems.

This is a success post. If you avoid these 10 daemons, you’ve set yourself on the success track. Cheers!

1. Not all ideas from the past scale

Storyboard

There could have been some things that worked very well for you in the past. But everything changes with time, ideas get stale, and they won’t always scale to match the situation – if at all they still work. A 20 picture photo album might have made for a lovely Valentine’s day, but that does not mean that a 200-slide story board – full of pictures and promises – can save a relationship. You have to think fresh! Eat Subway if it takes that

2. Not all ideas click (plan for failure)

What I tore & stitched back

I once had to put some things together in a paper bag (like the McDonalds carry bag – sorry can’t think outside food), and snail mail it. I had to attach a note, and trying to be creative, I decided to use the inside of the bag. So, I cut the edges of the bag to make it one long sheet of paper (kinda rotulus), wrote the message on it (in black so it would be noticed) and stitched it back with tape. Outcome? It hit the trash can – unnoticed. I failed to deliver the message. Don’t be shy of failure, the world today is chasing failure, and the Tata’s are even giving out awards for failing. But make sure you have enough alternatives to compensate for the failure, without really having to start over.
Make yourself a promise: I will always have 5 alternate ideas or planned for 5  un-happy scenarios (what does not fall on the happy path) before executing an idea

3. Competition is catching up fast

Need I say more?

Conclusion:

Innovate or perish. Sharpen your axe. Work out your idea muscle. Have coffee, or Subway, or whatever helps you think. Do something special for that special one: be it your better half or your project/product. It’s up to you to save it!

Marginalia: If you are planning to make them coffee, remember that if you make a heart with Hershey’s on it, it will sink. Instead, try rangoli (sprinkling) with coffee powder.

Share/Tweet: @prasadgupte: 3 reasons you should keep innovating, even in relationships http://bit.ly/e2uxLh

Still wondering what 13 people really liked?

Publicity fail

That application – whatever its name is – is a complete fail in terms of its messaging. Understand the scenario: that app is sending me a persuading message to try it on a friend’s recommendation. The least I expect is evidence that the app worked for my friend.

What that useless app does to your & others' wall

So if A sends me a request to view that aging app, I want to see how A would look 50 years from now. And realistic evidence adds trust, that then drives my emotions to try it out, along with some peer pressure. But what does the invite show you? A generic image of a old man, that in no way seems to be a product of an image manipulation algorithm or related to the friend who recommended it to me. Over and above, it generates spam by writing an external link to my friends’ wall. Result: #epic #fail

Information Overload

We are being exposed to 60 times the data as compared to someone in 40 years back (read it somewhere). We’re exposed to scores of messages from the media galaxy: television, print, outdoor banners, news, blogs, firehoses (update streams from Twitter, Facebook, etc) and more. How much of it can you really take? Hardly 1% of it can be glanced through. But don’t treat the other 99% as backlog. Its sludge, let it flow away. In this age of information overload, ignorance is bliss, and ignoring unwanted messages is the secret to having the useful messages delivered to you.

5 ways to filter incoming information:

1. Be careful with your social graph

When I accept friend requests, I ensure that I know the person personally and that the person won’t misuse the platform to market viagara or post referral links (sometimes I do that). I refuse friendship extended by recruiters, marketeers and internet trolls (who just want to grow connections). This will reduce a lot of junk in your news-stream.

2. Control your subscriptions

To date, I have unsubscribed over 75 mailing lists & 15 RSS feeds that I previously subscribed – knowingly or unknowingly. With some stubborn sites like TimesJob, you need to keep unsubscribing until they stop. Other likes Shaadi.com leave you no option but to delete your account.

3. Use email filters

That’s one orgasmic feature Gmail has. Sort email from mailing lists, office, people, deal sites, bank statements, bills, jobs, etc and make it skip the inbox; nothing unactionable will ever reach your Inbox.

4. Avoid unwanted applications

Every social platform has apps. And unless you want to know what somebody’s devil or musical name is, that information is junk. I’ve taken the pains to block several FB apps that keeps my news stream clean.

5. Register to DND lists

In India, you can register yourself to the national DND registry to avoid cold-calls from telemarketeers & SMS selling weight-loss programs, investment options & holiday packages.

Hope this helps. Cheers!

Share/Tweet: @prasadgupte Why ignorance is bliss in this era of information overload & 5 ways to filter http://bit.ly/iYgdP5