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Showing posts from August, 2012

Time

The most precious commodity and unfortunately the least respected in most quarters by most people. Today I was reading an article on punctuality and it struck that how very few consider it a value to live by. The notion of "IST" - Indian Standard Time - is so very ingrained in us. Being on time means acceptable delay of 15-30 mins. Its normal and forgiven if you ask people. Some organizations do try to build their culture around being on time for everything but then it is looked as an aspect of being professional and not personal belief so much. Personally I strongly feel that p unctuality reflects character.   We do not have the right to waste someone else's time as I would waste mine.       In our day to day existence, we are so casual about time as if it is an inexhaustible resource. In reality it is in "limited edition". In our growing up years we were guided by importance of finishing the task at hand 'right now' and not wait for the 'waki

Value your support system

Your formal education will equip you with all the knowledge, skills and traits required to lead a successful professional life. Living a fulfilling life is possible only through learning to value your support system. Attitude to learning to respect these pillars of strength will give you an advantage which cannot be quantified. It will show in your output and your general way of being. In times of our parents or before that, we had the joint family system which is perhaps the strongest support system that one can have. We take our parents for granted in many such cases without realizing how important they are for our being able to build lives outside home. That's a separate philosophy which I will discuss some other time.  However in today's times when we have to step out and move away from our homes to create our future in new cities, this support system has acquired names like Mukta mausi, Seema tai, Noor, Pinky, maharajji, driver saab etc. They are real and are here to

What Independence means to me

Freedom without responsibility is anarchy (not said by me). I have always treated my independence as my birth right, a privilege accorded to me without any effort from my side. It’s as natural as breathing, walking, talking, sleeping etc. Every year we celebrate this day with a lot of pageantry and show of emotions anywhere and everywhere.  However this is perhaps the first year when I really got down to thinking as to what independence really means to me as an individual. Is it just a date, a journey, a holiday, an emotion, a privilege, right et al? All these words have importance in context to Independence Day but they don’t resonate with my being. Am I really free? I am afraid of helping an accident victim on road, I am afraid to report abuse if I come across one, I am afraid to step out of the house at night, I am afraid of refusing a bribe for getting work done, I am afraid to help a stranger in need, I am afraid of saying no to things which have social importance attached

Right Vs Wrong

The two simple words which define all our actions – Right or Wrong. For most of us we are always striving to be on only one side – right! All others are on the wrong side. More importantly our entire life is spent on just deciding which the right side is and proving others to be perpetually on the wrong one. Normal when you come to think of it. There are as many definitions of right and wrong as different people who have lived, are living and will be born to live on this earth (may be elsewhere in the galaxy too). However many a times I sense uneasiness about the whole thing. Why are we struggling with thoughts as to where will our acts place us in the two halves of life? Doesn’t it stifle our natural style of being? We are always holding back from giving the “me” in everything and coming up with what is expected. The casualty is true self. It is lost in all this translation and normalization.   Today I want to share a secret with you. There’s nothing called right or wrong.