Phrase of the day: Writer’s block

Over the past few years I have tried to make it a habit to write and post during weekends, most times Saturday morning when I am up early, to record whatever thought is occupying my mind before it’s forgotten and replaced by others. It’s my way of challenging and imposing some kind of discipline on myself. As usual I got up early last Saturday with one key difference: Just couldn’t bring myself to think abut what to write!

Which brings us to phrase of the day: Writer’s block

It’s defined as “the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing”

Now, let me see if I can put the phrase to use without being afflicted by it 😀

Over the weekend I woke up early with the intent of writing only to experience writer’s block as I just couldn’t think of writing about anything despite the fact I have created series like “Fun with words”, “Is it just me?”, “What would I otherwise like to do for a living” etc. that can very well be added to when original thoughts run dry 🙂

Story of Nature

Hey Nature
You are quite a painter!
For months you spread color
To enliven the decor;
From your infinite palette
Emerge creations to suit every palate;
When you paint a picture
’tis always pretty as a picture;
Then you whiten the canvas
And we ponder if it’s our loss;
We seek reason
You provide season;
Thence you start all over
We wait to behold that future!

Greatest joy, biggest regret

Among the greatest joys of life is the look of unalloyed delight in a child’s face. It’s a look of supreme satisfaction and living in the moment to the fullest. When my son was in pre-school, elementary school one of my pleasures was saying or doing things that would bring a smile and light up his face. Could be something as simple as saying a few words of encouragement, a warm hug, spinning stories to praise him, getting a game or saying/doing something silly. Most worries melt away on seeing bright smile of a child 🙂

The biggest regrets tend to be words said or actions taken in haste. Expressing disappointment at lower than expected grades or displaying anger if something is broken or lost. Or turning away a youngster selling cookies to raise money with the thought “How many cookies can one eat? I don’t want to add more sugar to my body”. Overreaction could be caused by external factors like something not going as planned at work or an appliance breaking down and waiting a long time for a response on calling a 1-800 #. Luckily wife is there to set the situation right many a times and drill sense into yours truly 🙂

Bottom line: Doesn’t take much to make someone’s day. Fortunately we get a chance to set things right in most instances even if we get it wrong the first time.

Corporate Rajisms

Starting a new series: Corporate Rajisms!
Just general observations, no company in particular.
Feel free to add more 🙂

1) It takes a Herculean effort to prevent a full scale disaster resulting from half-baked design and half-hearted implementation
2) Creativity and problem solving die a natural death at the altar where compliance and cost cutting meet
3) If all it takes to succeed is making a few heads roll the biggest suggest stories would be dictators, tyrants and despots
4) ” ‘Tis a lesson you should heed: Try, try, try again. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again” goes a saying. Did someone forget to add the caveat it doesn’t apply to companies that resort to serial layoffs?
5) If it’s employees who breathe life into any enterprise why do companies hope to thrive cutting the oxygen supply by laying off employees?

Idiom of the day: Walk and chew gum

In recent times an idiom that has been heard very often and almost beaten to death is “Walk and chew gum”. Most times it’s been used by lawmakers on TV.
The idiom describes ability to do multiple things at the same time.

Whenever I hear that phrase I immediately shout back “Do that by all means but make sure it’s a sugar-free gum please!” 😀
Type 2 diabetes is on the rise and lawmakers may be well covered under their health insurance plan but we don’t want the price for that passed on to regular folks.

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/statistics/statistics-report.html

Oh s–t, it happened

In my recent visit to India I had layover at Zurich airport. Layover means opportunity to stretch legs and freshen up. After my flight landed off I went looking for restroom to wash face and get rid of bloated feeling after a long flight. In the US airports restrooms tend to be open and more easily accessible. At Zurich airport to get to the restroom a door that looked like an exit had to be opened first to make it there. Looked more like making one’s way to a super secret Swiss bank vault 😀 Ladies’ toilet is located at the same level and to reach men’s toilet two flight of stairs have to be climbed up. For someone like me, who has tendency to step out the elevator every time the door opens, it was a recipe for disaster. After I transacted my business I rushed out. And then it happened. After climbing down 2 flights of stairs I instinctively reached out to open the first door in sight 😀 Was red faced with embarrassment on seeing a lady coming out instead of seeing walkway towards the flight gate. Apologizing profusely I averted further disaster by opening the right door. Folks from Europe, you got to take into consideration guys like me when you design the layout for toilet access at the airports 😀 I prefer the open US access where it’s difficult to make mistake even for me 🙂 I bet even if a Swiss happens to read this blog he/she will not comment as it will go against another Swiss trait: reputation for neutral position. Right? 😉

P.S. Few hours elapsed before I thought this experience could make for a blog piece and decided to take a picture of toilet entrance. By then passenger traffic to the toilet had increased as they were using the restroom before boarding their flight. Felt like a weirdo as I was trying to get one clear picture of toilet entrance without anyone appearing in the photo. Hopefully folks who saw me did not feel the same 😀

Another Spiritual Journey

Recently visited Mumbai in India after a few years. Every visit to India is quite an experience and this time was no different. After living in a small town in the US for many years I myself now have to follow the advice I give to folks from here who are traveling to India for the first time: Be prepared for the sight and sounds and go with an open mind just to soak in the atmosphere. The sight of so many people and the sound of traffic can be intimidating for the first time visitor as it is even for someone like me born and raised there. Like other great, major cities of the world Mumbai is always buzzing with activity and change is the only constant. Where once a 10-storey building might have towered like a giant a decade ago the same building might look like a runt of the litter now. And I am talking about distant suburbs on the outskirts of the city and towns outside the city limits! The pace of change is so rapid I could hardly recognize surroundings that I was once familiar with. In a land once known for mystics and spiritualism today capitalism is well and truly alive and kicking 🙂

It was good to catch up with folks old and new. Folks from earlier generation appeared to have grown much older (I am sure they felt the same about me 😀 ). Met batchmates from school and college and it was good to see everyone doing well in their professions. Visited my alma mater and even there old is making way for new as school is being redeveloped for a newer and bigger version to meet the need of changing times. It was good to see neighbors drop by and offer help to parents, respect for elders is very much present. Some even insisted on being given opportunity to help. One main difference between West and East is the individualized culture of the West compared to the community culture of the East. Not to say one is better than the other but it is just a different way of living. Vertical expansion has led to many high rise buildings all over the city and beyond. Which brings its own good and bad. Taller structures have led to green spaces within the community. To cater to the high end buyers businesses have also set shop nearby which obviates the need to go downtown or midtown for shopping or entertainment. Flip side is additional demand on resources which the existing infrastructure is not geared to handle and lot of traffic increasing local travel time. Multiple road projects going on simultaneously also adding to commuter woes. Real estate prices have gone through the roof too. Always amazed and thankful for the time friends make to meet for anyone visiting from outside though. The spirit of the city lives on though in citizens who put up with a lot and still find it in them to care and share.

Yours truly likes to go for walks occasionally. The experience of walking, be it in a wooded area or in anonymity in a crowded street, is spiritual. One either takes in the beauty of surroundings or just learns to stay unaffected by the crowd or noise and be a dispassionate observer. Which helps in developing into a non-judgmental observer and taking everything in one’s stride. In one such walk I got lost. 😀 For the ride back home I hired an auto rickshaw. The driver was from different part of town, not familiar with the area I was in. He asked me to show the direction and I ended up seeing half the town as we tried to make it to my place asking folks along the way for directions couple of times 😀 Did not have time to try more such adventures. All in all the whole visit was quite a ride with some new connections made, some old connections severed and a few connections revived. Which is what life is about: making new memories, erasing some and remembering some old memorable memories. On my return it was great to see my wife receive me at the airport and be back in surroundings that are more familiar now. It was good to be there and it’s good be back. Life is a journey generating a ton of memories along the way to last a lifetime!

Smart and right thing: My 2 cents

In all the drama over the Chief Minister (CM) position post-State election in Maharashtra last month one thing that is forgotten is that doing the right thing also tends to be the smart thing to do most times IMHO. Below is my attempt to explain.

Facts: No single party emerged with majority after last month’s State election in Maharashtra. It was a fractured verdict by the voters. Pre-poll alliance of of BJP and Shiv Sena (SS) did have a combined majority which would have allowed them to form the next Government if they could have come to an agreement on power sharing and who would assume the CM post. Sadly that did not happen.

What happened immediately after election?
BJP, by virtue of being the party with the most seats, got the first crack at proving they have majority support. Differences between BJP and SS simmered to the fore and turned irreconciliable. Each party went their separate ways trying to cobble together a majority with other parties.

Why was SS insistent on getting CM post and other major portfolios in the new Government?
SS essentially perceived BJP as an existential threat. Both parties tried to appeal to the same slice of voters, with BJP being the bigger party in the State in recent times and nationally too. The alliance was always strictly a business transaction as both parties on their own could not get majority support in the State. Reason SS decided this is the right time to strike is because BJP has gotten much bigger in the past few years and along with it their ambitions have grown too. This election pretty much would have been the last election both parties fought together before BJP decided to go it alone. SS feared getting subsumed by BJP and felt their future existence was threatened in the scenario their party members moved over to BJP if they sensed wind blowing in BJP direction. To put it in business context BJP is the equivalent of a big company trying to get a foothold in a local market by initially partnering with a smaller local player SS with plans to either buy the local company in future or competing directly with them.

What happened next?
BJP tried to get support of other parties to form Government. At first they appeared to be successful till the hastily pulled together agreement came apart with the result BJP not being able to prove majority support. SS meanwhile jumped into bed with other parties to stake a claim to form Government

What is the current situation?
SS has appeared to string together an alliance with majority of sorts and has formed a minority Government

Who is the biggest loser?
BJP undoubtedly. First their pre-poll alliance with SS comes under question for values and judgment. If they knew their core values did not match with SS and still continued with the alliance for ~ 30 years their values are suspect. If they did not know about capricious nature of SS and convinced themselves they could prevail upon SS it reflects poorly on their judgment.

What should have happened for BJP to come out with some positive?
After their failure to show majority support BJP should have chosen to sit in the opposition. This would have made them come across as a party with values and with some of their tarnished judgment restored after the fact. By trying to get their bean counters cobble together a majority with fair weather friends they have come across as just another opportunistic party. Potential practical gain of the SS post-poll alliance imploding on its own due to the incongruities of the parties involved has been lost for now as the new alliance will be determined to make it work at least for the near future. Opportunity to look principled has been lost too

Bottom line: Voters’ fractured mandate should have acted as a wake up call for all political parties, especially the BJP, that voters expect results and none of the parties were considered good enough to get majority support. Past few years BJP has been daring voters to vote for other parties and predicting gloom if they did so. It has been willed to existence by voters precisely doing that. At least now BJP should go back to the drawing board and try to come up with positive message about what they achieved and what they plan/planned to achieve. Avoid portraying anyone with different opinion as opposed to development, anti-national etc. Sitting in opposition by choice would have been the right thing. And a smart thing too. Most times doing the right thing is the smart thing too!