The 7 Laws of Failure

To Mr. Anuj Gosalia,

The mind Mr.Gosalia loves to take control and plague your system. You need to slow it down. Anuj, you've mastered the art of failure by now. You've mastered the art of procrastination, instant-gratification, big-talk, false promises and the works. You could probably write a book on how to Fail, Repeatedly .. yeah?

So, on your behalf, i present to you, The 7 Laws of Failure :

1.The Excusez Moi Syndrome - The mind loves to make you feel comfortable. Loves to find solutions to your dilema in the most-innovative ways. It'll tell you that even if you watch a movie (Read : Being Cyrus) before the exam, you'll crack it.. Why you'll have the entire night to study. It will also provide relief in the form of Scientific Research - The human mind functions at its best when it has to meet a deadline : The Flight or Fight Mechanism

2.Instant-Gratification - Whoa! I've mastered this one: Just one more page of the new book, one more song. In the middle of a study-session: i need to check my mail urgently. I have to have that ToblerOne in the refrigerator- It'll help me concentrate.
Mind tells you: Get done with your desire so that you are not distracted. But hey!... that desire itself was a distraction, an excuse to not concentrate, wasn't it?;)

3. The Illusionary Study Approach - Mom, i can study well on the bed you know. It's just a myth that you can't concentrate lying 180* flat on a soft,cozy bed with A/C and a light pillow under your head. I mean.. remember they said 'Study in a comfortable position;)'. The power of music also comes into the picture here... yes (Coldplay blasting, RBD anthems & JAL themselves). How can you not possibly concentrate. Now research says ' Soft alpha music [whatever that is, I guess on the lines of Karunesh, Yanni, Kenny G] promotes quantitative ability and mathematical problem-solving. But RDB, Coldplay? You need to be reeely involved in your math, accounts (some guys manage theory as well - And yes they do score well:for the record) or you need to be doing a subject of your interest to multi-task. Even then, i'd like a word or two on efficiency!

4.The Hoax Reality-Check - We love lying to ourselves don't we? Ask me? Comforting myself has become my forte. I mean why underestimate the time to be take per chapter. If a particular chapter will take 4 hours, admit it! Why pretend to finish or factor in only two hours when you cannot complete it efficiently in that given time. Yes, it happens vice-versa also ... wherein you factor 6 hours and end up doing 15 pages of a 60 page chapter - Lol

5.World's Most Innovative Concentration building techniques - Mankind thrives on creativity & innovation. Monotony is something which i detest. Therefore when mind-monkey happens (restless, unending self-talk on everything on this planet = mind-monkey) i come up with ideas such as The Enigma Meditation, Deep-Breathing, walk on the beach. The idead are all good but no sustainabilty. One fine day when you start meditating, you do not reach Optimimum Performance state. It is a result of relentless, unflinching, gruelling and yes.. monotonous practice. Something which i fail to realize and understand. Concentration is really very simple & very natural. I am writing this in a state of acute focus and concentration. It's just a matter of transcending boundaries and applying it to all walks of life.

6.The Compromise on Goal Behaviour- Now i'm sure, i have company here... How often have I started preparing for an exam with uber enthusiasm, adrenaline rushes, pep-talks... yes, i can do it. I can beat the best. If he can, why can't I - the usual
7 days, 13 hours and 47 minutes into prep-mode and it all goes bust. Deflates, crashes - i have a million synonyms.Yes, i mean how can you possibly prepare a month is advance? It just doesn't digest mahn .... To someone who's been bought up on a steady diet of last minute cramming, late-night rushes and 'I thrive under pressure'and such illusionary behavioural patterns, ideas such as these seem surreal. Hence, the enthu comes down crashing and then after a week a new time table emerges with compromised goals and fake self-beliefs... And this over a period of few years (19, in my case) becomes a habit until one day (like today) you tell yourself that ' Hey this is not what i was destined to beomce, this is not the standard that i set for myself' & emerge triumphant! :)

7. The Final Law - Failure comes to those who don't say 'NO'. Failure comes to those
swear by 'Impromptu Living' w/o keeping its drawbacks in the mind. Failure comes to those who believe that there's a shortcut to the top - Unfortuantely there isn't. Failure comes to those who cannot take the grind. Failure comes to the Indisciplined. Failure comes if short-term pleasures dilute your long-term goals. Failure comes everytime you choose an alternative to your original goal & Failure finally comes if you fall into any of the aforesaid traps of failure.

Some very fascinating quotes that i came across :

Hritik Roshan in Rendevouz with SG - "It's not about how many peaks you climb. It's about that God Damn ride." It's all about the journey :)))

Abhishek Thakore & the Harvard Success Model - Eventually, your success will be determined by your 'Want' - your 'Need'.How badly do you want It? How prepared are you to 'Grit' it out to succeed?

You may ask, why the 7 laws to Failure? Well, i wish i could write on the 7 laws of Success but you see - I am not too good at writing fiction:)

But yes, I promise thay someday I will. Someday, i will live the Success and then maybe share a tip or two;)


All the Best Mr.Gosalia,
Live It Up,
Me

The " I "

Enlightenment is a functional disassociation of identity. The human brain is a biologically created thinking machine that has evolved for both personal self-preservation and the survival of the species. The ego, which is a selfish motivating force, is needed to protect our colony of living cells (the physical body) from danger and to keep our cells replenished with food and water. If you did not have an ego you would not be able to think, speak, or find food, shelter, and clothing. The ego function is so vital for survival that the human brain evolved with two potential ego mechanisms, one a centralized ego and the second a larger and more diffuse backup system utilizing less central portions of the brain.

If the body and brain becomes physically ill with high fever and the centralized ego center is damaged, the backup ego mechanism may temporarily take over its function. This is ego displacement without enlightenment. The backup self-maintenance system keeps sleep walkers out of danger and helps enlightened human animals find food and the basics of life, so they do not physically die as a result of their own deep meditation.

Enlightened humans do not feel their more diffuse ego and thus they feel as free as space itself. In actuality ego is still present and working, just as our autonomic nervous system keeps on working whether we are aware of its function or not. You do not have to consciously tell your heart to beat 70 times a minute because it will keep on beating regardless of your awareness. The brain function that controls heart rate is automatic (autonomic) and does not need our consciousness to make it work.

Some enlightened human animals have become fooled by the phenomena of ego displacement and thought they no longer had any personal selfishness that could cause trouble. Meher Baba (see picture) spent much of his life bragging about how great he was, yet at his center he felt perfectly egoless. He once even proclaimed that "No one loves me as much as I deserve to be loved." In truth Meher Baba was very egocentric and should have realized that even enlightenment is no excuse for bragging.

The same fundamental misjudgment plagued Acharya Rajneesh. He became fooled into thinking that he was above arrogance and greed, but that was simply not the case. The ego is an integral part of the structure of the human brain. It is not simply psychological, but neurological and hard wired into our neural pathways (see the scientific study of 'self''). The self-survival, self-defense mechanism we call 'ego' cannot be destroyed unless the physical body dies.

Even enlightened humans have to mind their manners and realize that the Atman is the wondrous phenomena they should promote, not their own fallible and temporary personalities. Ramana Maharshi had the right approach in this regard, and that is one reason he is still beloved by all. Ramana Maharshi promoted the Atman, the universal cosmic consciousness, but never his own mortal body and mind.

The God of Small Things

 

Expressions.Life.More...Captured 

To Mommy Dearest!

It’s been long since I wrote something original … guess i’m too lazy to exercise those good ole’ grey cells, happily cocooned around the white matter .. arrey it's exam time re...
Anyway, I was browsing through some of my old files and I came across this essay that I wrote for my mother in one of those term-exams .. Got reminded of those fab, fab, no words .. school days. I’ll post on school some other day.. but yeah .. I felt really good reading it .. So i thought : Why not immortalize it on my blog eh?

Here it goes…
I wrote this when I was in the 9th grade… I guess ( Pardon the vocab and grammar. Not that there's been any significant improvement … but yeah whatever!)

The Essay topic : Explain how your mother has influenced you life?

‘God could be not everywhere so he made mother’
These lines truly portray the affection, the love and the goodness of the incarnation of God, the Mother. Our mother plays such a pivotal role in our life. From our childhood till we are well settled, it is her advice, thoughts and decisions that play an influencing role in our life. She is there with us at all times, to share our sadness and double our happiness.
Someone truly said, ‘Mother you are God on Earth’

As a child, I considered my mother to be my strongest support. Her warmth and love is truly uncomaparable. My mother’s warm hug after I returned from school gave me the feeling of immense joy and pleasure. Now at the age of fifteen I recollect the way in which she tirelessly listened to my endless conversations. She would show me the ‘Right’ each time I went wrong. My mother’s inspirational words would help whenever I was in a gloomy mood.

I remember how my poor performance in the eighth grade terminal examination had depressed me to such an extent that I lay sobbing for two to three days. It was at that time, when my mother told me that ‘Failure is nothing but a stepping stone to success’. She told me that crying over spilt milk was futile and she inspired me to study hard. I fared with flying colours in my annual examination.

I love my mother for the way she has directed my life in the right path. She imparts her own experiences to me and she tells me not to spend money uselessly as it is extremely tough to earn money.

I recollect those terrible days when my father’s business was not at its best and we had a meagre income. It was in those days that she supported my father by saying that ‘ Life is full of ups and downs’ Her good counsel gave my father the courage to fight out the storm and walk through the hardships

Now, in my youth she advises me to stay away from bad company and rowdy boys. Her softness and gentleness accompanied by the command in her voice gives her an enduring personality. She truly deserves the reverence and respect of everyone.

My mother, for me, is the ideal mother. Beautiful, sensitive and affectionate, she is a thorough all-rounder, a paragon of all virtues. Moreover, she is a fabulous cook too. She has influenced me in every possible way. Her life experiences coupled with the hardships faced gives me the inspiration to work hard and be disciplined throughout my life and at best be a good son.

Thus I conclude by saying that life without a mother’s love is an incomplete life, infact no life at all.
“ How I wish mothers were immortal...”

Lights will guide me Home

When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep
....Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
when you love some one but it goes to waste
could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Maverick v/s Method - Heartfelt

This happens to be one of the most powerful cover stories that i've read in recent times. Can't help but share it with you'll


The Heart of the Matter

Rahul Bhattacharya reflects on the most fascinating Indian cricketer of our time


Love him or hate him, you just can't ignore Sourav Ganguly


At some stage, hard to say when, Sourav Ganguly no longer remained a cricketer and turned into a folk hero and a folk villain. Averages and the rest came into it but with Ganguly things became a matter of convictions of the soul. Anything he did or did not do could provoke an outcry. Everything that was done to him or not done to him could provoke an outcry. Ganguly issues took the form of movements. In many ways he is the cricketer-phenomenon in India's modern pop culture.

A year of sustained chaos, encompassing several riots, numerous u-turns and countless epitaphs, has now led to a predicament of superb absurdity. In a recent column the satirist Jug Suraiya was badgered by his partner to attend yet another festive-season party. "You'll meet lots of interesting people," he protests. "I'll end up as always like a spare Sourav; present and accounted for, but no one quite knows what's to be done with him." Indeed, no one quite knows.

The Ganguly situation is impossible. No answer is a solution, not even the one of respectfully putting him out to pasture, because he isn't going, and if he isn't going he is almost certain to be back. No, the situation must resolve itself and the rest is commentary. The fashion is to be exasperated, if not disgusted, by the whole affair. Personally I'm not tired of it. Not in the least. I'd be lying if I say I'm not fascinated: as human dramas go, there's too much in it.

And the situation could not be what it is were Ganguly not what he is. On braving my surname and referring to Ganguly as the most fascinating Indian cricketer of his generation in a recent article, I was ticked off by a reader: "I am sure no person, living or dead, on earth outside people of Bengali origin thinks that Ganguly comes anywhere close to being one of the most fascinating cricketers, let alone being `the most'." Another put it more succinctly: "A f***ing Bong standing up for another f***ing Bong."

Never mind the enlightened. The reactions Ganguly evokes comprise a phenomenon broader than Bengali parochialism. Cricinfo.com's diarist Siddhartha Vaidyanathan reported from Pakistan that the first thing locals asked him after the khatirdaari was about Ganguly. They were unhappy with the treatment meted out to him. They related to his naked passion. In one way or another Ganguly speaks to watchers. At once he compels you to assume both the best and worst about him; at once he can prove you both right and wrong. In short, he makes you feel. I have not spent quite so much time discussing, debating, any other cricketer. What is it about him?


I suppose Ganguly came to symbolise individualism and rebellion. Individualism in that he was given to flouting norms, yes, but also in the way he could not be bothered about members fitting into or giving energy to the group. To him match-winning talent was match-winning talent and that was that. Type was important: the brasher the better. In his book Aakash Chopra and Mohammad Kaif were meant for walk-on parts and Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh for glory. This could not be scoffed at because, as much as the attitude may have bred hubris, at the time the team was being built there exuded from it a rawness of belief that was both effective and appealing.

A journalist recalls being phoned by Ganguly to watch a youngster in a first-class game that was being televised. "Aap is ladke ko dekho. Badaa khilaadi hoga yeh. Mujhe khilaana hai. (Watch this boy. He is going to be a big player. I want to pick him right away.)" A few months on, Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed 148 against Pakistan from No. 3. One player put it this way: "If you capture Dadi's imagination, he will do anything for you." And vice-versa, for once he'd captured Dadi's imagination the player too would do for anything for Dadi. Yuvraj on his first comeback to the team was quoted saying: "I'm ready to die for such a captain." Harbhajan's unstinting support can in some way be understood in light of the fact that, feeling defeated by disciplinary issues, the chucking saga, an ordinary international track record, and economic pressure at home, he was contemplating moving to the US to drive trucks for a living at the time Ganguly fought for his selection.

Generally Ganguly fostered angry or reckless young men. To him "good behaviour", a broad term espoused by the present team management, belonged in school and probably not even there. He himself had been summoned to the match referee no less than 12 times in the last decade. His approach was bound to precipitate what could possibly be termed a cultural conflict in the world of modern sport. For Ganguly, like for Arjuna Ranatunga, competitiveness involved brinksmanship rather than training. As far as they were concerned Australia were not to be aspired to. They were simply to be toppled. England were not to be appeased. Victory lay precisely in their disapproval. In other words, Ganguly and Ranatunga wanted to do things their way. Both carried a resonance of the anti-colonial rather than that of the savvy global sports professional of the age (in Pakistan, Ganguly blithely sported an oversized beanie bearing a logo of the wrong corporate). If it was limiting it was also inspiring. And it invited, from Western observers especially, a ludicrous mix of suspicion, ridicule and condemnation. Much more easy to be gracious about well-mannered fellows who toe the line.

So far so good. Ganguly quenched the thirst for individualism, which is an essential allure of sport; he had an effect on young players and followers similar to that of a rock concert, and all the while kept a successful team together thanks also to a wonderful set of seniors and a fine coach.

And yet, after a point every day for him became a day of decay: the uncorrected technical errors, the sinking fitness levels, the sagging fielding, the jaded tactics, the lowering of standards for himself and by extension for the entire side - not least the gifted youngsters over whom he had so much influence. Finally, his almost politician-like desperation to hold on to power manifested itself in an insecurity - or was it the other way round? - that tore away at the very fabric of the team.

The deterioration looked all the more stark because of the contrast with that most outstanding of cricketers, and Ganguly's exact contemporary and heir, Rahul Dravid. Simply, Dravid built himself on stronger foundations. Ganguly batted pretty as a butterfly but, distracted, found himself blown away by the winds of high pace. Dravid opened up once his base was sufficiently secure. When it came down to it, Dravid had the rigour to last. Likewise, where Ganguly the leader powered on bare-chested with the belief that with flair on his side nothing was impossible, Dravid appreciates that any group must have the safety net of work ethic, discipline, punctuality, enthusiasm - the finer things. Dravid's brand of risk-taking is more cerebral. With Ganguly there was always the element of danger, of losing it all. Ganguly was not about systems and processes. Ganguly was about whims and instincts. This was the thrill, and a great thrill. But I suppose when you're losing, the thrill is gone.

***

Personally, commenting on the Ganguly situation has been challenging because it involves a tussle between the heart, which wants the individual, the rebel, to beat the odds and win, and the mind, which cannot help but log the slow, sad decline. Then the watcher and the journalist in you battle and they can be, but are not in every instance, the same.

Besides, this was a situation like no other. The more I dwelled on the issue the more I stopped dwelling on the rights and wrongs (there were so many that there weren't any) and the merits of the case (which became too tiresome). They didn't matter so much either. Simply, I just wanted to see how it would unfold on a human level.

I suppose in effect I was choosing the simple intimacy of the watcher to the powerful insider-ness of the journalist. I couldn't see why a nebulous "what's best for the team" should become a pamphleteering cause with me - that was merely a parameter to be considered while trying to pass honest judgement on the actions of the men responsible. Beyond that it was neither my duty nor my inclination and I felt foolish for harbouring any guilt in this respect. At a deeply personal level it did not matter a great deal to me whether India became the next Australia or not. Cricket was at once a massive joke and the most significant human theatre and all the joy ultimately came from the universal stuff and would be fulfilling regardless. And banging on either way missed the most crucial point of sport - that we really don't know what's going to come.

It was with this sense of freedom that a colleague and I jumped on to a spontaneous train to Rajkot on the eve of a Duleep Trophy fixture in which Ganguly would need to prove his form and fitness. It felt like something special might happen, and it did. On a municipal ground, in an environment so anti-climactic that it was melodramatic, the soon-to-be-deposed Indian Test captain hit a rousing century. It was lovely to watch, not so much because of his strokes, some of which were indeed vintage, but because of all the other layers to it.

That evening I met Ganguly at his hotel. I was apprehensive. I had written critical articles about him over the past few months and these things have a way of getting around, often in exaggerated form. I had nothing specific to ask him. I only wanted to try and gauge what he might be thinking, how he might be reacting to the uniqueness of his dilemma.


There was an air of complete serenity about him, heightened because he was initially sitting on a swing in an open courtyard. He looked the perfect bhadralok: crisp white kurta pyjama, hair neatly parted, thin-rimmed spectacles.

It was an easy, enjoyable, and in some ways warm, conversation. Broadly, three things were striking. One was that retirement was very far from his mind; how others might like to remember him seemed to be their own business. Another was his sense of hurt about allegations of "divide and rule". But the most remarkable was his aura of calm. His family members would later tell The Hindustan Times that he has always been so, that he had never ever lost his cool off the cricket field, that nothing ever fazes him. He himself would say that he believed in destiny and expected to be playing the World Cup of 2007. In that short little meeting I could appreciate more properly than ever before the temperament of a man who at any moment of time has more knives at his back and more garlands at his face than a cabinet of ministers.

A week on, Ganguly was dropped from the one-day squad altogether. Then stripped of Test captaincy, then deemed a Test allrounder, then... you know the story.

The most revealing moment came in the response to his being dropped after the Delhi Test against Sri Lanka. He could have retired right then a saint, all sins forgotten. The man who a few months ago was among the most reviled in the land now had the undiluted support of the nation. It was extraordinary that he would pass up the opportunity and choose instead to put himself and the team under so much pressure and run the risk even of humiliation - were he to return and flop. As ever he left you grappling with mixed feelings: to admire his self-belief or to dismiss him as delusional? What to make of such a man?

And so there he was in Lahore in India's first Test of the new year. He probably should not have been playing at all. Despite the denials to the contrary, it is learnt that his inclusion in the touring party had more to do with the wishes of authorities other than the selectors and the team management.

Late on the second afternoon: Pakistan 668 for 6, India wilting. Ganguly had just made an impressive dive at the boundary. Now a high ball swirled above his head. An initial misjudgement, frantic back-tracking, a final, flailing leap, a one-handed catch both spectacular and comic, a slow-motion backward roll on hitting the ground, and off like a bomb upon regaining poise, injecting humour and spirit into a weary side. It felt like he was one of the boys again. Even Greg Chappell smiled. It was by a distance the most contagious moment of the game. He did not bat a single ball and humbly carried drinks in the next Test.

He was back again for the final match. He made 34, 37, and two errors which were each to be - as luck would have it, and since this story has a strain of tragedy running through it - his only error of each innings. Both times the team required a big score and in the final analysis these were a pair of letdowns. Still it was not an illusion: he indeed batted beautifully, more fluently than any other Indian in the match and as fluently as he had ever done in his career. Few could have expected it. Among those few was Ganguly.

Two days later he flew back home as Dravid turned his mind to the upcoming one-dayers and, some part of it no doubt, to the batting order for the next Test series. And that's where the Sourav Ganguly saga rested at the last opportunity to update.

Talent Management eh?

I was googling on Talent Management as a management concept and came across this highly interesting read by an HR Professional...

On Leadership: Want leaders? Look for talent management

By Albert A. Vicere

For years, experts have been pointing to a crisis in leadership. But this isn't a crisis of accountability; it's a crisis of availability. We're running short of leaders.

Consider this: A Business Wire survey found that 20 percent of the senior executives in Fortune 500 companies were qualified to retire in 2003. A survey of large companies conducted by RHR associates found that half the respondents expected to lose more than half of their current senior management team by 2010. And a recent study by Executive Development Associates found that 70 percent of the responding companies cited a lack of leadership bench strength as a major corporate challenge.

Companies finally have begun to address the issue, acknowledging leadership talent shortages and making leadership development a top priority. But most express concern that the leadership talent gap is one of corporate America's biggest challenges.

Certainly, demographics are at the heart of the challenge -- baby boomers are retiring in droves, and they need to be replaced. But new employee expectations and the complexity of global leadership make that challenge enormously complex.

What companies need is a focused, intensive set of processes to expand and develop their pool of leadership talent. And they need to get those processes in place now if they have any hope of filling their leadership talent gap.

What's needed, according to Eileen Antonucci, executive vice president for Executive Talent Management Systems at EDA, are integrated approaches to talent management and leadership development. She notes that at the best companies, "talent is viewed as a key strategic resource for achieving business objectives and is never taken for granted."

Antonucci went on to note that high performing companies have well-developed talent management systems "driven by a deep and detailed understanding of the organization's business goals and the talent needed to get there."

Human resources guru Dave Ulrich has written extensively on what it takes to build what he calls organizational capability, the ability to develop business strategies and execute them. He contends that the essence of organizational capability is a tight link between business objectives and organizational processes for selecting, developing, appraising and rewarding people. In short, they need talent management systems.

Antonucci couldn't agree more, saying: "Talent management systems do not leave key factors to chance. The organization carefully develops a distinct 'employer brand' to attract talent, thinks through how work is organized and its impact on issues such as employee satisfaction and retention. A talent management system is part of the fabric of the organization."

But effective talent management requires a perspective that goes both ways. Said Antonucci: "Organizations need to know what kinds of talent they need to achieve their goals. For example, what are the knowledge and skills employees need based on our business outcomes? But they also need to know the needs and expectations of their employees. What will engage and motivate employees? What will attract them to our organization? What will keep them here?"

What are the characteristics of a good talent management system? Antonucci outlined three simple traits. First, there is ownership and involvement across the whole company, not just with the human resource management department. Second, business objectives permeate every aspect of the system from employer branding to appraisal through development. Third, the system is measured in real business terms and results are acted upon.

And the measures of an effective talent management system? It comes down to whether a company has the talent needed to execute its business strategy. And the signs of a faltering system are readily apparent: failing to meet business targets or objectives; shortages of key talent; talent management a low corporate priority; employee morale and satisfaction on the wane; problems recruiting employees; problems retaining employees; a tarnished employment brand.

With the steady departure of baby boomers from leadership ranks and the demand for talent more intense than ever, companies should heed the siren of talent management. The crisis of leadership availability is no longer looming on the horizon. It's here. Talent management processes are crucial to meeting the challenge.

Unmaad

Intoxication ... High on Life ... Trance ... Adrenaline Rush ... Unmaaad

The concept of relentless energy has intruiged me ever since i was in school.
In school i used to flaunt about my ability to stay up late hours and then attend school .. go through the entire draining day at schoool .. attend class... come back and do the same shit all over again ... i really dunno wht made me tick ... Was

it my state of mind .... my friends .. my network .... my thoughtss.... it was so amazing ... the entire idea about sloggin trough 10th Std. ... it's often said that the journey is as important as the destination ... Subconsciouslly i ensured that the journey was very,very beautiful ...

As years passsed by ( 4 to be precise ) ... i've never been able to get access that state successfully ...it's been compulsive ... it's been forced upon by circumstances ...

At IIM B it was different .. it was magic .. it was a state that i could not express in words ... maybe Unmaad.

What is it that makes students go on relentlessy ... unliminted energy ...robotic n yet creative .. monotonous n'd yet not so

...
they're the future of India ... some of the best managers to-be.. India's corporate giants ....
I aspire to be amongst them...

Will i make it ? I dunno ... But i have questions ... & i want answers ... I badly do ... Even though i know that they all lie within me ... i need reassurance ... i need faith .. in myself and in the Universe !

What is their make up?
What is their strength?
What is it about them that's so surreal .. why can't we cut them down to size and make them more human ?

What is the secret of their success?
Am i not passionate enough? Am i not inspired enough ?

If i am, then why don't i translate my inspiration into action? into action that makes me go on forever ...
Do we always need a support system of friends to make us go on tirelessly .... to inspire us ?

When will i awaken the giant within ?

When i will i tell my self .... Anuj, give two hoots about what people around you think of you, or what people around you are

planning to do with their lives ?

When will i stop living in the illusion that i'm productive and growing ... When will i be able to tell myself that ... when

the world sleeps, the men who intend to make it big in life toil...

When will I rise to the biggest challenge of my life ... When will i give up mediocrity ?

When will i Practice what i Preach ?

When will i do what most Supposedly Successful people don't do ?

When will i be able to reach a stage when i accept people close to me ... without giving a fuck for what other people have to

say about them ?

When will i learn to trust ? Trust new people, old enemies, the universe ... ?

When will i find the ability to transalte my thoughts, dreams, and visions into action ?

When will i reach a stage when thoughts, negativity and prejudice are not a part of me?

When will i achieve the flow ?

When will my mind and body align to become the most powerful force in this universe ?

When will i be able to say that losses, heart-breaks, materialistic pleasures and the works are bullshit

When will i be able to reach a stage when i lose all my wealth and say that ... whoa! this is life tooo ...

When will i believe that i'm comforably numb in my comfortably dumb world ...

What is that formulae for inspired action ?

when will i attain salvation ?

When will i attain Unmaad ?

Music...Songs...Anthems...Rang De Basanti

Rang De Basanti : Title track

Note : Kudos to the stunning cinematography ... the visuals of the song are as energetic as the song itself ... Finally an anthem that makes you dance ....


ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding ding ding
thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere watan ki - 2
thodisi Khushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki
thodisi dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki
yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti - 9
oh mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti - 2
(ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding ding ding) - 2

sapnen rang de, apne rang de
khushiyaan rang de, gam bhi rang de
naslen rang de, faslein rang de
rang de dhadkan, rang de sargam
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti
thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere watan ki - 2
thodisi Khushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki
thodisi dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki
yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2
aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti

dheemi aanch pe tuu zara ishq chadha
thode jharne laa, thodi nadi mila
thode saagar aa, thodi gaagar laa
thoda chhidak chhidak, thoda hila hila
phir ek rang tu khila khila
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti

basti rang de, hasti rang de
hans hans rang de, nas nas rang de
bachpan rang de, joban rang de
ab der na kar sachmuch rang de
rang rez mere sab kuchh rang de
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe tuu rang de basanti
thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere vatan ki - 2
thodisi KHushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki
thodisi dhondne waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein
jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki
yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara
mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti - 9
mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti - 4
rang de rang de rang de basanti
(ding ding ding ding ding ding ding
ding ding ding ding ding) - 3
mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti basanti
mohe rang de basanti rang de basanti rang de basanti yaara



Luka Chuppi : A Mother's call to her son ...

Note : The genius of Rehman ... goddess Lata Mangeshkar ... can't get better than this ... It's so beautiful that my words do injustice to the melody of this haunting track ... A generation awakens!
I love the ' Kya bataoon maa' ... phenomenal

Lata

Luka Chuppi bahut huyi saamne aa ja naa
Kahan kahan dhoondha tujhe
thak gayi hai ab teri maa

Aaja saanjh hui mujhe teri fikar
Dhundhla gayi dekh meri nazar aa ja na (2)

A. R. Rahman

Kya bataoon maa kahan hoon main
Yahan udney ko mere khula aasmaan hai
Tere kisson jaisa bhola salona
jahan hain yahan sapno vala
Meri patang ho befikar udd rahi hai maa
Dor koi loote nahin beech se kaate na

Lata

Aaja saanjh hui mujhe teri fikar
Dhundhla gayi dekh meri nazar aa ja na

Lata

Teri raah takey aankhiyaan
jaane kaisa kaisa hoye jiyaa (2)

Dhire dhire aangan utre andhera, mera deep kahan
Dhalke suraj kare ishara chanda tu hai kahan
Mere chanda tu hai kahan
Luka Chuppi bahut huyi saamne aa ja naa
Kahan kahan dhoondha tujhe thak gayi hai ab teri maa

Aaja saanjh hui mujhe teri fikar
Dhundhla gayi dekh meri nazar aa ja na (2)

A. R. Rahman

kaise tujhko dikhaun yahaan hai kya
Maine jharne se paani maa tod ke piya hai
Guchcha guchcha kai khwabon ka uchal ke chuwa hai
Chaaya liya bhali dhoop yahaan hai
Naya naya sa hai roop yahan
Yahaan sab kuch hai maa phir bhi
lage bin tere mujhko akela

Lata

Aaja saanjh hui mujhe teri fikar
Dhundhla gayi dekh meri nazar aa ja na (3)




Robaroo : Aye Saala .. I'm speechless

Note : Wake up to this song and feel the difference in the way in which your day progresses ... it's placement in the movie is mind-blowing to say the least ... it's got everything that'll make you follow your heart with a vengeance ... Live the song ... it's an experience .. it's God

aye saala
abhi abhi huaa yaqeen ki aag hai mujh mein kahi
hui subaah main chal gaya
suraj ko main nigal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2

jo gumshuda-sa khwaab tha
voh mil gaya voh khil gaya
uulon hathaa pighal gaya
kichhaa kichhaa machal gaya
sitaar mein badal gaya
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2

(dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara) - 2

aandhiyon se jaghad rahi hai lau meri
ab mashaalon si bhad rahi hai lau meri
naamo nishaan rahe na rahe
ye kaaravaan rahe na rahe
ujaale mein pee gaya
roshan huaa jee gaya
kyon sehte rahe
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
dhuaan chhataa khula gagan mera
nayi dagar naya safar mera
jo ban sake tu hamsafar mera
nazar mila zara
ruu-ba-ruu roshni heyy - 2
aye saala - 4




Khoon Chala : Teesre kism ke Log

Note: It's so intense.. it's got so much meaning ... it grows .. it grows on to you like crazy!



kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala

khuli-si chhoT lekar, baRi-si tich lekar ahista ahista
sawaalon ki ungli, jawaabon ki mutthi
sang lekar Khoon chala
kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala

kuchh kar guzarne ko khoon chala khoon chala
aankhon ke sheeshe mein utarne ko khoon chala
badan se tapak kar, zameen se lipatkar
galiyon se raston se ubharkar, umadkar
naye rang bhar ne ko khoon chala khoon chala

khoon chala - 8




Paatshala ( Be a Rebel )

Note : Check the lyrics mann ... They're kick-ass!


"Say hoi ho oh hoi ho (x2)

Loose Control

Be A Rebel

Verse 1:
To the mahal of the Taj
To the Minar of Qutub
To the Kumari of Kanya (Say hoi oh hoi)
To the Panjim of Goa (Say hoi oh hoi)
To the Kaancheepuram
Zindabad Zindagood
All have something to say (Say hoi oh hoi)
They all have something to say
They all have something to say

Follow me Follow me Follow me now!

Apni tho paatshala, masti ki paatshala
Be A Rebel

Chorus:
Naa koi padne waala, Naa koi seekne wala
Naa koi padne waala, Naa koi seekne wala
Apni tho paatshala, masti ki paatshala
Apni tho paatshala, masti ki paatshala
Loose Control

Verse 2:
India and Pakistan
Bangladesh all in the soul
Khajuraho to Coimbatore
Say hoi oh hoi
(Say hoi hoh hoi)

>From the Gateway of India
Upto the Himalayas
Across the Ganga Yamuna
Say hoi oh hoi
(Say hoi hoh hoi)

To Shirdi to the Red Fort
Rourkela Yeah u know
From Ajmer to Orissa
Say hoi oh hoi
(Say hoi hoh hoi)

Loose Control

Chorus (x1)

Be A Rebel

Verse 3:
Amar Akbar Antony
Ram Rahim Abdullah
Searching for a bright star
Say hoi oh hoi
(Say hoi hoh hoi)

To the corners of the Earth
What is our (search??) worth?
What is our destiny?
Say hoi oh hoi
(Say hoi hoh hoi)

Imagine we go back in time
Free your soul, Free your mind
Take a look what do you find?
Say hoi oh hoi
(Say hoi hoh hoi)

Loose Control
One more time!!
Loose.. Loose..
Loose Control
Haha (x3)!!

Be A Rebel



Khalbali : The Restless Energy before the Storm !

Note : The visuals are breath-taking ... technical finesse ... masterpiece


khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali
khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali

khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali
khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali
khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali
(shola shola balkhaye
dariya dariya lehraye
zarra zarra tharraye
hai khalbali) - 2
khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali

khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali
khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali

hone hone de nasha khone khone ko hai kya - 2
ek saans mein pee ja zara zindagi chadha
hai yeh toh ek jashan tu thirakne de kadam
abhi saanson mein hai dam abhi chalne de sitam

aankhon mein hai khalbali
dhadkanon mein khalbali
mausamo mein khalbali
hai khalbali

kaisi yeh tabdili hai
sheeshi botal pee li hai
raat neeli neeli hai
hai khalbali
(ham lapatke saaye hai
ham sulagne aaye hai
ghar bata ke aaye hai
hai khalbali) - 2

khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali
khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali
khalbali hai khalbali - 3 hai khalbali


Lalkaar - Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai

Note : The locale, the words, the aura, the spirit ... the sepia-hues, the candles, Aamir...



Hindi Lyrics:
hai liye hathiyaar dushman taak mein baitha udhar
aur hum taiyyaar hain seena liye apna idhar
khoon se khelenge holi gar vatan muskhil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
haath jin mein ho junoon katt te nahi talvaar se
sar jo uth jaate hain voh jhukte nahi lalkaar se
aur bhadkega jo shola-sa humaare dil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
hum to ghar se nikle hi the baandhkar sar pe qafan
chaahatein liin bhar liye lo bhar chale hain ye qadam
zindagi to apni mehmaan maut ki mehfil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai
dil mein tuufaanon ki toli aur nason mein inquilaab
hosh dushman ke udaa denge humein roko na aa
duur reh paaye jo humse dam kahaan manzil mein hai
sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamaare dil mein hai - 2

The Magic of Teamwork ... A Tribute to RCNM

The O.R.O and Lessons on Teamwork


"The answers to some of the most complex challenges in life are often the simplest"

The study of Team dynamics has been an offshoot in my Leadership Career... My tenure at RCNM was a roller-coaster ride ... so many highs .. so many lows ... the exultation of victory ... the heart-breaking failures ...

Now, leading such a passive life makes me uncomfortable ... and yet as i slowly tune myself out of presidential powers ... i find Zen ..


As a part of our annual excursion called the O.R.O - Official Rotaract Outing (a result of creative malfunction), We, the members of RCNM trekked our way up the Karnala Fort. In a matter of twelve hours, I experienced what i probably did not
during my eight month long tenure as the President of RCNM ... I, or should i say 'WE', experienced the magic of Collective Victory ... Collective Joy ... Collective Celebration ... Collective Evolution ... and in retrospection : t'was so god damn simple...


Presenting to you ... The TEAM .... Team O.R.O. ... Team RCNM


How it all began ?

O.R.O : The build up ... 14 hours prior to the O.R.O. ... destination decided : Trek to Karnala Fort, 10 kms off Panvel, Maharashtra

The Mess. Board : Interesting Propostion for like-minded people to come together ... Team is mentally prepared to have fun and enjoy

The energy in the mornin': sleepy yet restless ... ice-breaker required to eradicate the slumber...

The longish train journey serves as a mini ice-breaker... Humour, abuses, and talkin' about random people beyond the team is an effective tool ... A good lesson was the power of observation : Stinky armpits, ear-hair dude ( whoa! he was some guy! ) ... general tk. abt new year's ... Gyaan : Finding common ground in an uncommon arena

The rickshaw ride - ice-breaker for rickshaw groups ... the vada-pav, cricket bat (a sense of comfort) ... pratik rickshwalla, prerna's wisecracks ... my fascination with gross humour... The Marwari Philosophy Gyaan : Warming up and sensing the wavelength of the team members is very important) .... it happenned to all rick' groups .... the water fights in the other two ricks .. the smaller team was formed .. bonding happened ... funn happened ... the journey began ..

Guys' and the peeing episode ... common comfort ground .. easily identifiable..
My tryst with Mother Nature's Lap : Fertilizer .... doin' sumthin outrageous ... induces a level of crazy comfort ... induces risk-taking if the leader does sumthin crazy (hehe!)

The trek began ... The famous bird sanctuary with soooooooooooooo many birds ... wannabe ducks ...wannabe birds .... team laughing at the pure stupidity of the sanctuary .... Oh it was soooo BIG : Wannabe Bird sanctuary ... The lingo happened ... one more common ground ...

The base was set ... a set of small rick' teams getting together to form the big ORO team ... ice-breaking 2 on the way up ...

The initial stages of the trek when wannabe trekker Nilaang rushed ahead with heart-throb Kahaan ... Shanelle giving up repeatedly ... The beginning is always difficult ...someone has to egg you on ... We give up so many things purely bcuz'the
start seems difficult ...That's where a team is bigger than an individual .... Team is responsible for individual success ... You need the backing cuz u cannot last long by yourself ..

Music and teamwork : Songs and crazy ones unique to a team are often most inspiring : jaadu teri nazar (aarti style), laila o laila, hooo ha hooo ha, he laal laiyo-haiyo haiyo .. they form a sense of connect for the entire team ... songs tht have energy and are yet stupidly unique ..

The halt ..biscuits shared ... distance analyzed ... some juice and water ... everyone halted for the team .. including trekker nilaang and heart-throb kahaan ... team chills..

Respect for individual stamina's and energy levels ...

The journey continues till we reach View-point ...
Pratik Bubna checks his hair out ... humour, leg-pulling happened, but only once the team was relatively comfy with each other .... Had is happened before ... rifts wud've been created .. This is a very sensitive situation .. can create that uncanny
discomfort and which overlooked can be catastrophic ...

Trust Begins :

Nilaang discloses half-monty episode to me ... I laugh ... more importantly ... i understand .. i find solutions ... i go beyond myself ... i look at team selflessly .. everyone does ... the magic of trust begins ...

We race ahead .. wait ...collective victory ... people fool us with time to goal analysis ..
some get irritated ... the motivated empathize ... Thakk kar baith gaye kya bhai manzil door nahin hai...

The flat terrain : The goal in sight .. some run cuz its so close ... some say : itna aur

The positive outruns the negative ... the weak get renewed vigour .. the strong continue ...

The Peak : It's often said that the toughest part in a journey is the final climb to the top... As i write this i realize it .... i wish i had a team to egg me on ... but wht the heck .. u've got to be your own team in life ... outrun the negative
... kill the final fontier ... Win ... Celebrate .. Whoa !

The process is called future pacing ... visualize success .. A lot of members did it ... Apoorva for one, hell bent to win it for the team.
She helped me change my mind. I was about to succumb to mediocrity at the plateau before the peak...

The Crisis : Tanvi dizzy ... the studs at a higher level ... rest of the gang down ... Studs waiting ... get to know abt the crisis ... immediate reaction ... Apoorva ... biscuits ..My stunt ... all for the team ... the offered help by Poo and A-Poo ( though in vain ) ...all for the team ... I go down ... they scream .. sharing the team's fall ... ( could've been human emotion ... who cares? ) ... t'was all for the team ...

Meeting on the plateau .. Plans reassesed ...

Gyaan : Reflect on Past Action at periodic intervals

Reflection : All cool .. Nilaang to wait down with the bags .. Team continues .. ( Nilaang- you're one heck ova dude mann .. way to go bro - torn track pant et all ... he was the studd )

VICTORY : We reach the Top !

Inspire Nilaang to come up as well

He Does

VICTORY : We ALL Reach the Top ! ( Grammatically incorrect : who cares ? )

Celebration happens ... Meal sharing Happens ... WATER-SHARING Happens ( That was it! )
Success needs to be celebrated ... be it team or individual ... sense of fulfillment

TEAM changes Gears :

The Way Down ...
High levels of comfort within the team ... Sudden splurge of energy ... the high of success has an inertia to it .. we capitalized on it ...

Love blossoms :-) ... Kavan and Stuti, Pappu and Shannelle... Apoorva and Poorva + a dash of Prerna to go with it ...

Come down ... Team drinks water .. enjoys some personal space which was very essential to restore sanity ( it hardly worked though;-) )

TEAM Kicks ASS .... Big Time

Vada Pav ... Sxy Stoberi Milkshake + Majnoo Mango + Vastaad Vanilla .. yes sense of adventure like u've never seen .. omnipresent ... i'd call it collective 'ass-kicking'

The Icing on the Cake : TEAM Spreads its Wings - The Epic Train Journey

AS RCHR's motto goes : Leave Your Mark ... Dunno whether they do ... We Certainly Did ...

As the President of RCNM ... i strongly believe in The 'Make your own Rules' chain of thought ... cuz that's the only way to do things that no one dares to ...

In a matter of 12 hours ... i saw it happen ... and No it ain't as simple as it seems ... It took me eight months to figure it out .. I pray you don't have to wait that long..


Go Play. It's your Game.




P.S : Tell me when you crack it. I'll be waiting...

Time of Your Life

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road.
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go.
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why.
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind.
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time.
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial.
For what it's worth, it was worth all the while.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Steve Jobs at Stanford

This one's a killer : Fell in love with it from the time i got hold ov it ... Doin' your own thing surely rocks ... Ask this guy ?

Here he goes :

Drawing from some of the most pivotal points in his life, Steve Jobs, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, urged graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks -including death itself.

"I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5 cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky - I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation - the Macintosh - a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me - I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much." - Steve Jobs - June 2005

My Tryst with Leadership

My Tryst with Leadership

Leadership has fascinated me ever since I got into college and was a part of Umang 2001 ... the third year of Umang to be precise.I was Star Wars assistant then. A 16 year old Umangite who was in awe of everything that i saw... the magnitude, the hierarchy, the hype, the hysteria ... Umang.
What fascinated me even more was the Chairperson of Umang'01 - Rishi Raj Singh Pruthi. He was a thin, frail Sardar who would walk up and down the corridors of N.M. College - seemingly insignificant. On 2nd August'01 he enters F.Y.J.C - H... the class starts clapping - kids tht we were ( t'was good fun though ). His first statement was : Last bench can you hear me ?
I showed him a thumbs up ... he started ... and how !
He spoke for a non-stop fifteen minutes and the class din't utter a word. Spell-bound, dumb-struck, in awe, gaping ... we used a million adjectives to describe the Mon. I then went on to become the Star Wars assistant... I remember my first and only General Meet in Umang'01 ( Assistants were allowed to sit for General Meets then ). It was room no. 14 ... a crowded room with frustrated faces, drooping shoulders and tired eyes. Most assistants gave a damn to Rishi Raj Singh Pruthi... i wasn't one of them. This General Meet has been a very strong foundation in my Leadership Career ( sounds cool..dun't it ? )
The Power of communication is the biggest lesson that came to me in my quest for leadership ... On that day ( approx. 17th Aug '01) Rishi Raj Singh ensured 200 assistants future Umangites ... wannabe HOD's, wannabe VCP's and CP's. I was to top the list. I recollect my ChairPerson speeches in front of the mirror ... the body language, the passion, the energy ... the high,
the adrenaline rush ... the intoxication..

JANUARY 10th'06 : Leadership is crazy. There is no easy formula for being a leader. If only! Leadership is challengin - all those balancing acts, all the responsibilty, all that pressure.
And yet good leadership happens- and it comes in all kinds of packages. There are quiet leaders and bombastic ones. There are analytical leaders and more impulsive ones. Some are tough as nails with their teams, some more nurturing. On the surface you would be hard-pressed to say what qualities these leaders share. Underneath, you would see that the best care passionately about their people- about their growth and success.and you would see that they themselves are comfortable in their own skins.
They're real, filled with candor and integrity, optimism and humanity.
I often questtion if leaders are born or made. The answer i guess is they're more made than born ... the quest and desire to lead often gives birth to leaders.Leading is more about trying something out-of-the-box, getting it wrong and learning from
it, or getting it right and gaining the self-confidence to do it again, only better.

For most of us, leadership happens one day when you become the boss and the rules change.
Before, your job was about yourself.
Now, it's about them.

Rang De Basanti : DCH meets Yuva ?

'Rang De Basanti': The Preview

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s movie ‘Rang De Basanti’ is a youth flick with a message. The movie stars Aamir Khan , British actress Alice Patten , Madhavan , Soha Ali Khan , Kunal Kapoor , Siddharth , Sharman Joshi , Atul Kulkarni and Kiron Kher .

‘Rang De Basanti’ deals with a topic that is very relevant to contemporary times. It talks of several youngsters with different aspirations from life. The movie is about the rise in the consciousness of today’s youth of the values and realizations of their Indian-ness.

Character Sketches:

Alice Patten as Sue
Alice Patten plays Sue, a young London-based filmmaker who chances upon the diaries of her grandfather, who served in the British police force in India during the freedom struggle. Excited about these memoirs, she comes to India to shoot a film on the Indian revolutionaries mentioned in the diaries.

Unable to garner enough funds for her project, Sue eventually hires a group of five friends to play pivotal roles of these revolutionaries in her documentary.

Aamir Khan as D.J.
D.J. is an exuberant personality with a warm and wide smile always on his face. An ex-graduate, D.J. still lives like a college student, partying and having fun all the time. But deep inside, he is a sensitive man who unfortunately has not yet been able to find a sure shot aim to his life.

Madhavan as Ajay Rathod
Flt. Lt. Ajay Rathod is a man of high ideals and strong patriotic values. A pilot by profession, he is a good friend, a caring son and a loving fiancé. He is someone all members of the group look up to.

Soha Ali Khan as Sonia
Sonia is a die-hard optimist. A traditional Indian beauty, Sonia is both well traveled and well read. She and Ajay Rathod are engaged. Sonia is an idealist who feels passionately about issues relating to the youth.

Sharman Joshi as Sukhi
Sukhi is a Jat from Haryana. This athletic young man is the heart of the group because of his charming persona and an absolute lack of pretence about the way he is. He speaks typical Haryanawi accent and has no qualms in admitting that his English is twisted.

Kunal Kapoor as Aslam
Kunal Kapoor plays Aslam, a tall and handsome Muslim man who has a heart of a poet. Despite his orthodox family background, Aslam thinks beyond the barriers of religion.

Siddharth as Karan
Siddharth plays Karan, son of a wealthy businessman. He is a loner, a quiet man who shares a fractured relationship with his father. He also wants to settle down in a foreign country.

While working on Sue’s film, the five friends head off to Punjab, the land that gave many martyrs during India’s freedom struggle against the British.

D.J. (Aamir), the man who never ceased partying, now comes face-to-face with the side of Indian culture he had never witnessed before in person.

As DJ and his friends work on Sue’s project, they begin to see themselves as the actual descendants of the great men who are the protagonists of Sue’s movie.

In the film, both the 1930s British India and the India of today run parallel and intersect with each other at crucial points. As the film reaches its conclusion, the line between present and past blurs, as they become one in spirit and one in color – that is Basanti.

P.S. : I'm really lookin' fwd to this flick

Kal Ho Naa Ho

Music is slowly becoming my mode of communication... mu language... my reflection
One more song that's a reflection of Me : Kal Ho Naa Ho

Har Ghadi Badal Rahi Hai Roop Zindagi
Chaav Hai Kahhi Hai Dhoop Zidnagi
Har Pal Yahan
Jee Bhar Jiyo... Jo Hai Sama
Kal Ho Na Ho
Har Ghadi Badal Raha Hai Roop Zindagi
Chaav Hai Kahhi Hai Dhoop Zidnagi
Har Pal Yahan
Jee Bhar Jiyo ...Jo Hai Sama
Kal Ho Na Ho

Chaahe Jo Tumhe Poore Dil Se
Milta Hai Woh Mushkil Se
Aisa Jo Koi Kahin Hai
Bas Vahi Sabse Hasin Hai
Us Haath Ko Tum Thaam Lo
Woh Meherbaan Kal Ho Na Ho
Har Pal Yahan
Jee Bhar Jiyo Jo Hai Sama
Kal Ho Na Ho

Palko Ke Leke Saaye
Paas Koi Jo Aaye
Lakh Sambhalo Paagal Dil Ko
Dil Dhadke Hi Jaaye
Par Sochlo Is Pal Hai Jo
Woh Dastan Kal Ho Na Ho
Har Pal Yahan
Jee Bhar Jiyo Jo Hai Sama
Kal Ho Na Ho
Har Pal Yahan
Jee Bhar Jiyo Jo Hai Sama
Kal Ho Na Ho

The Song that symbolizes 2006 for Anuj Gosalia

It ain't just a song ... it's my anthem. Every word talks about the kind of person i aspire to be this year... Live these days of my youth like i never have... Live my life like i never have...

So, Ladies and Gentlemen ... here goes :'Koi Kahe' from the cult movie Dil Chahta Hai

Koi kahe, kehta rahe kitna bhi humko deewana
Hum logon ki thokar mein hai yeh zamaana

Jab saaz hai, aawaaz hai, phir kis liye hichkichaana
Oh, gaayenge hum apne dilon ka taraana
Bigade duniya, bigadne bhi do
Jhagade duniya, jhagadne bhi do
Lade jo duniya, ladne bhi do, hum apni dhun gaao
Duniya roothe, roothne do
Bandhan toote, tootne do
Koi chhoote, chhootne do, na ghabraao
Hum hain naye, andaaz kyoon ho puraana

Aankhon mein hain bijliyaan, saanson mein toofaan hai
Darr kya hai aur haar kya, hum isse anjaan hai
Hamaare liye hi to hai aasmaan aur zameen
Sitaarein bhi hum tod lenge, hamein hai yakeen
Ambar se hai aage hamaara thikaana
Hum hain naye, andaaz kyoon ho puraana

Sapnon ka jo des hai, haan hum vahin hain pale
Thode se dil phenk hai, thode se hai mann chale
Jahan bhi kahe apna jaadu dikhaate rahe
Mohabbat haseenon ko aksar sikhaate rahe

Aaye hamein dil aur neendein churaana
Hum hain naye, andaaz kyoon ho puraana

Koi kahe, kehta rahe kitna bhi humko deewana
Koi, kehta, kitna bhi humko deewana
Oh, hum logon ki thokar mein hai yeh zamaana

Oh, jab saaz hai, aawaaz hai, phir kis liye hichkichaana
Jab saaz hai, aawaaz hai, phir kis liye hichkichaana
Oh, gaayenge hum apne dilon ka taraana
Bigade duniya, bigadne bhi do
Jhagade duniya, jhagadne bhi do
Lade jo duniya, ladne bhi do, hum apni dhun gaao
Duniya roothe, roothne do
Bandhan toote, tootne do
Koi chhoote, chhootne do, na ghabraao

Hum hain naye, andaaz kyoon ho puraana
Oh, hum hain naye, andaaz kyoon ho puraana

Message of Meaning and Purpose

Hello World

Wish you a very very very ( 0k stop )... Happy New Year

May the year be like any other

May we break our resloutions like any other year

May we not accomplish our goals and dreams this year as well

May our lives be significant and superior this year as well

May I use any other way to begin my sentences

May 'May' be as hot as any other 'May'of any other year

May College be as productive and meaningful as it has been all these years

May God give us the strength and courage to be the 'losers' that we aspire to be

May the World live in pieces and harmonious divisions

As Gandhi said 'Be the change you want to see in this world'...
So, let's pick our noses in public, litter some more.. and throw random abuses at successful people ( okay... at anyone )

Let this year help us set an example of exemplary living.. that means, we continue to not do all tht we intend to.. we continue being lazy and as procrastinate as always...

On this highly positive note, this message of relevance and higher purpose draws to an unfortunate closure..

May the Lord be with Us.
May Sanity Prevail.
Amen

Yeh hai meri kahani

Yeh hai meri kahani
Khamosh zindagani
Sannata keh raha hain
Kyon zulm seh raha hain

Ek dastaan purani,
Tanhaye ki zubani
Har zakhm khil raha hain
Kuch mujhse keh raha hain

(Take Off!)
[
Chubte kante yaadon ke
Daaman se chunta hoon
Girtee deewaron ke
Aanchal mein zinda hoon
]

Bas yeh meri kahani
Benishan nishaani
Ek dard beh raha hain
Kuch mujhse keh raha

(Take Off!)
[
Chubte kante yaadon ke
Daaman se chunta hoon
Girtee deewaron ke
Aanchal mein zinda hoon
]

(Male voice reciting poetry)

Ab na koi paas hain
Phir bhi aehsas hain
Syahiyon mein uljhi padi
Jeene ki ek aas hain
Yaadon ka jungle yeh dil
Kaanton se jalkar yeh dil

Chubte kante yaadon ke
Daaman se chunta hoon
Girtee deewaron ke
Aanchal mein zinda hoon…

The Below Average Student's Guide to Cracking the CAT

Was browsin' throu pagalguy when i came across this rather interesting write-up by this wannabe third person writer.. Interestin' tips ....
As they say : All's welcome in a journey that's 'Mine'

CAT 2006 : Anuj's Commin Baby ... He's all yours !


Below Average Student's Guide to Cracking the CAT


Here’s a survivor’s guide to cracking the CAT. In this article, Neo2000 tells you all you need to know about scoring well in the Mock CAT's, the big CAT, and all that follows.

Originally I was going to title this “The average student’s guide to cracking the CAT” .Then I realized I wasn’t average. This could hardly be called a guide. And I hadn't even cracked the CAT. So I modified the title. I was going to rip-off Five Point Someone’ s opening line and modify it to read “I am pretty sure lots of other people could write this better if only they’d get off their asses. They didn’t. I did.


However, there is plenty you can do if you want to start early.


1) If you notice, more often than not, the Verbal section seems to be horror of most students. So, start reading. If you don’t already, there’s no time like now. Get rid of that vernacular paper. Take in The Hindu, on weekdays and the Economic Times on weekends. Read the editorials. Chuck that SportsStar in favour of a good B (Business for the uninitiated) magazine . Read the books mentioned in this. Read, Read and then Read some more. Did you know that PG himself read over 2000 books before his 12th. He exhausted his local library doing that. Believe me, it shows. How many of you even have a membership to a library??

2) Improve your academic performance. Now is never too late to start. Academics play an important role to some extent, so it helps.

3) Go out and make a difference. Join a social service community. Click here to know more

4) Do some all round improvement. Get into shape, work out, learn to play a musical instrument, improve your relationship with God/Parents/Family members/Friends……. When things get tough these are the people who’ll be there.

5) Make friends with Google.

6) Practice for Group Discussions and interviews. Improve your communication skills

Discipline yourself. Pace yourself. Draw up a flexible timetable. Contrary to what most people think, a time-table needn't bind you down. Instead it gives you the time to do what you really want without letting you take your eyes off your goal. For instance, when I started prep, I used to wake up at 4 in the morning, study till 5:40 or so and then get ready for class at 6:30. Class finished by 8 and I had to rush back home to grab my bag, a quick bite and run for the college bus. Now my college was an hour and a half away which I spent in sleeping. My classmate on the other had, spent his time reading the editorials which we would then discuss on the trip back home. My VA skills, if I may say so myself , are rather strong so we'd discuss the topic and I'd help him with grammar and correction of sentences. My friend's QA was strong so he'd help me out with that

Form a study group. You are competing with over 1.5lakh students, so your group will just be a sample of what to expect. Make sure your group members are the serious sort-- not the types who run off to watch a movie after every mock. Well ok, they needn't be that serious too because it’s important to relax and enjoy the whole experience of preparing but its also important not to get carried away. A study group is very handy when it comes to taking sectional tests, mocks, FLT’s et al. Compare your scores with theirs. Find out what questions they attempted in QA that you didn’t and why they attempted them. Find out the approach and if there's a way of doing them that you didn’t know about. Check those errors in VA. Find out what the easy sets in DI were.

Google has this project for which the tag-line is "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants". Given the competition, every little thing helps. Go ahead, find your Giants.


Majority of you who go for coaching will mostly go 3 times a week, say Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Right now, the mocks haven’t started yet, so that means you have 3-4 study sessions before the next class. STUDY!! Four sessions is a lot!!

Let's say you were taught numbers on Monday morning. On Monday evening, study what you were taught and solve the problems from the material. Tuesday morning and evening, solve the problems from whichever book you've picked up. Wednesday morning, have a dekko at the topic that's going to be taught (don’t most institute's give you a schedule of sorts??). Above all, make sure you become really thorough with what you are studying. For e.g. all of us know the area of a triangle. Off the top of your head, can you tell me how many such formulae are there? Learn to analyse. It'll be very helpful when it comes to D.I.

Whatcha waiting for?? Go crack that CAT

Celebrate Life

Celebrate Life : Your Way !

"It's only when I learnt that I was dying did I learn to live" … goes Abhishek Bachchan's famous line in the lately released flick 'Bluffmaster'…
Boman Irani asks him : how many days can you recollect in your life of 30 years ?
To which Bachchan Jr. replies : 30 days …. & enlightenment dawns upon him…

There's an ancient saying that states " Live as if there was no tomorrow. Dream as if you will live forever".

Morrie in the bestselling non-fiction 'Tuesdays woth Morrie' quotes " Mitch, To learn to live, you must learn to die first"

If you join the dots in the aforesaid statements, you will realize that they all talk about the shallow lives that we derive fulfillment from… As we progress into the depths of the article, I shall repeatedly try and convey the same message through different analogies. The essence being that I wish to eliminate the mediocrity in our lives.

In my MBA coaching class' my English Prof. made this remarkable statement. He had mutually decided with his wife that he will never put forth the excuse 'I do not have time' ever in his lifetime. He has successfully accomplished this pact for the last 30 years. In a profession that demands an unrelenting time commitment he believes that there is always time to do that extra…


That makes me touch the subject of Magic Moments : How many of us in our last 16-20 years have lived lives with enough magic moments.. You could literally end up counting them on your fingers. I know a lot of people who in their pressing, dead-line driven lives make way for magic moments with utmost regularity. Treks to the Himalayas, back-packing expeditions, photography excursions, teaching the underprivileged children …. The list goes on. They are people who invariably live beyond themselves and yes they're all highly successful.

Following the herd : We live in a society that makes us follow rather than lead. Morrie again makes a profound statement to his student Mitch " Mitch, my son, Our culture makes you believe and follow a lot of things that are not right. Now's when you stand up and say ' I don't give a damn'. So many of our careers, our lives, our professions are dominated by our peers, media and the mass. We're all trapped in a world where we are forced to bow down to the rule and not the reality

My mother tells me ' Son, I don't know how these 53 years of my life have passed away … but I want you to be able to remember and cherish each day of your life as if it were you last'.

So in this year that awaits us let's pray to the Lord to give us the strength, the power and the belief to 'Live a Lifetime in every HeartBeat'