Mind Over Matter

I don’t know what to write about and have no topic in mind. But I want to write about something. A young lady once told me that when you write, your thoughts are being shaped to take a definitive form instead of loosely hanging in your mind without recognition. So I am hoping that by the end of this, I will do justice to some of my thoughts.

Strangely, what is coming to my mind at this very moment is the power of a human mind and how underrated it is in this world. Lately through books and videos, I have come across many people who are dedicated in spreading the importance of the mind to the world. For instance, Robin Sharma through his book, Monk Who Sold his Ferrari, makes a reader captivated by the positivity and hope he generates through control of mind. He claims that we need to take care of our mind as if it were our own garden. The mind needs food, water and nourishing and unwanted trespassers (meaning negative thoughts) will completely ruin it. Another example is the increasing popularity of Deepak Chopra. At the core of his teaching is meditation and yoga which in turn implies mind control.

If we do end up controlling our mind even to a moderate level, we can handle tough situations differently, save ourselves from unnecessary pain and spend less time on useless thoughts that is our own creation instead of the situation or event that we so often blame. What is perplexing is that these facts are out there but only a few realize it and pay attention to it. Each one of us who have attended kindergarten or the most basic form of education knows the alphabet. Then why not techniques to condition the mind, when it can drastically change our personalities and lives? My question is why isn’t there a course or subject in school that teaches us this? Why isn’t this part of our life just like the alphabet, for it does deserve a lot more attention?

I have questions and concerns regarding this topic. I am trying to absorb these new concepts but sometimes I am directionless. I find myself in an intersection and don’t know which road to take. I need a teacher, someone who I can blindly trust, just like my 1^st grade teacher who said the sky is blue and it is, who said that 2+2=4 and it is. So my wait for a teacher continues but what is fascinating is why I pulled one thought out of the hundreds running in my mind and elaborated it to this article?!

La vie est belle!

One of the coolest things I have done in my life is to start learning a new language. It was Jan 1st 2009 when I had the desire to do something new and eventually thought of learning French. I believe in Action comes before Motivation, which is then followed by further Action. So, I immediately enrolled myself at NYU for French I and thus completed my first Action.

Motivation followed a month later when classes began. Honestly, I have never taken a fun class before. My perception of taking a class relates to sitting in a packed classroom full of smart people and all of us are trying to solve some kind of 'problem'. The problem can range from a simple math puzzle to a binomial stock option model but at the end of the day, whichever subject it was, we were finding solutions to problems. On the contrary, French class had no problem to solve! It kind of shook my foundation in the beginning. It was like a huge load off my chest!

The first thing we did was to re-arrange the chairs and tables to form a circle so that we can all see each other. The concept of last benchers thus ceases to exist. On our first round of introduction in somewhat broken french, we figured that diversity was at its peak. I dont remember any 2 people from the same country. There are no two people of the same profession. Our reasons for learning the language were unique as well.

Another interesting aspect of studying French is the class location. We are at the 8th floor of a building with no elevators! No its not a walk-up but an escalator-up! Escalators are weird, you cant really control the speed at which you will go up, even if you try hard. Some people are ambitious and try to run up and down, but they really have to stop at some point. To add to this, there are 2 extra sets of escalators to reach the 1st floor so 10 rounds for 1 trip to my class!

Coming back to la langue francaise, learning a language is way harder than I thought it would be. English is my reference point, but I cant find a simple translation to everything we say in English. There is something much more important than assimilating the French grammar and vocabulary and that is the CULTURE. Cutlure lays the bricks for communication. As a result, I find myself traveling a new world through words at times. Once I am able to change my reference point from English to the French culture, I will have mastered the language.

For now, I am enjoying my journey through films like Les parapluies de Cherbourg and my attempt at throwing a few words at French speakers. J'adore apprendre la langue francaise. Il a rendu ma vie plus belle!

Have we built enough bridges?

"People are going places". That seems to be the buzz in our generation today, at least amongst Indians. We are students in US universities. We are investment bankers in Honk Kong. We are construction workers in Dubai. We are models and actresses in Hollywood. We are chefs in London. We are writers in Sydney.

Yes, the world has become smaller. Cosmopolitanism marks its presence in more cities today than ever before. We have the opportunity to taste different cultures, be it their cuisine, history, fashion or language. I love the fact that it has become so easy to access different parts of the globe and its people. For instance, my evening may look like this - I leave work early and stop by a Chinese New Year party that my Chinese colleague invited me to. Later, I meet my Icelandic friend and go to a see a French movie, which was recently nominated for the Oscar. We then satisfy our taste buds at a Turkish restaurant. The waiter is Bangladeshi and speaks to me in Bengali. On my way home, I bump into an ex-classmate who is Russian. She points out that she has invites to a fashion event tomorrow hosted by her friend from Milan and asks if I am interested. I politely decline since I am off to South America on vacation tomorrow.

It is indeed a boon to live in a society which is moving towards bridging distances. Hats off to communication and technology that has made it possible. But every thing comes with a price tag. This one adorns losing the essence of proximity to near and dear ones. However improved the communication channel is, there is nothing that beats hugging a childhood friend, resting your head over your mother's shoulder whenever you want to or throwing a big birthday surprise for your brother. But my childhood friend is in London and my mother is in India and my brother is in Hong Kong. That does not go to say I cannot take a flight to any of these places and do the same things. But truly, I cannot do it whenever I feel like it. I am handicapped by work schedule and other commitments.

My best friend lives in Mumbai. I can never have another friend who understands me better or replace our friendship with a bond that is as strong. We are very good at keeping in touch and I am proud of it. But on some days when there is a reason to celebrate, I wish he was around to take me to dinner. When everything seems to be going wrong, I wish he was here to give me a hug. When I want to empty my heart out with the most nonsensical things, I wish I could see his priceless expressions!

There is no right or wrong and each one of us may have a different story to tell. For some, its worth paying $1300 for a Gucci bag and for some it is as exciting to get one from China Town for $50. The point is we need to build our own bridges for the world hasn't provided us with enough.

I am only scared of the sky falling on my head!

My father is big into comics. As a child, I often found myself fumbling upon them because they were lying around all over the house. I have read Tintin, Archies, Batman, Chacha Chaudhury, Phantom and various others. The one I really got hooked on to was Asterix though. They are funny, witty and clever but more importantly they always provided a meaningful message.

These French comics (translated to more than 100 languages and dialects) are written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. Their combination worked like magic. Uderzo's intricate illustrations of the Gaulish village and the characters speaks volumes of the quality if his art. The best images are found on the last page, where the village generally celebrates Asterix and Oblelix's triumph over an extravagant dinner. Uderzo's attention to detail is exemplified here when you realize that you have spent a good ten minutes going through each character's actions and expressions. Uderzo also took up the job of writing, after Goscinny's death in 1977. He has maintained consistency in repeating the magic of the previous books (although I haven't read the recent additions to the collection).


A few things that are worth talking about out in the Asterix series:-

1. The inseparable and selfless friendship between Asterix and Obelix.

2. How easily they can start a fight over rotten fish, yet the ironical unity amongst the villagers when it comes to defending their village. The divided behavior of the Romans has often been the cause of their defeat.

3. The simplicity in thought amongst the characters - In spite of having the burden of being chief, Vitalstatistix is engrossed in keeping himself falling off his shield; Cacofonix only wants to sing when someone departs; Oblelix wants to eat wild boar in the middle of a crisis situation; Fullyautomatix is ready to bash up everything around him especially Cacofonix when he is about to sing; Unhygenix is only concerned about his fish which are mostly rotten and so on...

4. The villagers are brave, very brave indeed. They only fear that the sky may fall on their heads!

5. The concept and theme in these books are seriously unique. Isnt it amusing that all their names end in 'ix' and have a peculiar familiarity to their characters?


Personally, my favorite character is Obelix. I love his whole look and attire. He is an innocent menhir sculpture and delivery man, strong as hell because he fell into a cauldron of magic potion as a baby, loves to fight and eat wild and gets really angry if anyone calls him fat! He carries with himself an air of simplemindedness and kindness.

Even today when I am feeling low, my father will sometimes say "Why are you upset? Dont be scared of anything except the sky falling on your head!". It instantly makes me smile and I remember the stories of Asterix and Obelix

For more information on Asterix and Oblelix:
http://gb.asterix.com/index1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix

Moment of a lifetime

Precisely 3 months ago, life gave me a beautiful surprise. I may have procrastinated to narrate this event, but it is as fresh in my mind as if it were yesterday. I was in Mumbai on work and had several back to back meetings for 3 days continuously. It was my first trip with the firm's CEO so I ended up meeting quite a few big wigs. This particular one I met purely unplanned though.

We went to Worli Sea Face to meet some people from TCS. I never did any talking at these meetings with my boss, except introductions and greetings. I was the silent listener. I had done the presentation that would generally be distributed and talked about in the meeting. If there is any question regarding the slides that my boss was not sure about, he would turn to me for clarification. That was my role in the 'big bosses' meetings. So coming back to the meeting with TCS, we were seated and greetings exchanged. The suited high profile man in front of me suggested to my boss that we should call Ram since he was upstairs. The name, Ram, didnt ring a bell. Soon after, Ram came into the room and I looked at him in awe - he was the famous man, Mr. Ramadorai who I saw on the news so often and whose comments I have admired on many occasions. There was something else to him that the other CEO's I met didnt have. It was a link to my past.

So, we began the meeting and I was an alert listener. I noticed that Ram quickly flipped through the pages of the presentation stopping occasionally for a few seconds on some pages. The meeting lasted 30 mins and I didnt speak at all. We were in the last phase of deciding when to meet next, when Ram turned towards me and asked "So, how long did you work at X company?" I had thoughts running in my head at the speed of a racing car. How did he know I worked at X company previously? He really wanted to know about me? It was a question that fell out of the sky and maybe I was dreaming? I didnt let these thoughts delay my answer and spurted out, "Two years". Promptly he responded, "Before that you studied at Mumbai University and then Columbia University in New York?" Another array of thoughts in my head. But this time, luckily I figured out that he must have read the last pages in the presentation, which states my short bio. I confidently nodded and said "Yes". He remarked, "Both very good schools indeed, very good" and smiled in appreciation. I was on top of the world and my heart started beating faster, while I smiled and acknowledged his complement in a room full of people. He then said a couple of more things to me as general discussion but his tone indicated that somehow he was impressed with me.

My first ever job offer was from TCS. I would have been working in the company, had I not made it to a good university in the US. When I received the offer, I was very inspired by Mr. Ramadorai and since then I have always stopped to read any articles related to him. On the way back to the hotel, I asked myself quietly, what would life had been if I took up the job offer in TCS 3 years ago? Would I ever have been in the same room as the Ram? Would I have the opportunity to shake his hand? Would he ever take interest in reading my profile? Would he even speak to me? I really dont know the answer to these questions, but all I care about is that I was on 7th heaven for a few minutes and I will forever look back at this episode with a smile and a sense of achievement.

Egg on a Bagel

I say 'Egg on a Bagel' once every morning from Monday to Friday. Actually, I don't even need to say it anymore. The guy at the breakfast cart just looks at me for a fleeting second and knows that is what I want. Its my usual stop on the way to office. I just show my face, he acknowledges and makes his delicious egg on a bagel, wraps it in aluminum foil, which then goes inside a brown paper bag with napkins. I put down my $1.75 followed by an exchange of 'have a nice day' greeting and depart. Occasionally, when the rush is less, we talk about the weather.

One fine morning, it was snowing and the roads were full of slush. I decided not to walk and take a cab to work. I stopped by a random breakfast cart below my building and hesitantly took a hot chocolate and a croissant. But to my frustration, I simply couldn't find a cab. The weather sucked and I was scared of slipping on the snow. I had no choice but to start walking. After 20 minutes of slow trudging over snow, I somehow reached office in one piece. The next morning, I was back to my normal schedule. I stood in front of my breakfast guy. To my surprise, he asked me "Do you want coffee?". I wondered why this sudden question and before I could think more, he says, "I saw you yesterday with coffee walking by". Ah, so there goes it. I must have walked by the same route and he saw me with breakfast from another place! He seemed unhappy with me and added, "I can make coffee too". It was an indication that his expectations had not been met!

I laughed within at his behavior and coulnt stop being amused for a while. I had learnt something new - a guy whose name I dont know expected something from me. He expected me not to betray him for some other competitor down the road. He felt threatened that his breakfast may not be as good as someone else's. He thought of reasons why I chose someone else over him that day. The world is strange - so many times, I have doubted other people for similar reasons. Seldom have I thought that other people's actions have nothing to do with me.

Cubicleship?

John just turned around and gasped that his friend got killed in a car accident. He was in a state of shock. "Unbelievable", he kept saying, while nodding his head in sheer dismay. I tried comforting him with some consoling words, but I know that wouldn't help much. Time is the only healer.

As I returned my focus to the computer screen, I felt sad for John. I kept thinking about him for a while before I was able to continue with my work. While most of my thoughts concerned wishes for him to feel better, one thought stood out. I was the first person he shared this information with. It made me realize that he was probably the first person to know many things in my life too, maybe some really important things as well.

As soon as I find something interesting in the news, I simply turn my neck and let him know and we share a laugh, a sigh or conflicting views. Sometimes, I will just ask a simple question like - what word can I use to say "bear the weight of" and he will promptly answer "sustain/withstand?". Its not that I didn't know, but I just felt lazy to think or tap my keyboard and took the advantage of his proximity to me. So, it makes me wonder if proximity is the key to cubicleship? It probably is. I will never call him on a Saturday or even think of him telling him something when I am not in office. But, is cubicleship underrated? After all, I spend 10 hours in office 5 days a week, and that makes 2600 hours a year. On an average, we think of 60,000 thoughts in a day so its not hard to figure out that we do end up sharing a substantial amount of these thoughts.

I work in a small firm and everyone except John and I has an office to themselves. I have often dreamt of having one to myself. But now it makes me think twice. I will have no one to talk to about the most relevant and insignificant topics. Today I understand the importance of cubicleship. I wish there is a word in the dictionary for the same some day.