Moments with Legends.....

I attended a function today at Kennedy Center for Performing arts. It was "Indian American Achiever Awards" function.

And guess what? The awards ceremony was interspersed with a symphony of dance, instrumental and vocal performances by internationally acclaimed artists from India. I witnessed some blazing performances by maestros like Pandit Birju Maharaj and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Along with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma in the picture is Yogesh Samsi, who is one of the rare tabla players, son of renowned vocalist Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. Yogesh Samsi received intense training from legendary Ustad Alla Rakha for 23 years and has till date accompanied almost all top ranking instrumentalists, vocalists and dancers of India. Also present were Dr Balamurali Krishna and Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, who touched the soul of the audience with a wonderful fusion.

Both Pandit Birju Maharaj and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma were very down to earth and patiently posed with everyone for the pictures. It was a real pleasure to watch them perform today and it certainly made my day. It was a really memorable experience.

I was also privileged to have picture with some of them.
From L-R, Yogesh Samsi, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, Viken Parikh, Ruchir Shah













Viken Parikh (left) and Ruchir Shah(centre) with Pandit Birju Maharaj (right)

Is the world becoming more eventful or I have been ignorant

ibnlive.com, time.com, moneycontrol.com.... these seems like a part of my life now. From the point where I cared least what is happening in the world to a point where these websites became part of my daily routine. I think about it and seems my questions is answered - Is the world becoming more eventful or I have been ignorant? Its not an exclusive or question. And this is an important condition to state. Becasue I think both or then are true. The world is becoming more and more eventful and my ignorance adds to the frenzy.

Presidential election '08 campaign is making lot of headlines. In business Barclay's bid for ABN Amro and Tata and M&M's fight for Jaguar and Land Rover is interesting enough to keep a watch on. At the same time debate on sex education is everywhere on news channels. Also the Indo-US Nuke deal, in its final stage of acceptance, is keeping the nations excited. After official election of Mrs Pratibha Patil as first lady president of India and Indian doctor Haneef's case cooling off there isn't much to talk about politics. Between all these, somewhere in the corner is news about Indian Cricket Team's England tour, which is not getting much air time thanks to deliberate ignores by India media after disastrous performance in ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. Much hyped Apple's iPhone also seems to have cleared from the news. But the results of its sales are making news in business and markets, pulling Apple Inc's stock down by approx $9 in a day..! Situation in Pakistan and Iraq continuous to be unstable, though because of very different reasons. And after much much awaited release of Harry Potter movie, it seems to be completely out of news. And the list goes on and on...

Looking at all these events and news I came across during last week, I realize how ignorant I have been in the past. But good part is I ain't anymore.

Interestingly enough, I could keep track of all these "sensetional" news items during one of the worst's weeks of my life since I came to US. But I would not talk about it and make my weekend also bad. But knowing what's going on in the worlds seems very fulfilling.

So basically, I learn that I should clear the fog of ignorance more and more to make the "picture" clear.

Perception..

Recalling the weekend before the last one, I wonder how desperate am I to meet "my" people. Meeting Taral after almost a year and half, I said, "Bhai, kone vicharyu tu k aa rite US ma sathe farishu kyarek...?" (Bro, who ever thought that we will be roaming around in US like this?).

Its true that I have made few new friends here as well, but it was a completely different feeling when I met Bhavin and Taral that day. And I re-realized how amazing phase of life was it at Ahmedabad office. Well... phases come and go... memories remain...


After two great days with Taral, Bhabhi, Manya and Bhavin on that weekend, waiting for me was another hectic week. But actually that week turned out to be a nice and quick one. I could never imagine that one holiday on Wednesday could make life so easy.. ;) It was like a space-shuttle ride..

But over the weekend I realized that in this supersonic ride, I did very less progress towards my larger goal..! I was lagging on my schedule for studies. So I made up my mind and started studies, and I would say did pretty well. Appeared for first full test and scored respectable, so my confidence got boost. And infact that test did really well to help me shape my course of preparations. That's what practice tests are meant for.

I did not realize when the weekend was over and at 10 PM on sunday, standing in front of my closet, I saw a big pile of cloths. All were expecting a treat from me. And I had no option. So I took them out, just streched them as a warm up excercise. Then I took some picnic material with me, including some scent and went to a river. They were to try some river rafting there. I bought tickets for them and let them enjoy rafting while I continued on to catch up with what's going on in the world.

After about half an hour, I went back to them. They were completely drenched. So I took them out and we went to a hilltop. They were to enjoy beautiful hot breeze at hilltop. So I left them to enjoy themselves and went back again to explore the world (on http://www.time.com/ ;) ) Finally at around 12 45 AM the picnic was over. So I brought them back to my room and in to the closet again. They were seemed really happy. And their happiness makes me happier :D

Finally I concluded yet another weekend with no significant events to remember in my life. Waiting for me again was a seeingly tough week ahead.

But "I learn" that just by thinking of simple events in slightly different and interesting ways, the simple event can be really pleasurable.

Yet another tough day in series

Trying to make my own way through the very high intensity corporate politics game, I survived yet anther day, still wondering about the consequences of my actions of the day. I never thought this could get so tough on me. But anyway this is also a good learning. If I can handle this I am sure I will be able to handle many other challenging situations ahead.

And this makes me think that management study is not only important and useful from career perspective but also it would help great deal in your personal life. But there is a very critical condition which must be met to make this true. And I believe it is really difficult to meet this condition.

Let me explain this condition. Its a well known fact that if you can keep your professional and personal life distinct then you will be able to have maximum fun in life. But if you follow it so strictly, then your learnings of work place will also not be avalilable.! So then what's the solution?

The solution is balance. Optimum balance. And it really takes a sharp intutive mind to achieve this optimum balance. And its ironical enough that its typically developed with experience, means as you get older and need it lesser ;) One must very clearly identify "learnings" from "tasks", "activities" and "challanges" of the work place. That's why I believe it is very important to take some time daily to just sit alone.. think and extract general learning from the entire day's experiences. And then remember that learning rather than the events. Probably this will lessen the amount of things that you will have to remember and still take advantage of it.

I would say its just the application of 80-20 principle. Identify and remove 80% that is junk and just keep 20% which is useful.

So with that idea, this my learning of the day...!! :)

The first day of blogging... Interesting trip to Philadelphia

After talking till late with Mom yesterday night and then "covering" a movie, it was obviously impossible to see the clock ticking at least till 11 in the morning. And guess what, I am talking to mom again. It feels really nice talking to mom when there is hardly someone around who is "close". And its like talking to one of the best friends. Again it was a long long chat. Meanwhie I ordered flowers for Mom on the Mother's Day. After that, in the afternoon, I kept wondering about what to do. (Not that there is nothing to do, but there is so much to do... ) And immediately I remember that I had promised a friend to call while talking to mom. Though I had doubts of her being already asleep, I decided to give it a try. And as expected she was. Oh well, just to mention, none of my roomies were at home. Everyone had gone to visit someone or were on job. So basically I had to do something alone. After considering different options like nice hot shower, another nap, reading, studying, going out(!!) etc, I finally concluded in giving justice to a movie which was waiting to be seen since long. "Inside Man". A nice movie about a "Perfect" robbery.

After the movie, in the evening, again the same question - "What to do?". And that, I believe was the moment, when I realized that I had already had a lazy day. So...? Let me make it completely lazy.....!!!!!!!!!!!! So I started off with another movie....!! "We were Soldiers"....

But.... While watching the starting of the movie, I was reminded of a couple I met last week. The movie is about Vietnam war, and I saw some soldiers talking. And that reminded me of the couple and the discussion I had with them while I took a ride with them on my way back from Philadelphia last week. At that moment I thought that I should jot down these experiences. Also there was effect of my talk with one of my best friends yesterday, when I learnt that she writes her personal diary. I always believed that its a good habit but could never do that. So many reasons in a short span of time. And finally I decided to at least start.

So back to the unknown couple and my ride. It was a nice ride and provoked many Whys in my mind. Some of them responded, some yet a mystery. When my friend (Ashu) had planned this trip, he was inclined towards taking shared ride with someone. So he found some couple from craig's list (a famous web community). It was a new and strange experience for us as, 1. None of us had never done this. 2. It kind of didn't fit in my mind how can I trust someone just like that in this different country, for a 2-3 hour ride on sort of lonely road. 3. We had never met of seen them...!! But still, we decided to take that "risk", and I am pleased today that we did.

So after a nice time roaming around historic places in old Philadelphia town and then experiencing a totally opposite modern face of US (we were roaming in a "Protest" or "Gathering" of Homosexuals..! This happens thrice in a year and we were "lucky" to be a spectator), we were having some "food" at Subway. That's the time when Ashu's cell interrupted our pursuit to understand how people live with that "food". That was call from the stranger girl (We at least knew her name..!!!) We had decided to meet at 8th Market Street and so she told us that they were already there. She also gave us a clue to identify them....! They were in a Green Jeep. We could find the Jeep without much trouble and were in the the Jeep after few minutes only.

Starting with usual "Hi" "Hello" and "Nice to meet you" with that girl and her husband, we were straightaway on track within 5 minutes, on the road and also off the road. It sounds really crazy to me today thinking how we were talking like old friends within only few minutes...!! We started with our education and went ahead to discussing culture, family, world events and what not. The girl was from Kenya and the guy was American. That couple was interesting for me because of multiple reasons.

First of all that guy was doing his PhD in linguistics. Secondly the girl was graduate in Sociology. And more interesting than that was the fact that they both wanted to work in a third world country...!! It was kind of difficult for me to digest the fact that people can manage to earn their bread and butter working in such fields also. And they have courage to choose such field for their life and even think of working in third world country. Well, US can provide the platform to such people and also support them.

The guy explain his research. It was something related to effect of language on human psychology and society as a whole. (I was not able to understand most of it, but sounded interesting.) The girl decided to pause her study plan to earn household when her husband is studying and she works at Admissions office in a university. They told us that as they were both working in similar fields (I don't understand relation between linguistics and sociology, but considering they are expert in the fields, I accepted their view) they wanted to work together in Africa.

After discussing about educational stuff, we moved on to India's growth and outsourcing. I would say that they were really open minded and never get offended. And ofcource, Indian curry and nan were also part of our discussion. We also discussed about US policy about Iraq and other past wars. Then suddenly the girl asked a question. "What do you hate and like about America.?". I was almost asleep by that time and so Ashu had to hold the guards and respond to her. I observed him being little uncomfortable answering her. But they immediately assured him to feel free and respond without hesitation. So Ashu, mentioned about "Loose Family System" and "Sense of superiority". They both agreed on that...!!. And also mentioned that that was one of the reasons they wanted to go to Africa and settle there. Explaining further the girl described how she grew up at Kenya where strong family system is in place and how his husband also like it when he visited Kenya at the time of their wedding.

Then we move on to the topic of US' Iraq policy. The girl mentioned that whatever is done till now is not write. We all echoed her. But we had slightly different opinion about US' current policy for Iraq. But then they explained their viewpoint saying "what happened was wrong and should not have happened. But now that it has already happened there is no point in leaving abruptly as it would only make the place a total mess. So what US is trying to do is do some cleanup after spoiling the scene. I sort of agreed to what she was saying.

At that point the guy mentioned that his brother works for US army and is supposed to go to Iraq next month..!! What surprised me was the calmness with which he said this. He said "Its was his decision to join army". So what's the big deal? (!!) He also said that personally he would not like to see his brother going to Iraq in such situation, but he would never say this.

At that time Ashu asked a question (I was only having energy to listen after that tiresome walking tour). He asked the guy about his brother's opinion about US' stand on Iraq. And in response the guy told "He doesn't have an opinion at all. He works for army same way as you work for your company. And in a job you obey your Superior's instructions. Its as simple as that." Then the girl explained how soldiers are taken right from their teenage and trained and moulded to work for their country as per their Superior's commands. They are not supposed to have any opinion. And if someone does take a stand, he might have to face serious moral conflicts. So its better to think less.!! That was a totally new dimension for me.

After that serious discussion, we turned back to softer aspects and discussed about their love story and wedding and about love in general.

(After this I don't remember much, so I presume I was asleep.)

Then I saw us entering DC. Finally reached the place where they were supposed to drop us and move on to Virginia. We paid them 10 bucks each as decided earlier, and then "Good bye", "It was nice to meet you".

As such it was two and a half hours drive from Philly to DC with 2 strangers, but I took back with me memories of such exciting ride, some new aspects and dimensions of like (and a sweet little nap. Ha ha ha...)

So that was the interesting event that became the "subject" which triggered me to start writing my blog.

Anyway, now before the battle between darkness of my room and brightness of sun ends in a spectacular win of later, I should try to give some justice to my lovely new pillow and bed. :)

Starting off finally....

There are things that we know are true, are good, are useful and there is no reason for refusing or denying its goodness. But still mysteriously we sometimes don't do it. Without any reason for not doing so... For me one such thing is writing a blog or personal diary or personal notes. But I have decided.... No more...

Well, so with that I am starting to write today and hopefully this doesn't become another of the many activities that I start doing enthusiastically and end up forgetting about it.

While creating the blog I was asked to give a caption for it and I thought about many different options. I wanted to give something that represents "me". Something that I can very well associate with any moment. Finally I decided on the template of statements that I tell my self most often. "I Learn....". I don't know from where it started and how did I pick that up... This might sound something like I am very studious or something like that. But no. Actually I never much liked reading books to "learn" things... Rather I always believed in practical approach. Not sure this is good or bad, but that's how I prefer. In fact, the reason behind the caption is that, I have this habit of always telling myself "I Learn that......", on any event or occasion, and then try to complete the statement. And today "I Learn" that it has really been very useful so far.

As I said, I don't recall from when I picked this up, but probably, it was from many nice human beings around me who kept telling me when I was teen, that there is always something to learn from everything in this world.

OK, any observations till now?? Its all "I" and "Me" till this point. And that describes another part of "Myself". My talk are usually very self-centered. But I would hesitate from calling my self introvert or egocentric as I do like to live between people and care for them and help them. But when it comes to talking its usually all "I".

But there is another side to it, when I talk about "talking" it here, its talking with people whom I trust, I care and I love. In all other cases, there is much less talking and that too not about "I". This is because I don't prefer to let everyone know "Who I am". Rather I would say even people closest to me also don't know "me" much. I can say I am too secretive about self.

Doesn't all that sound ironic. I say that my talks are all about me and still people don't know me. That sounds weird. I am yet to resolve that puzzle. Till then, I would say I am still confused about myself and even I don't know myself enough...!!! Huh... Too much secrecy. :)

Anyway all that was too serious and boring. Now about the fun part. Well I guess I'll put it in a separate segment.