Everyday, Everytime, Everywhere

“I cannot teach anyone anything, I can only make them think.”  - Socrates Motivation comes from within. Be it money or satisfaction or self- realization . There is no extrinsic motivation. Tall claims that, but I stand by it because I know not otherwise. My motivation comes from the ever present something that makes or breaks me do something, anything. Motivation is a result of need, and need is the relative difference between the desired state and the current state. Those are but just words. What do they mean? What does motivation even mean. The leaves move because there is wind, and because there is wind we can define air. Such is the case with motivation. A being exhibiting a goal oriented behaviour of often classified as someone who has motivation. There was a chuck in my life where I did not know why I did what I did neither did I know what was it that would make it know it, nor did I know what I really wanted to do. General judgement was lack of a purpose that re...

PIPPIN: I didn't think it would end this way. GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn't end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it. PIPPIN: What Gandalf? See what? GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.   PIPPIN: Well, that isn't so bad. GANDALF: No. No, it isn't.”   ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Its children’s day as I write. There were mockery in the group today about wishing me for this day, as a reward for being childlike. There, childlike. Judgement free, low on baggage and little insecurity. It makes me behave in the way I do, and it’s not easy to keep away judgement or baggage or insecurity. A comment like that would have riled me up a few years back, made me hate the guts of these people who could say such a thing and even severe ties with them. It’s a perc...

The recent Reskill and Transcend theme of Samanvay 2017 made me a little nervous. There were these bunch of young professionals, most of whom have never set foot inside an organization yet, talking about reskilling. And here I was, almost 30, in an existential crisis of almost losing relevance. The major reason behind it is the changing perception of technology taking over every ounce of human need in accomplishing a task. The brain says its not true, the heart agrees but where then is this fear originating? I do not think technology is for all to fear. Learning technology is like learning how to use fire or the wheel. Just so fire was created did not mean who did it prior went out of style, it was the how that changed. The how is what is skill, the why, on the other hand, is much more fun to know, appreciate and enhance.  This, however, does not mean the role of skills is discounted, it only puts it in its place. A persons skills, or the lack of, account of the maximum volume...

Out Beyond the Ideas of Rightdoing and Wrongdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet You there -          -  Rumi There may be a reason why Rumi said that, there may even a context why. I know that because there is a context in life for me where this applies. Simple observations of the world tell me that the rule of the land is an antecedent to a human’s definition of right and wrong. Sometimes the rule is against what I want and desire, sometimes it is against what I want for others to have or not have. At these times I apply, ever so comfortably, Rumi. However that’s not what Rumi meant or intended. It cant be that simple now, can it! The subjective nature of ethics and morality makes it very easy to get clever with it. The evaluative scale for measuring the amount of ethical inclination for a person is within and it is always ON. In the office premises of TATA Consultancy Services Ltd., Bangalore, on a glass wall, there is a huge quote from Henry F...

When addicted, the world says de-addict. Actions are a result of chemical reactions and actions result in chemical reactions, in the brain and all over the body. The mind realizes this consciously, identifies those set of chemicals it prefers and subconsciously drives the brain and body towards getting those chemical reactions, as often and powerful as desired! Creativity, the part of the brain defined by a distinct set of chemical reactions, is an addictive action, synonymous with psychotropic substances but not harmful on high dosages. Anandamide, the blissful, yet under-researched chemical component of the brain is said to be associated with creativity, as an antecedent or a consequence. The secretion of anandamide, or even serotonin, is closely linked with the mind and its thoughts. Thoughts are the clouds that stand in the way when the eye  looks for the true self. Thoughts are but a result of an accumulation of facts, derivation of inferences and motivation to recogniz...

The exercise  was about gathering points to draw insights about one's self. It could not have come at a better time.  I am 29 years and 6 months, and a few days old, as I write this. There have been instances through my life where I have expressed my gratitude and then there are others where I haven’t. However, there are but only a few instances where I have begun a task by expressing my gratitude to just have had an opportunity to do it. This is one such a task. And for this I express my gratitude to Professor Dr Vijayalakshmi V, Department of Management Studies; IIT Madras. The task, Reflective Best Self Portrait, has come at a time in my journey where I seem to have finally realized that I am on a journey, the destination unknown though. The traits of such a realization I associate to being relatively more aware of the time and space I exist in. This makes me understand the value of such an exercise, for, I believe, this exercise has created a way for me to interact wit...

In a recent class on authenticity, many participants preferred being able to project an acceptable image of themselves rather than being authentic. Though immediate reactions to this sentiment echoed concern, it later seemed rational. Tech today is great in its ability to quantify scientific achievements. Tech also has given birth to the phenomenon of immediate quantification. Numbers are all around and describe everything, immediately. Popularity and traction today is quantifiable and even friendship is measured using numbers. Numbers, but, describe only situational constructs. So, if numbers are the end, authentic means are no longer necessary to create those situations as authenticity is needed for time-tested creations. I took a train from Chennai to Delhi late December last year. This was the first leg of a long vacation in the Himalayas and I was excited returning to the places I had once walked on as a child. My fellow passengers were a variety of people and the group would...

The beauty of the grouping is the sense of security it gives to its members. The common characters that define the group, define the members. The lowest hanging fruit to satisfy the hunger of identity is to belong to a group and attach its character to the self. This satisfaction comes from the misconstrued nature of defining the self itself. Self in spiritual terms is the thing that remains when all thoughts disappear. Self in the pragmatic world becomes those very thoughts. Thoughts can be dangerous, as a wise man once told me, “the human mind can imagine anything”. Instantly, upon listening to that sentence, I felt proud. The endless potential of it gave the ego precisely what it was craving for. But then, realising that the ability did not belong to me, and not just me, meant the meal for the ego had come to an end. This means there is a need to create an identity that is relative and relevant to the immediate environment, the group! The happiness of belonging to the group now bec...

Sometimes the human population in the immediate vicinity of anybody’s has to be looked at from a height of about 200 feet above the ground. The closer we are to things, the value and importance we attach to it could be that much irrational. Nevertheless, it is an interesting observation all the same from that height. It becomes difficult to make out who’s who from that elevation and many barriers start to feel out of place to put on these creatures walking around below like tiny ants, purposeful, yet lost. Rules may need revisions and goals may need tinkering from this height. This is not airplane height where the world becomes a beautiful pattern of art, this is just high enough to remain significant and to look for relevance. Until hovercrafts are made available, this elevation must remain a metaphor. History says rulers divide, I tend to disagree. Rulers group, not divide. Smart ones do it nonchalantly, dumb ones obviously. These groups are beautifully similar within and dangero...